Voices in Stone - Emily Diamand Page 0,59

own thing, chasing secret societies and conspiracies and Mr Dunbar… Oh.

That’s you, isn’t it?

I have gone by that name.

But Isis said her dad works on cruise ships and that’s why he’s never around… That’s a cover story, isn’t it?

Your suggestion, not mine.

How could you just leave her? Don’t you care about your own daughter? Or, were you sent off on a mission? Is Isis being psychic something to do with you? Is that why you married Cally?

I have revealed some things to you because you’ll forget them anyway. But certain information, like the answers to these questions, I will not give.

You’re only a boy, Gray, not an agent.

Chapter Twenty-three

Isis

Cally had to work at Crystal Healing in the afternoon, and Isis was alone in the flat.

“You wanted me to get a job, so this is what happens,” Cally said as she went out.

“You can’t just leave,” said Isis, taken aback by this new, hard Cally. “You always tell Gil you can’t leave me alone.”

“Well I can’t get a babysitter without any notice, can I?” answered Cally. “And I can’t afford not to work, not now.” The door clunked heavily behind her.

Cally was punishing Isis for what had happened in school, but in her own odd way: by leaving Isis alone. Isis went to the sofa and sat staring at nothing. After a minute or so, she slapped one of the cushions.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she shouted at it.

Angel’s head poked out from the arm of the sofa, her neck melting into the fabric. “You dint ask.”

Isis glared at her, trying to sort out her tumble of thoughts.

“We going to have a baby brother,” said Angel happily.

Cally and Gil’s baby. Meaning she and Gray would be… what? Stepbrother and sister?

“And Gil will be my stepdad,” she said gloomily.

“Brothers and sisters and a whole new daddy,” said Angel.

“I don’t want a new dad!” said Isis.

There was a sound from behind the sofa, a rasping cough tinged with embarrassment and scented with mildew.

“Ahem. I apologise for interrupting during such a delicate conversation but…”

Isis twisted around to see Mandeville, who was hovering in the kitchen doorway, his feet not quite on the carpet.

“Things are afoot. At your school and throughout the area. Underfoot, to be more precise, so as your spirit guide I thought I should tell you that—”

“This is all your FAULT!” Isis shouted, kneeling up on the sofa. “Why couldn’t you leave me alone?”

Mandeville floated back, a frown crinkling the peeling skin of his forehead. “I fail to see…”

“Wasn’t it bad enough that I nearly died in the summer? Now you’re trying to ruin my life!” Being excluded, her argument with Cally, the shock of the news of the baby; it poured out of her at the nearest target, crashing straight for Mandeville. “All this time going on and on about the wisdom you’ve got, but as soon as you get the chance you say the most horrible, stupid thing ever! You frightened the whole school, and now I’ve been suspended and everyone hates me!”

“Well I’m sorry, my dear, but I really didn’t intend…”

“Don’t call me ‘my dear’! I’m not your dear, I’m not anything to do with you!”

Mandeville floated further back, seeming to decay a little as she watched, crumbling and fraying around his edges.

“But you are my medium, the channel through which…”

“No.” Isis stood up, her hands clenched. “I’m not doing it any more. You said I’d help people – well what about me? How does it help me?”

“You’ll be rich, famous and doing all manner of good,” pleaded Mandeville. “You can’t turn your back on your powers. I’ve been waiting all my life and all my death to find a true psychic, such as yourself.”

She picked up a cushion, wanting to throw it at him. “Is that really all it is to you? When you were alive, was your ambition to be a ghost?”

“Well, I…” Mandeville shook his head, a cloud of dust swirling out into the air. “I’m not sure. I can’t remember…”

“You’re a dropped sock!” she said.

“Pardon?”

“You said it yourself, don’t you remember? How you felt like the main part of you is already gone, and you’re just a leftover of hopes and dreams, the bits your soul didn’t really need.” She glared at him, hating him in that moment. Glad to have someone to take this day out on. “Remember?”

“I’m not just a leftover…”

“Yes you are!” she cried. “You said a psychic sees what’s really there – well that’s what I see looking at you! A