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  Where the hell is that second gate? Have I passed it? Gaiah was considering turning back when she saw it, almost hidden by a parked car; a low, barred gate opening into a field. She stood for a moment, and then stepped through.

  “Hello? Neal? Are you around?” A heavy silence answered her, broken by the uneven patter of moisture dripping from the leaves.

  She waited, knowing there wouldn’t be much time before Renny was running up to find her. Had he chickened out? Was he just trying to make a fool of her? And she was beginning to feel foolish, cold and wet. The old lady was on her way back.

  Oh, for God’s sake! Now this is really embarrassing. Christ! She's coming over, some advice no doubt. There was no sign of the dog and the old lady was coming right up to her, inside the gate. “I’m actually just going back now. My, er...friend didn’t turn up.” Gaiah gabbled, as she made to pass the lady, who said nothing.

  She was so close now; Gaiah could hear her breathing, heavy, rasping sounds. Gaiah peered closer. God! Was she all right, was she having a heart attack? The woman’s eyes were unfocused, her face blank. She held out her white arms pleadingly. She reached for Gaiah’s shoulders as if to steady herself, but instead her fingers wrapped themselves around Gaiah’s neck and started to tighten. The woman’s hands were like bands of steel. Gaiah's heart tried to thud free of her chest and her lungs were already bursting for air. In desperate hope, she looked around–there was nothing but shadowy trees in the thickening mist. Horrible choking noises, coming from her own throat, filled the silence. Her legs started to buckle, her mouth was open and her tongue seemed to be filling it. This can't be happening, why is...

  Through dimming vision she saw a large, strong hand catch hold of the woman’s slack jaw. Another arm clamped her still. A sudden violent tug, a crack like a breaking stick and the woman’s hands fell from Gaiah. Her body fell limply to the ground and Gaiah did likewise.

  Gaiah was frozen, she was shaking, she desperately needed to go to the loo, and there was a dead old lady next to her. An old lady who had just tried to kill her! And Neal! Neal owned those arms which had saved her. “I’m sorry, Gaiah. There was no other way to stop her. Are you okay?” His face was pale and his eyes worried.

  “No. I’m not bloody well okay! This is awful, what happened? Who is she? Who are you?”

  “Gaiah! Gaiah!” Renny’s anxious voice came up the road to them. Gaiah’s legs became her own again and she jumped to her feet. “Oh crap. What will we do?”

  Neal looked around. “Run. Run back to school with Renny. Say nothing, I’ll deal with this.”

  “Gaiah! For Power’s sake, answer me.” Renny was getting closer.

  “But what about her? There’s her car.” She pointed to a dark shape in the fog.

  “That’s not hers, it's Graeme’s.”

  There was no time to react to that as Renny’s footsteps came closer. Gaiah ran out to the road to meet her. “Sorry Renny. God! I’m freezing. That was a bad idea, let’s go back to school quickly.” Gaiah said and started running.

  “What the Or’ka was that about, Gaiah? I was worried sick.” Renny's face was ashen and her eyes shone with tears.

  Gaiah paused in her sprint to the school. “Renny, trust me. I will explain it all to you, I promise. But just for now I really need to get back, to get warm. I’m fine, honestly. Please don’t ask me now, but we will talk later.”

  The rest of the day passed in a blur. To Gaiah's relief, Cassie joined them at break, full of the latest scandal in town. Gaiah met Renny's anxious, questioning glances and mouthed 'later'. Luckily, the polo neck hid the bruising around her neck, so there were no awkward questions. It took enormous effort to stay calm; her hands twisted and clutched each other under the desk. Her head was pounding and the chill damp seemed to have soaked into her bones. By the time Kaley picked them up, Gaiah really did feel sick. As soon as they got home, Kaley took Gaiah’s temperature which was slightly up.

  “I just want to sleep,” said Gaiah. A reaction to what she had been through was really kicking in now, and she was shaking.

  “Yes, bed is definitely the best place for you, I think,” Kaley agreed, and turned on the electric blanket in Gaiah’s bed.

