After discovering that human minds are created by creatures living in the atmosphere Tonya must discover the truth of who she really is before it's too late.
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Fifteen-year-old Tonya is a neglected teenager from London who...
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Tonya saw Diya stepping onto the bus as she ran towards it. She jumped on just in time before it pulled away - as usual it was already rammed with loads of people from her school. Tonya followed Diya up the stairs to the top where, for the first time in ages, they managed to get two seats next to each other.
Tonya vaguely heard Diya saying something about how her brother was involved in some dodgy credit card scam and how he had loads of expensive stuff in his room, like watches and trainers for sale.
Tonya wasn't listening though, because the humming noise that haunted her in the night was back. She looked across at Diya.
"Diya?" Tonya said nervously. "Can you hear that?"
"Hear what?" said Diya, who was now intensely scrolling through her phone, lost in her social feed.
"That sort of low humming sound?"
"Nah. Maybe you gotta' get your ears cleaned or sah'ing'? So anyway, did you hear what happened to Rana, in Queens Market?"
"I've got to get off the bus," Tonya said quietly.
"What?" Diya asked without looking up from her phone.
"I've got to get off the bus!" Tonya shouted, aware of people in the nearby seats staring at her.
Tonya jabbed at the stop button and awkwardly stumbled down the stairs off the moving bus. She could vaguely hear Diya saying something as she left her behind on the upper deck, but it was all a blur.
The bus pulled up and Tonya jumped off. The bus hadn't gone too far, so she walked back towards home.
Her mum worked as a member of cabin crew for a budget airline and had already left for work early that morning, with what Tonya reckoned must have been a killer hangover. She had pinned a note to the fridge saying she was on a short-haul flight to Manchester.
Tyler had been fully dressed for work when she'd got up. He was wearing a high-vis orange work suit with sturdy brown steel-toe boots and was finishing up his breakfast in a hurry, so he would have left by now as well. It was nice to know that the flat would be empty when she got in.
She felt so tired that really, she just wanted to get in and go to bed. She sent a message to her Nan asking her to call in sick for her; she told her it wasn't that bad, and she was okay being on her own for the day, explaining that her mum was only on a day flight so wouldn't be home too late.
She knew something was up as soon as she put the key in the door. A morning TV show was blaring out from the front room. She could hear the voice of a controversial presenter, the one she knew her mum hated. She never watched that kind of daytime TV and neither did her mum. It had to be Tye.
She put her head around the door. He looked up at her.
"What you doin' back?"
"Why you still here?" she asked, ignoring his question. Tye stretched back theatrically in the chair, lighting up a cigarette that dangled from his mouth.
