THE CLEARING (7 page)

Chapter Twelve

Riley

*

Eddie, Rita and Luc had left the house. Now it was only me and Pa left here in the chilly dining room. He said he would stay for a couple more minutes and then he had to go and sort stuff out with Eddie. The fire had burnt out a while ago and there were only a few glowing embers in the grate.  It was late and everything felt precarious and strange.

Ma came downstairs in her dressing gown.

‘Can’t sleep?’ Pa asked her.

She shook her head. ‘Come on. Help me clear the table. We can wash up tomorrow.’

The three of us began stacking dirty plates and carrying empty dishes back into the kitchen.

‘So what’s going to happen now?’ I asked.

‘Eddie and I will have to gather as many people as we can,’ Pa replied. ‘We’ll head to Ringwood tomorrow.’

‘Will you at least try and talk to Grey first?’ Ma asked.

She didn’t realise that James Grey wasn’t a man you could to talk to. He was not the listening kind.

‘No,’ Pa replied. ‘Eddie’s right. It’s too late for talking. We’ll have to hold him off; drive him back.’

Pa confirmed what I thought.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said. ‘Eddie and I can take him.’ Pa grinned, but I didn’t feel like laughing.

 ‘Come on, you two,’ Pa said. ‘Stop looking so worried. We’ve been through worse and we’ll get through this.’

I stacked the glasses next to the sink.

‘Cup of tea?’ Ma asked.

‘Mint please,’ I replied. ‘Well at least Luc and I can help,’ I said. ‘We’ve seen Grey up close.’

‘We can use your knowledge,’ Pa said. ‘And we’ll talk to Fred and Jessie some more.’

‘Luc and I can go up to Salisbury with Fred and Jessie,’ I said. ‘We can help them get their kids back, like we did last time.’

‘What?’ Pa said. ‘No, Riley. Absolutely not. You’re going anywhere near that place again.’

‘But you promised Fred you’d get their kids back.’

‘And I’ll keep my word. But you’re not going to be the one to do it.’

‘You need
us
to get in. We can pretend to be outsiders like last time.’

‘I said no. And anyway, now’s not the time to be running around Salisbury.’

‘But that’s stupid. You need me to . . .’

‘. . . I’m not even going to discuss it with you, Riley. My decision’s final.’

Ma wasn’t getting involved. She didn’t catch my eye and had started washing the dishes even though she’d said she was going to leave them until tomorrow.

‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘I need you here to keep an eye on things while I’m away. I’ve got to have someone I can trust . . .’

‘Now you’re just being patronising,’ I said. ‘I’m not a kid.’

Pa glared at me and then sighed.

‘Is it because I’m a girl?’ I asked.

‘What? No.’

‘That means yes,’ I said.

‘Riley . . . You want to know what it means? It means you’re the most precious thing in the world to me and I’m not prepared to let Grey get his hands on you again.’ His voice wavered as he spoke.

That shut me up for a few seconds. Pa never usually said things like that. He was a straightforward man. Not given to emotional outbursts. And since Skye had died, he’d been even more closed off than ever.

Last month, after Luc and I returned from our road trip, Pa had been beyond furious. He didn’t speak to me for days. He literally blanked me. But then, one morning he told me to get in his AV and he drove us down to Cutter’s Quay.

‘Ma wants arts supplies,’ he’d said, passing me a handful of silver bits. ‘You can do the talking.’

We hadn’t discussed my trip outside or why I’d done it. It was like he’d decided that he’d forgiven me and this was his way of letting me back into his life.

But that didn’t change the fact that now he was back to treating me like a child. For all the trust he’d placed in me with his business, it didn’t amount to anything if he kept wrapping me up in cotton wool. When it came down to it, I was still only Pa's-little-Riley. I couldn't believe he was side-lining me like this, especially when we had such a close working relationship. I felt betrayed.

‘Pa . . .’

‘No,’ he said, cutting me off. ‘I need to go next door. I’ve arranged to meet Eddie. We’ve got a ton of planning to do.’

‘Don’t run away from the conversation,’ I said.

‘Riley, that’s enough,’ Ma said.

I ignored her. ‘Pa, if I can trade at Cutter’s, then I can . . .’

‘We’ll talk tomorrow, Riley,’ Pa said, grabbing his jacket off the back of the kitchen chair. ‘Get some sleep. See you later, Ellie.’

‘Don’t be too late,’ she said. ‘You look exhausted.’

‘Night,’ he said and left the house.

