When everyone settled, Lockie looked around and raised his hands in surrender.
‘I’m done,’ he said. ‘Done, done, done.’ He looked at Réiltín. ‘You can come with me. Can you take this from here, Rupe?’
‘Absolutely not,’ said Rupert.
Lockie paused, letting out a long breath. ‘Well, I need to cool off.’ He glared at Kelly. ‘Maybe it’s you I should be taking down with me.’ Then he walked away.
Kelly darted after him. ‘Lockie, I swear—’
He spun around to her. ‘Do not follow me down here. I’m just so… sick of you.’
‘You have no idea what a psycho she is,’ said Kelly.
‘Nope,’ said Lockie. ‘And that’s all right with me.’
Réiltín started to follow Lockie down, but Kelly marched towards her. When Réiltín saw her, she backed up to the others.
‘You have to be kidding me,’ said LB jumping forward, taking a step towards Kelly, pulling Réiltín by her sleeve close to her side. ‘Wait here.’
Kelly stared at LB. ‘Oh my God – what do you think I was going to do?’
Tears sprung into her eyes. She swiped them away, then started to reach behind her again, under her hoodie.
Lockie made his way down the stone steps that curved away from the top of Carraig na nGealt. The steps were damp and slick, and he gripped on to whatever he could find to steady himself. He slipped, and grabbed onto a rock to stop his fall. Looking up, he could make out the silhouettes of the others, and held his breath when he saw how close they were to the edge. Then he saw that Rupert, with wide sweeps of his arm, was guiding them back to safety. The silhouettes disappeared, and Lockie breathed again.
Kelly turned away from the others, as she pushed her hand into the back pocket of her shorts. She frowned, searched the other one. Slowly, she looked up at Réiltín. Réiltín flashed innocent eyes at her.
‘Where is it?’ said Kelly.
‘Where’s what?’ said Réiltín.
‘The page!’ said Kelly.
‘What page?’ said Réiltín.
‘Oh my God – you took it out of my pocket,’ said Kelly, ‘when we were—’ She pointed down to the ground.
Réiltín’s eyes registered a yes even as she was shaking her head at the others. Kelly started to bounce on her feet.
LB stood up. ‘Back away from her,’ she ordered, and pointed to the right. But Kelly stepped back. ‘We’re going now, anyway,’ said LB. She looked around to the well, where Amber was sitting on the wall, holding Rupert’s hands, her bag half-packed at her feet, the selenite sphere glowing at his foot.
‘There’s something you need to know,’ said Kelly.
‘Just stop, OK?’ said LB, turning back to her. ‘Just stop.’
Kelly looked at Réiltín. ‘Something about Réiltín,’ said Kelly.
Behind LB’s back, Réiltín shook her head slowly at Kelly. ‘Think about it,’ she said.
LB turned to her. ‘Think about what? What is it?’
Réiltín locked eyes with Kelly.
‘What?’ said LB, looking back and forth between them, not understanding.
‘Just…’ said Réiltín, ‘I think Kelly should think about whether she wants to tell another lie tonight.’
Kelly’s eyes were lit with anger, her fists clenched.
‘Kelly,’ said LB, ‘actually, you’re too close to the edge. Come back further in, where it’s safer.’
‘I’m fine,’ said Kelly, and she took two more steps back. ‘What would you care, anyway?’
Rupert was drying his tears on the sleeve of Tadhg’s hoodie.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t say anything to you about my dad earlier,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want to ruin everything. But, as soon as Kelly did, I felt the floor was open.’
Amber smiled. ‘But don’t worry about your dad,’ she said. ‘I mean, try not to, obviously. Because he was in the hospital, they’ve probably done every check they could. They’re letting him home… so that’s good.’
‘No, I know,’ said Rupert nodding, more tears spilling.
‘Oh, Rupe, is there something else?’ said Amber.
Rupert shrugged. ‘It’s going to sound really selfish.’
‘You’re never selfish,’ said Amber.
‘Thanks,’ said Rupert. ‘And it wasn’t like it was the first thing that came into my head when I heard about Dad…’ He paused. ‘It was more a thought that occurred to Kelly. I bumped into her just after the call, and I was upset, and she was really sweet. And then she was looking at Tadhg walking away, and she says, “Ooh. You might not be able to tell your dad now, about being… you know… because of his heart.” ’
Amber stared at Rupert, open-mouthed. ‘His big, beautiful heart? Because of that? Because he might need to find some more room in it someday for someone his son loves, but it’ll be a tight squeeze because it’s so filled with Rupe love? That heart?’ She jumped up, and stormed over to Kelly.
Rupert strode after her. ‘Amber! Don’t!’ he called.
‘What the hell did you say to Rupert earlier?’ said Amber.
‘About what?’ said Kelly.
‘About not being able to come out to his dad?’ said Amber.
‘I didn’t say that,’ said Kelly, backing away from her.
‘You might as well have,’ said Amber. ‘He’s crying over there because—’
‘I didn’t mean anything bad,’ said Kelly.
‘No, of course not,’ said Amber.
Rupert moved in beside Amber, his eyes wide with fear. He took hold of her elbow. ‘We’re all going to step in this direction,’ he said, and he gestured towards himself. ‘Kelly – this way. Come my way. It’s all fine. Don’t look back.’
Kelly took some steps forward.
‘Oh, thank God,’ said Rupert. ‘I can’t handle this—’
‘I’m serious,’ said Kelly to Amber. ‘I didn’t mean anything bad. I was just… just looking out for them. I know Rupe would never forgive himself if anything happened—’
‘Because you’re assuming,’ said Amber, ‘that his dad is going to have some terrible reaction?’
Kelly’s mouth fell open. ‘Coming from the girl who literally thinks there’s danger around every corner! Even though she’s the actual danger.’
Amber lunged.