‘So, how’s it going?’ asked Scott.
‘Great. How about you?’ Lana linked arms with him.
‘Pretty good.’
‘How’s work?’
‘Not too bad. How’s the academy?’
‘Amazing,’ grinned Emma, as she linked his other arm through hers.
‘So, you ready to tell me what really goes on over there, then?’ he said cheekily.
‘Nope,’ Lana said, looking off into the distance.
‘What Lana means is that what really goes on there is a lot of studying, the occasional shopping trip into the city, hanging out with Barber and Diarmuid…’
‘Oh, you’re still together then?’
‘Of course. Aren’t you still with Lottie?’ asked Emma.
Scott shook his head sadly.
‘Oh man, I’m so sorry. What happened?’ Lana asked.
He shrugged, ‘Just didn’t work out. We’re better as pals.’
Lana pouted. ‘Really?’
He raised his eyebrows and nodded. ‘Really. She’s fun but that was about it, really. You know what I mean?’
‘I guess so,’ Emma sighed. ‘No-one else on the horizon?’
‘Nah… can’t be bothered with girls at the moment. Too much like trouble, if you ask me.’
‘Hey!’ Both girls unlinked arms with him and pushed him away; his feet skidded on the ice and before they knew it, he was sitting on his backside.
Lana burst out laughing, while Emma’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she scrambled towards him, holding out her hand to help him up. ‘I’m so sorry. Are you alright?’
Lana continued to laugh, tears falling down her cheeks.
‘I can’t believe you just did that,’ Scott said, open mouthed.
‘I know, I’m sorry,’ Emma breathed as she helped him to his feet.
‘C’mon, let’s just leave her,’ Emma said, shaking her head as the two of them started to walk off, leaving Lana doubled over with laughter.
‘Will she ever change?’ Scott asked.
Emma shook her head. ‘Nope. Never.’
As they started walking away from her, a huge black jeep skidded around the corner. The bright morning sun glared off the windscreen and they couldn’t see the driver as the vehicle seemed to hop along the treacherous ice.
Emma dropped Scott’s arm and turned to look behind her, where Lana was still giggling with her hands on her hips, facing the opposite direction. She went to run towards her sister but her boots couldn’t gain traction on the slippery surface and she fell hard to the ground.
Scott watched in horror as the vehicle seemed to move in slow motion, getting closer and closer to Lana, who appeared to be oblivious to what was happening.
But, right at the last minute, she turned around, saw how close she was to being hit and ducked out of its way, throwing herself over a snow-covered hedge.
‘Lana!’ screeched Emma as she finally managed to stand up, her feet teetering. Scott grabbed her and they both just about managed to run across the road as the jeep continued on its way.
‘O-M-G!’ squealed a voice from the garden.
‘Are you okay?’ Scott shouted as he ran to the nearby gate, Emma in tow.
‘I…I think so,’ she winced, rubbing her back. ‘My bum and lower back took the brunt of the fall. I didn’t land the way I usually do.’
‘Huh?’
‘Oh nothing,’ she muttered, Emma pulling her to one side.
‘Seriously, are you alright? Why didn’t you land on your feet? You always land on your feet?’
‘I think it’s because it all happened so quickly. I didn’t have time to even think. I’m okay, though. Honest.’
Emma hugged her.
‘Was that a Hummer?’ Scott asked, still watching as the giant black jeep sped off into the distance.
‘I didn’t get a chance to look at it, Scott. I was too busy running for my life,’ Lana moaned.
‘I think it might have been,’ Emma replied. ‘We don’t get many of those on the island.’
‘Many? I’ve never even seen one here before. It looked so cool.’
Both girls glared at him.
‘Sorry. Point taken.’
OoO
‘I can’t believe he made you come down here,’ Stan snarled at his more attractive brother, who was sat beside him.
‘I’m just here to make sure you don’t do something stupid.’
‘Oh, so now I’m stupid, huh? Doesn’t he think I’m up to the job? All I have to do is snatch some snivelling little brat.’
‘I guess he thinks this is more important than usual. He wants to be sure everything goes smoothly.’