‘Great,’ I said, plonking myself down at the kitchen table. The kettle was boiling and Ma still had her hands in the sink so I dragged myself out of my chair to make us a cup of tea.

‘D’you want mint?’ I asked Ma.

‘No thanks, darling. No tea for me. You okay?’

‘Not really.’

‘Must have been a shock,’ she said, ‘seeing that awful couple today.’

‘They’re not really that awful,’ I replied. ‘Their kids have gone missing. They did what they thought they had to do.’

‘Try not to give your father a hard time over this,’ she said, turning to face me and wiping her soapy hands on a tea towel.

I didn’t answer. There was no point moaning to Ma about it. She wouldn’t stick up for me. She only had a rough idea of what Pa did and never got involved in the business. But I’d really thought things had changed between him and me. I had thought he finally trusted me with the important stuff.

I wondered what Luc thought about all this. I wanted to talk to him about everything, but it was too late now Eddie and Rita were home. And anyway, Pa was over there too. They would all be making plans. Without me.

Right now I was more than a little envious of Luc. He was always included in major decisions. I needed to stop whining about it and do something. I wasn’t a total idiot; I had skills they could use. I’d just have to come up with my own ideas and maybe then they would start taking me seriously. 

‘Riley . . . Riley.’

‘Hmm?’ I said, realising Ma was talking to me.

‘I do know someone who could get into Salisbury for you.’ She’d finished the washing up and was leaning against the sink.

‘What?’

‘Salisbury,’ she repeated. ‘I know who can get in there for you.’

‘Who?’ I said without any real enthusiasm.

‘You won’t like it and nor will your father.’

My interest was piqued.

‘Ma, just tell me.’

‘Connor.’

She was talking about my biological father. The man she’d slept with behind Pa’s back. As far as I was concerned Connor was the reason my sister was dead.

I scowled.

‘Told you you wouldn’t like it,’ she said.

‘So why did you even mention his name?’ I said. ‘I told you I never wanted to talk about that man. Ever.’

‘Not even if he can help save our home?’ she said. ‘Not even if he can help reunite two kidnapped children with their parents?’

I didn’t reply.

‘So, do you want me to tell you how he can help?’ she pressed on.

‘No.’ But even as I said the word, I knew I didn’t really mean it. I knew that it was inevitable I would see Connor again.

And part of me was curious. Part of me wanted the chance to yell at him or at least try to make him feel guilty. And I knew that this man, whose genes I carried, would be instrumental in changing Pa’s mind about my involvement in this plan.

So even though I had said
no
, what I really meant was
yes
.

Chapter Thirteen

Liss

*

Over the next few days, Lissy continued disposing of the soup. She would go up to the serving hatch, receive her bowl as normal and then on her way to the table, she would slosh most of it into the large black plastic bin at the end of the hatch. Then she would tip the tiny bit she had left, into her neighbour’s bowl, or just leave it in her own.

This meant she was always crazily hungry in the afternoons, having only eaten a piece of bread, but at least they were also given a main evening meal. The blonde girl hadn’t said anything about not eating the other food – just the soup.

And she hadn’t figured out a way to get rid of Annabelle’s soup either. The younger girl seemed to enjoy it. How could she explain to her that she shouldn’t have it? And even if she did think of a way of explaining why she shouldn’t drink it, there hadn’t been any opportunity to speak to her alone.

The initial fuzziness she’d felt during the first day had gradually disappeared and now she was almost entirely herself again. But the other girls were still half-asleep. It was weird – none of them showed any emotions or facial expressions. They merely did as they were asked. Liss thought she’d better pretend to be like them too otherwise Leah might shout at her, but her brain was buzzing. She needed to talk to the blonde girl.

An opportunity came along quite quickly when, a few days later, Liss was sitting at her desk in the draughty classroom.

Sarah was teaching them today. It was supposed to be a history lesson, but it wasn’t like the history her mum taught her, or the history she had read about in her books at home.

‘This poor man lost his family,’ Sarah said. ‘His wife and children were taken from him. But instead of giving up and feeling sorry for himself, do you know what he did?’ She paused, looking around the room. Nobody spoke.

‘I’ll tell you,’ she continued. ‘He decided that he would help others. That he would give up his life to the worship of God and the salvation of the people.’

Liss wasn’t sure what Sarah was talking about, but she liked the way she spoke with excitement and energy. She spoke with a sparkle in her eyes and made you really interested in what she was saying. Not like the other boring teachers. Leah was the worst. Liss always had to force her eyes to stay open when Leah was talking.