  But even with that Gaiah was still cold. She put on fleecy socks and a thick, woolly jumper over her pyjamas. Renny came in and sat on the bed. She plucked at and smoothed the quilt cover while she said, “You must talk to me Gaiah or I will tell Kaley and Alasdair about all the weirdness going on.”

  Gaiah sighed. “I know, I know. Just let me sleep now, Renny, and we will talk before I do another thing or even before I leave this house again, I promise. Please?”

  Gaiah really felt wretched, and realized she must look it too, because Renny nodded, leant over, kissed her, and left the room, closing the door softly.

  Alone in the room, Gaiah sat up and put her head in her hands. Dear God, what had happened? What was it all about? What does it mean? What the hell am I going to do? Oh my God! Graeme’s car was there. What did that mean? Is he all right? Where was he? What did he have to do with everything?

  Neal had saved her, she knew that. This was a comforting thought, even though she had to force her brain to do a detour around the image of the old lady. Her throat was sore and chills were shivering through her. Turning on her electric blanket, she lay back, pulled the blankets over her head, allowed her natural defenses take over and fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next day was Saturday, so Gaiah slept in until the complaining drone of a lawnmower not too far in the distance woke her, and thin winter sunlight brightening the room told her the day was well underway. The memory of the poor woman rushed at her; she threw her arm across her face and moaned. She had to do something. But before anything, she needed to talk to Neal. She pulled on her dressing gown and went out to the kitchen. Through the window, she saw Alasdair, beyond the courtyard, cutting the grass.

  Kaley strode in, her arms full of folded towels. “I can hardly believe it, but, Gorand and his family are arriving today,” said Kaley. “Everything is nearly ready, so there’s no problem. Renny is a great help.” She nodded to the front room, and the sound of hoovering. “I thought she’d go home for the weekend but she was adamant she wanted to stay.”

  Gaiah’s heart sank. Of course Renny wanted to stay. Gaiah had no idea what she was going to tell her, but she knew she had to say something.

  “You’re looking a lot better today, how are you feeling?” inquired Kaley, putting her hand to Gaiah’s forehead. “That’s good–no temperature.”

  “I feel fine now, I don’t know what was wrong yesterday,” muttered Gaiah.

  “Right, you go for a shower and go back to bed for a while, if you want. I’ll bring you in some breakfast, and maybe you’ll get up later when our guests arrive?”

  Gaiah nodded. “Sure. Thanks, Grandma, I won’t be long.” But she was. She spent ages in the shower, the hot water massaging her back, as she stared unseeing through the steam-misted doors. What should she do? How could she explain to Renny that Neal lured her to a deserted lane, where someone tried to kill her? Then he saved her? And somewhere in the locality, someone was looking for an old lady and a dog. It all sounded crazy.

  She washed her hair and gave it two conditioning treatments. Then she exfoliated, rinsed with a hydrating gel and reached for a facial mask. Finally, she realized her skin was going to be like a prune if she stayed in much longer, and all she was really doing was avoiding Renny. Realistically, she couldn’t do that indefinitely. Also, it was neither fair nor sensible. Things were happening that were way outside her scope, and whatever complicated feelings she had about Neal and Graeme, she needed to tell someone and ask for help. With this resolved, she got out of the shower and was drying her hair in a few minutes.

  Sitting back against the pillows, she stared out the window at the blank sky. Allowing her thoughts to drift, all she knew for sure was that the most important thing to do was talk to Neal.
She didn't know why or how. She was just finishing the last piece of toast when Renny came in. She closed the door and sat on the bed. Gaiah felt a pang of guilt when she saw Renny's pale face and shadowed eyes.

  “Now, Gaiah, no more avoiding things. Tell. Me. What’s. Going. On.”

  Gaiah sat up and took a deep breath. For some reason, she felt as if she were betraying someone. But she knew she had to tell. “The day before yesterday, I got a note from Neal asking me to meet him behind school.”

  Renny’s face crumpled. “What? Why didn’t you tell me? Oh my Energies! Was that what happened yesterday? How could you?”

  This was worse than Gaiah thought it was going to be. Renny was so upset at not being told. Gaiah found it hard to come up with any justification for her own behavior, except, “I just wanted to talk to Neal.” Which sounded lame, even to her own ears. “I’m really sorry, Renny, I truly am. It’s just… just...I felt really odd about the whole thing, as if maybe there was something I should know.”

