AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I can’t—’
‘Tell me.’
‘You’ve got to go,’ whispered Emily frantically. ‘Jiang’s waiting for you.’
‘Then talk quickly,’ said Robin. ‘What made you say Daiyu didn’t drown?’
‘Because… it was just… Daiyu told me she was going to go away with this older girl and live with her.’ Emily’s voice was full of a strange longing.
‘D’you mean Cherie Gittins?’
‘How—?’
‘Was it Cherie?’
‘Yes… I was so jealous. We all really loved Cherie, she was like… like a real… like what they’d call a mother.’
‘Where does invisibility come in?’
‘How did you—?’
‘Tell me.’
‘It was the night before they went to the beach. Cherie gave us all special drinks, but I didn’t like the taste. I poured mine down the sink. When everyone else was asleep, I saw Cherie helping Daiyu out of the dormitory window. I knew she didn’t want anyone to see what she’d done, so I pretended to be asleep, and she went back to bed.’
‘She pushed Daiyu out of the window and then went back to bed herself?’
‘Yes, but she’ll just have been helping Daiyu do whatever she wanted to do. Daiyu could get people in trouble with Papa J and Mazu, if they didn’t do what she wanted.’
From downstairs came a shout:
‘Rowena?’
‘I’m in the bathroom,’ Robin shouted. Turning back to Emily, whom she could no longer see in the dark, she said,
‘Quickly – did you ever tell Kevin what you saw? Tell me, please.’
‘Yes,’ said Emily. ‘Later. Ages later. When I told Becca I’d seen Cherie helping Daiyu out of the window, she said, “You didn’t see that, you can’t have done. If you couldn’t see Daiyu in her bed, it was because she can turn invisible.” Becca loved Cherie too. Becca would’ve done anything for her. When Cherie left, I cried for days. It was like losing – oh God,’ said Emily, panicked.
Footsteps were coming along the corridor. The door opened and the light was slapped on. Jiang stood revealed in the doorway, wearing a blue tracksuit. Jacob’s eyes opened and he began to whimper. Scowling, Jiang averted his gaze from his son.
‘Sorry,’ Robin said to Jiang. ‘I needed the loo and then I had to tell Emily when I last gave him a drink and changed his—’
‘I don’t need the details,’ snapped Jiang. ‘Come on.’
87
Nine in the fourth place means:
Then the companion comes,
And him you can trust.
The I Ching or Book of Changes
As Jiang and Robin walked together down the stairs he said,
‘Stinks, that room.’
