Chapter Four

‘What did you mean?’ I asked Zara as soon as I got on the school bus the following day.

‘What did I mean about what?’

‘You know – about my dad. About him having a secret.’

She turned in her seat to look at me. ‘It’s just …’ And then she hesitated and her face became closed and guarded. ‘No. It’s probably nothing.’

‘But you said he had a secret and it wasn’t very nice.’

She was looking out of the window now, and wouldn’t turn her head to look at me. I could see by the way her face was set that she wasn’t going to say anything else. She often did this: started saying something, then changed her mind and clammed up.

I’d hardly slept the night before, just lain there tossing and turning and imagining all sorts of things about my dad. What was this secret? It could be one of a number of things and they all went through my head one by one. He was having an affair. He was a bigamist and had another family. He was leaving Mum. They were getting divorced. He’d lost his job. He’d done something bad – a robbery/drugs deal/hit-and-run and was being put in jail.

It was a horrible feeling. OK, I knew he was a bit of a pillock sometimes, but that didn’t mean I wanted him out of my life. I’d got used to my dad. Annoying as he sometimes was, I couldn’t imagine life without him.

About two o’clock in the morning, utterly fed up at being awake, I’d thought I’d try the automatic writing business. I got up, went over to my desk and pulled out a pen and a sheet of paper. Then I sat there with the pen hovering over the paper and my eyes closed, thinking, Tell me what my dad’s secret is …

But it hadn’t worked; the pen hadn’t made as much as a mark on the paper. In the end I’d gone back to bed and eventually fallen asleep.

‘I tried that automatic writing,’ I said to Zara as our bus swung through the school gates. ‘I wanted to know my dad’s secret.’

‘And what happened?’ Zara asked, turning to me, suddenly interested.

‘Nothing.’ I shrugged. ‘It didn’t move.’

‘That’s because you’re not psychic.’

‘But nor are you, are you? You’re not really.’

‘Well, what do you think?’ she asked. But while I was working out what to say the bus pulled up at the stop, there was a big rush to get off and I never did say anything. I didn’t know, was the answer. I didn’t know if she was really psychic or not.

That week we realised it was working – the popularity thing. At break different girls would wander over to talk to us, and at lunchtime would look to see where we were and come to sit on our table. Sky and Sophie and Poppy and Lois came too, and it might sound batty but it was strangely thrilling to have The Four actually seeking us out and wanting to sit with us. Sophie, actually, was the only one who was a little reluctant; not so interested in us as the others. She was the one who’d ask if we could please talk about something else and said it was boring hearing about star signs and creepy stuff the whole time. She preferred talking about soaps and bands and fashions.

As we were talking, Zara would every so often throw a little crumb into the general conversation, ask someone how their parrot was (‘How did you know I had a parrot?’ they’d say in awe) or tell them where they were planning to go on holiday next year (‘How did you know that? My dad’s only just booked it!’).

Afterwards I would ask Zara how she knew this sort of stuff and she’d say it was because she actually listened to things, had heard Chloe talking about taking her parrot to the vet a couple of weeks back, or remembered Danielle mentioning ages ago that her family were looking at holiday brochures for the Caribbean. ‘It’s just being open to things: listening between the lines. Remember what I said at the start?’

I thought about this. ‘What about my dad, though?’ I asked. ‘What could you have found out about him from listening to stuff?’

‘That’s different.’

‘You said it was probably nothing…’

She sighed.

‘Tell me what it is – what you think it is,’ I said, for she was about to turn away again.

‘Look, the honest answer is, I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I just got this weird feeling about him the other evening.’

For some reason I felt my mouth begin to go dry. ‘D’you think it’s something very bad?’

She shrugged. ‘Dunno.’ She looked at me. ‘Nah, it’s probably nothing. Forget it.’

As if.

