The third eldest Benedict brother, Victor, came calling after we’d gone to bed. I could hear Simon swearing as he fumbled for his dressing gown to throw over his T-shirt and shorts. Sally came to fetch me.

‘Not asleep yet?’

‘No. Wha’s up?’

‘The FBI are in the kitchen. They want a word with us.’

Victor was with a female colleague. He had straight, long dark hair tied back in a ponytail and wore a sharp black suit with a silver tie. Like his father, he had a calm aura, as if he could be surprised by few things. The colleague struck me as more nervous. She was tapping her stylus on her electronic memo, her hawkish face shadowed, her short brown hair sleeked back behind her ears.

‘Sky.’ Victor held out a hand to me and led me to the seat opposite him. It was strange how he acted as if he was in control in our kitchen. Sally and Simon had given way to him without a murmur, hovering on the margins while he ran the show. ‘Do you mind if we record this?’ He gestured to the BlackBerry lying on the table.

I glanced at Simon. He shook his head.

‘That’s OK. I don’t mind.’

He pressed a button. ‘Record on. Incident seven, seven, eight, slash ten. Interview four. Present in the room are agents Victor Benedict and Anya Kowalski and witness, Sky Bright, a minor. Also in attendance are the witness’s parents, Simon and Sally Bright.’

Cripes, this sounded like a trial.

‘Have I done something wrong?’ I asked, rubbing at the tea stain on the table top.

Victor’s expression softened and he shook his head. ‘Other than go out with my idiot brother, I’d say not. Sky, you’re sixteen, is that right? What’s your date of birth?’

‘Um …’

Sally jumped in. ‘No one is sure of her exact date as she lost her birth parents when she was six. We chose the day we adopted her—first of March—as her birthday.’

The hawkish agent made a note.

‘OK,’ said Victor, giving me a speculative look. ‘Now, Sky, I want you to tell us in your own words, remembering as much detail as possible, what happened this evening out in the woods.’

Pushing a few stray grains of sugar to and fro on the table, I relived the experience for the record, running it in my head like one of my plots frame by frame, leaving out only the fact that for some of the time Zed and I had been using telepathy. Oh, and the kiss. I didn’t think they needed to know about that.

‘Zed said you were the one to realize that there was more than one shooter. How did you know?’ Ms Kowalski butted in when I had reached that part in the story.

I wondered if I should make up something about hearing a noise or seeing another person, but decided I’d better stick to the truth.

‘It was a gut feeling—you know, like an instinct.’

‘Sky’s always had good instincts,’ added Sally, embarrassingly over-eager to assist the authorities with their enquiries. ‘Remember how she never liked that tutor we employed for her that time, Simon? Turned out he’d been involved in a hit and run incident.’

I’d forgotten that—it had happened years ago. Mr Bagshot had made me feel panicky—guilty—when I was with him as if his emotions were spilling out and swamping me.

‘Interesting.’ Victor laced his fingers together. ‘So you saw nothing, just felt it?’

‘Yes.’ I rubbed my temples, the headache back.

Victor dug in his pocket and pulled out a packet of aspirin. ‘Zed sent these. He said you’d forget to take one.’

He’d seen this and not that we’d get shot at if we went for a walk? Second sight was annoyingly patchy. I took a tablet with a gulp of water and finished the story.

‘Have you caught the men who did this?’ Simon asked. Both he and Sally were pale: they hadn’t heard the details of what happened, nor how close the bullets had come.

‘No, sir.’

‘Any idea who they were?’

‘Not at this time.’

‘Is Sky in danger?’

‘We have no reason to think so.’ Victor paused. ‘I want to tell you something in confidence; you need to understand so you can make sure Sky is safe, but I have to ask you to keep it to yourselves.’

I wondered for a horrid moment if he was about to tell my parents about the savant stuff. They’d never believe him.

‘You can trust us,’ Simon confirmed.

