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 heard her nan knocking on her bedroom door.
"Can I come in sweetheart?"
Without waiting for a response she came in and sat on the edge of the bed. She looked serious, her face slightly harder than normal.
"Your mum's just gone, she left a birthday present for you."
Tonya was trying - unsuccessfully - to pretend it wasn't her sixteenth birthday. When they'd got back from the caravan she had persuaded her Nan to let her stay with her and her mum had reluctantly agreed. Their argument was left unresolved, despite Ruby regularly coming over to the flat to try and speak to her.
"Listen, sweetheart, I know it's your birthday but we need to talk. I've been patient with you. I've let you stay here for nearly a month now, and I'm so grateful for all the help you've given me with your grandad."
Tonya's grandfather had come out of hospital. He was now in a wheelchair and was still suffering from long-term memory loss brought on by his stroke. Tonya had kept herself busy helping her nan with her granddad in the evenings, desperately trying to block out the world, busying herself with the piles of never-ending schoolwork.
"Ton, please, don't you think it's about time you faced up to all this and sorted stuff out with your mum? Its your sixteenth, you shouldn't be hiding away in your old nans house for goodness sake."
Tonya didn't know what to say, she stretched her t-shirt over her knees and tried to make her body as small as it could go. Her nan continued without waiting for a response.
"Look, I know you're angry, and I'm not going to pry, I'm sure you've got your own reasons, but she asked me to try and persuade you to go over tomorrow. She said Tyler won't be there, it will just be you and her. So, you can talk. She's desperate to make it up, sweetheart. Life's too short to hold grudges, darlin', just look at your poor grandad."
Tonya picked at the skin around her fingers. Vish kept telling her to tell her mum the truth about what he did that day – for the baby if she wasn't going to do it for herself – but what about the eye? How was she going to tell her about what happened to Tyler's eye? What if Ruby blamed her? What if Tyler said she was a liar and her mum didn't believe her? What if she'd left it too late?
Birdie interrupted her thoughts "Look, I know you said you were going to stay at Diya's tomorrow right? Well, why not pop over to your mums first."
Tonya felt her insides flip with guilt. She was actually going to see Vish. On the weekends she would bunk the train and go and visit him in secret. It was her favourite time. They would hang out kissing by the side of the arcades or mess about on his bike along the beach.
She'd been telling her nan she was staying at Diya's as she didn't know how she would feel about her staying the night at a boy's house or going up to the caravan so much. Vish's mum was super strict and Tonya wasn't allowed in Vish's room at night anymore anyway, but still, she worried her nan wouldn't let her go, so it has become easier just to lie about going to Diya's.
