Shattered 03 by Teri Terry

Author:Teri Terry [Terry, Teri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Paranormal, Action & Adventure, General, Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Mysteries & Detective Stories
ISBN: 9781408319512
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2014-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

* * *

‘Can we talk?’

Stella smiles to see me, looks so absurdly happy that I’m seeking her out, that a sinking feeling stirs deep in my chest. ‘Of course, come in,’ she says, and I walk into her office and turn the lock behind me. She raises an eyebrow. ‘This looks serious. Is everything all right?’

‘No. Not really.’

‘What is it?’

And I don’t know what to say. The less I tell her, the better for her, really. But despite all the need for caution, I just can’t do it to her; I can’t disappear with no word. Not again.

Stella gets up from behind her desk, goes to the sofa against the wall. I sit next to her.

‘Go on. You can tell me anything.’

‘You don’t want to hear this. I’m sorry, but I have to leave.’

She shakes her head. ‘Leave? You’ve barely got here. Why?’

‘I’m pretty sure my cover is blown; or, if it isn’t, it will be soon. They’ll come for me if I stay.’

‘Oh, Lucy. No. I’ll come with you. I’ll—’

‘No. Really, you can’t; it’s too much of a risk. I’ll be safer getting away on my own.’

A range of emotions cross her face and I brace myself for the storm, but before it gets going, it disappears. She sags back on the sofa.

‘When?’ she whispers.

‘I don’t know. Soon. As soon as I can arrange something. It won’t be forever, I promise: I’ll get in touch. Some day I’ll come back and see you, when things are different.’

‘Oh, Lucy. No. It’s not fair.’

‘Life’s like that,’ I say, sharper than I mean to. But really, when has life been fair to me? Even when I finally thought I was returning to a family that was mine, I found out it was all lies.

‘This isn’t because of me, is it?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Tell me everything. Maybe I can help.’

I shake my head. ‘I’m sorry, it’s safer if you don’t know.’

‘You don’t trust me,’ she says, her voice bitter.

‘It’s not that! But why should I? You’ve lied to me my whole life,’ I say, the words spilling out of me before I can call them back.

She recoils. ‘You’ve worked it out, haven’t you.’

‘What?’

‘That I haven’t told you everything.’

‘What else haven’t you told me?’ I demand, even as some part of me realises this isn’t supposed to be going like this; I’m supposed to be trying to mend things a little before I go, but I can’t stop myself from asking. What more could there possibly be?

‘It wasn’t my fault!’

‘What wasn’t your fault?’

‘She made me do it, don’t you see?’

‘Who – your mother? What did she make you do?’

‘She was blackmailing me, all these years, into keeping quiet. I was a prisoner back then! She had me under lock and key the whole time I was pregnant, to stop me from talking; she kept Danny away, made him think that was what I wanted. Maybe my baby would have lived if I’d been at home. But then when she brought you…she knew she had me.

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