‘My family are here as part of a witness protection programme run by the FBI. We’re afraid that news of their location must have leaked to associates of the people they helped send to jail. The attack was aimed at them, not your daughter, so we think she is under no further threat as long as she keeps her distance from us.’

‘Oh.’ Sally sat down, sagging like a collapsing inflatable. ‘You poor things—to be living under that pressure.’

Simon had guessed the next step. ‘Will you be moving now your location is no longer a secret?’

‘We hope not. We all try and keep a low profile—’

‘I’m stopping as Colorado junior champion and retiring undefeated’, Xavier had said. He didn’t want to become too well known across state boundaries. Zed had avoided making more than a good impression on the baseball diamond, ducking attention.

‘But it’s a bit early to say—and hard to uproot the whole family. Our preference is to deal with this threat, contain it, and see where we stand then.’

I drew a circle with my fingertip. ‘And if you’ve a leak in the FBI, you have to plug it before moving or the problem would just follow you all.’

Victor’s gaze sharpened. ‘You’re a bright girl, aren’t you? No pun intended.’

‘But I’m right, aren’t I?’

‘Yeah. We can protect ourselves better in a place we know until we can be sure it’s safe.’

‘I see.’

He got up and pocketed the recorder. ‘Yeah, you do, don’t you. You’re sweet, just like Dad said you were. Thanks for your time, Sky, Mr and Mrs Bright.’

‘No problem, Agent Benedict,’ Simon said, showing them to the door.

Sally sat down next to me at the table. Simon sat on my other side and reached for my hand.

‘Well,’ he said.

‘Yeah.’ I leant my head on his shoulder, our earlier argument forgiven.

‘I’m sorry, Sky, but we can’t let you see that boy out of school, or any of his family for that matter, until this is all sorted out.’

‘It’s not fair.’

‘No, it’s not, darling. I’m sorry.’

Unable to see Zed in my free time, I couldn’t wait to catch up with him at school to find out what was going to happen to his family. I felt very confused when he didn’t turn up for the next few days. He’d left me worried sick and facing everyone with an unexplained black eye. It was totally embarrassing—the kind that makes you want to curl up quietly in a corner.

‘Whoa, Sky, you take up boxing?’ Nelson exclaimed in a loud voice on seeing me in the school hallway.

I tried to pull a hank of hair over my injury. ‘No.’

Other students were now looking at me as if I were an exhibit. Funny Girl with Black Eye, roll up, roll up!

‘How’d’ you do it then?’

I put on a spurt of speed, hoping to reach my form room before he got it out of me.

‘Hey, Sky, you can tell me.’ Nelson caught my arm, no longer teasing but serious now. ‘Did someone hurt you?’

I shoved my hair off my face and looked at him straight. ‘I ran into an elbow yesterday.’

‘Whose?’

‘Zed’s. No big deal.’

‘No big freaking deal! You’re joking! Where is he?’ Nelson looked fit to burst. ‘I knew no good would come of it. He should take better care of you.’

‘It’s OK.’

‘No, it is not OK, Sky. Zed’s not right for a girl like you.’

‘It was an accident.’

‘So how it happen then?’ He put his arm across the door, denying me entry. ‘How you run into his elbow?’

What could I say? We were targeted by an assassin? That would be like setting off a box of fireworks in whole school assembly.

‘We were mucking about in the woods and I kind of fell against him. Nelson, will you let me go in? It’s bad enough looking stupid; I don’t also want to be late.’

Nelson dropped his arm. ‘But I got your back, remember? It may have been an accident but I don’t see him here checking you’re all right. I’m gonna have a word with Zed.’

‘Don’t.’

‘Nothing you can do to stop me, Sky baby.’

So now I had something else to dread: Nelson ripping up Zed in the mistaken belief he was somehow defending me.

Zed turned up two days later. Victor drove both him and Yves to school in a sleek Prius with blacked out windows, dropping them near the door. I only saw them hurry in because I happened to be running behind too, having to function on ‘Simon time’ due to his insistence on taking me to class. Simon never started out until the moment he was supposed to be somewhere—OK for artists perhaps but not for students.

