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I dive through trees and splash along a freezing creek to coverpulls on my hair, clothes Sudden pain as one catches my arm

I ain

I scrabble at the ground, pulling leaves, cold and rotting, froh the trees above: I freeze It drops, lower, right over ain when it continues beyond without pause

Footsteps now They get closer, then carry on, faint and further away until they disappear fro

Noait I count out an hour; stiff, da in the breeze, I start in fright But the more minutes tick past, the ht succeed

The sky is just brightening as I back out, inch by careful inch Birds begin their e Have I finally won at Nico’s own version of hide and seek? Could I be the first?

Light blinds my eyes

‘There you are!’ Nico grabs my arm, yanks me to my feet and I cry out in pain at my ankle, but it doesn’t hurt as ain

He brushes leaves from my clothes Slips a warm arm around my waist to help me walk back to cah my body despite the fear and pain

‘You know you can never get away, don’t you?’ he says He is exultant and disappointed in me, all at once ‘I will always find you’ Nico leans down and kisses esture of affection that I knoill in no way ease whatever punishment he devises

I can never get away

He will always find me…

CHAPTER TWO

A distant rrrring calls into deep nothingness It pulls ret, half awake, half confusion, then a slow drift back to dreams

The rrrring sounds again

Wrongness!

Awake in an instant, I spring up, but so holds round and crouch in a fighting stance Ready for attack Ready for anything…

But not this Alien, threatening shapes blur and change, beco, on top of a dresser My restraints, blankets: ht through an openAnd a gruht up in blankets on the floor

Get a grip

I hit the stop button on the alar to slow – in, out, in, out – try to cal heart, but still my nerves scream

Sebastian stares fro

‘Do you still know me, cat?’ I whisper, reach a hand for him to sniff, then stroke his fur, as much to soothe myself as him I pull the blankets back into order on the bed and he jumps up, eventually flops down, but keeps his eyes half open Watching

When I woke, I thought I was there Half asleep I knew every detail Makeshift shelters, tents Damp and cold, wood smoke, the rustle of trees, predawn birds Quiet voices But the one Details fall away A dream, or a real place?

My Levo says mid-happy at 58, yet my heart still beats fast After what just happened my levels should have plu It should at least cause pain Slated criminals can’t do violence to self or others, not while a Levo keeps guard of every feeling Not while it causes blackouts or death if the wearer gets too upset or angry With what I did yesterday, I should be dead: zapped by the chip they put in my brain when I was Slated

Echoes of last night’s nightet away He will always find me…

Nico! That is his name He is not an insubstantial drealealint cold or hot in an instant He’ll knohat all thispart of y teacher, of all things A strange transformation from…from…what? Slippery memory falls away My fists clench in frustration I’d had hi

Nico will know But should I ask? Whatever he was, or is now, one thing I do know: he is dangerous Just thinking his na To be close to him no matter the cost

He will always find me

A knock on the door ‘Kyla, are you up? You’re going to be late for school’

‘Your chariot, ladies,’ Jazz says and bows He puts one foot up on the side of the car to yank the door open I clah it has a feeling of ritual about it, everythe same, it is so alien A safe sameness that rankles

I stare out theon the way: far and placid as we go past Herded to school, not questioning the forces that channel us into our prescribed lives What is the difference?

‘Kyla? Earth to Kyla’

Amy has turned in her seat

‘Sorry Did you say so?’

‘I was just asking if you mind if I work after school? It’s four days a week, Monday to Thursday Mum isn’t sure you should be alone so much She said to talk to you about it’

‘Truly, it’s fine I don’t mind When do you start?’

‘Touilty look

‘You already told them you could, didn’t you,’ I say

‘Busted!’ Jazz says ‘But what about ue the rest of the way

Thedown, pretending to listen Trying to channel er to learn, so no one will have reason to focus any closer Scanning out again Lunch, alone: being ignored, as usual, by h they mostly liked Ben, me, not so much Especially now he has vanished