The Vanished by Sarah Dalton Read Free Book Online Page B

We’d done it. That warm feeling in my stomach swelled. It was the connector pulling tighter. I was meant to be here.
    “I feel it too,” Hiro said.
    “You do? What is it?”
    “I don’t know, but they feel it.”
    “Who?” I asked.
    “Kitty and Mike. They feel it towards each other.” He blushed. “But also when I’m around, and I feel it for them.”
    “I feel it for Daniel.” I stopped painting. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that we are all connected somehow?”
    Hiro blinked. “I don’t know. But last night I got a funny feeling in my tummy. All warm and tight. I think it was when you and Daniel arrived.”
    This was something I had never anticipated, the instant connection to Daniel, the way he made me safe and the way I hated to be away from him – what if it wasn’t love? What if it wasn’t attraction? What if it was our genes calling to each other?
    “You don’t know that for sure,” Hiro warned.
    What if this was all my body playing tricks on me and I wasn’t falling for him? Our relationship hadn’t even started and now I had more doubts, more worries, and more insecurities.
    Hiro nudged me and gestured towards Mike and Kitty. They were huddling over a small campfire waiting for the kettle to boil. Mike wrapped his arms around Kitty and squeezed her tight. “Whatever it is it works for them.”
    I had to see Daniel.
    *
    Cam let me through with a smile, telling me I didn’t look quite so “peeky”. I barged my way through groups of soldiers, not really caring about the looks they gave me. I just had to see him. I had to tell him about the others and about what Hiro told me.
    “Daniel,” I called out from the end of the ward. I don’t know why, it wasn’t as though he could get up and come to me. “I need to talk to you.”
    Angela was sat next to him with a mug in her hand. Ali must have sorted out clothes for her because she looked clean and changed. She wore a purple scarf wrapped around her hair, blue jeans and a white cotton top, long-sleeved like mine. I made my way past a few women panting and sweating in their labour, trying not to look. I was glad Daniel wasn’t in the delivery room.
    “He’s tired,” Angela said, standing up as I approached.
    “He can speak for himself.” I folded my arms and she copied me.
    “Angela, I can talk to Mina if I want to. I’m fine.” He looked better. He was propped up with cushions, wearing clean pyjamas, and there was more colour in his cheeks.
    “She doesn’t deserve to speak to you after running out like that,” Angela said with gritted teeth. “You don’t think of anyone but yourself,” she said to me.
    “That’s not true and you know it.” I tried to keep my voice gentle. She’d been through so much, watching her mum deteriorate into dementia and harbouring secret feelings for Daniel only then to watch him fall for me. I felt sorry for her.
    “Do I?” There were tears in her eyes.
    “Angela, don’t. I don’t want things to be like this.” I held out a hand to put on her shoulder, but she swatted it away.
    “You knew how I felt…” She began, but the tears took over and she ran out of the ward. The rotund nurse looked across and raised a disapproving eyebrow.
    “I should go after her.” I turned to leave, but Daniel reached across and grabbed my arm.
    “No,” he said, “I know it’s selfish but Angela can wait. I want to know what you came here to say first.” He flinched from the strain of holding my arm and I relented, moving closer to the hospital bed. My shoes squeaked with every step on the linoleum floor.
    “I’ve had the weirdest morning,” I started. “I found my dad and he wasn’t alone.”
    Daniel shuffled up in the bed so he could be closer to me. His hair seemed cleaner than a few hours ago. “What do you mean?”
    I relayed the story and Daniel listened with thoughtful eyes as I told him about the Freaks. I had to take a deep breath before I told him what Hiro worked out. “That