All My Secrets (7 page)

I peer more closely. ‘What’s that?’

Samuel opens his palm to reveal a square silver lighter.

‘Miss Bunnock let you keep that?’

Samuel looks at his plate. ‘Mr Bradley made me take out the lighter fluid,’ he says. ‘Fire needs fuel and heat and oxygen.’ He pauses. ‘I love fire.’

I catch Pepper’s eye. She raises an eyebrow. ‘Fire
and
eating,’ she mouths.

I suppress a giggle.

‘Yeah, fire is
awesome
,’ Josh says enthusiastically. ‘I once made a bonfire that spelled “bite me” on the playing fields at my school.’ He grimaces.
‘Though technically it’s not
my
school any more seeing as I was asked to leave.’

‘About five thousand pupils are permanently excluded from schools every year,’ Samuel says, looking across the room. He still hasn’t made eye contact with anyone.

‘Did
you
get sent here for setting fire to something?’ I ask, wondering why he’s acting so strangely.

‘No.’ Samuel stiffens, still staring across the room. ‘No, I’m here because my parents thought it might help.’

‘Help what?’ I ask. ‘Help how?’

Samuel just shrugs. A minute or two later, he gets up from the table.

‘Where are you going?’ I ask.

‘Toilet. An average person pees seven times a day.’ He slips away.

The conversation carries on, with Josh and Pepper still doing most of the talking. It turns out Pepper has been sent here for destroying her dad’s collection of vinyl records after her mum
found out he had an affair with a woman at work. ‘He was on my case over
everything
anyway
and
it wasn’t his first affair,’ she explains darkly. ‘My
mum’s
so
upset, but she refuses to dump him.’

‘That’s awful,’ Anna says in a shocked whisper. ‘I don’t blame you for wanting to get back at him.’

‘Me neither,’ Josh says.

‘Hey, where’s Samuel?’ Pepper asks.

I glance sideways. ‘He said he was going to the bathroom.’

‘That was about two years ago,’ Pepper insists.

‘Perhaps he went looking for something else to enjoy eating,’ Josh suggests. Pepper laughs.

‘Or perhaps he just wanted to be on his own for a bit,’ Kit says pointedly. It’s the first thing he’s said since his comment about sports scores. I’m getting the
definite impression he hasn’t taken a liking to Josh or Josh’s sense of humour.

‘Oh, do you think maybe he’s gone off to do a bit of meditating,’ Josh says with a chuckle. ‘Get ahead of the game for tomorrow.’

‘I’m
dreading
all that stuff.’ Anna’s lip trembles. ‘It sounds
awful,
just sitting doing nothing.’

‘Actually, I think it’ll be interesting,’ Kit says. ‘I’ve done a lot of rugby and we had sessions with a psychologist on handling performance pressures. We did yoga
too; it was helpful.’

‘I thought you must have done rugby,’ I say, then feel my cheeks flushing. Could I make it any more obvious that I’ve been staring at his muscles?

‘You did
yo-gah
, did you, Kit?’ Josh says, mimicking Kit’s upper-class accent. He grins.

I can’t help giggling. Pepper laughs too. It’s not really what Josh says that is funny, it’s the light, ironic way he says it. Kit’s face clouds. He stands up and grabs
his plate, then heads over to the sink. A tense silence falls. Josh’s expressive face registers bemusement. ‘What did I do?’ he mouths.

‘I think you’re being a bit oversensitive, Kit,’ Pepper says. I wince. Pepper’s mission to speak her thoughts is all very well, but that’s too direct.

‘Well,
I
don’t think he is,’ Anna says quietly. She takes her plate and Josh’s and joins Kit at the sink.

Pepper rolls her eyes. She turns to me. ‘So, Evie, you never said what you’re in here for. What did you do? I’m betting you ran away from home once too often, yeah?’

I shake my head, embarrassed that the conversation has come back to me again. At least I’m saved from answering: an alarm screeches out over our heads. As it pierces the air, Miss Bunnock
rushes into the kitchen.

She takes one look at us. ‘Have you seen Samuel?’ she demands.

‘Not for a while,’ Pepper says. ‘Why? What’s happened?’

Miss Bunnock’s eyes widen. ‘He’s missing.’

Miss Bunnock ushers us out of the kitchen. She’s frowning, anxious. There’s no sign of Mrs Moncrieff, but a worried-looking, middle-aged man in worn corduroy
trousers is tugging on a jacket in the hallway. As he sees us, his expression softens.

‘Mr Lomax, these are the August students,’ Miss Bunnock says.

