Thief! (22 page)

Read Thief! Online

Authors: Malorie Blackman

Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Science Fiction

BOOK: Thief!
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They only just had time to look through the front windscreen and see the ground only metres away before the car hit the ground with a colossal thump. There wasn’t time to panic. There wasn’t even time for Fran to let out another scream. They all lurched forward until their seatbelts snapped tight across them. If it wasn’t for those, Fran and Lydia would have gone through the windscreen for sure. The front of the car was wedged a good half a metre into the ground with the rear end of the car pointing almost straight up in the air. A stunned silence descended on them as everyone held their breath, totally stunned.
‘Are you two OK?’ Daniel asked at last.
‘Yes, I think so,’ Lydia mumbled.
Fran nodded, adding, ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Lydia pushed at her door a number of times before it finally flew open. She swung her legs around and jumped down out of the car. Fran followed. Daniel did the same from his own side of the car.
‘We’d better get going. The Resistance are close behind us,’ Daniel said.
‘How will you two get away from them?’ Lydia asked.
‘If we succeed in getting you back to your own time, we won’t have to. You’ll change your future and none of this as you’ve seen it will happen.’ Daniel smiled.
The electrical storm was less than two hundred metres ahead. Looking at it dazzled Lydia’s eyes and made her head ache. Muted shouting had Lydia and everyone else turning around. Approaching fast were the group from the Resistance.
‘Lydia, hurry. We won’t get a second chance,’ Daniel said quickly.
Lydia looked from the storm to the Resistance group behind her and back again. Even racing flat out, there was no way she could reach the storm before the members of the Resistance got to Daniel and Fran. All it would take was one well-aimed blast from a laser gun and Lydia would never see her own time again . . .
‘Lydia, go!’ Daniel urged.
Lydia took a deep breath. She’d have to run like she’d never run before. But before she’d even taken a step, a high-pitched whooshing sound filled the air. Lydia turned around. An air-car flew over the heads of the Resistance members and came to an abrupt landing, directly between them and Lydia, Daniel and Fran. The car door opened and slowly Old Lydia emerged.
‘Lydia, get out of there. Lydia . . .’ Daniel shouted out.
Old Lydia did a strange thing. She turned her head and smiled. And in that smile there was the first trace of what Old Lydia might have been, the first trace of what she once had been. The Resistance slowed and stopped several metres away from Old Lydia, unsure of who she was and what she was doing.
Old Lydia turned to Anne Joyce. Lydia heard her say something but was too far away to hear what it was. She took a step forward. Danny placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.
‘Go Lydia. Go now,’ Daniel told his twelve-year-old sister at his side.
‘I can’t leave. They’ll kill her,’ Lydia said.
‘Not if you get back to your own time and change this. GO!’
Lydia quickly turned to Fran and hugged her.
‘Thanks for your help, Fran,’ Lydia said. ‘You’ve been a true friend . . . just like your mum.’
‘You’re welcome,’ Fran replied. ‘I hope everything works out for you back in your own time.’
Lydia released her quickly, then looked up at Daniel. She had so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to ask, but she’d run out of time. Lydia smiled. Daniel smiled back. Then he bent down and they hugged each other tightly.
‘You’re the best brother in the world, Danny,’ Lydia whispered.
Daniel straightened up. He looked towards the storm.
‘This had better work,’ he said drily. ‘We’re all in deep trouble if it doesn’t!’
Lydia laughed. She couldn’t help it. She took one last look at her grown-up brother. Then as he raced forward to be with Old Lydia, the twelve-year-old Lydia turned towards the storm and
ran
. She ran like the wind, praying that she wasn’t wrong about the storm, praying that she’d make it back to her own time. Behind her, Lydia heard the familiar whistle of laser-gun fire. Lydia wanted to turn around – she