‘This good and simple man is called ‘James Grey’,’ Sarah continued. ‘He never thinks about himself. All he wants is for everyone in the world to be happy and safe. Isn’t that wonderful! We could all take a leaf out of his book and learn to be more selfless.’

He did sound like a good man. Liss wondered why she had never heard of him before.

‘And shall I tell you something even more wonderful?’ Sarah said without waiting for a response. ‘If you work hard and are very well behaved, you may even get to meet him.’

Suddenly, one of the girls at the front of the class threw up all over her desk. Sarah stopped talking about James Grey and eyed the girl with a mixture of pity and irritation.

‘Oh dear. I need a volunteer please,’ she said, looking around the classroom.

The blonde-haired girl stuck her hand in the air.

‘Thank you,’ Sarah said. ‘Take Mary to the nurse please. Her room is downstairs next to the girl’s toilets.’

The blonde girl stood up and the sick girl followed shakily, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

‘And ask Nurse to send someone up with a mop and bucket,’ Sarah called after her.

As she walked past, the blonde girl whispered to Liss:

‘Meet you in the loo in two minutes.’

Lissy tried to appear normal, but she felt as though everyone was staring at her. The smell of vomit wafted into her nostrils and made her feel like she wanted to throw up too.

She tried to count to one hundred and twenty in her head. The girl had said two minutes and she didn’t want to get there too soon or too late. But when she reached seventy five, she was convinced she had been counting too slowly, so she took a deep breath and raised her hand.

‘Melissa?’ Sarah said.

‘Please may I go to the bathroom?’ Liss asked.

‘You’re not sick too are you?’

Liss shook her head.

‘Very well. Don’t be too long.’

Liss scraped her chair back and walked self-consciously out of the classroom, tucking her hair behind her ears. She hurried down the wooden stairs and walked into the girls’ toilets where the blonde girl was washing her hands. She threw a glance over her shoulder and her face split into a wide grin.

‘Took your time,’ she said. ‘I’m Chloe.’

‘Hi. I’m Liss.’

‘We can’t stay here long, someone might come in. So just listen, okay?’

Liss nodded.

‘The soup’s drugged.’

Chloe waited for a reaction, but Liss didn’t know what ‘drugged’ meant. Chloe went on:

‘The people here want us all to be good little girls and do what they say. The only way they can do that is by making us dopey and stupid. There are only a few of us who know about it. You have to be careful who you tell.’

‘What do you mean?’ Liss asked.

‘How old are you?’

‘Seven,’ Liss replied defiantly. ‘Seven-and-a-half actually.

‘God. Okay. Listen to me, Liss. The people here are psycho loopy. They put medicine in the soup to make us all sleepy. So you mustn’t drink the soup or you’ll end up here forever. But they can’t know that you’re not drinking it - okay?’

‘Is that why I felt all strange before?’ Liss asked.

‘That’s exactly right. Some of us are planning on getting out of here. I’ll let you know when the time comes.’

‘Have you been here long?’

‘Long enough.’ Chloe grimaced.

‘There’s another girl with me. She’s only four. Can she come too?’

‘Yeah, but you’ll have to get her to stop drinking the soup and she mustn’t blab to anyone or we’re finished.’

‘And my brother – FJ. He’s here somewhere too, but I don’t know where.’

‘Sorry, we don’t know where they’re keeping the boys.’

‘But I can’t leave him here.’

‘We’ll get you out first and then you can always come back with help and get him out later.’

Liss decided that this would have to do. Once she got home, she could get her mum and dad to come and rescue him.

‘You’d better go back up or Sarah will wonder where you are. I’ll follow in a couple of minutes.’

‘Okay. So when do we leave?’

‘Dunno yet. But I’ll send you a message as soon as it’s planned.’

‘How can I stop Annabelle drinking her soup?’

‘Don’t know. You’ll have to figure it out. Now quick, go back up. And you mustn’t talk to me in public – not even a smile. Remember, you have to pretend you’re doped up like the rest of them.’

Liss left the bathroom, her mind a whirl of questions. She felt so much better now Chloe was helping her. But her heart hammered at the thought of trying to escape. What would the women do if they caught her?

As Liss came to the top of the stairs, she paused outside the classroom door. She hoped Sarah wouldn’t be able to read the turmoil and excitement on her face. Inhaling deeply in an effort to calm her mind, she gave herself a shake and walked back into the classroom.