A Secret Man of Blood

Chapter Seventeen

"I'm ready for the past!" Sig boldly roars. "I was born in the past!"

Everyone absorbs this information.

"...Is there anyone you couldn't say that about?" Anya asks.

"...Futureboy?" Sig timidly squeaks.

Indigo suddenly stops. "I don't hear The Kindred."

"Then we've entered The Zone," Anya says, grimly.

Shimmers appear in the air but, when Squad looks straight at them, they move to the periphery of his vision. A small bird flies down and lands on a rock, looking around, furtive and ravenous. It lets out a plaintive cry and flies off. Squad looks away for a moment and the same thing happens again, in the exact same spot; the bird lands, looks around, lets out a cry and flies off.

He turns to the others and sees—only Anya.

"Where are Indigo and Sig?"

*

The sun has disappeared into dark sleeves of cloud and I'm alone. Mum doesn't usually allow me to leave the grounds by myself, but I'm alone. I'm wondering where Anya is, because she should be home and she's not home, and mum won't be happy with her.

Other people don't like me, but Anya likes me. I'm her twin brother, and she loves me. She loves me and now she's gone. Clouds clear and the horizon blushes; some charcoal hills detach themselves from the darkness and become green again.

"Anya!" I call.

Someone laughs. There are people around. I sense them and they sense me. Three boys – the tallest one has a chin like a sharpened tooth. I nod and try something with my face that might be a smile. They smile at each other but there are dark flashes in their eyes, which make me feel very alert and shameful.

"Little Indigo Fitzwallis," the bigger boy says. Ah, mocking. Interesting.

I don't want to speak. I'm holding my heart down with my hands. There's something in my voice that makes people uneasy, like an indelible stain. Mum says I speak mechanically and has taken steps to alter this, but Anya likes the way I speak because it's clinical, advanced for our years and exact.

Soon it will be our eighth birthday and all of Anya's friends will be there. I will be there too, because I must blow out the candles so people will be happy, then they will ask me if I'm enjoying myself and after I've answered they will walk off to talk to other people.

Oh, the bullies are still here. I try to walk away but the biggest boy catches my elbow. He clearly has something to say. He wants to humiliate me but I pretend I don't understand, because people don't expect me to understand. I must gather even the smallest social advantage, though I feel pathetic and snivelling.

"Where are you going?" the boy laughs.

"I have to...find...my sister," I say.

"Aww," he replies, turning to his friends. "Baby has to find his sister."

"Correct," I say. The baby comment, intended to humiliate me, is partially welcome, because it will amuse his friends and possibly lead to him releasing me. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

I try to walk on and his power yanks me back, a fist crashing into my face, then I'm on the floor. He looks down at me, with two candles lit behind his eyes that weren't there before.

I wipe my lip and stand up. My face is numb, and I feel as hard and lonely as the moon. It would be wrong to destroy them, and they don't know about my power. Only Anya knows and she says we can't tell anyone, because I'm too powerful and they'll want to use me as a weapon. Anya! Where is Anya?