Empress of the Sun Read Online Free PDF

me, for example. I mean, do you think that maybe what you said there, and you disappearing over Christmas – how can I put this? You’re the oldest in your family, by quite a long way.Your sister – what is she, three, four? In a sense, you’re like the only child. And now you’re the only man in the family. You were very close to your father. I’d like you to explore the thought that maybe you’re looking for other ways to get the attention he used to give you.’
    ‘I thought you said no one would judge me here.’
    ‘Now you’re being defensive, Everett. And as well as the defensiveness, I’ve been hearing reports of inattention in class. That’s not you, Everett.’
    ‘Is everyone spying on me?’ Everett M shouted.
    ‘No one’s spying on you, Everett. Why? Do you think people are?’
    Careful
, Everett M said to himself.
Make too much trouble, say too much, or even too little, and she might send you to the doctor. And you can’t have doctors working all over you, outside and inside
.
    ‘No, I don’t. I don’t … I just …’ But he had to keep her sweet. Then he knew what to do. And it was obvious and easy, and the words came out straight and true. He talked about his dad, his real dad. His dad who had died in a bike accident on the way to work, suddenly and stupidly and without any hope of appeal or a second chance. He talked about anger. He remembered being angry that his dad had died without thinking of any of them, just leaving them with no idea and no plan for what to do. He talked about pleading. He remembered going over and over in his head all the tiny things Everett M or his mum or Vickie-Rosecould have done that would have meant his dad hadn’t been at that place on that bike at that moment the Sainsbury’s truck turned left. He talked about abandonment. He remembered the realisation that dead was forever, that his dad would never come back, never be there, never
be
. He talked about pretending. He remembered the exaggerated normality of life after Dad had died, everyone doing all the little everyday things in a big way so that there could be no moment, no crack in the busyness of everyday life, where the awfulness could well up like dark water under ice. He said and remembered all these feelings, but he made them about the other Everett’s dad. He wasn’t dead, but the feelings would be the same. And Everett M understood that other Everett Singh.
    Then Mrs Packham was glancing at her watch and saying, ‘I’m afraid we’re out of time for today.’ When Everett M stood up he found he was breathing more deeply and easily than he had since the Accident, and the air in his lungs tasted clean and pure. For the hour he had been in Mrs Packham’s room, he hadn’t heard the buzzing of the Nahn. In the corridor it returned louder than ever.
    Everett M knew what he had to do now.
    ‘Everett!’
    He glanced over his shoulder. School out: schoolkids pressing towards the gates and the waiting cars. Breath steaming. Loud chatter and ringtones. A face looking at him: the geek guy Ryun. The other Everett’s friend. EverettM ought to stop, say something. Ryun’s suspicions had been raised by the text message and Everett M’s unconvincing lie that he had lost his phone. The message had tipped Everett M off that the other Everett was on this world and had led to the Battle of Abney Park Cemetery. The message, and the viral video everyone had passed round of the airship over White Hart Lane football stadium. Everett M had joked that it was obviously a commercial cargo airship from a parallel universe, but now he wondered if he had been too clever: had Ryun guessed that the joke was in fact the truth? How much did he know from the other Everett? How much did he suspect about Everett M? Get clever. Stay clever.
    ‘We’re going out,’ Everett M shouted back. ‘Catch you tomorrow!’
    ‘I’ll be on chat!’ Ryun shouted back.
    ‘Maybe!’
    Everett M slid into the centre of the crowd streaming