  Renny waved her hand impatiently. “Well, anyway, what did happen yesterday?”

  “I went straight to where he told me to go. There was no one there, just an old lady walking her dog, then I was just deciding it was a trick or something, when the old lady reappeared and attacked me.”

  Renny leapt to her feet and paced the room. “I knew it, I knew it. Do you see why you should never have gone on your own? Powers! I’m so angry, I could de-energize you, Gaiah.” She stopped by the window. “But I’m so glad you’re all right.” She ran back and gave Gaiah a hug.

  Gaiah began to get dressed. Somehow it seemed easier to talk about attacks and strangling while fully dressed rather than in fluffy pyjamas.

  “Get back to the story, Gaiah.” Renny planked herself on the edge of the bed. “You were on your own when I met you. What happened?”

  Gaiah shuddered. “Well, Neal appeared and–”

  Renny was on her feet again. “Neal? We were right about him all the time.” Her voice rose. “I knew we should have done something about it.”

  Gaiah caught Renny’s arm. “No! No...you don’t–”

  The door burst open and Kaley dashed in. “Powers Almighty! They’re here, they’re here! Please Renny, come and help. I wasn’t expecting them for hours yet. Gaiah, will you finish getting dressed and join us, fast as you can?”

  Kaley was urging Renny out in front of her.

  “One second, I'll get the tray.” Renny returned to Gaiah, picked up the tray and, under her breath, said, “We’ll finish this conversation later and we will do something about it.”

  Entertaining visitors was the last thing Gaiah felt like, but at least, it had taken Renny off her back for the moment. She threw on some clothes and followed them into the kitchen. Gorand and his family were in high humour. Gorand’s normally serious face was wreathed in smiles as he proudly introduced his children, Laoise and Niasa, six-year-old twins. They stood pressed to their mother’s side, watching everything with wide, blue eyes, but refusing to be drawn into conversation. His wife, Daveen, was a tall, beautiful woman. Her Gaianan hair was dyed a rich russet, and held in two braids with gold ribbons.

  Gorand apologized for arriving so early. “I made a mistake with the dual time. Sorry, I’m always doing it.”

  Kaley pointed to the freshly-brewed pot of coffee. “You couldn’t have timed it better.” She took a tray from the oven and slid a dozen scones on to a colourful plate. Alasdair made hot chocolate for the twins and they all sat around in the kitchen. They stayed sitting there long after they’d finished Kaley’s hot scones.

  Daveen was a witty and talkative woman. She kept them all entertained with stories of the school she ran. She trained on how to use their energies: how to move atoms and how to redirect things to Earth or on Earth. A frequent mistake made by learners, she told them, was to try and move energy in an entire block, instead of extracting it in individual photons and electrons. And, she told them, as they usually practice with water because it is such a huge source of energy, they often shifted unsuspecting fish or frogs as well, which would then rain down on a bewildered Earth town or village. Her description of a remote desert town in Australia bombarded by hundreds of white fish was hilarious, but the stories of the frog showers really made Gaiah forget the horror filling her head, and she laughed aloud.

  “These have been well-documented in Earth’s history for centuries,” Daveen said. “In fact, there’s an engraving from the fifteen hundreds showing a shower of fish in Singapore, and even though it’s embarrassing to admit it, I have to confess that was my fault. In my enthusiasm to help construct a house that was to be our door for shifting in the area, I moved a whole lake by mistake. And while I could just about manage the water’s energy, I couldn’t manage the fish. Oh Powers! They...just…emptied down…over every one!” She spluttered with laughter and her two children shrieked in delight.

  The twins had lost their shyness and asked Gaiah to take them for a walk before the early winter dark arrived. Renny jumped at the suggestion. “Yes, great idea. I’ll get our coats.”

  Oh God! There’s no avoiding it. I’ll have to go and finish this. Gaiah reluctantly got to her feet. Renny came back with jackets and scarves. The twins, already bundled into their coats were tugging at her arm.

  Kaley stood. “Actually, Gaiah, I don’t think you should go. It’s very cold and you did have a temperature yesterday. Renny, would you mind taking them on your own?”

