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For a few long moments Ameena remained defiantly rooted to the spot. Then, although she didn’t step away, her shoulders slumped and she broke eye contact with the man in the white coat.
Keeping his arms folded, the doctor side-stepped her and carried on along the corridor. He didn’t even glance in my direction when he passed.
‘Family?’ Ameena asked as we watched him go. ‘What family?’
I laid a hand against the corridor wall, steadying myself. The paintwork was pleasantly cool to the touch, and I realised my insides felt like they were boiling. I’d gone from freezing in the cold to almost choking in the heat. I wanted to press my head against the wall and smother the fires that were burning there, but I didn’t. That would’ve taken time, and I was beginning to feel that time wasn’t something I had a lot left of. Besides, I’d have looked mental.
‘Nan,’ I croaked, letting go of the wall and forcing myself to stand up straight. ‘We have to go see Nan.’
I’d only been to the nursing home a couple of times since Nan had gone to live there, but I knew more or less where it was. We’d caught the bus. Ameena had paid for the tickets using money she got from who-knew-where, and then had half led, half dragged me to a seat somewhere near the back.
The journey went quickly, helped by the fact that I kept falling asleep. Every time I did I’d be greeted by a vision of the Crowmaster, or one of the enormous flesh-eating birds he’d sent after me.
Mum had sent me to stay with her cousin Marion for a few weeks, hoping it would help me escape from the horrors I’d encountered recently. I’d agreed because I thought it would keep her safe. I thought it would help keep everyone safe.
It didn’t.
As she left the train station, Mum had been attacked and almost murdered by the Crowmaster. I later found out he was Marion’s imaginary friend from long ago, but I didn’t find out in time to save Marion. She was dead. For all I knew, Mum might be too. I thought I could protect them all.
I couldn’t.
Ameena had nudged me awake as the bus rattled to a stop. I’d told her where we needed to get off as soon as we’d taken our seat, knowing full well I’d sleep through most of the journey.
As we stepped down from the bus the evening wind rushed to meet us. Its icy fingers snaked and probed through my dirty clothes, but my skin was so hot I barely felt their touch.
With a low rumble and a whiff of burning diesel, the bus rolled away, leaving Ameena holding on to me on a deserted residential street. A row of neatly kept bungalows stood on either side of the road. It was only early evening, but already lights were on in most of the windows, preparing for the long, dark night ahead.
‘Where to now?’ Ameena asked. Her voice was right by my ear. I could see one of her hands holding me under the arm, but I couldn’t feel it.
‘Thish way,’ I slurred, staggering onward a few steps. Ameena took my weight, probably stopping me falling. Good old Ameena. I’d only known her for a couple of weeks, but I had no idea how I’d cope without her.
‘Did you just call me “Good old Ameena”?’ she asked.
I focused my eyes somewhere in her general direction. ‘Did I say that out loud?’
‘Yes. “Good old Ameena”,’ she repeated. ‘What am I? A faithful pet dog?’
I arranged my face into something I hoped might pass for a smile. ‘Trusty sidekick, remember?’
We were moving again, shambling slowly along the pavement in the direction of the nursing home. With every step I seemed to sink further and further into the pavement.
‘Yeah, well this trusty sidekick thinks you need to sit down,’ she said, steering me towards a low garden wall.
‘No!’ I snapped, with more venom than I intended. I yanked my arm away and immediately wished I hadn’t. The sky seemed to slide sideways away from me, even as the ground raced up to meet my face.
This time I did feel Ameena’s hands. They caught me round the waist and chest. She couldn’t stop me hitting the ground, but she slowed me enough that it didn’t hurt too badly.
‘Good old Ameena,’ I mumbled, letting my head rest against the rough stone of the pavement.
She rolled her eyes, but flashed me a brief smile. ‘Woof. Woof.’
‘Help me up,’ I said.
‘Don’t you think you should wait a minute? You need to get your breath back.’ She looked me over. ‘Well, what you probably need is a blood transfusion, but a bit of a sit-down is going to have to do.’
‘No time,’ I told her, struggling to push myself up from the pavement. Try as I might, neither it nor I appeared to move. ‘Need to find Mum. Nan will know.’
‘What if your nan’s not there?’ Ameena asked. ‘You think of that? You’re killing yourself to get there, and she’s probably at the hospital already.’
‘They don’t like her being out at night,’ I said. I heard my own voice trail off and realised my eyes were closing. I forced them wide open. ‘And the doctor said they’d informed the family.’
Ameena shook her head, not understanding what I meant. ‘So?’
‘So if they had to inform her, that means they moved Mum when Nan wasn’t there. Only place she’d be is the home.’
‘Maybe, but—’
‘Ameena,’ I said, and the mention of her name cut her short. ‘Please. Help me up.’ She hesitated, still holding on to me, even though I had nowhere else to fall. ‘Please,’ I whispered.
With a sigh, she adjusted her grip and braced her legs. ‘Fine,’ she said, ‘but if you die before we get there, don’t go blaming me.’
Some time passed. I don’t know how much. The sky grew darker and the well-kept bungalows became badly neglected blocks of flats. Ameena was doing almost all of my walking for me now. Was I even moving my legs? I couldn’t say for sure. Fire burned in my head and in my throat and in my chest, while pain ravaged my brain and through my bones.
And through it all I could feel the itch on my scalp, where the Crowmaster’s claws had broken the skin. It was growing worse, and I knew that whatever he had done to me was responsible for the way I was feeling now. I thought I’d beaten him, but maybe he’d have the last laugh after all.