Seeing them run from the car to the front door, I thought the Benedicts looked harassed but otherwise fine.

Zed.

He heard me call out mind to mind, looked round, but Yves grabbed one arm and Victor the other, hurrying him under cover.

I’ll find you later, he replied.

But I wanted him now. I had to swallow my disappointment and go to explain to Mr Joe why I had missed registration for the second day in a row.

I hid in the library at recess. Outside the snow was falling and all of us were inside, scattered over the school, seeking shelter. I’d chosen the reference section of the library, hoping to attract fewer stares there. My eye was still a multicoloured humiliation. Since my brief glimpse of Zed that morning, I had the horrible feeling that maybe my feelings for him were leaping way ahead of his for me. I was all cut up about the tiny matter of a threat to his life and he hadn’t even thought to call to tell me he was OK. Any thought messages I’d sent him had been left unanswered. Talk about blowing hot then cold. Perhaps that soulfinder rubbish had been just that—utter nonsense to win a few kisses.

But Zed found me in my bolt hole. Probably saw me there before I even arrived. He sat down opposite and just looked at me.

Sky, I’m sorry.

Hey, another benefit of this mind-talking stuff—not only do you have low phone bills but you don’t get chucked out of the library. I pulled the P to Q section of the encyclopaedia towards me, pretending sudden interest in an article on penguins.

You mad at me?

No.

So why the cold shoulder?

I glanced up. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me. Oh my, he looked good—I wanted to bury my face in his shoulder and just hold on tight.

Your eye hurt?

No, your brother fixed that; he just left me looking like a dork.

I couldn’t come in until the area had been searched.

I guessed something like that was going on.

I couldn’t text you because there’s no network reception at home. I’m sorry.

No, don’t apologize. I understand.

Do you really? Do you really understand how difficult it’s been for me? I wanted to be with you—stay with you that day. You argued with your dad, didn’t you?

Yeah, but we’re OK now.

You’re upset that I wasn’t there to take the heat about your eye. People have been giving you a hard time.

Not hard, just awkward. Nelson’s after you.

I deserve it.

You were saving my life.

You should never have been in danger in the first place. I should never have put you at risk. Look, can we go somewhere so we can talk properly?

I don’t know if that’s a good idea.

He pulled the book from my fingers. Penguins, such fascinating creatures, but I didn’t know you were studying them. What class is that you’re taking?

The ‘we stupid looking creatures should stick together’ class.

He tucked the book back on the shelf. ‘Come with me.’

‘Where?’

‘Music practice rooms. I booked one out, just in case.’

Zed put his arm around my shoulder and led me out of the library, staring down Sheena and her gang who smirked at us. One look from him and they quickly found somewhere else to direct their gaze. When we got to the room, he first checked it was empty, then pulled me inside and shut the door.

‘That’s better.’ He backed me against it and leant against me. ‘Just let me hold you a moment. I’ve not had a chance just to touch you since those killers went for us.’

I let him hold me, feeling completely overwhelmed by his tenderness. There was a desperate edge to his embrace, perhaps we both knew that we were lucky to be breathing, let alone hugging each other.

‘Sky, I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you,’ he whispered, his hands playing in the hair that I had let hang loose about my face to hide the bruise.

‘Why? Is something going to happen? Have you seen something?’

‘I told you, I can’t tell people too much about the future. I might change it to be what none of us want if I do that.’

‘So I take it mine doesn’t look good?’

‘Sky, please, I don’t know. Don’t you think I’d act if I knew what would help? All I know is I want you to be safe.’

It was so frustrating. These hints and half-spoken warnings were driving me crazy. Being a savant must really stink.

‘Yeah, it does.’

‘You’re doing it again: reading my mind! Stop it. It’s mine—private.’ I folded my arms across my chest and moved away from him.

‘I seem to be always apologizing to you, but I really am sorry. I can read you more clearly than I can other people—it kind of leaks out of you into my head.’

