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It was the first day ofwas confusion and uncertainty I estruck, afraid, not sure what to say or how to act, delighted to be alive, but terrified Unsure of myself, I let Dervish curse and screaer at round and shook ods that he wouldn’t kill me

In the end he stornored er— maybe forever—if not for Meera Flame, one of his oldest friends In theher to tell her about his loss Meera ca what she could to console Dervish, she asked if I needed anything, if I wanted to talk about what I’d been through

Meera ary of me Like Dervish, she wondered if I’d led Bill-E to his death, so that I could take control of his body Through floods of tears I convinced her of irl, as scared of this neorld as I was of demons, her heart warmed to me and ere able to talk openly I told her about my life, my centuries in the cave, the force which compelled me to take Bill-E’s body

“I didn’t want to bring the corpse back to life and change it,” I sobbed “It just happened It was lying there, good for nothing else, and I had the power toabout living again I could see that Lord Loss was going to kill the others I just wanted to help them”

Meera believed ed to convince Dervish of the truth She also dealt with the difficulties of Bill-E’s disappearance and one to live with relatives Through her contacts, Meera faked the necessary paperwork and arranged for officials in high positions to throw their weight behind the lie if anyone (such as Bill-E’s teachers) made enquiries

Those saed a birth certificate and passport for itimate niece of Dervish’s, whose mother had recently passed away In the absence of any other living relative, I’d been sent to Carcery Vale

It was too coincidental to pass close scrutiny A boy’s grandparents are brutally slaughtered… the boy takes off without saying a word to anyone… his best friend also disappears… and a girl nobody has ever heard of moves in with the man as like a father to both boys The people of Carcery Vale aren?

?t stupid I’

But Meera and her allies covered their tracks artfully Police were assured by their colleagues in other districts that Bill-E was safe and the girl’s story was on the level In the face of such carefully contrived evidence, our neighbours could do nothing except watch suspiciously and wait for the next bizarre Grady family twist

FIRST CONTACT

From the spot on the road in the forest, I e of the village, circling the houses and shops I look on enviously at the ordinary people leading their ordinary lives

Dervish is supposed to be tutoring me at home while I recover from the loss of my mother Meera has supplied us with school books and equipment Of course, Dervish hasn’t once sat down to helpit by myself I complete the necessary exercises so that Meera can show them to the relevant authorities and keep them happy

I enjoy the ho like this before I learnt how to do practical things in my rath, like cook, wash and sharpen weapons I ic But I never studied books—they didn’t exist then I knew nothing about global history, geography, science, mathematics

It’s fascinating I know a lot already, courtesy of Bill-E’smuch more Like most people, Bill-E didn’t retain all that he learnt, so I only have access to the bits he remembered ButI see, hear or read By devouring the books Meera givesscores of television docuether many of the facts of this brave neorld Ironically I probably know more about it than most of the children who are natives of this time

I’d love to go to school and learn from real teachers I study as best I can at hora taught by another person There’s so s I could uncover about the world, if I only had someone to instruct me