Shared Skies (19 page)

Gaiah could imagine Renny‘s horrified face
when she read the note, but it didn't stop her. Decision taken, she
had to act fast. She walked through the school, her steps
quickening as she neared the front door. Once outside, she ran as
fast as she could around the school and out the back. The lane was
slippery with fallen leaves and the mist clung to her hair.

The fog had robbed the day of depth and by
the time she saw the figure, it was almost on top of her. Her heart
thudded, but a bouncing terrier barking around her feet calmed her
down. The figure took shape; it was an old lady, well wrapped up
against the weather, in a long, white, hooded rain coat. She called
her dog to heel and smiled at Gaiah. “School’s the other direction,
dear. Not that I didn’t skip it myself lots of times too, but I
certainly picked better weather!”

Gaiah smiled back. “Oh, I won’t be long. I’m
not actually skipping.”

The lady smiled knowingly. “Oh, right. Well,
I better continue with Jock’s walk, he has to get out every day no
matter what the weather. Up to the school and back, twice a day.
That’s what he likes. Isn’t it Jock?” The dog almost answered her,
barking and running in circles. They disappeared quickly in the
mist.

Where the hell is that
second gate? Have I passed it?
Gaiah was
considering turning back when she saw it, almost hidden by a parked
car; a low, barred gate opening into a field. She stood for a
moment, and then stepped through.

“
Hello? Neal? Are you
around?” A heavy silence answered her, broken by the uneven patter
of moisture dripping from the leaves.

She waited, knowing there wouldn’t be much
time before Renny was running up to find her. Had he chickened out?
Was he just trying to make a fool of her? And she was beginning to
feel foolish, cold and wet. The old lady was on her way back.

Oh, for God’s sake! Now
this is really embarrassing. Christ! She's coming over, some advice
no doubt.
There was no sign of the dog and
the old lady was coming right up to her, inside the gate. “I’m
actually just going back now. My, er...friend didn’t turn up.”
Gaiah gabbled, as she made to pass the lady, who said
nothing.

She was so close now;
Gaiah could hear her breathing, heavy, rasping sounds. Gaiah peered
closer.
God! Was she all right, was she
having a heart attack?
The woman’s eyes
were unfocused, her face blank. She held out her white arms
pleadingly. She reached for Gaiah’s shoulders as if to steady
herself, but instead her fingers wrapped themselves around Gaiah’s
neck and started to tighten. The woman’s hands were like bands of
steel. Gaiah's heart tried to thud free of her chest and her lungs
were already bursting for air. In desperate hope, she looked
around–there was nothing but shadowy trees in the thickening mist.
Horrible choking noises, coming from her own throat, filled the
silence. Her legs started to buckle, her mouth was open and her
tongue seemed to be filling it.
This can't
be happening, why is...

Through dimming vision she saw a large,
strong hand catch hold of the woman’s slack jaw. Another arm
clamped her still. A sudden violent tug, a crack like a breaking
stick and the woman’s hands fell from Gaiah. Her body fell limply
to the ground and Gaiah did likewise.

Gaiah was frozen, she was shaking, she
desperately needed to go to the loo, and there was a dead old lady
next to her. An old lady who had just tried to kill her! And Neal!
Neal owned those arms which had saved her. “I’m sorry, Gaiah. There
was no other way to stop her. Are you okay?” His face was pale and
his eyes worried.

“
No. I’m not bloody well
okay! This is awful, what happened? Who is she? Who are
you?”

“
Gaiah! Gaiah!” Renny’s
anxious voice came up the road to them. Gaiah’s legs became her own
again and she jumped to her feet. “Oh crap. What will we
do?”

Neal looked around. “Run. Run back to school
with Renny. Say nothing, I’ll deal with this.”

“
Gaiah! For Power’s sake,
answer me.” Renny was getting closer.

“
But what about her?
There’s her car.” She pointed to a dark shape in the
fog.

“
That’s not hers, it's
Graeme’s.”

There was no time to react to that as
Renny’s footsteps came closer. Gaiah ran out to the road to meet
her. “Sorry Renny. God! I’m freezing. That was a bad idea, let’s go
back to school quickly.” Gaiah said and started running.

