Shared Skies by Josephine O Brien Read Free Book Online Page B

from what little of it she could see behind
the swathe of his scarf, looked sallow and serious. To her
annoyance, her face flushed, as emerald eyes met hers. Kaley called
her from two aisles away, and when she turned back he was
gone. Weirdo! She
put it to the back of her mind as she was swept off next for
shoes–heels and flats–and boots–both sturdy and dressy–until
finally Kaley was satisfied that Gaiah would survive in the wilds
of Craigphadraig for a while.
    Alasdair met them and helped bring their
shopping to the car. Kaley slipped into the back seat next to
Gaiah. The car turned into Broughton Street. Gaiah shuddered as she
remembered last night and the glassy eyes of the taxi driver when
he drove her into the oncoming traffic. She whispered, “That driver
almost killed us both just here.”
    Kaley nodded. “We know. Our hearts were in
our mouths the whole time you were travelling up and we’re so
grateful that you got safely through to us.”
    Hearts in their mouths?
Jeez, it was only a trip from London, though given all that
happened, they weren’t wrong. They were
turning onto the M90. The signpost caught her attention: ‘Inverness
158 miles’. Okay, this is it. She leaned forward and said forcefully,
“ Now , let’s talk.
You owe me a darn good explanation.”
    Alasdair turned his head slightly and
glanced back at Kaley. His gaze returned to the road but the
crinkles at the side of his eyes betrayed a small smile as he said,
“I’m sure a Ford Focus is not the best setting for such mighty
revelations, but I don’t think you’re going to sit happily talking
about the weather while we spend three hours driving home. So, here
goes.”
    Kaley held her hand out and Gaiah took it.
The long fingers were soft and cool in her hand.
    Alasdair took a deep breath and squared
himself in the driver seat. “First of all, you have to know that we
love you dearly, we always have, and second, that we never deserted
you, we had to stay away to keep you safe.”
    Gaiah spluttered. “Keep me
safe? If you knew how awful it was, how it tore me apart…all those
years...”
    “ Yes, safe. Away from us.
We couldn't be seen to have any interest in you at all. You see
Gaiah, we’re not really like other people. In fact, we’re not like
them at all.” Kaley twisted in her seat to watch Gaiah’s face
better. Alasdair continued, “There’s no easy way to say this so
I’ll just start. You’ve heard of dimensions, right?”
    Gaiah nodded.
    “ Well, you know the basic
three dimensions, length, width and height. These are called the
physical dimensions. And there’s also time, that is considered a
dimension too.”
    What on Earth has this got
to do with anything? Gaiah looked at Kaley
to see if she was in on some joke but her grandmother had no humour
in her eyes as she looked steadily back at Gaiah. Alasdair was
still talking, “Scientists on Earth have been talking about
parallel universes for decades.”
    His hand sketched shapes in the air.
“Universes that occupy the same space but in different dimensions;
unknown dimensions.”
    Gaiah frowned. What the hell’s he talking about? Where’s he
going with this?
    “ They are working to prove
the existence of at least one parallel universe. There are, in
fact, three.” Alasdair spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, but
his eyes kept finding Gaiah’s in the rear view mirror. Kaley gently
squeezed Gaiah’s hand.
    “ That’s where we come in,
that’s where we are from. One of those worlds is called Gaiana,”
she said softly, “The other is Or'ka. Together, with this world,
they're called the Trinity.”
    Gaiana? Gaiah? Okay, if this weren’t so
freaky, at least it would be some explanation for my name!
    There was a pause as if
they expected a response. Gaiah said nothing. What the hell do they expect me to say? This is ridiculous.
It’s just plain madness. No-one’s from another dimension, least of
all me. They’ve got to be joking.
    She didn't know quite