  Gaiah sagged back on her chair with relief at the reprieve, but she didn’t miss Renny’s meaningful glare as she left with the twins. Gaiah helped Kaley and Alasdair get dinner ready. All she could think was, talk to Neal, I must talk to Neal.

  The twins stayed glued to Renny for the rest of the evening, following her from room to room. So there was no chance to chat privately, and while Gaiah was glad of this distraction, she knew the conversation with Renny had to be finished down to its last awful detail. And the consequences dealt with.

  At dinner, conversation flowed, easily and entertainingly. Kaley’s delicious spaghetti bolognese was a great success. Renny didn’t take part much. It was so unusual for Renny to be withdrawn and Gaiah felt a pang of guilt for being responsible for this change. The winter evening was dark when they moved into the front room and drew the curtains.

  Alasdair had a big fire going and Kaley brought in coffee and homemade biscuits. The children, curled up together in a big armchair, lost themselves in the array of comics and colouring books that Kaley produced. The conversation became serious and Gorand’s view of the future was bleak. He told them two of the Five Or‘kan families were investing their families on Earth. Seoc, from Clan Fire, with his brother, who was now of age, barely had a presence on Or’ka, other than to keep their slaves working.

  This indicated that their human occupation was becoming streamlined, and they were going to be able to stay Earthways for the centuries needed for complete domination. As far as he knew, Clan Moon, the most powerful clan, had one son, Gunn, who, with his cousins, were occupying humans and building support on Earth.

  Gaiah leant forward. “What about the other families?”

  “Clan Spirit has no representation in the Or’kan council. They are one of the oldest and richest of the Or’kan families. But every succeeding generation has become more hedonistic and selfish. That family has now dwindled down to one son. Their supply of slaves is running out. They’re desperate to replace them. The other two clans, Clan Night and Clan Shadow, are supporting them all from Or’ka, by forcing more and more work out of the remaining Or’kan people.”

  Gorand looked at Gaiah “What do you think we should do?”

  Gaiah looked at him blankly. “Me? Nothing. I know nothing about this situation at all”

  “But what do you feel we should do?” insisted Gorand.

  She was uneasily aware that there was hope and expectation in the eyes watching her. She looked around for support and was dismayed to see this mirrored around the room; even her
grandparents were waiting. This is so unfair. What do they expect from me? The knowledge that she was disappointing them all added to her building anxiety about yesterday. She clenched her fists, cutting half-moons into her palms. Her voice rose. “Why don’t you believe me? I haven’t got a clue.”

  Gorand couldn’t accept this. “But you are a melding’s child! There must be something you know or feel?”

  Gaiah jumped to her feet. “There isn’t!” Her shout ended on a sob. Everyone stared at her in shocked silence. God! This is all too much, I can’t bear it. She turned and ran from the room. Gorand’s s voice followed her down the hall.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset her.”

  Kaley’s voice was loud as she rose to close the door. “Of course you didn’t. She's only just finding out about things. It’s too soon to be looking for answers from her. She just needs more time.”

  Gorand sighed. “I’m just not too sure how much time we have.”

  Gaiah cut off their voices with her bedroom door. She sat staring out into the dark. By the time she’d crossed her room to her desk by the window, Gaiah was already regretting her behaviour. She gazed unseeing out at the night. She was just about to go back and apologize when a pale face materialized outside the window, directly in front of her. Her hands flew to her mouth and stifled her scream. Her heart seemed to pulse in her throat. Neal?

  He stared at her through the window. His eyes were serious and his face was pale, still bruised from the fight with Graeme. She should have shouted but she didn’t. She should have run for help, but she didn’t. Her body seemed to move of its own volition as she stood and leaned across the desk to the window. She saw his green eyes, dark with pleading, as he mouthed–“come out and talk to me.”

  She walked around the desk. Damn! If this was a movie I’d be screaming at myself. I might as well be heading to the basement during a power failure to reason with a lunatic with a pathological hatred of teenagers and a set of sharpened knives. These ridiculous thoughts flashed through Gaiah’s head even as she opened the window; even as she stood on the desk and climbed out.