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Sky.
‘Sorry.’ He cleared his throat. ‘But she has to ask you some questions. About where you’ve been. And stuff.’
It was odd to see Sean ill at ease. His innate calmness was one of the things Sky liked about him the most – partly because he was oblivious to how unusual a trait that was.
‘Yeah, Bo mentioned something about that.’ The ring-pull on Sky’s can became a source of some fascination. ‘But I don’t know where I’ve been. Well, I mean I do, but none of you believe me.’
She chanced a glance up at Sean and found him studying her.
‘I still can’t believe you’re really here. I mean, here.’ He looked away. ‘Have your parents taken you to the hospital to get checked out?’
‘Hospital?’
Sean looked down at his hands, elbows propped on his knees. ‘Yeah. I know that’s like a dirty word or something around here, but modern science is kind of the thing everywhere else in the world.’ The three girls regarded him in silence, and he sighed. ‘I mean, so they can test you for drugs. And, you know … check you over.’
‘She wasn’t kidnapped, wingnut. She died. We all saw her before they put her in the ambulance – no way was that girl about to get up and run away for three months.’ Bo relit her roll-up in the edge of the fire. A long draw on her cigarette, and her face disappeared for a moment in the smoke. ‘This isn’t some experiment for you two to puzzle out over heated looks and chemistry books.’
As confused as she was by Bo’s comment, Sky still managed to blush. She had been partnered with Sean for chemistry last term, and he’d certainly taken the opportunity to ramp up his flirtatious behaviour – almost enough for Sky to start thinking he was serious about her.
Sean leaned back, one palm braced on the driftwood. His expression was somewhere between insulted and amused. ‘I’m open to other explanations if you have one—’
‘That’s what I’m saying,’ Bo continued, glowering at him only long enough to scathe a little. ‘There is no explanation. Not for this, not in this town.’
All four sat in silence for a long moment as they each considered this. Except for Cam, who squeaked briefly as she began asking a question before promptly forgetting what she had been about to ask.
It was Sky who broke the silence finally. ‘I think my parents have been trying to keep me off your aunt’s radar since I’ve been back. I have no idea why, but the way they’ve been acting, it’s like … I don’t know, secretive or something.’
Though Sky had only just realised this, the truth of it had been nagging at the back of her mind since her parents had first started with all that infuriating glancing the previous day.
Sky had always liked Officer Vega, with her sensible shoes and a smile that said she would figure out this bizarre town and its residents eventually. More than that, though, Sky refused to hide from her friends’ aunt when she had done nothing wrong – even if she wasn’t able to answer her questions.
‘Yes, I think she guessed as much.’
‘Tell her I’ll come to your house to speak with her first thing in the morning. Text me if that’s a problem, okay?’
For a while Sky tried to steer the conversation away from herself to more normal things, but finally gave it up and settled instead for silence. Her friends continued weaving grand webs of conspiracy to explain her absence, but Sky wasn’t really listening. She was distracted by a slithery, dark feeling that something was wrong. Wrong with her .
Sky let the ridiculous words of her friends float past her, away from the firelight and off into darkness.

4
Now where am I?
With the disconcerting clarity of someone who knew she was asleep, Sky opened her eyes to darkness. She remembered going to bed, worn out after spending the last couple of days in a state of almost constant anxiety, and wondering about Bo’s strange revelation about her grave being unearthed. Then … only darkness, the quicksand