Page 28 of The Quarterlands (Dark Water #4)

Alex closed his eyes. Blue skies, water, bright sunshine, a mother and a son… he was back in Minneapolis at the 2082 Olympic games.

It had been forty-eight hours since Charles had won his medal, and the furore still hadn’t died down. Charles was being invited to parties everywhere, and he dragged Alex along with him. This was wonderful for a seventeen-year-old boy, high on the excitement of it all.

Alex groaned, his head aching. He glanced at the clock on the hotel nightstand – nearly noon.

What time had they rolled back in last night?

He and Charles were sharing a room in an expensive hotel near Long Lake, with their parents next door.

His mother hadn’t approved of Charles staying in the Olympic village and had insisted on having him close by.

“Hey, sleepyheads! Rise and shine.” Isobel entered through the connecting door and pulled the curtains open, causing bright sunshine to flood the room. Alex groaned again.

“Mum!”

She laughed and pulled the sheets off his bed.

“Up,” she said, bestowing a kiss on his tousled hair. She performed the same routine with Charles, who grumbled, then sat up. Even just waking up after a night partying, he looked perfect. His blond hair was always flat and tidy, his tanned skin never sallow from drinking too much.

“C’mon, Alex! Let’s go and have more fun.” He grinned, throwing his pillow at him and rolling out of bed.

It took Alex longer to come to. He emerged from the shower half an hour later to find a fully dressed Charles talking quietly to his mother, their heads pressed together.

They drew back and smiled as he entered the bedroom, but he had the sense, as he so often did, that he wasn’t welcome in their little world.

He opened the fridge, yawning, a towel wrapped around his waist. Finding a can of fizzy water, he opened it, then downed the contents in a few gulps. The fridge was full of potions – Charles’s supplements and protein powders, and the vials of blood that Alex was used to seeing from The Orchard.

“It’s like living with a vampire,” he’d once grumbled. “Does he have any blood left?”

“We have to test, test, test, darling, to make sure he’s always in tip-top shape,” Isobel had told him .

Alex threw the empty can in the trash. “What’s the plan today?”

“I was just telling Charles that he has a few interviews later, and there’s a reception this evening, followed by yet another party.

I suggested to your father that maybe Charles should have his own room…

” Isobel shot Charles a little wink. “I know it’s expensive, but with all the companies lining up with sponsorship deals, he can afford it, and, well, I thought you both might like some privacy to really, ahem, take advantage of all that’s going on. ”

“Mum,” Alex said again in an agonised voice. Charles burst out laughing.

“I was young once, I know what it’s like.” Isobel laughed as well. “Charles has worked hard – he’s entitled to play hard, too.”

“And me?” Alex asked, grinning. “Can I play hard as well?”

“Well, you’re only seventeen, darling, but why not?

” She grinned. “I can’t believe that a year ago you were a scrawny, dark, glowering little thing.

You seem to have shot up overnight and blossomed into such a handsome young man.

Any young lady would be lucky to land you.

Just make sure she’s not using you to get to your brother. ”

Alex fought down a wave of irritation. He turned away sullenly, grabbed his clothes, and returned to the bathroom to get dressed, emerging a few minutes later still feeling annoyed.

“I’m going out for a walk,” he snapped, and then left, slamming the door behind him.

He pulled his baseball cap over his eyes, ran down the back stairs, managing to avoid the ever-present gaggle of reporters and news crews in the hotel lobby, and slipped outside. It was hot and sticky, and he found he missed the A/C almost immediately.

He walked to a quiet spot near the water and sat with his feet dangling in the lake, cooling his hot skin. He wished he’d eaten something. His head still hurt, and he was ashamed of himself for snapping like that. Why did he always have to antagonise everyone with his moods?

He mulled over what his mother had said.

He’d seen people looking at him lately, checking him out.

Nobody had ever noticed him before, but suddenly he felt visible, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

He’d never been a pretty child, unlike Charles.

He’d always been the weird- looking, difficult one, and he was struggling to adjust to this new reality.

On the one hand, people were nicer to him now, but on the other, it felt as if they’d stopped seeing him and were only interested in his newly acquired good looks, which made him feel invisible in a different way.

He was jolted out of these thoughts when someone sat down beside him. He caught a whiff of his mother’s perfume before he saw her – he’d know her scent anywhere. She rolled up her trousers and slipped her long, elegant legs into the cool water.

