Finding Sky

His breath was horrible, like fried onions. ‘What you say, little chicky?’ He seemed to find me fu

‘He lied. He’s pleased he tricked you.’ I rocked to and fro, knowing I was going to be punished but at least He would be too.

‘Hey,’ He said, smile insincere. ‘You’re listening to my girlfriend’s little brat? What she know about anything?’

The onion man took the package out of his pocket and pressed it between thumb and finger, no longer smiling. ‘This pure?’

‘One hundred per cent. I give you my word.’

‘He’s lying,’ I said. The Man’s colours were sickly yel ow.

Mr Onion held it out. ‘Thanks, chicky. I want my money back. Your word isn’t worth fifty quid.’

The man handed it back, swearing his i

Next came pain.

Later, I heard Him tel ing the doctor how I’d fal en down the stairs and broken my arm. I was clumsy. A lie. He’d got angry with me.

Then we were back in the car. Another day. On the move again before anyone got too interested in us.

Auntie Red Lips was feeling jittery. She’d been moaning, said He was about to ditch her because of me. She didn’t like me either. I saw too much, she said. Like a witch. Like her stupid, dead half-sister.

‘We could give her to the social services in Bristol, say we can’t cope.’ Auntie glared at me.

‘First rule—never let the authorities even know we exist. We’re not going back to Bristol—we’ve moved on.’ He cut up another car undertaking on the motorway.

‘Since when, Phil?’

‘Since the police busted the Cricketer’s Arms.’

I gazed out of the window at the blue sign—I saw it had a little symbol of a plane at the top. The road was going somewhere, taking off on a jumbo jet. I wished I could. I started to sing. Leaving on a jet plane …

‘That’s it!’ The man indicated, taking us off the road and into a service station. ‘We’re dumping the freak here.’

‘What!’ The woman glanced across at him in bewilderment.

Slime green malice emanated from the man; her colours were dark purple, with a hint of green. It made me feel sick to look at them. I looked at my grubby shorts instead.

‘You’re joking, right?’

‘Wrong. I’m leaving her here. You can either stay with her or come with me. Your choice.’

‘Bloody hel , Phil, I can’t just dump her!’

He pul ed over into a space towards the rear of the car park, checking his mirrors nervously. ‘Why not? I can’t operate with her around. Some do-gooder wil find her. She’l be their problem, Jo, not ours. She’s just Fra

She’s nothing to do with you—with us.’ He leant over and kissed her, his colours a horrid yel ow which signal ed a big fat lie.

The woman bit her lip. ‘Al right, al right, give me a moment. God, I need a drink. Won’t we be traced?’

He shrugged. ‘Car plates are false. If we don’t get out, we won’t be caught on camera. No one in England knows her. Parents died in Dublin—unless they think to check abroad, she’s nobody. Who’s go

‘So we leave her and someone else looks after her. She doesn’t get hurt.’ Auntie was trying to persuade herself she was doing the right thing.

‘But she wil if I have to come back for her. She’s bad for us—ruining what we’ve got.’

Summoning up the courage, the woman nodded.

‘Let’s do it.’

‘We just need a chance to get clear.’ The man turned round and grabbed the front of my T-shirt.

‘Listen, freak, you be quiet, no fuss, or we’l come back and get you. Understand?’

I nodded. I was so scared I thought I might wet myself. His lights were pulsing a violent red like just before he hit me.

He reached over and opened the door. ‘Now get out and sit over there. Don’t cause trouble.’

I unclicked my belt, used to looking after myself.

‘Are you sure about this, Phil?’ the woman whined.

He didn’t answer, just pul ed the door closed. The next thing I heard was the car accelerating away.

I sat down and counted daisies.

When I opened my eyes this time, I wasn’t in a car park, but sitting in the circle of Zed arms, warm, cared for.

‘You saw that?’ I whispered, not daring to look at him.

‘Yeah. Thank God they dumped you before he kil ed you.’ Zed rubbed his chin lightly over the crown of my head, the hair catching in his stubble.

‘I stil don’t know who I am. I don’t think they ever said a name.’

Auntie Jo, Phil, and the freak—that’s what we’d been when I was six. If my mother and father—

Fra

‘A truth-tel er don’t go down too wel in the house of a dealer.’ Zed circled my wrists with his fingers, brushing my palms to gentle out my clenched fists.

‘I’ve seen scum like that before working for Trace and Victor. You were lucky to get out.’

As a child, I’d not understood the transaction in the passageway, but I did now. ‘I spoiled things for Phil big time—that man was his best customer. I did that more than once.’

‘And he hurt you more than once.’

I cringed, hating having so much ugly stuff exposed like this before the Benedicts. ‘I think so.’

Zed’s anger was crimson, not directed at me, but out at the one who had dared hurt me. ‘I’d like to get him, make him feel what he did to you.’

‘He was an evil man, using my aunt. She was mostly OK—but couldn’t be bothered with me. I don’t suppose they’re stil together.’

‘They’re probably both dead. Drugs and dealing don’t make for long happy lives,’ said Uriel matter-of-factly.

I sagged back against Zed, exhausted and raw. I needed time to put what I’d seen in place, adjust my memories. We weren’t talking about it, but I had to come to terms with what my mum’s obsession about going to her soulfinder had done to us al . It crept like an ugly stain seeping across what I thought I had with Zed. I felt dirtied by it—threatened.

‘You’ve seen enough,’ said Zed. ‘We don’t expect you to remember everything right away.’

‘But we’ve found the foundation,’ said Uriel. ‘We can build on that.’

Looking round at the others in the room, I could tel they weren’t expecting any answers today. Victor and Trace were the most impatient for information but trying to hide it.

‘You need a break. Take the girl snowboarding, Zed,’ said Trace. ‘We’l make sure you’re safe.’

I pushed away the grim memories with an effort.

‘By break, do you mean I should break a leg, because that’s what’s going to happen if I try to board.’

Trace laughed, the serious cop-face relaxing into a fond smile as he regarded his kid brother. ‘No, Sky, I don’t. He’l take good care of you.’

It was a relief to get o

utside. The memories were

hanging over my head like a poisonous cloud but the pristine white slopes blew them away—for the moment. Everything sparkled. If I concentrated, I could count every pine needle, every cone, every snowflake, my perception was so clear. The mountains didn’t daunt me today but exhilarated.

I’d borrowed a snowsuit from Karla, which made me look like a dumpling, but Zed seemed to think it was cute.

‘Nursery slopes?’ I asked, my breath puffing like a dragon.

‘No, too many people.’ Shading his eyes, he studied the mountain, giving me the chance to appreciate how long and dangerous he looked in his close-fitting navy ski suit, a shark on the slopes. He flashed a grin when he caught me admiring him and waggled his eyebrows teasingly. ‘Like what you see?’