On Thursday we were told that the following afternoon we’d be having an extended lunch hour because the teachers had a meeting, so that was the day we decided to do the psychometry thing. We told certain girls (it felt odd to be the ones doing the choosing – selecting and rejecting) to bring in a piece of jewellery or something small; something that Zara wouldn’t recognise.

‘It’s got to be something of your own, though,’ I explained in my role as psychic’s assistant. ‘If it belongs to someone else then the vibes will be wrong and Zara will get confused.’

I didn’t ask anyone what they were going to bring, but Sophie came up to me and whispered that she was going to bring a silver bangle she’d been given when she was christened. She’d never actually worn it, she said, did I think that would be all right? Surprised at being asked, because she’d said all along that she didn’t really believe in it, I told her that that sounded fine. Chloe, too, came up and said she was bringing a signet ring which had been given to her by her brother; would it matter that she hadn’t bought it herself? I assured her it wouldn’t.

Going home on the bus that day, Zara asked me if I knew what any of the girls were bringing and, though I felt a bit uncomfortable about doing so, I told her about Sophie’s silver bangle and Chloe’s ring. It was silly to feel guilty, I said to myself, when the whole thing was a trick anyway. Zara seemed pleased with the information, especially when I said that Chloe’s ring had belonged to her brother, but I didn’t think any more about this at the time.

‘Did you find out what Poppy’s putting in?’ she went on. ‘I saw you chatting away to her.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘We were just talking.’

‘About me, was it? I could see her looking over, and then you both started laughing.’

‘I can’t remember what we were talking about,’ I said. I felt my face turn red because I could remember exactly. Poppy and I had been laughing because she’d said that she wasn’t surprised at what Zara was doing because she’d always thought she was a bit of a gypsy. ‘Expect she’ll be selling us lucky white heather next,’ she’d whispered, and before I could stop myself I’d giggled and added, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised – you should see the state of her mum!’

I’d felt awful after. It was just one of those things that you come out with for the sake of being funny, though, and to carry on the conversation.

There were eight of us in our tutor room the following lunchtime: me and Zara, The Four, plus India and Chloe. I was intending to put something in the box too, as further proof of Zara’s psychic powers.

Lois was late coming in and while we were waiting for her – with Zara sitting quietly meditating, head bowed and eyes closed – everyone else was talking about Sky’s boyfriend. This, apparently, was the boy we’d seen them chatting to in the shopping mall a few weeks before. He was a DJ, and French, and wanted Sky to go to Paris with him for the weekend. They were discussing what she should tell her mum and dad, and whether they would let her go or not.

I thought I wouldn’t have minded having her dilemma. Imagine having a proper boyfriend, someone really fit, let alone one who was French, a DJ, and who invited you to Paris. I’d been to a funfair once with a boy, and met another on holiday who’d taken me to the cinema, but that had been about as exciting as it had got. We didn’t exactly see a lot of boys. There was a boys’ school just down the road from ours, but the ones in our year were unbelievably childish and we usually saw them rolling around the ground having play-fights. Perversely, the boys in the year above that, the ones we fancied, didn’t sniff in our direction. At least, what I mean is, they didn’t sniff in mine.

Listening to everyone talk that lunchtime, I thought that it was true what Zara had said about picking stuff up by just listening. People dropped all sorts of things into conversations when they were talking trivia; gave away lots of information about themselves. I knew that Zara, whilst pretending to be meditating, would be listening hard to all the chat going on.

‘Just tell them you’re going away with us!’ Poppy said finally to Sky. ‘We’ll cover for you, won’t we girls?’

India nodded. ‘Course we will!’

Sophie didn’t agree, though. ‘Not that I wouldn’t cover for you, Sky,’ she said, ‘but I don’t think you should lie to your mum about something so big.’

‘But I know she won’t let me go if I tell the truth!’ Sky said, her blue eyes clouding over.

‘Well, there’ll be other times,’ Sophie said. ‘If you don’t go with him this time he’s sure to ask you again.’

‘But he wants me to go now!’ Sky wailed.

