Finding Sky

I elbowed him. ‘Shut up! You real y need to work on that humility thing.’

He laughed. ‘I wil —if you’l promise to teach me.’

‘I think you’re a lost cause.’

That provided him with even more amusement.

When he’d final y stopped laughing, he hugged me to his side. ‘So, Sky, are you ready? Because we’re going up. There’s a peaceful place. I was going to take you there that day we got shot at in the woods, but I think it’s even better in winter. We’l catch the lift up and walk down to it.’

The top of the mountain was much quieter than at the weekend. José wasn’t ma

‘Is this a good idea? You know what happened last time we went into the forest.’

Arm looped over my shoulders, he rubbed my upper arm in reassurance. ‘Dad and Mom are holding a barrier around the place. Trace, Vick, and Wil are on lookout. We should be fine.’

‘A mind barrier?’

‘Yeah, it sends people away, makes them think they left the headlights on or got to meet someone in town. Which reminds me: how did you get through ours last night?’

I shrugged. ‘I felt it, but I was too desperate to care.’

‘You shouldn’t have been able to do that. It was why Trace and Vick were so suspicious of you just turning up out of the blue.’

‘Maybe this barrier isn’t as strong as you’d like to think.’

‘Maybe you’re stronger than we realize. We’l have to find out.’

‘Not just now, please.’ I didn’t want anything more to do with savants—their powers were too freaky.

‘No, not now. This is playtime.’

We broke out into the open and the ground dropped away in an awesome sweep, smoothly curved like a J. The peaks across the val ey towered on the horizon like an audience of giants come to watch the show.

‘Wow.’

‘Great, isn’t it? Not many people come here because it heads nowhere, but I like it. You can do some extreme boarding here without pesky skiers like my brother getting in the road.’

‘I’m not ready for extreme.’

‘I know. We can do slow and gentle too.’ He flipped the board down on to the snow. ‘Been surfing?’

I laughed. ‘You don’t know much about London, do you? We’re not exactly beach babes in Richmond.’

He gri

‘We have a deer park. You can go riding. There’s the Thames if you like rowing.’

‘Spil it.’

‘I … er … shopped. I’ve got an Olympic gold in that. And I had my music, of course.’

‘Time to broaden your horizons. Take a run then slide.’

‘What?’

‘Trust me, just do it.’

Feeling more than a bit foolish, I did as he asked.

‘OK, so you lead with your right foot.’

‘You can tel that how?’

‘It’s the foot you chose to slide with. Now, I’l get you in the right stance.’ He adjusted the board and showed me where to put my feet. He put his arm around my waist and rocked me to and fro. ‘It’s about balance.’

‘This is just an excuse for you to get your hands on me.’

‘I know. Great, isn’t it?’

To my surprise, I proved much better at boarding than skiing. I fel over lots, of course, but more like the average learner than the complete idiot I was on skis.

‘Let me see you do your thing, Hot Stuff,’ I teased Zed after I felt I’d sat enough times on my butt to cal it a day.

‘OK, Short Stuff. Make yourself comfortable over there and don’t move. I’m go

I sat in the shelter of a little cliff, watching the slope for any sign of Zed but he seemed to be taking a very long while to get to the begi

‘Woo-ee!’

A board shot overhead and Zed landed six metres in front of me, weaving his way down the hil .

‘Show off!’ I had to laugh. I should’ve guessed he’d do that.

He took a while to trudge back up to me, board on his shoulder, but he was gri

‘What d’ya think?’ he cal ed.

‘Hmm.’ I examined my nails. ‘Passable.’

‘Passable! That was perfect.’

‘You see, this other guy came by and did a somersault. I gave him a ten.’

He dumped the board and tackled me down on to the snow. ‘I want a ten too.’

‘Uh-uh. Not without a triple axel.’

‘That’s skating, you dork.’

‘My guy, he did one of those on the way back. Got maximum points.’

Zed growled into my neck. ‘I’m your guy. Admit it: there was no one else here.’

I giggled. ‘Stil can’t give you a ten for that jump.’

‘How about I try and bribe you?’ He kissed his way up my neck to my lips, taking time to hit al the right spots. ‘So? How did I do?’

Hoping his future sense was on hold for the moment, I quietly took a handful of snow. ‘Hmm, let me think. It seems to me … you stil need practice!’

Before he could react, I stuffed the snow down his neck, producing a squawk I’d not heard from him before.

‘Right, this is war.’ He rol ed me over but I scrambled free, gasping with laughter. I ran but he caught me in a few steps and lifted me off my feet.

‘It’s into the snowdrift for you.’ Finding a deep patch, he dumped me down so I was half buried.

‘Al the more ammunition!’ I made a quick snowbal and chucked it at him.

It veered in the air and came back to hit my face.

‘You cheater!’

Zed bent over with laughter at my outrage.

‘That does it! Two can play at that game.’

Remembering my egg lasso, I imagined pul ing the branch over his head down then let go. It sprang up, showering him with snow. Pleased with the effect, I brushed my hands nonchalantly together. ‘Take that!’

Zed shook the ice off his hat. ‘We should never have told you about being a savant. You’re dangerous.’

I leapt up, clapping my hands. ‘I’m dangerous—

dangerous! Woo-hoo, I’m dangerous!’

‘But not yet skil ed!’ The snow shifted from under me and I was on my back in the snowdrift with Zed kneeling over me, a threatening snowbal in hand.

‘So what was that about my snowboarding?’

I smiled. ‘Definitely a ten. No, an eleven.’

He chucked the bal aside. ‘Good. I’m glad you’ve seen reason.’

I spent some time on my own later in the day, walking in the woods at the back of the house, sorting through the memories Uriel had unlocked.

After my parents’ murderous argument—I couldn’t bear to dwel on that—my early childhood had been a chaotic nightmare of constant moves, haphazard care, and no love. It hadn’t become completely terrible until my aunt had hooked up with the drug dealing boyfriend.

What had happened to the rest of my family? I wondered. Had my mother and father no parents or grandparents, or other brothers or sisters for me to go to? It was a puzzle, and I suspected the answers would not be happy ones. At six, I’d only had a vague grasp of my circumstances, knowing I counted on two unreliable adults to look after me. It had been a horrible existence; not knowing how to make them love me, I had retreated into myself and taken smal steps against Phil the bul y who had made a project of hurting me.

I rather admired my child-self for that, even though I could have avoided some pain by keeping silent.

I strained to remember more. My name. It seemed a simple thing, one I should remember.

‘Sky, are you al right?’ Zed thought I’d brooded for long enough and had come in search of me bearing a takeaway cup.

‘I’m OK. Just thinking.’

He handed me the container. ‘You’ve done enough of that. Here, I made you hot chocolate. Not as good as the café’s, I know, but it should warm you up.’

‘Thanks. I need a chocolate hit right now.’

He took my elbow, steering me back towards the house. ‘Did you know that chocolate had special chemicals in it to make you feel happy?’