knew he would have to clean up the mess. It was only fair, after all. However, her last comment had not put him in a cooperative mood, therefore he did the minimum possible to get the kitchen back in order and retreated to his room to ready himself for what could be an interesting day.
As he showered away his exertions he suddenly recalled the triumphant feeling that had filled him when Daisy had witnessed his successful morph. The elation on her face had been enough to prove that his new-found talent was a good thing. He just had to make sure that it did not end up being his downfall.
For the first time in all the years Ryan had known her, Daisy Rose was looking anything other than radiant. Her wan skin and dull, weary eyes gave her a deathly look, and with her unkempt hair and shambling walk it was a surprise she had even been let out of the house.
‘Bloody hell Dizz, you okay?’ exclaimed Ryan as she staggered up the path to meet him.
He opened the gate and guided her through.
‘I’m so hungry,’ she said, her voice little more than a whisper.
‘What? Didn’t you have any breakfast this morning?’
Ryan began digging around in his bag for the packet of chocolate bars he had nicked from one of the kitchen cupboards, in order to sustain him throughout the day.
‘I just had my usual,’ she replied. ‘There wasn’t time for anything else.’
‘And your mum and dad just let you leave the house in this state?’
‘They’re already off to work,’ she said. It was a real effort for her to get the words out.
‘But your dad works from home!’
‘Yes, but he doesn’t like to be disturbed.’
‘Look, you should head back inside. You’re not well enough to be walking to school.’
‘I’ll be okay,’ she said with the faintest of smiles. ‘One of those chocolate bars would be nice, though.’
‘Of course. Here you are.’
It was gone in a matter of seconds and it seemed to Ryan as though a small amount of colour returned to her skin, although she had always been fair. She sat down on the grass at the side of the road and savoured the nourishment it had given her.
‘Here, have another,’ he said, pulling a second out of the pack. It, too, was wolfed down in an instant.
‘Ah, that’s better,’ grinned Daisy, her teeth covered in chocolate. ‘I didn’t think I was going to make it today. I woke up feeling so very hungry.’
‘Me too,’ said Ryan. ‘It must have been something to do with last night, but God knows what. All we were doing was lying in bed sleeping.’
‘Oh Ryan, wasn’t it great? And with Billy and Sophie there too; how wonderful! We’re going to have so much fun together.’
‘Yeah, great,’ said Ryan uncertainly. ‘Listen, how much longer were you there for after I’d gone?’
‘Oh I don’t know. Half an hour maybe? It’s hard to keep track of the time when you’re there.’
‘And how many times did you manage to morph your stick?’
‘Three I think. I don’t really remember. I’ve just been so tired and hungry since I woke up. What are you thinking?’
‘That there’s some connection between this Dreamweaving and why we both woke up starving. I’ve been pretty hungry the last couple of mornings – well, hungrier than usual – but today was something else.’
‘Maybe we should ask Tristram about it?’ suggested Daisy.
‘Yeah maybe. I’m definitely taking some food to bed with me tonight, though. Just in case.’
He reached out a hand and helped Daisy to her feet. They began walking down the lane into town as the morning sun kissed the tops of the hedgerows on either side. After several days without lifts to school Ryan was beginning to get used to the walk in, and without realising it he was really starting to enjoy Daisy’s company again.
‘So, this Academy, or society; whatever it is they want us to work for. Do you really think it exists? I mean, in the world as we see it now?’
‘I guess so,’ Daisy replied. ‘It must do. It can’t just exist in everyone’s heads. Didn’t Tristram say something to that effect?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Ryan. ‘I’ve accepted the fact that we are sharing the same experience in our dreams. But this?’ He shook his head.
‘Does it really matter?’ asked Daisy.
‘Well, yeah. I don’t want this to turn out as some big wind-up. I’d feel really stupid.’
‘I don’t know what you’re getting so worried about. Just enjoy the experience. If you must get to the bottom of it then go to the school library, or, even better, the one in town. They’re bound to have some information on the Academy if it really does exist.’
Ryan smirked to himself. Daisy really did live in another time and place.
‘That’s a good idea,’ he said. ‘Or, better still, we could pretend that there are computers all across the world that are connected together, and which hold any piece of information you could ever want. We could look there. It would be such a fun game.’