‘Smoothly? And he doesn’t think I can do that? What does he think I am? I’m not a kid anymore.’
‘Maybe he just wanted someone more mature to keep an eye on you, or something… Look out,’ yelled the other man, pulling the steering wheel away from the girl in the road.
‘What the hell?’ shouted Stan. ‘I did see her, you know?’
‘You what? You almost killed her. Let’s go back and make sure she’s okay.’
‘Hell no. We’ve got a job to do. We need to go and plan everything to the last detail. She’s fine. She jumped over the hedge.’
Shaking his head, he closed his eyes for a second. ‘Why does father want this little girl, anyway?’
Stan shrugged. ‘Mum wants a daughter. Something like that, anyway.’
‘So now we just take someone else’s child? It’s not right.’
‘And you wanna tell him that?’
Archie stiffened.
‘I didn’t think so.’
‘There must be more to it. If he could have any child he wanted, why this one? Why come all the way here? What’s so special about her?’ he said, glancing down at the photo of the cute girl holding hands with a slightly older boy as they walked along the beach. ‘There must be another reason.’
Stan shrugged. ‘Does it matter? Dad wants her, and we have to get her for him. If we don’t…’
‘He’ll kill us. I know, Stan. I know.’ Archie looked out of the window, off into distance, wishing he’d been born into another family.
CHAPTER TWO
‘Apparently someone’s bought old Josiah’s house.’ Patrick cradled a bottle of beer as he dunked a couple of Mexican chips into the chilli dip on the coffee table before popping them into his mouth.
‘Oh, really?’ Audrey replied.
Nodding, he turned to Declan, who was standing next to the Christmas tree admiring Lucy Jo’s angel, perched on top. ‘Josiah Grimshaw used to own the old farmhouse up on the hill on the other side of the island. He died earlier this year.’
‘Yes, it was all very sad,’ Audrey added.
Declan smiled sadly, glancing across at Lana and Emma knowingly. He knew all about Josiah, of course, because the man’s ghost had travelled with the girls to London and had taken up residence at the academy for a short time before his mystery was solved.
‘Who’s the new owner, Dad?’ asked Emma, in between texting her boyfriend.
‘Nobody seems to know. It’s a bit of a mystery,’ he laughed.
Lana raised her eyebrows and elbowed her sister in the side; Emma promptly responded in the same way.
‘What’s for dinner, Mum? I’m starving,’ Greg asked as he appeared in the doorway, rubbing his stomach.
‘Lasagne. It’ll be ready in ten minutes, if you want to go and wash your hands? Go tell Lucy Jo to come downstairs, too.’
Turning, he almost ran straight into Saleena.
‘Whoa, slow down there, kiddo.’
‘Sorry,’ he whispered, his cheeks turning a much darker shade of pink, before running up the stairs. The creaky stair squeaked loudly as he caught his foot on it.
‘Lucy Jo was just showing me her Monster High dolls,’ Saleena said, as she picked up her glass of white wine. ‘They’re really cool. I’ve never seen them before. Have you seen them, Dec?’
&n
bsp; Shaking his head, his eyebrows knitted together. ‘I’m more of an Action Man myself,’ he chuckled, before placing his hand protectively on her lower back.
‘They are really cool. If I wasn’t nearly seventeen, I’d have some myself,’ Emma added.
‘Well, perhaps you’ll get one for Christmas,’ Lana sniggered.
Emma rolled her eyes. ‘So did you tell Mum and Dad about the idiot that nearly ran you over this morning?’
‘What?’ Patrick and Audrey both replied at the same time.
‘What on Earth happened?’ Patrick asked.
‘It was nothing, Dad. Just an idiot in a jeep skidded on the ice, that’s all.’
‘Yeah, and nearly slammed into her. Luckily she just managed to jump over a garden hedge in time. It could have killed her. And it was driving way too fast, especially for those conditions.’
‘Darling!’ Audrey exclaimed. ‘Were you hurt?’
‘Just a sore back and bum, Mum. I’m okay.’
‘Are you sure? Do you want me to have a look?’
Panic briefly filled Lana’s eyes as she was quick to brush off the extent of her injuries. Since the tattoos had appeared, she and Emma had to be careful not to reveal them to their parents. So far, it had been easy.
