The Vanished by Sarah Dalton Read Free Book Online

over his ears. “She’s loud.”
    “Mina, you have to try not to think.”
    “What are you talking about?” I asked, exasperated. “I can’t stop myself thinking.”
    “You have to try because Hiro can hear every word you say. He can hear all of our thoughts and it can be very difficult for him.”
    As though to prove my dad’s point Hiro added, “Mike is thinking that he could beat you in a fight, Kitty is thinking about your taste and how easy it would be to track you, Professor is thinking about whether you will ever forgive him and you are wondering why he left you to help me.” He paused and looked down at his shoes, squirming under my dad’s arm. “I can’t help that.”
    He was just a little boy. I mouth opened in shock as I thought about the burden he must face every day – to have that kind of ability, to hear the thoughts of everyone you meet. “You’re a mind-reader.”
    Hiro nodded.
    I couldn’t hate him, not anymore. I imagined the kind of life he had lived; the horrible people out there who thought about sick and twisted things. I remembered the dishonest people who lived in the slums of Area 14 and even Mrs Murgatroyd. I shuddered.
    “Your dad helped us all,” said Kitty, the girl with blonde hair. “He tracked us down and helped us get out of our Areas. I’d never fit in at school.” She hesitated. “I can taste people. Everyone on this planet leaves a unique taste, and I can track them. I’ve learnt to control it now, to pick out the tastes I want and ignore the others, but it’s been a hard journey. My parents didn’t understand. You’re lucky to have your dad.” With tears in her eyes and her blonde hair flowing in the wind, Kitty backed away and ran into the barn.
    “How did you do all this? I don’t understand?” I said to Dad.
    “Mina, those people who would come to our house and deliver messages weren’t always from the Resistance. They were people I had employed.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I wanted to find out if there were more people out there like you and what I found was astounding. I found Mike first, a young boy who vomited at unexpected moments, who would tell his parents how they smelled each day – a boy who was beaten for his powers.”
    I turned to Mike whose head was low. “They thought I was a freak. They didn’t like it.”
    “I had to do something. I used the Resistance to contact the Clans and get him out,” Dad said.
    “How long have you been here?” I asked Mike.
    “Two years,” he said. “The people here think I’m freakish but no one beats me. Mary looks after me sometimes.”
    “Then I found reports of a girl who was more like a cat, who tracked people. They called her Kitty as a taunt. Her parents were more supportive and wanted her to have a normal life, but they refused to leave theirs.” Dad sounded sad. “They wanted her to live on her own. She’s been here for almost a year.”
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. All this time my dad was some kind of guardian for children with super-powers. He’d been sneaking around protecting these kids and getting them out of their Areas, something which was extremely illegal.
    “Why didn’t you tell me all this?”
    “Mina, the things I have been doing are hanging offences. If the Ministry found you, I couldn’t risk you knowing anything about it. I couldn’t involve you in any of this.”
    “What about the letters from Mum? Were any of them from her?”
    “Yes,” he said. “But not all of them.”
    “No wonder you never let me read them.”
    His eyes dropped from mine. “One day I will, I promise. I’m so sorry for all of these secrets. I just wanted to protect you.”
    I didn’t feel protected. I felt alone. “We moved to Area 14 for Daniel.”
    “Yes,” he said. His eyes dropped down to his feet. “Daniel and Hiro were the last and the most complex. Daniel is the most damaged from his upbringing and his gift. The visions he gets can be terribly