Gemma Malley by The Killables

Author:The Killables
Format: epub
Published: 2013-07-15T16:00:00+00:00

14

Evie didn’t sleep for long. It felt as though no sooner had her eyelids closed heavily over her eyes than Raffy was gently shaking her. ‘They’re packing up,’ he said. ‘Wake up, Evie.’

She didn’t want to wake up, didn’t want to return to this strange world, to the pain in her head, to the questions circling. But as she opened her eyes she saw Raffy looking down at her, his haunted eyes somehow softer than they’d been since they left the City. Gently, his fingers traced the line of her jaw, then his thumb moved over her eyebrow and she closed her eyes again, just for a moment, because they were out in the open, because for the first time they weren’t hiding, not in a tree, not in a cave; they weren’t looking over their shoulder or fearing what might lie around the corner. They just were. They were here, together, in the warm sun, together, and it was the closest to happy she could remember feeling. She wanted to preserve the moment, to remember what it felt like. Because though it was happening, although she could feel Raffy, his touch, the rise and fall of his chest against her cheek, she knew that it wasn’t real and that it couldn’t last. Because moments like this never lasted; she knew that in her bones. They existed just briefly to give you strength, to have something to remember, to cling to when darker days came.

‘I love you, Evie,’ he whispered, and she felt a tug at her heart, a need for him, but it was something more. ‘You’re the only person in this whole world that matters. You and me, Evie. It’s always going to be you and me.’

And she nodded, grasped his neck, felt his kisses on her, moved herself against him. But all the time, there was just one thought in her head. Lucas. She closed her eyes and saw his face, looking up at her, his eyes full of pain full of . . .

‘Raffy,’ she whispered. ‘Raffy, there’s something . . .’

But even as she spoke, she heard footsteps marching towards them, a voice calling out to Raffy. It was Linus. ‘Hey,’ he shouted. ‘Over here. Help us.’ Evie quickly roused herself and stood up so that Raffy could, too. Linus looked around vaguely then turned to Evie. ‘You, help Martha.’ He didn’t know her name, she found herself thinking. He’d been so keen for answers and yet he’d never asked their names.

Quickly, Evie ran over to Martha, who was dismantling a tent. Like the gypsies in her mother’s stories, Evie thought to herself as she pulled pegs out of the ground. Never in one place for long, always running away. Would this be her life now? Had she joined the gypsies just as her fake mother had warned that she would?

She took out the pegs, rolled up the groundsheet and did her best to fold the tent, then watched in awe as Martha expertly packed it up into a bag that appeared far too small to contain it.

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