burned
to see what was happening, but she forced herself not to look back. She didn’t want to see Danny injured or Fran hurt or herself dead . . . Too much knowledge . . .
And still she ran.
Even though every hair on her body, every drop of blood within her, screamed for her to turn back.
Running into the storm was like stepping off into another world. A world of fire which burnt her from the inside out as she stepped into it. Just when Lydia thought she’d die from the pain, suddenly it was gone. Cool air rushed to meet her and drops of water splashed on her forehead and her cheeks.
And still Lydia ran – on and on, until it felt as if she wasn’t running on the ground any more but on the very air itself. Lydia slowed and turned but the whole world was a swirling mass of colours. The air was getting colder and a high-pitched whine filled the air, getting louder. So loud in fact that Lydia had to put her hands over her ears. The wind grabbed her and tossed her up into the air as if she was on a trampoline. Lydia closed her eyes tight and held her breath. The high-pitched whine was now a painful shriek in her ears. And the rain was getting heavier. Lydia spun around and around until she had no idea which way was up.
Suddenly all sounds stopped. Lydia struggled to open her eyes but each eyelid weighed a ton. The world was perfectly dark and still. Then Lydia heard voices, faint at first but growing more distinct with each passing second. Someone was calling her.
‘Lydia . . . ? Lydia . . . ?’
After a supreme effort, Lydia managed to open her eyes. Directly above her was the night sky, full of stars. Lydia tried to prop herself up using her hands, but her strength was gone. Then she realized that the ground was soaking wet. She slowly moved her fingers around. The earth was definitely wet. And she had on her winter jacket and her original shirt and jumper. Did that mean . . . ?
‘Lydia . . . ? Lydia, answer us.’
‘Dad . . .’ The word came out in little more than a croak. Lydia coughed to clear her throat and tried again. ‘DAD!’
Streams of torchlight bounced towards Lydia. She struggled to sit up and called again, ‘MUM! DAD!’
A crowd of people gathered around Lydia. Someone placed a blanket around her shoulders.
‘Lydia? Lydia, darling are you all right? Speak to us. Are you hurt? Lydia?’
And all at once, there they were. Hugging her and kissing her and pushing her soaking wet hair back off her face – Lydia’s mum and dad.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Back At School
The next few days were a blurry haze to Lydia. She remembered being freezing cold all the time and a flurry of people swarming around her. She remembered dropping off to sleep, only to be woken up by someone who would insist on holding her wrist to take her pulse or else on sticking a thermometer into her mouth. She remembered a constant heavy feeling on her chest that made it hurt terribly to even breathe. And all the time it was so, so cold.
Then one morning Lydia woke up and for the first time in a long time she was actually comfortable. She savoured the feeling for several seconds, feeling snug and safe. She opened her eyes and saw a bright, multicoloured curtain hanging on one part of the rail that surrounded the bed. The ceiling and walls were cream-coloured and there was a very peculiar smell around, like flowery disinfectant.
I’m in hospital, Lydia realized.
She looked at the curtains again. The same colours and patterns swirled and spiralled on the curtains as had been present on the moors during the electrical storm.
I wasn’t dreaming. I couldn’t have been dreaming . . .
could I
? Lydia wondered.
But how could she tell?
My arm
 . . . Lydia remembered.
Pushing down the blankets that covered her, Lydia twisted her left upper arm slightly and strained her neck to see it. A large piece of lint covered her arm, kept in place by two strips of tape. Lydia peeled back one of the bits of tape, wincing as it tore some of her hairs out by the roots! And there it was – an S-shaped wound like a snake crawling across her skin.
‘It
did
happen,’ Lydia breathed.