‘I know you like to tease me, Ryan,’ said Daisy airily. ‘I was just putting forward a suggestion and it prompted you to make a better one. We’re a good team, aren’t we?’
Ryan raised an eyebrow at what he considered to be a rather odd comment.
‘Yeah. Okay,’ he said dubiously.
They crossed the bypass and headed down the hill towards the school.
‘I wonder how Sophie and Billy will be feeling after last night,’ mused Daisy.
‘Probably not too bad,’ said Ryan. ‘They only managed one morph a-piece from what I saw.’
‘Oh, they went back in for another go when you were gone. And it was the first time there for both of them, so they had to Dreamweave to reach the island in the first place.’
‘In that case they’re probably feeling the same,’ said Ryan.
‘It will be nice to be able to talk to them about it, won’t it?’ smiled Daisy.
‘Yeah. Listen Dizz, you know this doesn’t change anything, don’t you? At school, I mean?’
Daisy looked taken aback, though she did her best to disguise it.
‘Yes, of course. No change. I’ll… err… I’d best head off then. We’re nearly there.’
She flashed him a smile, then headed off down a side road that led to a small gate at the back of the playing fields. Ryan watched her go. He knew it was for his own good, but there was no hiding from the burning guilt inside him. With a heavy heart he trudged on towards the main entrance.
‘Where do you reckon Soph is today?’ asked Jack as he and Ryan sat in registration together.
‘Dunno,’ said Ryan. ‘She often cuts it fine, but this is really pushing it.’
Mrs Jacobs was already at her desk. She had walked through the door moments earlier and immediately scowled at the two of them. Jack had been tainted by his association with Ryan, who was discovering that his involvement in the photo fiasco – and subsequent falling out with Mrs Jacobs – had really polarised opinion. The argument had caused great amusement among the other pupils, and it had certainly placed him a few rungs up on the respect ladder. However, the resultant ban on mobile phones had dropped him straight back down again. He was also receiving some looks of loathing from the girls in his form. They were all sitting with their backs slightly to him, presumably assuming that he looked at all females in the same way he had looked at Miss Ward.
None of it bothered him particularly; his mind was still awash with thoughts about the previous night and he was harbouring a growing anxiety over where Sophie had got to. Following his and Daisy’s experiences that morning it would have been good to know that she was okay.
‘Perhaps I should text her?’ he suggested as Mrs Jacobs ran through the register.
‘You don’t have her number,’ scoffed Jack.
Mrs Jacobs looked up at him and glared.
‘I do,’ whispered Ryan when she was looking back down again.
‘Well, go on then,’ hissed Jack. ‘If you can
get hold of your phone, that is.’
‘Bugger,’ thought Ryan. He had only surrendered it a few minutes before and already he’d forgotten. He felt strangely naked and powerless without it.
Through careful questioning of Gibbo that morning, Ryan discovered that Billy Richards had also not made it into school that day. Rumour had it that he had come down with some highly contagious bug, which he had somehow passed on to his sister. Ryan knew better and, while he wasn’t too bothered about Billy’s absence, he remained concerned about Sophie’s well-being.
It played on his mind all morning, but then lunch break arrived and gave him something quite different to worry about. He was heading down a small alleyway between the modern languages block and the main building, when he found his way barred by a huge boy from the year above called Harry Hopkins.
Harry was well known to most of Ryan’s year group, having stamped out his authority within days of them starting. He was such a brute that many of the lads in the years above kept out of his way. Ryan tried to back up, but found his retreat blocked by a couple of Harry’s cronies.
‘Oi, Butler. Going somewhere?’ shouted Harry.
Ryan was propelled forward, leaving only a few feet between them.
‘Got a date with Miss Ward?’ Harry sneered.
‘Not until later,’ replied Ryan, figuring he had nothing to lose in making a joke out of it.
‘You’re funny, Butler,’ said Harry, grabbing Ryan’s shirt and manhandling him so that his back was against a wall. ‘You’ve cost us our phones.’
‘Hey, I didn’t ban them,’ said Ryan, holding his hands up. ‘Miss Mulligan’s the one you want