I stare at the man. His face is lined and his hair peppered with grey. So this is the man whose parents were friends with my grandparents. Gavin said David Lomax almost certainly met him and
Irina when they were all kids. Does he remember either of them? I expect Miss Bunnock to introduce us, but Mr Lomax already knows our names.

‘Ah, welcome, Pepper, Anna, Kit and Josh,’ he says, looking at each of the others in turn. He turns to me and it may be my imagination, but I could swear his eyes linger as if
he’s examining my face, looking for something he recognises. Could he be trying to see if I look like Irina did?

‘Hello, Evie, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’ Mr Lomax speaks slowly and deliberately, his voice as posh as Kit’s, but far deeper. ‘This is
not
the welcome
to Lightsea I had hoped to give you all, but we need to find Samuel before it gets dark. There are no lights on the island, apart from those in and around the buildings, and though it’s fine
for you all to explore the island I’m concerned poor Samuel may have wandered too far and got lost.’

‘If you ask me,’ Pepper says, ‘having met him, I’d say there’s no knowing what Samuel might do.’

‘Indeed.’ Mr Lomax smiles, but there’s real concern in his eyes. Despite its designer logo, his jacket has a hole at one elbow. Considering he owns the entire island, he surely
could afford a new one. Or maybe he just doesn’t care about how he looks, like Janet. I’m itching to ask him if he remembers meeting Gavin and Irina, but there’s no way in front
of all these people.

‘Do you think we need to search Easter Rock?’ Miss Bunnock interjects, her eyes wide.

‘Goodness.’ Mr Lomax looks startled. ‘I don’t think . . . no . . . yes, we should check. I’ll take care of it. Why don’t you see if he’s in the grounds
to the back of the house?’ He turns to the rest of us. ‘Until later, everyone, please don’t leave the building. Mrs Moncrieff is currently searching the upper floors again so I
suggest you wait in the library.’

‘Would you like us to help look for Samuel?’ Kit asks earnestly.

Pepper rolls her eyes. ‘Ooh, Boy Scout alert,’ she whispers.

‘No, er, thank you.’ Mr Lomax shakes his head distractedly and hurries to the door, Miss Bunnock right behind him.

‘What a fuss,’ Josh drawls. ‘Samuel’s probably just gone outside for a cig.’

‘I don’t think that’s very likely.’ Anna sounds scandalised.

‘No.’ I suppress a smile at the idea of Samuel smoking, as we troop into the library. ‘Anyway, they took the fuel out of his lighter.’

‘Good point,’ Josh acknowledges.

‘Plus, we were told not to go outside,’ Kit says. ‘So it would mean breaking the rules.’

‘Jeez.’ Pepper makes a face. ‘Lighten up, will you?’

‘Yeah, man, just cos you always obey the rules.’ Josh winks at me, then flings himself down on one of the sofas.

I blush. Kit scowls. ‘I just meant Samuel didn’t seem likely to go against what he was told to do.’ He turns away and paces up and down by the bookshelves. His walk is
powerful, yet graceful, ridiculously mesmerizing. I can’t take my eyes off him.

‘What I don’t get is
why
they didn’t want us to help,’ Anna says with a sigh.

Pepper sits down beside Josh and sprawls across the end of the sofa, her arms flung theatrically over the cushions. ‘I’ve got no idea either. This place is weird.’

‘They just don’t want us outside and unsupervised on our first night,’ Kit says, still pacing up and down.

I screw up my courage, ready to sidle over and maybe try talking to him again, but before I can move Anna drifts over to the bookshelves.

‘Hey, Kit,’ she says. ‘Do you think we should get back to the clearing up?’

Kit nods. Without looking round, the two of them leave the room.

Great
.

I sit down opposite Josh and Pepper, feeling disgruntled.

An hour passes and the light outside starts to fade. We attempt to explore the ground floor, but only the kitchen and a large, empty, wood-floored room with a pile of blue mats in the corner are
unlocked. The rest of the floor is hidden behind a thick wooden door. Josh goes to get his guitar, but it’s been taken up to his room and the doors to the bedrooms are firmly fastened. He
tries most of the other doors on the way back down and reports that they’re all locked too.

‘If I had my tools with me, I could open them,’ he says, ‘but they’re in the bedroom.’

‘What tools?’ I ask.

‘Couple of long pins, nothing fancy. They fit down the hem of my rucksack or the side of my boots. Anyway, I’m not leaving the room without them again.’

‘It’s like an effing prison,’ Pepper mutters.

Josh raises his eyebrows. His dark eyes twinkle as he glances from me to Pepper. ‘Fancy a prison break?’

