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.“OK.Yes.”A light came on in her eyes.“See, I knew it! Just like I knew about the fire children.You’re not as good at hiding things as you think.”“I can’t say any more, though,” I said.“I’ll keep on at you till you cave in.”“Then I’ll have to get used to it.It’s like the third degree, talking to you.”“Well, I’ll leave you alone if you answer me just one thing.Does it have anything to do with the kids?”“Yes.”“And with what happened to Raymond Blight.”“That’s two things,” I said.“Let’s change the subject.What are you writing for English this week?”She rolled her eyes.“A ghost story.What does it matter? I’m trying to talk to you.”“It’s not easy, I know.”“You’re not easy.You’re bloody hard work, Ben Harvester.If I’m like the third degree, you’re like the Mona Lisa.”“I’m what?”“You know.That enigmatic smile, giving nothing away, keeping it all to yourself.”A silence fell between us.The bell across Mercy Road announced the end of break.“So what’s your ghost story about?” I said.Becky hopped off the wall, turned, and gave me a look.“Not telling.See how you like it,” she said.She snubbed me after school too, making a big show of chatting and laughing with her friends and not looking at me when I passed them at the bus stop.My punishment for not telling all.As I did every day now, I called home from a pay phone a few blocks up Mercy Road from the school.I had a cell buried away somewhere in my room, but lately I couldn’t afford to buy minutes.The phone booth shuddered around me as the school bus went past.I shoved in a coin and punched out the number.Mum answered on the third ring, sounding as if she’d just woken.“Nothing to worry about,” she said.“The nurse came to dress my arm an hour ago and it knocked the stuffing out of me.I’m over it now, but my arm looks like an Egyptian mummy’s.”“Are you sure you don’t need me there?”“No.Ellie’s here now.We’re looking through vacation brochures.”“Oh?”We both knew we couldn’t afford minutes for my phone, let alone vacations.“It’s like this,” Mum went on.“Ellie’s thinking of investing in a condo on Lanzarote.She’s brought holiday photos from the last time she went.I’ll show you when you get back.She says if she and Ross go ahead with this, we can visit any time for free.We only need to wait for a break in my treatment.Isn’t that great?”“Sounds good to me.” A change of climate would surely do her more good than the treatment had so far.“There’s something else,” Mum said, and then faltered.“Actually, it’s kind of a surprise.I’ll leave that until I see you.”“Good or bad surprise?”“A bit of both, I suppose.How long will you be?”“A few hours, probably.I’ll try not to be late.”“OK.” After a pause, she said, “I’m so glad you’re making friends now.Things are going to turn out fine, darlin’.You’ll see.”I felt a chill as I stood there with the warm telephone receiver pressed to my ear.A shadow flashed past the booth to my right, but there was no one nearby on the street when I turned to look.After hanging up, I leaned against the glass-paneled door, fighting the huge ball of pressure building in my chest.It took a minute to keep the sobbing at bay.It shouldn’t, but it upset me to hear her making future plans when neither of us knew how much of a future she had.How could she be so positive? How could she be so brave?The feeling passed.I shouldered the phone booth door open and stepped out.As I did, something flickered at the edge of my vision, a sudden movement farther down the street.No one there.No one who wanted to be spotted, at least.I set off for Islington at a jog, not looking back but certain I wasn’t alone.If the enemy had sent another agent after me, it would be wiser to keep to the streets, avoiding the canal’s quiet corners and dark bridges.Anything might happen down there.Rush hour was a while off, but the streets past Southgate Road were busy enough to help me relax.At Essex Road I checked behind me for the first time, but by then the follower could’ve been anywhere in the throng of people and traffic.Had I imagined someone there? Perhaps all I’d really seen from the corner of my eye was a bird flying by, or its shadow.I wished I could believe it, but nothing in my world seemed imaginary now.When I woke in the night with cold sweats, I wasn’t waking from dreams of imaginary monsters.These were dreams of the Deathhead stepping into the morgue, of the Mawbreed rising from McCready’s bed, and the last look on McCready’s face before it dragged him inside the room.Just because I couldn’t see it didn’t mean it wasn’t there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]