Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 68

Chapter Ten

            ‘Wait, Elle!’

            I sprint to catch up with her. She’s gone rushing ahead again as if she knows where she’s going.

            ‘Yes, sorry, destination’s important isn’t it,’ she says. ‘I just wanted a dramatic exit.’

            ‘I was thinking, I know someone who might be able to help. Can you see the waves like I can?’

            ‘Oh, right,’ she realises. ‘You were building to that weren’t you.’

            She closes her eyes and touches her thumb and forefingers together like she’s meditating.

            ‘It’s like an echo,’ she says. ‘It goes all the way from the Hotel Fontana. He went the other way.’

            I’m relieved it’s not just me.

            ‘So what are you thinking?’ she asks.

            ‘There’s this guy I know, back home,’ I say. ‘My best friend…well my friend, Graham.’

            ‘What is he? Some kind of, super-scientist?’ she says, excited.

            ‘Well, he’s a scientist, well, he’s good at science…well, he could be if he concentrated.’

            She raises her eyebrows at me. ‘You’re not instilling me with confidence, science boy.’

            ‘His dad’s rich, and he has all the equipment he wants,’ I say. ‘They want him to go places, university, master’s, Ph.D, the works. If I can bring some of it here, I might be able to work out what the starbright man’s up to.’

            ‘Slight problem, Easton,’ Elle says. ‘I hate to point it out to you, but we’re dead. Graham, I’m assuming isn’t.’

            ‘No,’ I reply. ‘I admit, the plan has some flaws.’

            ‘I’d call it slightly more than a flaw,’ she says. ‘More a big whopping hole. But it sounds fun. I’m in.’

            She looks at me, expecting me to make a move.

            ‘Do you have a plan? she asks. ‘Or is that my department as ‘sidekick’.’ She frames the word with air quotes.

            ‘You’re not going to let that go are you,’ I say.

            ‘Nope.’

            ‘I didn’t think so.’ I pause. ‘I do have one idea,’ I say. ‘But it’s risky.’

            ‘How risky?’

            ‘Well, if the legends are true, we could get ourselves into some trouble.’

            ‘Trouble’s my middle name,’ she says. ‘Actually, it’s Lucy.’

            ‘Have you ever transported with someone before?’

            She shakes her head. ‘This’ll be the first time,’ she looks at her shoes a second. ‘Actually, I’ve never transported at all. I’ve heard people talking about it. You find people, clusters of spirits around places. But I’ve been walking, hitching rides on planes, that sort of thing. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.’