Fractured by Teri Terry Read Free Book Online Page B

sounds of things, it would have been enough to make her black out for sure if she still had one.
    ‘What happened to it?’ I say.
    ‘Just one of many questions she will have to answer soon. And I have some things to discuss with you. But first, tell me about the fire,’ he says.
    I blink at the sudden tears. ‘Ben’s house: his parents’ house. It burned down. Tori watched. She said they were inside, screaming, but Lorders stopped anyone from helping.’
    He shakes his head. ‘Think, Rain: what is the date?’
    ‘November fifth.’
    ‘The fifth of November. Guy Fawkes,’ he says, bitterly. ‘This was not the only burning tonight. Reports were coming in when you called. Lorders have taken this day that used to belong to us. Remember, Rain. Mark this day.’
    I gasp as a series of images flood my mind. Fireworks. Raids. Bonfires! Guy Fawkes: over four hundred years ago, there had been a plot to blow up Parliament. We had used the day to remind the Lorders that their power was not absolute. To remind the people they had a voice.
    Now the Lorders used it to remind us that Guy Fawkes was hanged for his trouble.
    ‘To think they dare act so openly against the people they should serve! Things are getting worse, Kyla. The Lorder grip is tightening. Soon none will dare stand with us against them. The time of reckoning is nearly at hand.’ He stops at the bottom of our road. ‘You need to keep your eye on the bigger picture, Rain. We’ll talk about this some more after school tomorrow. Now go.’
    I get out of the car and slip into the shadows, along the houses, taking care. It is still dark, but close enough to six now that people may be awake. Eyebrows would definitely go up if anyone spotted me creeping about dressed like this. But I see no one. When I reach our garden, something catches my eye: a movement over the road? I hug the side of the house and look back, but can see nothing. Yet I’m sure something moved.
    I slip through the side door, then go quiet and careful up the stairs to my room: safe, at last.
    For now .
    Sebastian is curled up on my bed, eyes open wide. I change out of Nico’s things quickly and into my pyjamas, then stuff his clothes into my school bag to get rid of later.
    There is just enough time for about an hour of sleep, sleep which I desperately need, but there is no chance. Not with fires raging in my mind.
    The night is full of questions. How did Tori get away from the Lorders? She’d been returned to them: Ben got that out of her mum. Why, we didn’t really know – she was there one day, then gone. One of the missing. What happened to her Levo?
    What happened to Ben’s parents I don’t need to phrase as a question: I know the answer. They asked too many annoying questions of their own. The Lorders happened to them, that’s what. And this, the night after Ben’s mum came here to ask for help. My blood turns to ice when I remember what Mum said to her: ‘You shouldn’t have come here.’ Did Mum turn her in to the Lorders? Her dad was the Lorder Prime Minister who started it all.
    I can’t get the sight of their destroyed house out of my mind. Their home became their tomb. Will they get the bodies out? They’ve already been cremated.
    According to Nico, a picture that has repeated itself in other places this night. Other victims.
    I want to cry for them, but I can’t. All I feel inside is cold, blind rage at what has been done. It pushes all the hurt aside.
    It wants out .

CHAPTER TEN
----
    ‘Kyla, wait!’ I pause at the library door, turn. Cam rushes up.
    ‘Have lunch with me?’ He looks both ways and drops his voice. ‘I’ve got cake.’
    ‘Hmmm, I dunno. Is it chocolate?’
    He peeks in his bag. ‘Today it is Victoria sponge. My uncle is a frustrated chef: he loves to bake.’
    ‘Well, all right,’ I say. Sugar and distraction might help get me through the rest of this long day. All I can think of is Ben’s parents, what Lorders did to them and others like them.