‘Dead yet?’ asked Ameena, not for the first time.
‘No.’
‘Good stuff. How much further?’
‘Not far,’ I told her, hoping this was the truth. The buildings looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t really be sure how close the nursing home was.
‘Thank God, you weigh a tonne,’ she said. ‘And you’re sweating like a Mexican wrestler.’
I turned my head to attempt an apologetic smile, and that was when I heard it.
‘What was that?’ I frowned.
Ameena stopped, and by default I stopped too. ‘What was what?’
I listened for a moment, and heard the sound again.
‘There,’ I said.
‘Where?’
‘Can’t you hear that?’
‘Hear what?’
‘That whispering,’ I said, whispering myself now.
Ameena tilted her head to one side and listened. ‘Just the wind,’ she said.
I shook my head. It wasn’t the wind. ‘I heard something. A voice. It was a voice.’
‘What did it say?’
‘Don’t know, didn’t hear properly.’
‘I didn’t hear a thing.’
‘Shut up, sssh,’ I urged.
Amazingly, rather than punch me in the face for speaking to her like that, she did shut up. We stood in silence, both of us listening for any unusual sound, but the whispers didn’t come again.
‘Maybe you imagined it,’ Ameena said.
I let her take my weight again. ‘Let’s hope not,’ I said, and together we staggered onwards into the darkness that loomed ahead.
Chapter Two THE OTHER HOSPITAL (#ulink_a0a41d5e-1f15-50d3-91d8-eb3d0ca95f7f)
‘She’s not here.’
The intercom on the nursing-home door crackled briefly, then fell silent. I stared at it, hoping I’d heard wrong.
‘What do you mean she’s not here?’ Ameena demanded, stepping closer to the intercom and pulling me with her.
‘I mean she’s not here. She’s out.’
‘What do you mean she’s out?’
I heard the woman on the other side of the intercom sigh. ‘Have a guess.’
‘Don’t get smart with me,’ Ameena snarled, before thinking better of starting an argument. When she spoke again her voice was measured and controlled. ‘Where is she?’
‘That’s confidential.’
Ameena looked to the sky and shook her head. ‘Is everything confidential today?’ she muttered. ‘Look,’ she began, speaking into the intercom again, ‘I’ve got her grandson here. He’s sick. Can we come in and wait for her to get back?’
There was silence from the other end for several seconds before the speaker gave another crackle.
‘Hello?’ asked a man’s voice. ‘Who is this?’
Ameena looked as if she was about to punch the intercom off the wall, but she kept it together and explained who we were and why we were there. Again. All the while I had to fight to stop myself puking on the front step.
‘So, that’s the grandson?’ the man asked when Ameena had finished. ‘He’s there with you now?’
‘Yes! That’s her grandson, and he’s—’
‘One moment.’
The speaker gave another brief crackle of static, then a click. Ameena stared at it, slack-jawed, apparently finding it hard to believe that anyone would dare hang up on her. ‘Hello?’ she said. ‘Hello?’
‘You need to leave,’ said another voice. I looked at the intercom, trying to blink it into focus, before I realised the sound hadn’t come from there. A middle-aged man with a bald head stepped out of the shadows behind us. Even through the blurriness, I recognised him at once.
‘Joseph.’
‘Joseph?’ Ameena repeated. ‘What, the guy you told me about? From the train? That Joseph?’
I nodded. The last time I’d seen Joseph had been on the train up to Marion’s house. He’d told me he was looking after me, helping in his own way to keep me safe. I still didn’t know whether to believe him or not.
The train wasn’t the first time I’d met him. He’d been in the police station Ameena and I had run to while being chased by Mr Mumbles. He’d appeared in the school and freed me from the chair Caddie and Raggy Maggie had tied me to. He was popping up all over the place lately. And now, here he was again.
‘That man you just spoke to, he’s phoning the police,’ Joseph told me. His eyes were locked on mine, never once moving to look at Ameena.
‘The police?’ I muttered. ‘Why?’
‘Someone spotted the fire at Marion’s house and called the emergency services. They found her... remains.’
I’d have felt sick, if I didn’t feel sick already. ‘They think I did it.’
‘They think you did it,’ Joseph nodded. ‘And they are extremely keen to get you in for a chat.’
Headlights reflected off the glass in the door, making us all look round. A car drove by, not slowing. It wasn’t the police. Not yet.
‘Should I turn myself in?’
‘If you go in you won’t come out,’ Joseph said. ‘You have to get away from here. Now.’
‘But I didn’t do anything!’
‘They won’t believe you.’
‘How do we know we can trust you?’ Ameena asked. She was supporting most of my weight, but she wasn’t showing any signs of struggling.
Joseph turned her way for the first time. A look of irritation flashed across his face. ‘Sorry, was I talking to you?’
I felt Ameena go tense. Her mouth opened. I spoke before anything came out of it. ‘I need to find out where my mum is.’
‘I know where she is,’ Joseph said. ‘I’ll take you.’
‘You sure about this guy?’ Ameena asked, making no attempt to keep Joseph from hearing.
‘I’ll tell you what I’m sure of, Kyle,’ he said. He normally looked quite a relaxed character. Mischievous, even. But now there was none of that to be seen. ‘I’m sure that men are coming to take you away and lock you up. I’m sure that they will try you for Marion’s murder and they will find you guilty.’
He stepped closer to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. ‘And I’m sure that, right now, I’m your only hope of seeing your mum again. One hour from now you can be in a holding cell, or you can be at your mum’s bedside. Your choice.’
