Link City

Trust Issues *

Chapter 15: Trust Issues

Later then. It wasn't like I was going anywhere.

“Skye!” Geoff motioned for her to come closer. Once she was within range, he lowered his voice slightly. “How is he?”

I desperately wanted to know know what they were talking about, but was too awkward to ask about what was obviously a private conversation.

“He wants to see you.” She was in one of those serious moods.

As the three men rose to their feet, I stayed seated, looking hopefully up at Skye.

“You come too Nance,” she said, as if suddenly noticing me. “Romeo might know something about your friends.”

I got to my feet, suddenly excited. Who was Romeo? Skye lead us down the hall into the male block, somewhere I had not yet been. We went up to the third balcony, and despite myself I couldn't help but look around for Dustin. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe he was just tired, hanging out in his cell. We stopped at a corner cell, but it was empty. Confusion coloured Skye's face.

“I don't know where he is. He was really wiped out.

“Skye.” A gravelly voice came from above us.

My chin tilted back, and I looked directly up. Above us was a metal arm that supported the large camera cluster for this corner of the block. On it, leaning back against the wall, was a boy. I backed up involuntarily, trying to get a better look. It was kind of hard to see him, but he didn't look much older than Skye. His dark brown hair was cut in a sort of long swoop, but maybe he just hadn't trimmed it in a while.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how he'd gotten up there. It was far out of reach of even the highest jump.

“Nice view?” Skye raised an eyebrow.

Then she did something that took the breath right out of my lungs. She jumped up so she was balanced on the metal guard rail that separated us from the three story drop. It was something out of a comic book. The metal bar was incredibly thin, yet Skye stood on it as if it was nothing, as if she was not a slight loss of balance away from falling to her death. Then she bent her knees and jumped again, her hands closing around the pole on which Romeo sat.

“Skye wha-” I couldn't finish my sentence.

“Be careful,” the smooth talker teased.

Geoff must have caught onto my awed expression for he turned to me and said. “Romeo's good; one of those spy types, but he's got nothing on her.”

Was that fatherly pride I heard in his voice?

Like the gymnasts I'd seen on tv Skye used the momentum from her jump, spinning around the bar with straight legs, and landing in a crouch on top. It was almost an unnecessary display of skill. She perched a few centimetres away from the camera cluster, like a bird on a telephone wire, not using the wall like the boy did.