The Whisper by Clayton Emma Read Free Book Online

waiting.
    “This is the difficult bit,” Ellie said. “I hate leaving him.”
    As they walked through the door and closed it, Puck retreated to the white plastic tree and watched them with sad eyes.
    We’ll be back soon
, Ellie thought.
And in a few days’ time, if we get this right, you’ll never see a plastic tree again
.

5 Return to The Shadows
     
    K obi Nenko and his father waded quietly through the dark water in old Soho. This was river water, cold, filthy, restless water, that had burst from the banks of the Thames and drowned the old heart of the city. It reached their knees and tugged at their legs; a mess of litter rolled through it, and their feet were grabbed with each sodden step by inches of slime. All they could hear as they waded was lapping. All they could see was broken buildings, covered in mold. This was The Shadows. The dark city that used to be known as London. Old Soho had been its creative soul, the home of artists, actors, thinkers, dreamers. But there was no evidence of their buzz now; it had been carried away by the water long ago.
    Kobi Nenko had been born in The Shadows and he looked part of it. Under his long, ragged black coat and his long, ragged black hair, he was pale, gaunt, tall, and thin, like a plant that had sprouted from a seed in darkness and grownreaching for light. But there was no light to reach in The Shadows, for the Golden Turrets had been built on top of it. As Kobi followed his father through old Soho Square, they waded around one of the giant black pillars that held up the enormous platform on which the new city was built. When they looked up, they did not see the sky, they saw a solid sheet of black metal where it used to be. The Shadows was a dying place for the poor who couldn’t afford to move. Kobi’s mother had died there. It was the last place on Earth Kobi and his father wanted to be. But they had no choice. Kobi had stayed away from the arcades on the day Mal Gorman took his friends. Now he was running from the Northern Government, and The Shadows was the best place to hide.
    But as they waded into Greek Street, Kobi did not feel lucky that he had gotten away, he felt despondent. He’d been one of Mika’s best friends in Barford North, and like him, he’d sensed there was something wrong with the game. But while Mika had allowed himself to be drawn further into it, Kobi had stopped playing and avoided it. Now he was wondering if this was a good idea. He’d sensed the change as Mika and Ellie touched. He’d seen a ripple in the water … felt the first stir of shifting matter. Now he wondered if he was avoiding something important. He felt as if he was in the wrong place. As he waded after his father down Greek Street, he worried about this behind his hair.
    His father paused and waited for him to catch up. “Are you OK?” he asked.
    “Yes,” Kobi replied. He didn’t want to explain how he felt to his father. Abe was taking a huge risk to help him hide, and he was proud of his son for realizing there wassomething wrong with the game. Abe hated the Northern Government. He blamed it for his wife’s death. Government ministers lived in the Golden Turrets that had stolen the sky above them, and the moment Kobi told him why he wanted to run, Abe had given up everything. His job, his hard-earned home in Barford North, everything. He’d already lost his wife; there was no way he’d let his son be taken by the Northern Government.
    “All we have to do is find John,” Abe said. “As soon as we find John, we’ll have a place to stay. Then if the Northern Government searches for you here, you’ll have The Shadows on your side. John knows everyone. There’s no safer place in The Shadows than with Soho John.”
    They were heading toward a pub at the end of Greek Street. It was a pub where the people of Soho had sat and talked and drank beer for several hundred years. John was Abe’s best friend in The Shadows and had lived in the pub since he was born.