‘And that’s supposed to make me feel better?’ My voice had a hysterical note.

‘No, it’s an explanation. You could learn to build shields, you know.’

‘What?’

‘Basic savant training. Living in a family of them, you soon learn to start shielding.’

‘But I’m not a savant.’

‘You are. And I think deep down you know it too.’

I fisted my hands in my hair. ‘Stop it. I don’t want to hear this.’ You’re bad. Bad. Always making everyone unhappy. ‘No I’m not!’ I wasn’t talking to him any longer, but the whispers in my head.

‘Sky.’ Zed tugged at my fists, pulling them away from my temples and drawing me towards him. His hands took up their slow caress again, running through the length of my hair, letting it fall back on my shoulders. ‘You’re beautiful. The furthest thing from bad that I’ve ever met.’

‘What do you see—what do you know about where I came from?’ I asked in a small voice. ‘You’ve given hints. You know stuff about me that I don’t.’

I could hear a sigh rumble in his chest. ‘Nothing clear. Telling the past is more Uriel’s gift than mine.’

I gave a shuddering laugh. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way but I hope I don’t meet him.’

He swayed with me in his arms for the moment. It was like dancing without music, falling into the same rhythm.

‘You want to know why I didn’t call you?’

I nodded.

‘I couldn’t. We were on lockdown. I’ve got some more bad news.’

‘What? Worse than some maniac being out to murder your family? I needed to know that you were all right. I needed to know you were all right.’

‘Victor put us on code red. It means we can’t communicate outside the immediate family.’

I couldn’t help wondering where that put me in his order of priorities. He’d claimed I was his soulfinder after all.

‘We don’t know who might be listening in to our calls. I should’ve found a way to get a message to you but I was afraid to use telepathy.’

‘Why?’

‘That’s the bad news. We think they’ve got a savant on the assassin team. They shouldn’t have been able to get so close to us. Dad’s gift is to sense danger. He should have known they were out there unless they were shielded by a powerful savant. You can listen in on telepathy just as you can with speech if you have the gift. I didn’t want anything I did to tip them off about you.’

‘So it’s not just your family who can do telepathy?’

‘No, there are a number of us we know about—and I guess many that we don’t. You can turn a gift to evil as easily as choose to use it for good. The temptation is there, particularly for those who don’t have the balance of a soulfinder.’ He rubbed his chin against my hair. ‘You’re my balance, Sky. I was already slipping before I met you. I can’t tell you what it means to me that you saved me from that grey existence.’

‘You were slipping?’

‘Yeah, big time. I’m not a nice person without you. It was becoming pretty tempting to use my gift to get my way, no matter how unfair or what the cost to other people was.’ He grimaced, uncomfortable with what he was revealing about himself. ‘You’ve given me enough hope now to hold on until you’re ready to unlock your gift. Once that’s done, there’s no chance I’ll ever return to what I was.’

‘But you’re not safe yet?’ I hadn’t realized I was holding him back. If something went wrong and he lost his balance, it would be my fault, wouldn’t it, for not being brave enough to examine what was inside me? ‘What should I do?’

He shook his head. ‘Nothing. You need time. I’m more worried about getting this right for you than I am about me.’

‘But I worry about you.’

‘Thanks, but let’s give you the space you need and deal with what we have to so we can keep you safe.’

Savant assassins—could this really be happening? The bullets had been genuine enough—I didn’t doubt them. ‘You think this savant has turned bad?’

‘Yeah, he was working with the shooter. He might still be listening in—we just don’t know. Telepathy over a distance is harder to channel to just the right person. We haven’t come up against this before. We should have anticipated this.’

I sensed he was being hard on himself, frustrated that he didn’t have all the answers for me. ‘Why should you have done? You’ve only just got dragged in to this through the witness thing. When the trial’s over, won’t the threat pass?’

‘Not exactly.’ He looked a bit guilty for a moment, alerting me to the fact he hadn’t been completely straight with me.