At this point Lois came in. She was late, apparently, because she’d forgotten her object and had had to go home for it.

‘OK, shall we start?’ Zara said. ‘Could you go round with the bell, please, Ella?’

This was a new refinement which I’d read about in one of Zara’s books, and which gave me something important to do. I’d read that if you were going to do any psychic task in a room, then first you had to cleanse it of stale air and any harmful influences by going around its perimeter ringing a bell. Luckily, Zara already owned a Tibetan bell which she said made the right sort of noise, so I went to each corner of the room in turn and shook it. It all sounded a bit potty and I think I might have started giggling if anyone else had, but no one even smirked; they all just looked serious and expectant. When I’d finished the cleansing ritual, Zara looked the other way and we all put our chosen objects in a box.

‘Bet you’ve already told Zara what you’re putting in!’ Sophie said to me in an undertone.

I shook my head. ‘I haven’t. Honestly!’ I said, and I was speaking the truth – even though I knew Zara would recognise the sparkly purse I was putting in because it had been her who’d given it to me.

I watched as everyone else put their things in. Chloe put in the signet ring, Lois a framed photograph, Poppy a key, India a watch she didn’t usually wear and Sky a charm bracelet. Sophie put her object in last, but to my surprise it wasn’t a silver bangle, but a cross and chain.

‘Oh, you changed your mind,’ I said.

She looked at me and raised her eyebrows. ‘So I have. Is that OK, or will it present difficulties?’

I looked away, my face flaming. She’d guessed! She’d guessed I would have told Zara about any objects I’d found out about.

‘Is that OK?’ she asked again.

‘Course it is,’ I said carelessly, calming down a little. The fact that she’d put in something different didn’t really matter: Zara would see that there wasn’t a child’s silver bangle there, and when Sophie’s cross and chain came out I could signal to her who’d put it in anyway.

Zara pulled out the first object, which was India’s watch. I was all ready to signal with my eyes who it belonged to, but Zara, cleverly, didn’t even glance at me, just held the watch clasped in her hands with her head lowered, as if thinking deeply.

We were all silent. The class door was shut and outside it you could hear the life of the school going on, but here we were in our own closed little world. So far, I thought, it was all going brilliantly. Everything Zara and I had planned had worked. We had The Four here with us, eager for information, and even if Sophie suspected something there was no way she was going to find out the truth.

Zara lifted her head and, breathing in deeply, looked round the room. I quickly flashed my eyes towards India.

‘This watch belongs to someone with a bubbly personality,’ Zara began slowly. ‘Someone who loves animals and who would speak out strongly if she ever felt one was being mistreated. Here is someone who loves the simple things in life, but also enjoys going out and about and having fun.’ She looked round at us. ‘Don’t tell me yet whose it is, but am I right about her character?’

Someone – Poppy, I think – said yes.

‘This person probably owns an animal or two. Maybe more!’ Zara said, and there was an affirmative murmur from India, whose family had a handful of dogs. ‘She comes from a friendly, rough-and-tumble sort of home and is one very happy girl.’

‘What about this person’s love life?’ India asked.

Zara smiled. ‘I think that she’s already been madly in love once in her life,’ she said, ‘but has yet to meet that special person. In the meantime she’s going to enjoy playing the field.’

India beamed, well pleased with this, but didn’t say anything about it being her object. Zara put the watch down on the table and pulled out the next thing, which was Poppy’s key. She hesitated for a moment, as if considering what she held, and then – without even glancing at me – began speaking.

Cleverly, all the things she said at the start, before she’d looked at me, were just general sorts of things. She said that the owner of the key loved dancing, sitting in the sun, shopping and going out – and of course, all those could have applied to any one of us. And when she looked round the group and I signalled to her whose key it was, then she added all the personal stuff, a few little extra things to make everyone’s jaw drop at the accuracy of what she was saying.

