Free Run, Zan, Run by Cathy MacPhail

to pick on?’
    There was silence. Then, one by one, the look on each of their faces began to change. Katie could read this new look easily. It said simply, ‘If there is any trouble, she can turn into Zan!’
    They were expecting more magic.
    ‘Katie’s right,’ someone said, boldly now. ‘Let’s stick with Katie.’
    Ivy looked up as they approached. ‘Whit do you lot want?’ she asked gruffly.
    ‘You leave Teresa alone,’ Katie said.
    Ivy’s jaw hung open, not believing what she’d just heard. ‘Whit did you say?’
    ‘Has she taken any money off you, Teresa?’
    Teresa flushed and swallowed. She looked from Katie and the girls around her, to Ivy. None of these girls were her friends. Could she trust any of them? Katie read that in her grimy face.
    ‘Come over here,’ Katie said gently. She reached out and took Teresa’s hand. It was cold and clammy and made her cringe, but she held it tight and drew hergently into her circle of friends. One of us.
    ‘Did she take money from you?’ Katie had to look up to Teresa, who was tall, though seldom looked it. She smiled and said gently again, ‘Did she?’
    At last Teresa nodded.
    Katie looked at Ivy. ‘Give it back, then.’
    Ivy glared around them, trying to look fierce. It had always worked so well, that look. But she was alone now.
    ‘Aye, give it back,’ a voice behind Katie shouted.
    ‘Or else,’ another voice threatened.
    Katie almost giggled then. She had a feeling she knew what the ‘or else’ might be. She, Katie, would turn into Zan. Whatever it was, it worked.
    Anger exploded in Ivy. But an anger tinged with fear. ‘Here, take your money back!’ She threw a handful of coins at them. ‘It’s the last time I ask you for a loan for anythin’, Teresa Henderson.’
    She stalked away, not looking back once. But she heard. Heard the laughter and the cheers that erupted as she left them. And Ivy would never forget that, Katie knew. Nor would she forgive.
    She told Zan about it later when they met after school.
    ‘Didn’t I tell you? Stick together. They can’t touchyou if you all stick together.’ Zan smiled and popped another crisp into her mouth. She looks amazingly like me, Katie thought, watching her.
    ‘You should get your hair cut,’ Katie said.
    ‘I do cut it.’ She held out an uneven chunk for Katie’s inspection. ‘Do it myself.’
    ‘I don’t mean that, I mean properly. In a hairdresser’s.’
    Zan stopped chewing. ‘Don’t try to make me what I’m not. I’m happy the way I am. OK?’
    ‘OK,’ Katie said, though she still couldn’t understand.
    ‘So now you have another fan. This Teresa?’
    ‘Oh, I hope not. Nazeem’s bad enough.’
    ‘I’ve never heard anyone talk so much,’ Zan laughed. She had a hearty laugh that echoed in the old empty tenement.
    ‘Anyway,’ Katie reminded her, ‘they’re really your fans. Zan is the one they think helped them.’
    ‘Not today, Katie. Today, it was you. Only you.’
    That hadn’t occurred to Katie before. She had stood up to Ivy. She, little Katie Cassidy. The thought made her feel warm all over.
    ‘I’m so glad I met you, Zan.’
    ‘You’ve paid me back,’ Zan answered. ‘Because of you, I can stay here. Everyone thinks I’m you. You’re me. I don’t exist. I feel safe for once. I’ve never stayedthis long anywhere before.’
    As she spoke Katie remembered Mr Whittaker, with his long dark face, and his questions … and the warm feeling went.
    Zan saw the change in Katie’s expression. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’
    Katie almost didn’t tell her. It would be stupid to worry her for nothing. But she knew she couldn’t lie. Not to Zan. And she would have to warn her. Mr Whittaker was planning to join in her father’s frequent forays to search out vagrants.
    ‘It’s probably nothing,’ Katie said. ‘He can’t be looking for you.’
    Zan sat up rigid. ‘Who?’
    ‘Mr Whittaker. He’s a private investigator. It can’t be you he’s looking for.