Free The Rescue by Sophie McKenzie

his head. ‘Forget her. Getting us all out of here’s the most important thing.’
    I spent the next morning watering plants and picking green beans. Nico was digging up beds of earth in another part of the field and Ketty was indoors, but Dylan was in my group, along with Mat and Mig.
    Thanks to the Spanish boys’ poor English, it was easy enough for me and Dylan to talk quite freely about what happened last night. I noticed that Dylan did half as much digging as the rest of us, lifting only light scatterings of earth and spending as much time as she could get away with leaning on her spade. Not that Mat and Mig were bothered. They seemed as in awe of Dylan as most of the boys at school were. I got that – I’d been in awe of Dylan myself once. She’s kind of scary and beautiful at the same time. It’s not just the basics – her long legs and hard green eyes. It’s the way she holds herself. She’s kind of like a cat – not belonging to anyone, ready to pounce at the slightest provocation. Anyway, she stood there, twisting her hair round her hand, while I told her what I’d found out – and what Nico had suggested.
    ‘He’s sooo right, Ed,’ she said, scornfully. ‘You have to forget this Luz person. And the others. Focus on getting the four of us out of here.’
    I concentrated on tugging the next bean off its stalk. Why was I the only person who cared about the police van kids? Clearly the authorities didn’t either, or Luz and the others wouldn’t have been smuggled away to the Escondite.
    Luz’s sad face and huge eyes flashed into my head. I’d hidden the photo of her under my mattress where none of the others would find it and take the mickey. If only I could make remote telepathy work, then I could communicate with her directly. I felt depressed at the memory of my previous, failed, attempts. Still, maybe the fact that Luz was only in San Juan – and therefore a lot closer than my family back home – would help.
    I’d give it a go as soon as I was alone.
    ‘Are you listening to me, Chino Boy?’ Dylan said.
    I looked up. I hadn’t even heard her. Dylan shook her head, then picked up a nearby trowel and pitched the tiniest amount of earth away from the bottom of the nearest bean stalk. ‘You have to get to a phone next time.’
    I opened my mouth to point out that Dylan had not exactly made the best use of her own phone call to Geri – but then didn’t say anything.
    After all, with Dylan, what was the point?
    Fernandez appeared at breakfast. He made no mention of last night – didn’t even speak to me directly – but he was in a good mood, joking and smiling with the Spanish kids.
    Tommy was sitting next to Ketty when we went in. They’d been on kitchen duty together. But something was wrong. I sensed it before Ketty even turned to look at me. I went straight over and sat down opposite her.
    ‘Hey, Ketty, what’s up?’ I smiled.
    Ketty gave me a half-smile back. ‘Nothing, just the normal crap of being here.’
    That wasn’t true, I was sure. Not for the first time I wondered why each of us had developed the particular gift we had. I’m sure that my Medusa gene developed into an ability to mind-read because I already have a strong intuition about when people are lying to me. It made sense too that outgoing Nico would be able to perform telekinesis, the showiest of psychic abilities, and that Dylan, the prickliest of our foursome, could protect herself from physical harm.
    But when it came to Ketty, the connection wasn’t so obvious. There wasn’t really anything about her that explained why she should be able to see into the future. Not unless you counted her stubborn determination to see a task through once she’d started it . . .
    ‘Did you see something?’ I asked Ketty across the table. The question was vague enough for Tommy, who was still sitting next to Ketty, not to understand that I was really asking whether she’d had a vision of a future event.
    Ketty shook her