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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN SIRENS

Wind beat down on my weathered body. I lurched and something rolled down my chin. The air was too cold to choke in. My head felt like it was splitting in two. Aches pulsed through my limbs, sticking me to the ground.

Think. Concentrate. I tried to switch my brain back on.

The ground was rough beneath my legs. The pressure was gone from my chest. The back of my head was scratching against something. I was on my back. Yes.

The lights behind my eyes were still blazing, but the roaring was somewhere behind me. The heat was close, but not like it was before. Wind was pushing hair across my face. It stuck to my lips. Drops of water pricked my cheeks. It was raining. I was outside. Yes. There was a chorus of new sounds soaring into the night.

Sirens . I tried to imagine what a siren was. Ambulances. Fire trucks. Police cars. We were safe.

‘Sophie!’ That familiar voice, silky like honey. Nic. Yes, that’s right. Nic is here.

There was more noise – clanging, shouting. There were discussions – serious, angry discussions. A female voice. ‘Sophie? Sophie, can you hear me?’

My mother?

No. Not her.

There were more words, important words, falling around my ears. I strained to listen. Smoke inhalation. Gas leak. Explosion. One more. One more left. One more left inside.

My attention snapped. I was falling away from reality, into something else. My limbs stopped aching. Everything was weightless. The voices were drifting far away from me, the warmth barely reaching me now.

I fell down, down into blackness.

And then light was flickering. My mother’s voice beckoned me towards her. The fire surrounded her, but it wasn’t hot any more.

‘Sophie? Can you hear me?’

I stumbled forwards, falling at her feet. She knelt down to me, her big blue eyes swarming with tears. Her lips were moving but I couldn’t hear her voice. ‘Sophie, can you open your eyes for me?’

She pulled me into her. I wrapped my arms around her neck, expecting the softness of her hair and the gentle scent of her lavender perfume. Her arms were like reeds, slimy and cold. They fell away, withering to the ground. I frowned, pulling back. Her hair was stringy and damp, her perfume like wet earth. I tasted ash in my mouth. I blinked and her face disappeared. I turned and the blackness engulfed me.

‘Sophie?’

Inside, my body cracked and splintered. Heat surged through me, scalding me. Outside, my arms and legs sprawled in puddles, shaking with cold.

Where was she?

Where was I?