“
What the Or’ka was that
about, Gaiah? I was worried sick.” Renny's face was ashen and her
eyes shone with tears.

Gaiah paused in her sprint to the school.
“Renny, trust me. I will explain it all to you, I promise. But just
for now I really need to get back, to get warm. I’m fine, honestly.
Please don’t ask me now, but we will talk later.”

The rest of the day passed in a blur. To
Gaiah's relief, Cassie joined them at break, full of the latest
scandal in town. Gaiah met Renny's anxious, questioning glances and
mouthed 'later'. Luckily, the polo neck hid the bruising around her
neck, so there were no awkward questions. It took enormous effort
to stay calm; her hands twisted and clutched each other under the
desk. Her head was pounding and the chill damp seemed to have
soaked into her bones. By the time Kaley picked them up, Gaiah
really did feel sick. As soon as they got home, Kaley took Gaiah’s
temperature which was slightly up.

“
I just want to sleep,”
said Gaiah. A reaction to what she had been through was really
kicking in now, and she was shaking.

“
Yes, bed is definitely
the best place for you, I think,” Kaley agreed, and turned on the
electric blanket in Gaiah’s bed.

But even with that Gaiah was still cold. She
put on fleecy socks and a thick, woolly jumper over her pyjamas.
Renny came in and sat on the bed. She plucked at and smoothed the
quilt cover while she said, “You must talk to me Gaiah or I will
tell Kaley and Alasdair about all the weirdness going on.”

Gaiah sighed. “I know, I know. Just let me
sleep now, Renny, and we will talk before I do another thing or
even before I leave this house again, I promise. Please?”

Gaiah really felt wretched, and realized she
must look it too, because Renny nodded, leant over, kissed her, and
left the room, closing the door softly.

Alone in the room, Gaiah
sat up and put her head in her hands.
Dear
God, what had happened? What was it all about? What does it mean?
What the hell am I going to do? Oh my God! Graeme’s car was there.
What did that mean? Is he all right? Where was he? What did he have
to do with everything?

Neal had saved her, she knew that. This was
a comforting thought, even though she had to force her brain to do
a detour around the image of the old lady. Her throat was sore and
chills were shivering through her. Turning on her electric blanket,
she lay back, pulled the blankets over her head, allowed her
natural defenses take over and fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter
Fifteen

The next day was Saturday,
so Gaiah slept in until the complaining drone of a lawnmower not
too far in the distance woke her, and thin winter sunlight
brightening the room told her the day was well underway. The memory
of the poor woman rushed at her; she threw her arm across her face
and moaned. She
had
to do something. But before anything, she needed to talk to
Neal. She pulled on her dressing gown and went out to the kitchen.
Through the window, she saw Alasdair, beyond the courtyard, cutting
the grass.

Kaley strode in, her arms
full of folded towels. “I can hardly believe it, but, Gorand and
his family are arriving
today
,” said Kaley. “Everything is
nearly ready, so there’s no problem. Renny is a great help.” She
nodded to the front room, and the sound of hoovering. “I thought
she’d go home for the weekend but she was adamant she wanted to
stay.”

Gaiah’s heart sank. Of
course Renny wanted to stay. Gaiah had
no
idea what she was going to tell
her, but she knew she had to say something.

“
You’re looking a lot
better today, how are you feeling?” inquired Kaley, putting her
hand to Gaiah’s forehead. “That’s good–no temperature.”

“
I feel fine now, I don’t
know what was wrong yesterday,” muttered Gaiah.

“
Right, you go for a
shower and go back to bed for a while, if you want. I’ll bring you
in some breakfast, and maybe you’ll get up later when our guests
arrive?”

Gaiah nodded. “Sure.
Thanks, Grandma, I won’t be long.” But she was. She spent ages in
the shower, the hot water massaging her back, as she stared
unseeing through the steam-misted doors.
What should she do? How could she explain to Renny that Neal
lured her to a deserted lane, where someone tried to kill her? Then
he saved her? And somewhere in the locality, someone was looking
for an old lady and a dog. It all sounded crazy.

