Awake and Dreaming - Kit Pearson [38]
Theo opened the refrigerator door and got some ginger ale herself. She carried the glass upstairs, drank it quickly, then hid her head under the quilt and sobbed until she fell asleep.
WHEN THE OTHERS CAME home for lunch, Theo found she had disappeared for good. She stood in the kitchen in her pyjamas and yelled until she was hoarse. “John! Anna and Lisbeth! Ben! Mum!” But now even Bingo and Beardsley ignored her.
Theo pulled at Lisbeth’s dress, thumped John’s back, and tried to pick up Ben. They all carried on eating their sandwiches and talking to each other.
“Please,” begged Theo. “It’s me. I’m your sister! I belong to you!”
They didn’t hear her. Theo’s throbbing head felt as if it were about to burst. The kitchen whirled; she swayed to keep her balance, then fell to the floor. She closed her eyes and all was darkness.
PART 3
Cecily
12
She opened her eyes to a blur of people and chairs and windows.
“No!” whispered Theo, shaking her head frantically. But she couldn’t shake away the scene before her. She was back on the ferry.
Nothing had changed since she’d been sitting here with Rae. The teenager beside her was still opening his bag of chips. The peculiar-looking woman who had been standing by the window was back. She was still staring at Theo but then she walked away, giving Theo a last, yearning glance before she left.
I don’t want to be here! thought Theo. But she was. That meant it must have been a dream after all—not magic. The long, blissful months she’d belonged to a real family hadn’t happened. At least the awful time at the end hadn’t happened either; but being back here was worse.
“What’s eating you? You look strange.” Rae had slipped into her seat again.
“Where were you?” Theo asked in bewilderment.
“Out on the deck having a smoke, of course. I told you that—have you been asleep?”
“Did you see any kids out there?”
“Yeah, some. Why?”
“Did you see four in one family? Two boys and two girls?”
“I didn’t look at anyone closely. Who are you talking about?”
Theo forgot to be careful. “The Kaldors!” she said. “John and Anna and Lisbeth and Ben! We were playing on the deck, pretending to fly. They were really nice.”
“On the deck?” Rae leaned forward and gripped Theo’s arm. “Did you go outside after I told you to stay here?”
“No—I—I didn’t really. Could you let go?”
Rae relaxed her hold but she glared at Theo. “Did you go out or not? I want the truth!”
“I didn’t,” said Theo. “I just made it up.”
Rae leaned back in her seat. “What a weird kid you are. I can’t figure you out.”
Theo could tell she was still mad from their argument. Rae opened up a magazine and Theo pretended to read her book again. But her mind raced.
No, she hadn’t been out on the deck. She hadn’t met the Kaldors—they didn’t exist. There was no John or Anna or Lisbeth or Ben—or Bingo or Beardsley—or Mum and Dad. They had all been a dream.
But what a dream! It had seemed utterly real. Theo went over every detail. She tried to freeze it all in her mind so she’d never forget. The house across the street from the cemetery, the mountain and the beach, the messy room she shared, the safety and the laughter and the love …
SHARON PICKED THEM UP at the ferry terminal. “Theo!” she cried, wrapping her in a hug. “I haven’t seen you since you were three! I’m so glad you’re coming to live with me for a while.”
Sharon was a large woman with an eager face. She wasn’t pretty, like Rae. They didn’t look like sisters. They didn’t act like sisters, either.
“Hi,” said Rae, pulling on her cigarette.
Sharon seemed afraid of her. “Good to see you again, Mary Rae,” she mumbled. “I’ve been waiting for hours,” she added timidly. “Didn’t you say you were getting the one-o’clock ferry?”
Rae shrugged. “We missed it.”
As they began the long drive into Victoria, Sharon asked her sister questions that Rae cut off briskly. Finally Sharon gave up and they drove in silence.
Theo felt so numb she barely noticed where they were going. Sharon parked the car in front