to himself. His hair was cropped so short it wasn’t much more than black fuzz on his head, making his ears look bigger than ever, and his mum’s efforts also showed in his brand-new, slightly too big uniform and shiny-black shoes. The only hint of what had happened in the summer was a small scar on his forehead, pink and pale against his caramel skin. Gray was listening to the other boy, who was shorter, with a freckly face and mousey hair cut into a boy-band flick.
Isis made her way across the playground.
“Hi,” she called, a smile lifting her mouth. Her whole body felt lighter now that she’d seen him.
Gray and the other boy turned around.
“Isis,” said Gray, acknowledging her – but there was no answering smile, and his eyes flickered over her face, looking for something. “Are you… all right now?”
She nodded. “I’m fine. I asked Cally if we could go over to your dad’s, after I got out, but she wouldn’t even ring him.”
Gray shook his head. “I wouldn’t have been there anyway. Mum hasn’t let me go to his place since. She says he’s irresponsible, and we could’ve all been…” Gray stopped, glancing at his friend.
“It wasn’t your dad’s fault,” said Isis.
“I know, but all the same.” He hoicked his bag onto his shoulder, getting ready to go. “I haven’t said anything about…” He looked up, but in a reflex, as if hardly aware of the action.
Isis nodded, grateful he’d not said the word. Devourer. Monster.
“I wondered if you wanted to talk?” she asked, the words bursting out in a rush. She couldn’t say more, not here, but those days in August and the night that ended them had been filling up her mind, using all her thoughts. Gray was the only one who’d understand.
He didn’t answer, and his expression wasn’t what she expected. Gray seemed reluctant, even fearful. “Um, I can’t now,” he said.
“We’ve got to see Mr Gerard to register our UFO club,” said the flick-haired boy.
Isis laughed, not sure if he meant it.
“UFOs do exist!” snapped the boy. “Gray’s shot a film of them. It’s been on telly – he’s practically famous!”
“Oh. Yeah,” said Isis. She waited for Gray to correct him, but he didn’t. He only walked away, throwing a last comment over his shoulder. “I’ll see you around, all right?”
“All right,” she answered, although it wasn’t. She’d been counting the days until school started, waiting for the moment she could finally talk everything through with Gray. It hadn’t gone even a tiny bit how she’d imagined.
In the hospital, Isis had waited for Cally to talk to her about Angel, but after two days she still hadn’t.
“Mum?” asked Isis.
Cally smiled. “I like it when you call me that.”
Isis smiled too, then carried on. “Do you remember what happened down in the mortuary?”
Cally seemed to freeze for a heartbeat.
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget it,” she replied. “Seeing you alive then was the best moment of my life.”
Isis nodded, her head against the pillow. “What about when we held hands?”
Next to the bed, a small face peered up at them eagerly beneath a bob of curly blonde hair. It was a little girl, dressed in a pink party dress. Isis’s little sister, Angel.
“I holded hands too,” she cried. “I do it!” She patted the sheets with her pudgy fingers, but they didn’t leave a single wrinkle on the bedding.
Isis took a nervous breath, then continued, “Did you see Angel?”
Cally’s face was still, apart from a twitch of her jaw and the tiniest flicker of her eyes. “Angel is dead, Isis. She died five years ago.”
“But did you see her?” asked Isis, more urgently.
Cally shook her head, her face still blank.
“Not true!” Angel shouted, her fists thumping onto the bed now, though still without any effect. “Mummy seed me!”
Cally shivered, doing up the buttons of her cardigan. “You were suffering from hypothermia. Maybe you thought you saw Angel because you wanted her to be with us…”
“She was with us!” cried Isis. “She’s with us right now!”
And that was the only time Cally walked away from her in the hospital, standing without a word and leaving through the ward doors. Angel raced after her mother, coming to a stop only as the doors closed, their handles visible beyond the fabric of her dress.
“Mummy!” she shouted, stamping one foot. None of the other patients looked over. “Mummy!”
After a moment, Angel turned and ran back to the bed. Isis held out her arms, not caring if anyone was