seeing the confusion on his face. ‘It was like a really bright light.’
Cyrus stepped back. ‘Well, I’d say it was closed, right?’ he asked with a half-smile.
Evie smiled back, relief making her feel light-headed. ‘Yeah, I’d say so.’
They walked back up the stairs into the atrium, all of them grinning with relief.
‘Hey!’ someone yelled.
Evie froze. A man in a hard hat was marching towards them. ‘What the hell are you doing in here?’ he demanded, his moustache bristling. ‘This is a construction site. Get the hell out!’
‘No hablo Inglés,’ Cyrus said, stepping quickly in front of Evie. ‘Estamos turistas. Estamos perdidas.’
He took Evie by the hand and they made a run for it towards the door, Vero sprinting behind them. The man was still yelling after them as they ducked down the steps and ran across the street towards Ash.
‘So?’ he asked, coming to meet them.
‘Closed,’ Vero answered, throwing her arms around his neck.
A rare smile cracked on Ash’s face.
‘What was that? Spanish? How do you speak Spanish?’ Evie asked Cyrus, letting her hand slide from his.
‘I don’t know,’ Cyrus shrugged, his gaze dropping to her hand for an instant. ‘Guess I’m just a linguistic genius.’
Evie arched an eyebrow and bit back a smile. The old Cyrus was making a comeback. She wasn’t sure she wanted to encourage it though.
Chapter 20
‘Oh. My. God.’
Evie should have prepared herself. Should have prepared Cyrus for this.
The waitress Darcy – the tall, skinny one with the braids – was standing in the middle of the café, with a heavily laden tray balanced precariously on one hand, staring at Cyrus as if, well, as if he was Lazarus risen from the dead.
‘Cyrus!’ the waitress screeched, launching herself towards them, the coffee on her tray splashing all over the floor and a customer’s lap.
‘Do I know her?’ Cyrus murmured under his breath.
‘Yes,’ Evie said.
‘What’s her name?’ Cyrus asked, masking the question behind a cough.
‘Darcy. But don’t worry, you never remembered it anyway.’
‘Oh my god, you’re alive! You’re alive!’ Darcy said, dropping her tray on the nearest table and throwing herself on Cyrus.
Evie glanced around at the customers who were all now staring at them.
‘Your mother said that you’d been in an accident,’ Darcy spluttered.
Evie stepped quickly between them, breaking Darcy’s grip on Cyrus. ‘Yeah, well, it was all a mistake. He’s actually alive as you can see,’ she said.
Darcy looked between them, the cogs turning slowly, ever so slowly. ‘Does she know?’ she suddenly gasped. ‘Your mum? Oh my god, you so have to tell her!’
Vero rolled her eyes. ‘Good idea, we hadn’t thought of that.’
Darcy frowned at her, and Evie took the opportunity to tug Cyrus towards the door at the back of the store.
‘So, um, do you like, maybe want to get together later?’ Darcy shouted after them.
Cyrus stopped and turned to the girl. He looked awkward, like he didn’t know what he was supposed to say, ‘Er, he began, shooting a nervous, pleading glance Evie’s way.
Evie shrugged as nonchalantly as possible.
‘Maybe?’ Cyrus said. ‘I’ll call you? I have your number, right?’
‘Yeah, like I messaged you maybe a thousand times.’
‘Great,’ Cyrus said through a fixed grin. ‘Speak to you later then.’
He turned back to Evie. ‘Did I date her?’ he asked under his breath.
‘If you want to call it that,’ Evie answered, holding the door to the stairwell open for him.
They climbed the stairs and knocked. And waited. It was the same as the day before. They heard a slow, shuffling gait on the other side. The door cracked open an inch and Margaret’s tired face appeared in the gap. She stared at them vacantly, her eyes passing over Cyrus and fixing on Evie before she did a double take and tracked back to Cyrus. Her jaw dropped and the door fell open.
‘Mum?’ Cyrus asked, cutting his eyes in Evie’s direction to check that this was indeed his mother.
Evie nodded. Margaret gaped at Cyrus, her bottom lip trembling. She looked like she was on the verge of collapsing and Evie inched forward just in case she needed to catch her.
‘Mum,’ Cyrus said again, taking a step towards her, ‘it’s me.’
Margaret stared at him as if she wasn’t sure she wasn’t dreaming or imagining it and was too scared to move in case she shattered the illusion and he vanished.
‘Cyrus?’ she finally croaked.
He nodded.
Her face crumpled and she threw her arms around his neck with a sob, hugging him so fiercely that Cyrus looked in danger of toppling on top of her. Before he could