Soul Fire

flame, banishing the chill I felt moments ago.
    ‘You helped Javier.’ It’s not a question. She knows.
    ‘He’s gone?’
    ‘Between dusk and dawn. We’d gone to sleep in a big huddle last night, watching the most fantastic sunset. I woke up cold. Javier had been holding my hand but he wasn’t there
anymore.’ She’s trying hard not to cry. ‘With Triti, we knew it was coming. But this time, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Meggie.’
    Even though I was expecting it, losing Javier hurts like hell.
    Without his smartness, his cynicism, the Beach will be a blander place. But of course, the sharpness was armour-plating. Underneath it was a hurt, lost boy who loved his sisters, his mother, and
a guy called Gabriel.
    Life is change, Alice . One of the last things he said to me. Perhaps it was him telling me he was ready to let go.
    ‘I had so much to tell him, Florrie,’ Meggie says. ‘About how much he helped me when I first arrived. He was the only one who never lied about how tough it could be here. I
should have thanked him for that.’
    ‘Maybe goodbyes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, sis. The important thing is that he knew how you felt about him. But what’s happened here in the real world. The
things that have allowed Javier to . . . go . . .’ I hesitate, ‘they’re for the best, for the people he left behind.’
    ‘Honestly?’
    ‘I promise you it’s true.’ Helping Javier is the only thing I feel I did right on this trip, even though losing him forever feels like losing a member of my family.
    ‘We’ve still got each other, Florrie.’
    I look at my sister, and I try to imagine how it’ll feel if I manage to set Meggie free. Will I ever be able to do that? I take a step forward to hug her, but she holds up her
hand.
    ‘I have to ask you something, little sister. I know you have to be careful how you answer, but does Javier going make it more likely that I’ll be going . . . somewhere else,
too? Has it helped you work it out? I don’t care either way except I’d like to be prepared, if I can be.’
    ‘I don’t know, Meggie. I’ll try to warn you before . . . something happens, but it might not be possible.’
    She nods. ‘I understand. This is hard for you too. Harder, even, because you’re the one responsible . . .’ her voice breaks, and this time she lets me wrap my arms around her,
burying my head in her golden hair.
    What the hell?
    I’m somewhere else. Not the Beach, not with Meggie. And even though my eyes are closed, I can see .
    Black gloves. A blue-white flash of light . . . no, not light. Something else.
    I open my eyes again. Meggie’s backing away. The image disappears.
    ‘What’s wrong, Florrie?’
    ‘I saw something when we touched. Like a photograph.’
    My sister frowns. ‘ What did you see?’
    What the hell was it? I know one thing: it scared me.
    ‘Ali? Ali!’
    Another voice, a man’s, is calling out behind me. I blink, look up from the laptop and see Lewis over by the shop, tapping his watch. ‘We need to get to the gate,’ he shouts
over at me. ‘They’ve already called boarding time.’
    ‘Meggie. I’ll be back soon. Tell Danny I . . . love him,’ I whisper, even though I blush because I’m having to send the message second-hand. ‘I’ll work it
out. I’ll work all of it out. Give me time.’
    And I close the Beach down, log out of my email, pull my headphones out. I’m about to close the laptop lid when I realise the images of Meggie that Lewis was unencrypting have now
opened.
    The first shows an extreme close up of her eyes. They’re a sludgier, darker blue-grey than I remember, but that’s probably the Beach playing tricks by making them look a prettier
baby-blue than they ever were in real life.
    The eyes in the photo don’t show fear, but they do show wariness. Something was wrong, and she knew it.
    ‘ALICE! Come on, we’ll miss the plane,’ Lewis calls.
    I close that window, but a second photo appears behind it. It’s another shot of her face, but less close up than the first one.
    No. It’s not possible!
    Those eyes. That girl in the picture. It’s not Meggie at all.
    It’s me .
    By the time we get to the gate, almost everyone else is on board. Ade and Cara are way ahead in the queue and Sahara must be on board already. I climb the steps to the plane,
the sun merciless on my back. It makes the tiny burns from last night smart again.
    I stumble on the steps. My legs