‘Not exactly!’

‘We aren’t just witnesses—we’re investigators. It’s not just the latest trial—my family have combined their gifts to put away hundreds over the years. It’s what we do.’

‘So that means you have more enemies?’

‘If they knew that we were behind their conviction—but they are not supposed to find out. Our information is used to steer the authorities to find evidence that will hold up in court. Our place isn’t on the witness stand but behind the scenes.’

The full impact of what he was telling me took a while to set in. They were like a secret weapon for the law enforcers, up against evil day after day. ‘How do you do it?’

He shut his eyes briefly. ‘We work together—we see what happened.’

‘You see it? See all that awful stuff—the killings—the crimes?’

‘If we ignored what happened, that’d be worse. We’d share part of the guilt if we didn’t act to stop crimes when we can.’

‘But you suffer for it, don’t you?’

He shrugged. ‘What’s that compared to the good we can do?’

I realized then that the Benedicts were brave and dedicated, putting aside their own ambitions to use their savant skills. They could be off seeking their soulfinders, but instead they risked everything to help victims of crime. But it also meant they would never be normal, never free to emerge from the shadows, stuck reliving the ugly scenes caused by the most vicious criminals. They had chosen the more difficult path; I didn’t have it in me to be so noble. My life had been lived too much in shadows. I couldn’t go back there—not even for Zed.

‘I’m scared, Zed.’

‘I don’t think there’s any threat to you as long as we aren’t seen together out of school. I haven’t even told my family about you. The only way I can think to protect you is by keeping my distance. If the rogue savant knew you were my soulfinder, it would put you in the centre of the target.’

‘That’s not what I meant. I’m scared you’re going to get hurt.’

‘We’ve got it under control now.’

‘But you’re going to have to keep hiding, aren’t you?’

‘I don’t want to think about that.’

‘Can I help? Is there some way I can make this easier for you?’

He shook his head. ‘It would mean you releasing your gift and, as I said, I don’t think that would be a good idea yet.’

‘Releasing my gift? What does that mean? You savants speak in riddles.’

He laughed. ‘Us savants, you mean. And if your gift were free, then you’d light up like I do when you’re with me.’

I nestled closer to him, running my fingers over his chest, feeling as if I was leaving lines of fire behind. His heart picked up its beat. ‘I already feel pretty sparkly.’

He kissed my hair, a gesture so tender it brought tears to my eyes. ‘That’s good—but you’d better stop doing that or we’ll both be in trouble.’ He caught my fingers in his hand, pressing them to his shirt.

‘Zed, is this all real?’

‘Yeah, it is. Your gift’s just waiting for you to reach for it.’

‘I’m afraid to do that.’

He rested his chin on the top of my head. ‘I know. And I can wait—as long as you need. Come, sit on my lap for a moment.’

He led me over to the drum kit and sat on the stool.

‘You want me to sit on your lap there? I’ll fall off.’

‘Not if you sit facing me.’

I laughed but it sounded kinda sad. ‘This is crazy.’

‘Maybe. But I’m going to enjoy it.’

I sat on his lap so I could rest my head on his chest, arms wrapped around him.

‘You hold on now, you hear?’

‘Uh-huh.’

He took the drumsticks and began to play the percussion part for the song we had first performed together as the jazz band. I hummed along.

‘We could really do with the piano but I don’t want you to move,’ he said softly in my ear.

‘We can imagine it.’

The beat was slow and hypnotic. Calming. I closed my eyes, listening as he began crooning the words to ‘Hallelujah’. He had a nice voice—a tenor, pitch perfect.

‘You just gonna sit there or sing with me?’ he asked.

‘I’m just gonna sit.’

‘What’s wrong with your voice?’

‘I don’t sing. Never have—not for a long time.’

‘There’s only me here. I won’t laugh.’

All my life, singing had been a no-go area. I didn’t want to bring that into this lovely moment. ‘I’ll just listen.’

‘OK. But I’ll get you singing yet.’