Free All My Secrets by Sophie McKenzie Page B

connection with Irina, but, before I can find the words to do so, Pepper and Josh rush in, laughing, their faces glowing from the cold air outside.
    ‘Oh my days, we saw Buttockbreath on the way back, had to run the long way round to get here without her seeing,’ Pepper gasps.
    ‘She’s quite the speedster,’ Josh says admiringly, pointing at Pepper.
    In spite of my anxieties, I can’t help wondering if Josh likes her. It’s easy to see why a boy might. I’ve never met anyone quite like Pepper before: so open and forthright, so
completely unconcerned with what people think of her.
    ‘What happened to you, Evie?’ she asks, flopping elegantly onto the sofa next to me. ‘One minute you were right behind us, the next you’d vanished.’
    ‘Yeah, we were worried you’d been taken by the same bogeyman who’s got Samuel,’ Josh adds with a chuckle.
    ‘It’s not funny,’ Kit says with a frown. ‘Samuel could be hurt.’
    ‘I thought maybe I saw him out on a rock past the trees, so I went to take a look.’ I avoid Kit’s gaze, but I can sense him looking at me. For some reason, I really don’t
want to tell Pepper and Josh that Kit followed me, that we were out there together.
    ‘Oooh, not the dangerous rocks.’ Pepper widens her eyes theatrically. ‘Very daring, Evie.’
    ‘Well, we needn’t have worried, none of us,’ Josh says with a sigh. ‘We saw Samuel with Mr Lomax down by this big wooden hut thing at the other end of the
island.’
    ‘That must be the boathouse,’ Kit says.
    ‘Yeah,’ Pepper says. ‘It’s like a smaller version of the one in our holiday home.’
    ‘You have a holiday home?’ Anna sounds awestruck.
    ‘My dad’s seriously rich,’ Pepper says in a bored, matter-of-fact voice. ‘He’s still an arse.’
    She sounds defiant, but I wonder if she really feels as unbothered as she’s making out. Even though I’m angry with Andrew, I don’t feel like Pepper clearly does. I can’t
imagine what it must be like to despise your own father.
    ‘Was Samuel OK?’ Kit asks.
    Pepper shrugs. ‘He looked fine to us, but we didn’t hang around.’
    ‘Yeah, couldn’t wait to get back,’ Josh adds sarcastically.
    Outside the twilight deepens, the darkening sky spread with silver and orange swirls. After about half an hour, Miss Bunnock appears. She reassures us all that Samuel is fine after accidentally
wandering too far from the house and getting lost and that he has been sent up to bed. It suddenly strikes me that maybe Samuel saw the same figure as me . . . that perhaps it spooked him into
running off.
    ‘Is he really OK?’ I ask. ‘Can we see him?’
    Miss Bunnock frowns. ‘You’ll see him in the morning.’
    ‘He’ll be glad to know you care, Evie.’ Pepper grins.
    ‘It’s not that,’ I mumble, feeling embarrassed.
    ‘Anyway, it’s bedtime now,’ Miss Bunnock says.
    ‘No way.’ The grin falls from Pepper’s face. ‘Seriously, it’s not even properly
dark
yet.’
    ‘I know it seems early,’ Miss Bunnock says with a smile, ‘but you’ll get used to it.’
    ‘What if we refuse?’ Pepper asks, hands on hips.
    ‘I’m afraid that would mean Quiet Time tomorrow – and you’d still have to go to bed now.’
    Pepper opens her mouth as if she’s about to protest again.
    ‘Come on,’ I urge, tugging at her arm. ‘No point in kicking off unless it gets us to a party. Which sadly it won’t.’
    Pepper flashes me a smile and flounces up the stairs. The rest of us follow. I can hear Josh grumbling to Anna and Kit behind me, but I don’t look around until we reach the landing.
I’m hoping I’ll be able to say goodnight to Kit, but he has already disappeared along the corridor to the boys’ bedroom.
    I follow Pepper and Anna into our room, feeling miffed. The girls don’t notice I’m a bit quiet. Pepper is full of moans about the early bedtime while Anna is still curious about the
figure I saw in the woods. Her questions lead to a bigger