‘I still think I ought to have a look, darling. Just to be on the safe side.’
‘No, Mum. I’m fine.’
‘She really is, Mum. I saw earlier. There’s just a little bruise starting to appear that’s all.’
‘Rub a little Arnica cream onto it and you’ll be right as rain,’ Declan suggested. ‘So, folks, what have you got planned for us next week?’ he said, changing the subject.
Lana shot him a grateful glance before she and Emma stood up to go and set the table.
OoO
‘Who the hell are you?’ Stan asked the pretty young woman with short black hair as he carried a box of supplies into the farmhouse and found her sitting on the kitchen worktop, reading a newspaper.
‘Kimberly. Hi, you must be Archie’s brother,’ she held out a hand.
He ignored it. ‘He brought you here with him?’
‘Yeah, I hope you don’t mind.’
‘Mind? You must be freakin’ kidding me. Archie!’ he yelled, opening the door into the living room.
‘Erm, he’s not here. He went for a walk around the farm.’
‘I could kill him,’ Stan muttered under his breath as he swung past her, back out into the cold.
‘Charming,’ Kim whispered, as she watched him stride down the garden, towards the old pig sty and out of sight.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Stan shouted the second he laid eyes on his brother.
‘Hello to you too. What?’ Archie replied.
‘You brought a girl? Agirl, Archie? What the hell? How are we gonna do this with a freakin’girl hanging around? Are you freakin’ insane?’ The vein in his temples pumped as he clenched and unclenched his fists.
‘Stan, for God’s sake, calm the hell down. It’s just Kim. She’s cool.’
‘She’scool? Aw man, you’ve just signed your own death warrant.’
‘Oh don’t be so melodramatic. Father knows she’s here. In fact, it was his idea to have a woman come along to help look after the girl. Kim’s my girlfriend, we’ve been together a couple of years. We can trust her, so leave her the hell alone. You hear me?’
It wasn’t often that Archie lost his temper, but when he did, Stan knew, from being his little brother for twenty years, to back down.
‘Okay, okay.’
oOo
‘Christmas day tomorrow,’ squealed Lucy Jo as she ran down the stairs at speed, narrowly missing Fred who stood waiting, tail wagging, at the bottom. ‘Hurry up, Greg!’ she shouted as she quickly threw on her boots, warm coat, gloves and hat.
‘We’re ready, Dad,’ she screeched, the moment she and her brother stood at the front door with Fred on his leash.
‘Coming,’ he shouted from the kitchen. Turning to his friend, he asked, ‘Fancy joining us for a walk in the snow, Declan?’
Nodding, Declan gave Saleena a peck on the lips before he grabbed his own jacket and followed them out the door.
‘Peace at last,’ Emma sighed as she trampled down the stairs wearing her pyjamas and dressing gown.
‘You don’t mean that,’ Audrey smiled from the kitchen. ‘Tea?’
Emma nodded.
‘Is Lana up yet?’ her mum asked.
‘Not really.’
‘It’s almost 10.30.’ Audrey rolled her eyes.
‘But it’s also Christmas holidays.’ Emma smiled.
‘And we have guests.’
‘Okay, I’ll go and drag her out of bed, then.’ Emma tightened her dressing gown around her and rushed up the stairs two at a time.
‘Come on, sleepy head. Mum said you’ve got to get up.’
‘It’s too early,’ Lana muttered from beneath the duvet.
‘Sis, it’s almost half past ten.’
‘So?’
‘So, we’ve got Declan and Saleena here.’
‘They don’t mind,’ Lana groaned.
‘That’s not the point.’
‘Urgh, just ten more minutes,’ she muttered.
‘If you stay in bed another ten minutes, Mum will probably set the kids on you – and the dog.’ She grinned mischievously.
With that, Lana pulled back the duvet and poked her head out, squinting. ‘It’s so bright. What’s going on?’
‘It’s called sunlight, now get up.’
‘You’re so bossy.’