“Sorry, darling. It’s all been about Charles lately, hasn’t it?”

“It’s not that.” He stared into the dark water. Was now the right time to tell her? When would be the right time? He didn’t like keeping secrets from her.

“Still, I didn’t mean that girls wouldn’t find you attractive, too, because you’re quite the looker these days. I just meant that Charles is famous now, and I don’t want you being used to get to him. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I knew what you meant.” Alex watched as a gaggle of ducks fought over a morsel of food floating in the lake.

“You’re still very young, darling.” She pressed a little kiss to the side of his head. “I don’t wish to pry, but you’ve never mentioned a special girl. I know, I know. These are things a young man doesn’t like to discuss with his mother, but you know you can, if you want to, don’t you?”

She smiled at him, and that made it worse. The sense of shame and guilt twisted inside him. He had to tell her.

“There’s no special girl,” he muttered.

“Ah. Well, I’m sure there will be, one day.”

“What if there isn’t?” He turned to look at her, holding his breath.

“A beautiful boy like you? You’ll be fighting them off.” She gave him a sympathetic hug. “Look, it’s difficult at your age, and I know you’ve struggled to make friends. You’ve never found it easy to talk to people, but that comes with maturity, it really does.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said quietly, although she was right.

She looked at him for a long moment, and then realisation flooded in .

“Oh,” she said. Then, again, more emphatically. “ Oh! ” And then she burst out laughing.

He stared at her. “Why are you laughing?”

“Because I remember thinking when you were a little boy that you’d probably grow up to be gay, but your father became cranky whenever I mentioned it, so I shut up, and I haven’t thought about it since.”

His father. Alex stared glumly into the water. It had been hard enough telling his mother. He and Noah were finally getting along a little better; he didn’t want to mess that up.

“And, of course, it’s so very obvious, now you say it,” Isobel continued.

“Is it? In what way?” He hunched his shoulders miserably. Did everyone know, just by looking at him?

“Well, you were always such an artistic little boy.”

“Mum! That’s the worst kind of stereotyping,” he admonished. “You can be artistic and not gay, and anyway, I’m not sure I’m completely gay. I mean… I don’t know. I like boys… but sometimes I really fancy girls, too.”

“Well, that’s what your teens are for, experimenting,” she declared. “I rather hope you are gay. Think of all the fun we could have together.”

She nudged him, and he brightened. Her relationship with Charles had always seemed so impenetrable and exclusive. This might be something special that only he could share with her.

“Really?”

“Oh yes! Shopping, flirting with hot men and gossiping about them afterwards.” She laughed.

“What about Dad?” He turned to face her anxiously.

“Oh, don’t worry about him.” She waved her hand dismissively in the air.

“He believes God sent a flood to wipe out half of humanity because we’re so full of sin, so I do kind of worry about what he’ll say,” he muttered anxiously.

“Well, don’t. You take some time to figure out who you are and then we’ll deal with it. In the meantime, it’ll be our little secret.” She nudged her shoulder against his, smiling. “Yes? ”

“Yes,” he said happily, smiling back. “Will it cause trouble between you and Dad?” He couldn’t help worrying.

He’d heard them arguing more often lately, usually about money, but also about her flirting.

Noah was so busy running Lytton AV, and she moved in very different circles. Were they growing apart?

“Not at all. I’ll talk him round when the time comes. Your father can be an old fuddy-duddy, but he’s a good man at heart. I wouldn’t have married him if he wasn’t.”

“Why did you marry him?” Alex asked. It was something he’d often wondered. His mother was so bright and vivacious and his father so strait-laced and, well, dull by comparison.

Isobel stared straight ahead. “I’ve not been entirely honest with you about my childhood, darling.

Your father knows, but I kept it from you and Charles because it was a world away from the life I wanted to give you.

You know I was born in a government work camp, but my father didn’t die young, like I told you.

The truth is, I never knew him. I’m not sure Mum knew which man my biological father was, to be honest. She had to do some desperate things to survive in the camp.

” She gave a sad smile. “Secrets, darling. I’m trusting mine to you, so that you know you can trust yours to me. ”

“God, that’s awful, Mum. I had no idea.” His grandmother had always struck him as a very proper kind of person, but she’d died when he was eight, so he hadn’t known her very well.