Lyre by Helen Harper Read Free Book Online Page B

nothing to do with it, Yuri,’ Sibyl insisted.
    ‘I’m expected to believe that, out of the blue, out of the dozens of other considerably more experienced writers, I’m suddenly being given the opportunity to write the cover story for January.  Just like that.’
    Sibyl shrugged helplessly.  ‘I admit it sounds strange, but Medusa told me herself.  She wasn’t meddling.’
    Yuri shook her head despondently.  ‘The greatest opportunity of my career and I’ll have to turn it down.’
    ‘I told you!  It wasn’t her!  As implausible as it might seem, it’s a real thing.  You can’t not do it, Yuri.  It would be stupid to back away.  This is everything you’ve always wanted.’
    Yuri gave her a grim look.
    Throwing her hands up in the air, Sibyl gazed at her in exasperation.  ‘What?’
    ‘I didn’t tell you what the story is going to be about.  Or rather who it’s be about.’
    ‘Who could it possibly be about that would make you act like this?  Yuri, it’s Yell , not the biquarterly review for the BNP.  It’s hardly going to be some fringe lunatic fascist.  I know you don’t like all that daft celebrity stuff, but that’s the world you’ve chosen to work in.  You can’t be pissed off because you have to interview some stupid model or actor.  It’s the freaking cover story!  Who cares who it’s about?’
    Yuri just looked at her.
    ‘Come on, who…’ Sibyl’s voice died away.  Her eyes widened and she abruptly sat down on the sofa.  ‘Oh.’
    ‘Now you’re getting it.’
    ‘I’ll call my great-aunt again.’  She shook her head, temporarily stunned into silence.  Then she shot Yuri a look of genuine sympathy.  ‘You’re right.  You can’t do the story.’
    ‘It can’t be a coincidence, Sibyl.’
    ‘Yuri, believe me,’  Sibyl flicked her eyes momentarily upwards.  ‘Medusa didn’t do this.  You don’t want to see him, do you?’ She asked worriedly.
    Yuri didn’t answer.  Sibyl nodded to herself.  ‘Yeah.  Okay.  Stupid question.’
    ‘I can’t turn it down.  Not now.  I’ll be persona non grata at Yell if I do.  Someone like me saying no to an opportunity like that?  I was practically drooling at Don’s feet when he told me about the story.  I didn’t find out it was going to be Oz until after I’d agreed to do it.  Well,’ she amended, ‘less agreed and more fell at his feet in worshipful delight like he was freaking Zeus himself.’
    Sibyl raised her eyebrows.  ‘I think you’d be more likely to try and stab Zeus in the heart rather than fall at his feet.’
    ‘Chance would be a fine thing,’ she muttered.
    ‘You could just come clean,’ Sibyl suggested, ‘tell Don you’ve got a history with Oz and that’s why you can’t do it.’
    ‘That would make things even worse.  He’d want me to write about it.  And then it would become some awful tabloid feeding frenzy.  I can’t say anything to him.’
    ‘Doesn’t he know you’re both from the same area?’
    ‘He knows Oz is from Devon.  I moved around so many times, no-one knows where I’m from.  Not even me.’
    ‘Right.’ Sibyl took a deep breath. 
    ‘Maybe this is my chance to prove myself as the ultimate professional.  Ask my questions, maintain my distance, write the story.  And then I’ll never have to see him ever again.’ Yuri rolled her eyes.  ‘Except when, as Yell ’s so-called professional representative, I turn up to interview him and he refuses to even give me the time of day, just how is that going to look?’
    Sibyl’s shoulders sagged.  ‘I take your point.’
    ‘This is so fucked up.’ She sat down heavily on the sofa, leaning back and rubbing her forehead.
    ‘I could always do a divination.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Just to see…’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Fine.’
    They sat in silence for a moment.
    ‘We could go out and get horribly drunk.’
    Yuri flicked a glance at her friend.  ‘That sounds a hell of a lot more like it.  I’ll get my