‘And you love me for it.’ Emma promptly grabbed the end of the duvet and pulled it. Intending to merely remove it from the bed, she somehow managed to fling it across the other side of the bedroom, knocking the large lamp on the chest of drawers onto the floor with a crash.
‘Oops,’ she said.
‘Girls? What’s going on?’ yelled their mother from downstairs.
‘Now look what you’ve done,’ Lana said as she jumped up. She put on her own dressing gown and walked out of the room, going downstairs and into the kitchen.
‘It wasn’t me,’ she said as her mother handed her a cup of tea.
Audrey rolled her eyes, Saleena sniggered and Emma appeared, looking guilty.
‘What did you do?’
‘I accidentally broke the lamp in our bedroom. Sorry, Mum.’
Shaking her head, Audrey passed her other daughter a cup of tea too.
‘Morning, girls,’ Saleena said brightly.
‘Morning.’ They grinned.
‘So, you’re still not morning people then?’ she asked. ‘Even after months at the academy? I figured you’d be raring to get up and go every day. There’s so much to do,’ she said with excitement.
‘There is?’ asked Lana, whilst Emma sat down with a smile.
‘Of course. Everything that you’ve been learning can be put to good use - even here.’
‘It can?’
‘Sure it can,’ she winked.
‘Saleena’s absolutely right, you two,’ Audrey said as she washed the morning’s breakfast dishes. ‘You ought to be practising everything you’ve learned over in London.’
Lana gave Emma a sideways glance that wasn’t lost on Saleena.
‘You could go carol singing, for starters,’ Audrey suggested. ‘Put your music lessons to good use.’
‘That’s not a bad idea,’ winked Saleena.
‘Erm, I think we’ll find something else to keep us occupied, won’t we, sis?’ Lana smirked, elbowing Emma in the side.
‘Absolutely.’ Emma nodded and rolled her eyes.
oOo
‘Scott!’ yelled Lana as she threw a little stone at his bedroom window.
‘Why don’t we just go and knock at the front door, like normal people?’
‘Because we’re notnormal people, are we, Em?’ Lana smirked as they waited for their best friend to appear.
After a couple of minutes, and a few more
stones, the front door opened and Scott’s mother appeared with her hands on her hips and a cheeky grin on her face. ‘He’s gone for a ride, girls. Try his mobile,’ she added, shaking her head before returning indoors and closing the door behind her.
‘See, we should’ve just rung him in the first place.’
Lana dialled and let the phone ring but there was no answer. ‘He’s not picking up.’
‘Do you wanna just go for a ride and see if we can catch him up?’
‘What, in the snow?’
‘It’s not that bad, there’s only a bit of ice on the roads.’
Emma shrugged and they hurried back home to pick up their bikes.
Shivering, they started cycling up the hill towards their favourite spot, the old castle ruins overlooking much of the island. As they approached, Lana grinned and sped up, seeing Scott’s old bicycle leaning against the large broken stones at the entrance to the castle.
‘He’s very predictable,’ laughed Emma as they hopped off, dropping their bikes by his and carefully walking through the snow.
‘Scott!’ yelled Lana. ‘Where are you?’
‘Over here,’ came a voice from a little farther away.
They soon found Scott, sitting on a large flat rock. Grinning, he stood up and waved.
‘Why didn’t you call us? We’d have cycled up with you.’
He shrugged as the three of them sat down on the cold surface.
‘You okay?’ Emma asked.
He nodded, a little unconvincingly.
‘C’mon, what aren’t you telling us?’ pressured Lana.
Again he shrugged, leaning his chin on his knees. ‘It’s nothing.’
‘It’s not nothing. What’s on your mind?’ Emma asked.
‘I dunno, I guess I’m just a little…’ he shrugged again, ‘put out that you guys are having such great adventures in London without me and…’
‘And what?’ Lana whispered.
‘And I feel like I’m in the dark with you two.’
‘You’re not in the dark, and we’re not havingthat many adventures without you.’
He breathed out through his nose and shook his head. ‘You’re just not the same. It happened before you left Andilyse Island, and you won’t come clean with me. I thought I could deal with it, but the truth is, I can’t. And if you won’t tell me the truth, then…’ he glanced out across the island and shrugged yet again.