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ticket when she purchased her own, but I didn’t want there to be any record that I’d travelled, which meant I needed a distraction in order to slip past the guards at the gate. The two men that I’d tripped up before were still there, now busy checking foot passengers as they boarded. Keeping well hidden behind the terminal building wall, I moved closer. Beyond the two guards the cars were loading slowly in pairs.
    I lifted my hand and, with a sudden twist, forced one of the two lead cars on the ramp up to the ferry to turn and block the path of the cars behind. Immediately, horns blared out in protest. Both guards turned to see what was happening. I twisted my hand, pushing the car further round. Now it was blocking both streams of traffic attempting to board. Two drivers had already got out of their cars. The driver of the car I’d turned was still at the wheel, clearly trying to shift his vehicle.
    ‘I’ve lost control of the steering!’ I could hear him yelling out of the window.
    One of the other drivers swore. Another shouted.
    The two guards dealing with the foot passengers threw each other a look.
    ‘Get over there,’ one said in French.
    The other nodded. He pulled the barrier gates across to bar any further foot passengers from accessing the ferry and together the two men went over to the car ramp.
    This was my chance. In the distance I could see more foot passengers approaching, but right now the entryway was free of people. I raced over to the barrier gates that the guards had shut and locked, undid them with a swift click and slipped inside.
    I reached behind me to relock the gates as I walked briskly on-board.
    Once safely on deck, I let out a long breath. What a relief. I’d made it. Now I just had to find Amy.
    She was still looking like Geri, and sitting in the same café where I’d shared a chocolate bar with Ketty just hours before. Her eyes widened as I walked up.
    ‘Nico!’
    I grinned. ‘Thought you might like some company for the journey back!’
    Amy’s chin wobbled. ‘Omigosh, thank you,’ she said, her eyes filling with tears. ‘That’s really kind of you. I was nervous about going on my own. Ed just contacted me with his mind-reading and I was making out I was fine, but actually, I was feeling really shaky about getting all the way home in the dark.’
    ‘Oh . . . oh well, I’m glad I’m here, then.’ I cleared my throat, unsure how to respond to all that emotion. ‘I’m also going back to search for the information we need at the Norgene Clinic’
    Amy stared at me for a second. It was disconcerting to know she was under Geri’s sharp features.
    ‘I can help with that,’ she said.
    I raised my eyebrows. ‘You’re going home.’
    ‘That doesn’t make sense, Nico.’ Amy leaned forward earnestly in her chair. ‘I can get us into the clinic by pretending to be a woman wanting information on fertility treatment. Once we’re in, you can sneak off and search the files.’
    ‘What about your parents?’
    ‘They don’t live that far from the clinic – I’ll go there straight after. It’ll maybe delay me getting home by an hour or two, that’s all.’
    I considered this. Ed wouldn’t like it, of course, but Amy’s suggestion certainly made sense.
    ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Here’s what I think we should do.’
    The Norgene Clinic opened at nine a.m. Amy and I were at the door by five past. Ed had contacted me several times by remote telepathy. He reported that the others were furious I’d gone off on my own, though he was actually grateful I was seeing Amy safely home. Clearly, Amy hadn’t told him she was accompanying me to the clinic – and I certainly wasn’t going to!
    I’d had no problem getting the pair of us off the ferry. First, Amy had transformed herself into another woman – older and plainer than Geri. It was the weirdest thing – her skin stretching as her face lengthened and her eyes growing narrower, her nose longer and her hair, which had been