Pepper sits up. ‘Totally.’

‘You mean go outside?’ I ask. My heart thuds.

‘Yeah, we might even track down Samuel.’ Pepper sniffs. She and Josh are already at the door.

My stomach contracts. It’s true that we might be able to help find Samuel, but Mr Lomax specifically asked us not to go outside right now and, not only would I prefer to avoid getting into
trouble on my very first evening, I also don’t want to get on the wrong side of Mr Lomax before I’ve even had a chance to ask him about Irina.

‘Come on, Evie,’ Josh grins. ‘What’s the worst they can do to us? Even if we get in trouble, which I doubt we will, Quiet Time sounds like a punishment for
babies.’

This is true. And Josh’s cheeky smile is irresistible. I don’t fancy him, like I do Kit, but I’m hoping we can be friends. And I don’t want either him or Pepper to think
I’m afraid.

‘Let’s go,’ I say.

The three of us pad across the hall to the front door. Someone has put a row of boots in front of the bench by the wall. I spot my own pair third from the left.

‘See, it’s fate,’ Josh whispers. ‘Our footwear is waiting for us.’

I suppress a giggle. Mrs Moncrieff’s soft Scottish tones drift towards us from the kitchen, where she’s talking to Kit and Anna. Pepper puts her finger to her lips, then lifts the
heavy bar on the front door. It gives a low creak as it opens. I freeze, but the chatter in the kitchen carries on as before. Nobody has heard us. Pepper opens the door a little wider and peers
outside.

‘I can’t see anyone,’ she whispers.

‘Let’s head for the woods.’ Josh tiptoes out into the crisp, evening air, Pepper and me right behind. ‘I don’t know where that Easter Rock is that Lomax and Bunnock
were going to, but we’re less likely to be spotted if we stay among the trees.’

‘Good thinking,’ Pepper says approvingly.

‘Wow,’ I say as we cross the patch of grass outside the house. ‘It looks completely different from when I arrived.’ Earlier, the sky was grey with dark, glowering clouds
that the light struggled to break through. Now the sun is a low orange disc framed by a clear blue sky. Beyond the rocks to the left of the house the sea sparkles like a carpet of diamonds.

Josh and Pepper lead the way into the trees. I follow more slowly, looking around as I walk. There’s no sign of any of the adults. Despite the bright sunlight, the way through the woods is
dark and shadowy. The air smells damp and salty. Every now and then, I catch sight of the glistening water through the trees. Apart from the wind, there is no sound at all.

Josh and Pepper are moving faster than me. Not wanting to be left behind, I speed up. As I jog along, I catch a flash of red out of the corner of my eye. I spin around remembering the shadowy
movement I saw earlier, just after I arrived on the island. A slight figure in a long black coat and a red hat is standing between the trees about twenty metres away. I stop running. Could that be
Samuel? The head is bent down, the hat pulled low, so I can’t see a face or even tell if the figure is male or female. I take a step forward. In a flash, the figure turns. There’s the
swish of the coat disappearing into the trees. And it’s gone.

My skin erupts in goosebumps. I peer through the branches, straining my eyes to see it again. But the figure has vanished. My heart thuds. Was that one of the adult members of staff? It was
surely too short for Mr Lomax and Miss Bunnock, and definitely too slender for Mrs Moncrieff. Anyway, Lomax and Bunnock were wearing short jackets when they went outside. What about Samuel? I
hesitate. Josh and Pepper are now out of sight. If Samuel is here, I should try and find him.

I head through the trees towards the spot where the figure was standing. Through the branches beyond, I emerge onto a wide expanse of smooth grey rock. The sea is just a few metres away, waves
crashing over the jagged ridges that poke up from the water. Miss Bunnock’s earlier warning about how lethal the Lightsea rocks are floats into my head. The sharp ones out at sea do look
dangerous, but there’s nothing scary about the flat rock that leads to the water’s edge. I look along its breadth. There’s no way anyone could have run out here within the last
minute and not be visible. The only place they could possibly be hiding is on the other side of a high rock that rises up at the far end of the flat expanse, just before the sea. A smallish person
could just about conceal themselves behind that.

‘Samuel?’ I call.

No reply, just the sound of the wind whipping through the trees and the waves smashing against the rocks.

‘Samuel?’ I call again, louder.

Still silence. This is ridiculous. Whoever ran through the trees
must
be here. And if it isn’t Samuel then I want to know who on earth is out here. I test the flat rock in front
of me. Not too slippery. Anyway, my boots have a great grip. I take a step.