Changeling by Steve Feasey Read Free Book Online Page A

I can explain. Maybe you thought they were worse than they really were. You were tired and—’
    Trey found it difficult to control his voice – it trembled and quivered as he spoke. ‘No. I know what I saw earlier. I watched your skin erupt in great angry blisters that should have taken days or weeks to heal. And that happened because you exposed yourself to the sun for a fraction of a second, Lucien.’ He thought back to the moment that Lucien had stared into the eyes of Colin Wallington and seemed to see into his inner secrets. He thought of how the world had seemed to stop when he had done this. But most of all, he thought of the dead fly and how it had appeared to come back to life as soon as Lucien’s mood had changed, having bent Colin’s will to his own.
    He should have run from the room at the care home then. He should have got as far away from this . . . thing as he could when he had the chance.
    The dangers that Lucien had alluded to earlier that morning were clear and present all right. Trey had just been too brainless to realize that they had been standing right in front of him all along.
    Trey’s back finally met with the wall at the far end of the room and his hand crabbed its way along the surface behind him, trying to locate the elevator button. He rested his finger against it, the flat pad of his finger pressing lightly against the resistance afforded by the switch without fully engaging the mechanism to call the lift. Even now, with fear filling every part of his being, he couldn’t bring himself to call upon the only means of escape available to him.
    Why was that? Why didn’t he obey the part of him that bellowed inside him to get away? He shook his head, frowning at his inability to act. Because you want to know for certain, Trey, the niggling voice of the worry-worm inside his head chided. Because you want to know if what you believe about him is really true. And because, despite your fear, you still believe that he can tell you things about yourself and your parents that you need to know.
    Trey could not remember seeing Lucien move away from the kitchen door and cross the room towards him. Yet the man stood no more than a few metres away from him now, still wearing that look of concern and pity that he had throughout.
    Trey’s hands were shaking so badly that they slipped off the elevator button and he frantically sought to locate it again.
    An image appeared in his mind’s eye. A perfect freeze-frame image of the little black fly lying on its back on the windowsill.
    He looked up at the man again and fought to keep his voice under control. ‘Your . . . skin complaint,’ he said, ignoring the catch in his voice that made it difficult for him to get the words out properly. ‘I take it that you’ve had it for a long time?’
    ‘All my life.’
    ‘So you can only go out safely at night then? You can’t be exposed to sunlight?’
    ‘That’s correct, Trey,’ Lucien responded. A sad smile played momentarily at the edges of his mouth. ‘But you had already worked that out, hadn’t you? You are a bright lad, but you’ve been battling against your instincts since we met. Why? Why won’t you listen to that inner voice of yours and ask me the question that is really bothering you?’
    ‘And what is that, Lucien?’ Trey’s voice sounded alien to his own ears, as though he were merely mouthing the words and someone else inhabited his body at that moment.
    ‘Do I really need to tell you? Is hearing it from my lips the only way that you can believe what your instincts are telling you about what I am?’
    Trey wavered slightly. His vision had gone slightly out of focus and dark objects danced around in front of his eyes. He willed himself to breathe, but his lungs refused to obey. ‘Maybe that’s it. Maybe I have to hear you say it.’ He struggled to get these words out. His shaking finger accidentally depressed the button behind him fully and he could hear the lift engine hum quietly