Alive (The Veiled World Book 1) (3 page)

Chapter 3

Amber

The muted roar of the jet engine greeted my ears when I woke, with drool stuck to my cheek. Wiping my face against my shoulder, I wondered how long I’d been asleep. I pushed the dirty dinner plates in front of me aside. My eyes had been bigger than my stomach, and so huge was my hunger earlier that I’d piled two large oval plates with food from the buffet. I still felt as stuffed as one of my mum’s roast chickens.

“Hey,” said Noah, his arms folded across the top of his seat and a half-eaten chicken leg dangling from his fingers. “You and everyone else on this plane have been sleeping for hours. I’m the only one who hasn’t slept a wink yet.” He shrugged and licked the corners of his mouth. “Maybe it’s because I’ve had about six cans of Alive.” He paused, his lips moving, silently counting. “Or was it seven?”

“Ummm, isn’t that dangerous? As in heart attacks and stuff?”

He shrugged, took a bite of the chicken leg, and continued to watch me.

“Have you been staring at me this whole time? While I’ve been sleeping?” I rubbed my eyes and glanced to my right where Claire and Bella were watching a movie together on Bella’s seat, blankets on their laps, eyes half-lidded with fatigue. Kyle was fast asleep, as was Reuben, judging by the way his head was dangling over the armrest of his seat.

“No. I’m blessed with sharp senses. I can tell what people around me are about to do seconds before they do it. I
felt
you wake up.”

I must have frowned because he grinned. “Just kidding. You knocked a dish onto the ground and I heard it. Didn’t have my headphones on because I was just coming back from the toilet.”

At the mention of the word toilet I squirmed in my seat and was suddenly in desperate need to relieve myself. I slid out around the mini table, taking my tray of dirty dishes and rubbish with me and bending to pick up the dessert plate I’d knocked off in my sleep. After dumping the rubbish into one bin and the cutlery and crockery into another, I made my way to the toilet, to the left of the bain-maries.

Someone, most likely Noah, had filled the small cubicle with the rankest smell—ranker than smeared sheep shit beneath your boot—so I held my breath and did my business superfast, washed my hands, and got out of there in about thirty seconds flat. As I returned to my seat, Reece sat up and rubbed his hands together before tugging his earphones off his head. “We’re nearly there, Killer,” he said with a wink before slipping the headphones back on.

I shook my head and glanced at his screen. He was watching a quiet, poetic, foreign film, set in the Middle East, his eyes zoning me out to fix on the screen. Weird. I’d expected him to be into films filled with bikini babes and action.

Claire and Bella sat up and stretched. Claire glanced over at me and looked as though she was about to smile, I could tell by the softness in her eyes, but then Bella elbowed her in the ribs and Claire listened to something Bella said then laughed. Were they seriously going to keep this up for the entire trip?

When I sat back down Noah appeared again.

“You want to watch a movie together? We’ll be landing in about an hour and a half.”

An hour and a half? A lightning bolt of excitement and nerves zipped through my veins and my fingers tightened around the arms of my chair. Maybe a movie would relax me a little.

“Flick through the menu and pick one, then I’ll put it up on my screen too.”

“Okay.”

The screen was fairly easy to use and before I knew it I was clicking through the selection.

“How about a comedy?” I asked. “Name one you like, seeing as you’re the expert.”

“Well, they’ve got
Weird Science
in the classics. Want to watch that? It’s an oldie but a goody.”

I remembered watching it with Sam years ago when we were with our older cousins. I think I was about seven. It was old already back then. All I could remember was the lead actors wearing bras on their heads.

“Perfect.”

Noah watched me suck in a deep breath.

“What are you so nervous about?” His dark eyes narrowed with concern. “We’re going on an island, and, knowing Buzz Lightyear, it’ll have its own resort.” He unfolded his shirt collar so that it stuck up around his neck and raised a single brow. “We’ll be living in style for the next ten days, baby.”

I swallowed thickly and tried to smile. “I know, I just…” My eyes travelled to Claire and Bella for only a second, but it was long enough for Noah to notice.

“Don’t worry about them. You and I can hang out.” He gestured with a flick of his head to the seat in front. “Jacob’s cool and so is Kyle.” Resting his chin against the seat, he frowned. “Is it because of the stuff they say about you and your brother?”

“Oh, look, movie’s starting.” I pointed to my screen.

Noah pursed his lips and gave me a look that said this conversation wasn’t over before turning around and dropping into his seat. He was actually a nice guy and I was glad he was on this trip with me. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to if it wasn’t for him. But, no matter how nice Noah was, the subject of my brother was off limits.

The movie opened up to a gym, with two dorky guys checking out girls in their gym gear while some of the popular guys creep up behind them and drop the dorky guys’ daks in front of all the girls. I settled into my seat and released a soft sigh. Thank God for eighties films.

Around half an hour later, after Noah popped his head up over the seat for another character-motive analysis, the screen suddenly died. I groaned, as did Noah and everyone else on the plane.

Noah slipped back into his seat, probably to try to fix his screen. I was just about to turn mine off and on again when it suddenly came back to life, the screen white, with soft music playing in the background.

From behind me, I heard Reece swear as an old picture of him and his mum, who died when he was only twelve, appeared on the screen. They were standing next to a Christmas tree with too much tinsel on it. Reece was smiling sweetly at whoever was taking the photo. I’d forgotten how much of a nice guy he’d been before his mum died. He was so different now.

Reece’s picture faded out and suddenly a photo of two elderly people filled the screen.

“What the hell is this?” Kyle yelled from across the cabin. “How’d he get photos of my grandparents?”