Three more objects were brought out after Poppy’s: mine and Sky’s – these were quite straightforward – and then came Chloe’s ring. Zara already knew who this belonged to, of course, so didn’t even glance at me. She started off by saying that the ring was owned by someone very sentimental and romantic. Someone caring, thoughtful … a nice girl.

No one said anything but the others were grinning, because she’d described Chloe exactly.

‘This girl likes sports, she’s dead keen on football and mad on one particular player in the England team,’ she went on, and of course these things were true as well, because she knew full well the ring belonged to Chloe. She rolled the ring round and round in her fingers, ‘The other important thing about this ring, though, is that the person who gave it to its present owner is, sadly, not with us.’

Listening to Zara, I thought she must have forgotten that I’d told her that it had been given to Chloe by her brother, and was guessing that a granddad or someone who’d died had given it. Chloe didn’t say anything about this, though, just held out her hand for the ring.

‘Spot on,’ she said, and she put it back in her pocket.

I forgot about it then because the framed photograph came out next and I flicked my eyes towards Lois.

‘This is someone’s mother and she’s in the spirit world,’ Zara said solemnly, after holding the frame for just a moment. There was a muffled gasp from a couple of the girls, although actually we all knew that Lois’s mum had died a while back, and this was obviously a photograph of someone’s mother, so Zara only had to put two and two together. But it was that that she was so good at. She could put two and two together and make six.

‘This is a photograph of someone who passed away nearly three years ago,’ she added, ‘and it may be that the anniversary of this death is quite close.’

The next few things she said … well, they startled Lois and they startled me as well.

‘The person who owns this usually has it in full view,’ Zara went on quietly. ‘Her mum’s favourite flower was anemones and there’s a small bunch of artificial ones in a blue vase kept right next to it.’

Lois started and gave a little cry which Zara didn’t appear to hear. She went on, ‘Whoever of you it is, is looking after her mum’s cat, even though she’s allergic to its fur.’

Lois now gave the game away completely. ‘Yes, I am!’ she said. ‘How could you possibly have known that?’ She looked round at everyone and her eyes were bright with tears. ‘My mum loved her old cat,’ she said. ‘He misses her nearly as much as I do.’

I think everyone was a bit awestruck and choked at this, and no one spoke for a while.

‘D’you think you’d be able to contact my mum for me, Zara?’ Lois suddenly burst out. ‘Would I be able to speak to her?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Zara said. ‘Maybe. Another time.’

A shiver went right down my spine. We were getting into something else now. Something I didn’t much like the sound of.

No one spoke for a couple of moments, then Sophie said, ‘The bell’s going to go soon. Shall we have the last object?’ Her cross and chain was the only thing which hadn’t yet come out.

‘OK,’ Zara said, and she reached into the box and took it out, swinging the cross gently between her fingers for a moment or two. ‘This object,’ she said, ‘doesn’t belong to a member of this group. Someone’s put in something that is not owned by them.’

No one said a word.

‘And the reason they’ve done this is because they’re scared I’ll hold their object and find out something that I shouldn’t.’ Zara paused, ‘Especially that big secret of theirs!’

There was a moment’s silence, then Sophie gave a laugh. A funny, forced sort of laugh. ‘OK, I own up!’ she said, flicking her hair out of her face. ‘It’s my sister’s cross and chain. I just thought I’d see if I could catch you out.’

‘You’ll have to try harder than that!’ Zara said.

Sophie reached for the cross and chain.

‘Hang on,’ Zara said, holding it just out of her reach, ‘Your sister was given this when she was a bridesmaid. She usually keeps it hanging over the mirror in her room.’

Sophie smiled. ‘Good try, but not right,’ she said, and then the bell went, everyone took their objects back and we went to sit in our own seats.

I felt vaguely uneasy. Why was Zara being odd with Sophie, so difficult, when the whole object of the game was to try and be popular and become special friends with her and Sky?

Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what. As we sat down, though, Zara was smiling. She said to me in a whisper, ‘Sophie’s lying. Just you wait and see.’