fall apart emotionally. I could see it happening, tried to push it still further. I reminded her of her family, exploiting what I knew to be her weak point, just when she needed to hold it together. The controls were almost mine, the mission so nearly complete.
Did I push her too far? Her reaction to my needling was extreme, a screaming tantrum so wildly disproportionate to my own behavior that I can only assume she was in the grip of hysteria. I gave up, then. Even the toughest troops know when to withdraw. Regroup. Better to live to fight again. To fight better.
We won small battles amid the lost war. After the hijack, the UK government banned air miles, a small but significant step toward deterring people from flying. They introduced tax breaks for businesses shipping their products by sea instead of air and added VAT on the purchase of new aircraft.
We made that happen, I tell myself in my darker moments.
I’m telling you now. We made that happen. That’s the power of protest. Don’t ever think that you can’t effect change, can’t truly make a difference in the world. To the world. Your children’s children are counting on you.
Nevertheless, it is time for a new approach. Protests have changed since my mother took me to Greenham Common; legislation has changed, technology has changed. We can be cleverer. Quieter. More powerful.
Over the last few years, since our hijacking mission, I’ve noticed a sea change in attitudes toward climate change. You must have seen it too. More coverage in newspapers, more documentaries, more celebrities standing up to be counted. The tide is turning, and the time to ride the wave is now.
But I’m not the one to ride it.
Branding is everything in this world of consumerism and social media, and it has never been my style to take center stage. What’s needed is someone young, someone passionate, someone whose purity shines through for the world to see.
Someone like you.
I know you’re ready for this. You’ve listened to my side of the story, and you understand the issues. You see that it’s the cause that matters, not the people.
It’s daunting, I know. But I’ll be there, in the wings. I’ll help you write your speeches and prepare for meetings. I’ll teach you how to carry people along with your energy and your innocence, until they believe every word you say. I’ll be behind you, but you’ll take the credit. You’ll be known the world over, making nations sit up and listen because you are the voice of reason. The voice of the future.
Consider this an apprenticeship for now. I’ll talk, and you’ll learn, and meanwhile you’ll be winning hearts, so that when the time is right, people will follow you wherever we wish to lead them. I’ll show you how.
Your parents?
Oh, Sophia, they’re not your parents. They’re carers, that’s all. No more a part of your family than your teachers are. It is their job to look after you. Nothing more. Adam and Mina wanted a child, they wanted any child—they didn’t choose you. Not like me.
Yes. That’s right. I chose you.
I chose to tell you all this while the others watched the trial.
Why?
Because I can see your potential. Because together we’re going to change the world, and I know you’re strong enough not just to lead those changes but to cope with the bloodshed along the way. I chose you to be my second-in-command, to be the future of my campaign.
I chose you. So what do you say?
Good girl. You’re making the right decision.
They’re looking at us. I have to go. Don’t tell them what I’ve said, will you? It’s our little secret. Just sit tight, and don’t breathe a word. Be who they want you to be. For now.
I’ll let you know when it’s time.
EPILOGUE
SOPHIA
I’m squashed between Mum and Dad in the taxi. It’s like I’m the net in the middle of a tennis court, words bouncing from Mum to Dad to Mum to Dad. Over and over.
Over my head.
That’s what people say if they don’t understand something. It goes over my head. Like water when you’re drowning.
Grown-ups think what they say goes over my head. They think that because I’m little, I don’t hear what they say. They think I don’t understand. I listened to Dad talking to Derek one day. I heard Derek say, There’s just something about him and Dad say, Mina won’t hear a bad word against him. When they saw me, they stopped really suddenly,