Claire started whimpering when a photo of a baby appeared on the screen and my body turned rigid when I realised who that baby was. Shame flooded me. I’d almost forgotten that Claire had lost her little sister to cot death many years ago. She’d lost a sibling just like me.

Bella put her arms around Claire but started screaming when a photo of her old boyfriend, who died playing chicken on the main highway that ran through our town, showed up on the screen. I’d forgotten how beautiful he’d been, with his olive skin, dark hair, and gorgeous smile. Carl had been one of my brother’s best mates. Sam had been completely cut up when he’d died last winter. The whole school had mourned him, just like they’d mourned my brother only two months later.

More pictures came.

Of Jacob’s dad leaning out of his work Ute window, just as muscular and good-looking as his son. Then of Reuben’s famous footballer dad who’d died of brain cancer, hairless and thin, but smiling weakly in a hospital bed surrounded by his family.

When Noah’s cousin, Laura, an only child of her parents, who’d died in a car accident when she was only ten, showed, I started to sweat and my stomach began churning. I knew what was coming. Knew whose face I’d see next.

I shut my eyes but opened them again just as a picture of Sam came into focus. He was smiling, his hair perfectly mussed. It was his famous bed hair that used to take him roughly forty-five minutes each morning before school. We missed the bus regularly because of that hair and I used to give him heaps over it.

“Why is she smiling like that?”

Wait. What?

“Because she’s a fucking freak!”

I looked up and saw that everyone was staring at me. Reece stood leaning over the back of my seat, his eyes like slits. When I brought my hands to my face I felt the wetness of my own tears. I’d been crying and smiling at the same time.

“What the hell is going on?” Reece shouted to nobody in particular.

The screen turned black, then white again, and one by one, single black letters appeared to eventually form seven words.

What if you could bring them back?

“What is this shit?” Reece shouted at my screen.

Noah, his face white, shook his head. For once he was at a loss for words.

Reuben stood up, his furious dark eyes trained on the cockpit, but the plane trembled and shook and he fell back into his seat.

“Must be turbulence,” shouted Kyle, his eyes wide and unsure, when the lights for the seatbelt came on.

Claire’s and Bella’s cries filled the cabin. I wanted to reach out to Claire. It must have been hard for her to see the picture of her little sister after all these years, but six months’ worth of Claire ignoring me or smirking at me kept me in my seat.

“I don’t mean the fucking turbulence!” shouted Reece. “I mean this ‘
What if you could bring them back?’
crap
.
” He looked at us all, even me, his green eyes wide. “How did he get photos of all these people? Of
our
people? What’s he trying to do?”

“He’s trying to freak us out!” shouted Kyle, who was now sitting up straight, his back against his upright seat. “He’s a freak,” he added, buckling his seatbelt with trembling fingers. “He likes doing stuff like this. I mean, he wears a friggen Buzz suit!”

Reuben got up again but landed on his arse when the plane shook even more violently than before.

Bella screamed and Claire buried her face beneath the blanket. When the plane shuddered again Claire raised her head and looked at me, her large dark eyes filled with terror. “Do something, Amber, do something,
please
!
I’m so scared
.
”

I nodded and sucked in a deep breath, my eyes on the cockpit door. Suddenly all the bitchiness Claire had doled out to me since my brother died faded away. All I could remember was how hard she’d cried when her little sister had died, and how she’d slept with her baby sister’s teething ring beneath her pillow each night for years following her death.

I stood up, ignoring the flashing seatbelt warning.

Using Noah’s armrest, I propelled myself forward. When I gripped the back of Jacob’s chair, I threw a quick glance at him and was surprised to find him sitting with his head back, eyes closed, the veins in his neck and arms bulging while he gripped the arms of his seat. His seatbelt was unbuckled.

From out of nowhere Reuben fell against me, our heads cracking together. The impact knocked me to the ground, across Jacob’s feet. I raised myself to my knees and clutched my head. Oh God, it hurt.

“Sorry, but you were in the way!” Reuben shouted as he steadied himself against the wall of the cockpit.

Gripping Jacob’s seat, I pulled myself up, swaying on my feet a little before lunging for the handle of the cockpit door. It was locked, which was a no brainer. Bruce would have expected a reaction after screening that weird video.

“What’s going on?” I shouted, pounding my fists against the door.

The plane seemed to dip then rise, then dip again. My stomach dropped and what I’d eaten hours ago threatened to rise up my throat, but after a few deep breaths I managed to keep it down.

Reuben lost his footing again and gripped my arm to steady his feet. I’d have bruises tomorrow from the way his fingers were squeezing my bicep. I clutched the metal door handle to keep us both from falling. Reece was swearing up a storm behind us as more turbulence rocked the plane.

“Open up, Bruce!” Reuben shouted, his meaty fists pounding the door. After repeating this several times to no avail, Reuben turned and leaned against the door to catch his breath. Sweat trickled from his temples down his dark cheeks.

“What’s wrong with him?” he shouted in my ear while eying Jacob. I followed his gaze.

“He’s never flown before,” I said. “He’s probably terrified.”

Reuben nodded and his eyes widened. “Shit! What if Bruce was showing us the pictures because he wants us to
join
the dead? What if this is a suicide mission?” He squeezed my arm even harder. “His wife’s dead, remember? Oh my God, we’re fu—”

The plane jolted to the right and Reuben and I went flying. The bain-maries at the back of the plane crashed to the floor, along with the metal bins. It all came zooming up the aisle towards us. Just as I was getting to my feet someone’s food tray hit me in the temple and I fell to my knees.

“You okay?”

I nodded at Reuben, even though my head was throbbing. “I’m going back to my seat. Go buckle yourself in!”