‘Lyddy? Lyddy, you’re awake!’
Lydia heard a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time. She turned her head – and there was Danny. Ten years old and just as scabby as ever.
‘Danny . . .’ Lydia breathed.
Danny raced from the room. ‘Dad! Mum! Lyddy’s awake!’
Seconds later, Lydia’s family surrounded her bed.
‘Lydia, how’re you feeling?’
‘You look a lot better . . .’
‘We were frantic . . .’
They all spoke at once.
‘What happened?’ Lydia whispered.
‘You went missing. We found you lying on the moors, soaked through to the bone and freezing cold,’ said Dad.
‘You’ve been in hospital for six days,’ sniffed Mum. ‘I’ve never been so worried.’
Dad put his arm around Mum and hugged her to him. It didn’t do any good. Tears rolled down Mum’s cheeks.
‘You didn’t have to worry, Mum,’ Lydia smiled. ‘Danny and I live for ages yet.’
Mum and Dad looked at each other. Lydia’s eyelids fluttered shut but she forced them open again. Mum busied herself by tucking in the sheets around Lydia. Then she saw that Lydia’s bandage was loose.
‘You mustn’t worry about that,’ Mum said, pressing the tape back down onto Lydia’s skin. ‘You hurt your arm on the moors. You must have hit it against a rock or something. The stitches will be out soon.’
‘What happened to the staples?’ Lydia asked sleepily.
‘What staples?’ asked Dad.
Lydia smiled. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
She realized that the staples must have disappeared as she came back in time. That was the only explanation. As medical staples of that kind hadn’t been invented yet, they couldn’t really come back with her! Lydia looked around the room. Her own time had never looked so amazing – so wonderful!
‘Is . . . is Frankie awake yet?’
‘Yes, as a matter of fact, she is,’ said Dad. ‘She woke up the day after her accident. No bones broken luckily. Just a concussion.’
‘She told everyone it was an accident,’ Mum added.
‘If that reporter prints one word to the contrary, I’ll sue him and his paper for every bloomin’ penny they’ve got,’ Dad said belligerently.
‘I don’t mind – not any more.’ Lydia’s eyelids fluttered again as she fought to stay awake.
‘Danny, come here,’ Lydia sighed.
Danny moved to stand in front of his mum and dad.
‘Come closer,’ Lydia breathed.
‘Why?’
‘Stop arguing with your sister. Can’t you see she’s sick,’ grumbled Dad.
‘Yeah! Sick in the head!’ Danny muttered so everyone could hear him, but he did as asked and bent over Lydia so that his ear was close to her lips.
Lydia kissed his cheek, grinning broadly when he sprang back as if scalded.
‘Yeuk! Yeuk!’ Danny yelled, rubbing his cheek vigorously. ‘Don’t do that!’
‘That’s for being a good friend,’ Lydia said.
‘You’re crazy!’ Danny was still rubbing his cheek.
Lydia burst out laughing at the incredulous expression on her brother’s face, but her laughter soon turned into a coughing fit.
‘That’s enough excitement for one day,’ said Mum firmly. ‘Lydia, get some rest. We’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘What’s today’s date?’ Lydia asked, suddenly.
‘The twenty-ninth of November. Why?’ Dad frowned.
Lydia smiled. ‘Brilliant! I can go back to school before the end of term.’
Danny looked down at his shoes. Mum and Dad exchanged a look and Lydia caught it all.
‘What’s the matter?’ Lydia asked.
‘Lydia, you’re not going back to that school.’ Dad’s voice was rock hard. ‘If they hadn’t bullied you and made your life such a misery then you wouldn’t have run away.’
‘H-How d’you know about that?’ Lydia said.
‘Someone in your class finally told your teacher what was going on every breaktime,’ Mum replied angrily. ‘The teachers swear that they didn’t know what was happening. What kind of school is that?’
‘You’re not going back there, and that’s final,’ Dad insisted.
‘Who told Mr Fine what was going on?’ Lydia asked.
Dad shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Someone with a bit more courage than the rest of them in your class.’
‘Let’s get off unpleasant subjects, shall we,’ Mum sniffed. ‘Lydia, we’ve got wonderful news.’
Lydia held her breath. Something told her that the news wasn’t going to be as wonderful as her mum and dad thought.

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