She washed her hair and gave it two
conditioning treatments. Then she exfoliated, rinsed with a
hydrating gel and reached for a facial mask. Finally, she realized
her skin was going to be like a prune if she stayed in much longer,
and all she was really doing was avoiding Renny. Realistically, she
couldn’t do that indefinitely. Also, it was neither fair nor
sensible. Things were happening that were way outside her scope,
and whatever complicated feelings she had about Neal and Graeme,
she needed to tell someone and ask for help. With this resolved,
she got out of the shower and was drying her hair in a few
minutes.

Sitting back against the pillows, she stared
out the window at the blank sky. Allowing her thoughts to drift,
all she knew for sure was that the most important thing to do was
talk to Neal. She didn't know why or how. She was just finishing
the last piece of toast when Renny came in. She closed the door and
sat on the bed. Gaiah felt a pang of guilt when she saw Renny's
pale face and shadowed eyes.

“
Now, Gaiah, no more
avoiding things. Tell. Me. What’s. Going. On.”

Gaiah sat up and took a
deep breath. For some reason, she felt as if she were betraying
someone. But she knew she
had
to tell. “The day before yesterday, I got a note
from Neal asking me to meet him behind school.”

Renny’s face crumpled.
“
What?
Why didn’t
you tell me? Oh my Energies! Was that what happened yesterday? How
could you?”

This was worse than Gaiah thought it was
going to be. Renny was so upset at not being told. Gaiah found it
hard to come up with any justification for her own behavior,
except, “I just wanted to talk to Neal.” Which sounded lame, even
to her own ears. “I’m really sorry, Renny, I truly am. It’s just…
just...I felt really odd about the whole thing, as if maybe there
was something I should know.”

Renny waved her hand
impatiently. “Well, anyway, what
did
happen yesterday?”

“
I went straight to where
he told me to go. There was no one there, just an old lady walking
her dog, then I was just deciding it was a trick or something, when
the old lady reappeared and attacked me.”

Renny leapt to her feet
and paced the room. “I
knew
it
, I knew it.
Do
you see
why you should never have gone on
your own? Powers! I’m so angry, I could de-energize you, Gaiah.”
She stopped by the window. “But I’m so glad you’re all right.” She
ran back and gave Gaiah a hug.

Gaiah began to get dressed. Somehow it
seemed easier to talk about attacks and strangling while fully
dressed rather than in fluffy pyjamas.

“
Get back to the story,
Gaiah.” Renny planked herself on the edge of the bed. “You were on
your own when I met you. What happened?”

Gaiah shuddered. “Well, Neal appeared
and–”

Renny was on her feet again. “Neal? We were
right about him all the time.” Her voice rose. “I knew we should
have done something about it.”

Gaiah caught Renny’s arm. “No! No...you
don’t–”

The door burst open and Kaley dashed in.
“Powers Almighty! They’re here, they’re here! Please Renny, come
and help. I wasn’t expecting them for hours yet. Gaiah, will you
finish getting dressed and join us, fast as you can?”

Kaley was urging Renny out in front of
her.

“
One second, I'll get the
tray.” Renny returned to Gaiah, picked up the tray and, under her
breath, said, “We’ll finish this conversation later and we will do
something about it.”

Entertaining visitors was the last thing
Gaiah felt like, but at least, it had taken Renny off her back for
the moment. She threw on some clothes and followed them into the
kitchen. Gorand and his family were in high humour. Gorand’s
normally serious face was wreathed in smiles as he proudly
introduced his children, Laoise and Niasa, six-year-old twins. They
stood pressed to their mother’s side, watching everything with
wide, blue eyes, but refusing to be drawn into conversation. His
wife, Daveen, was a tall, beautiful woman. Her Gaianan hair was
dyed a rich russet, and held in two braids with gold ribbons.

Gorand apologized for arriving so early. “I
made a mistake with the dual time. Sorry, I’m always doing it.”

Kaley pointed to the freshly-brewed pot of
coffee. “You couldn’t have timed it better.” She took a tray from
the oven and slid a dozen scones on to a colourful plate. Alasdair
made hot chocolate for the twins and they all sat around in the
kitchen. They stayed sitting there long after they’d finished
Kaley’s hot scones.