The only other people we see are those who live in the Perimeter and of course the delivery drivers, trades people and the army. Occasionally we get a glimpse through the wire fence at a rare passer by.
I wait downstairs in a blur of grief and anxiety until the guards finally excuse themselves and leave Pa sitting on the sofa. I desperately need to speak to him to make sense of what he told me. I stupidly start to hope there’s some reasonable explanation and Skye will come running in to ask us what we’re making such a fuss about.
Pa stands up and holds his arms out to me. I stumble into them and breathe in his comforting smell of diesel oil and cologne. We sit next to each other on the sofa, his arm around me. He kisses my hair and strokes my cheek with his fist.
‘You alright?’ he asks gruffly.
‘No,’ I reply.
‘No,’ he echoes.
‘What happened?’ I ask in a quiet voice. ‘How can she be gone? It’s Skye. She’s my sister. She can’t not be here anymore.’
‘I don’t know. Luc found her this morning.’
‘Luc?’
My sister thinks … thought seventeen-year-old Luc Donovan was the cat’s pyjamas. This summer especially, he’s all she talked about. Luc’s so good looking, Luc’s so amazing. She adored him. I always pretend to be disinterested when he’s around and I’m sure he thinks I’m a stuck up cow. Pa’s voice interrupts my thoughts.
‘Luc found her next door, in their poolhouse. It was an accident. She … she fell through the glass door …’
‘What? That doesn’t sound right. How can you fall through a door?’
‘I don’t know, Riley. But I’m bloody well going to find out. The guards are questioning Luc right now. I’m going down there and I’m going to get some answers.’
‘Skye …’ I say. ‘It can’t be true.’
Pa stands up. ‘I’ll be back in a minute. I’m just going to check on your mother.’ He walks quickly from the room and I know he’s crying again. He doesn’t want me to see.
What Pa told me doesn’t make any sense. I have to speak to someone, to find out what happened. Nothing feels real. I haven’t even cried. I open our front door and walk down the driveway. Liam, the new guard, is standing outside our house. I hesitate, wanting to know every terrible detail but at the same time I can’t bear to find out.
‘Liam!’ I call out.
He looks across at me with awkward pity and I can tell he’d rather be anywhere else than here with me, Skye’s sister.
‘Riley, I’m sorry about Skye,’ he calls over, not making any move to come towards me. ‘I can’t be talking to you about this though.’
‘But she’s my sister. I’ve got more right to know than you have.’ It comes out sounding angrier than I meant.
Liam chews his lip and strides towards me. He takes hold of my arm and leads me back up the drive and around the side of the house. There’s a heat haze shimmering up off the ground … or is it my vision blurring? He takes off his guard’s hat and twirls it around nervously in his hands. A grade one buzz cut shows off a nasty scar on his forehead where you can see the stitch marks, but handsome features offset this bullet-proof exterior. I’m pretty sure he’s the coolest person I know.
‘Okay, I’ll tell you what I know,’ he says. ‘But I don’t want to and it’s not nice.’
* * * * *
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
*
Shalini Boland lives in Dorset with her husband and two sons
where she writes novels (in between doing the school runs
and hanging out endless baskets of washing).
*
Connect Online:
Blog
https://www.shaliniboland.co.uk
Follow on Twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/ShaliniBoland
Hidden on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Hidden.MarchwoodVampireSeries
Outside on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Outside.series
Acknowledgements
*
Lots of people to thank and I don’t want to leave anybody out.
Firstly, it’s got to be my gorgeous mum, who’s always been incredibly encouraging about my writing and about my life in general.
Thanks also to my late father who gave me the workaholic gene
and taught me to always follow my dreams.
Endless thanks to my husband, Pete Boland, who is my
strongest champion. He’s also brave enough to also tell me
the bits he didn’t like and for that I’m so-o grateful.
Thanks to my brother, Neil, and my best friend, Sarah Samuel,
for their over-the-top enthusiasm. Love you both!
The writing community on Harper Collins’ Authonomy site has really helped me knock my story into shape. Among the most helpful and wonderful: Amy Bates, Sessha Batto, Simon Betterton, Rachael Cox, Robert Craven, Paul Dayton, Stella Deleuze, Becca Hamilton, Lorraine Holloway, Gerry Johnston, Sian O’Leary, B. Lloyd, Lisa Scullard, Brian Todd, Suzy Turner and T.L. Tyson. There are others … you know who you are.
Thanks also to the stupendously talented Simon Tucker
for such an awesome book cover.
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