Poison Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

and Nat, headed back towards the stalls. I turned around only once, to see the girl looking back at me, strangely transfixed. I shook my head, cross with myself because my imaginationmust have been running riot. But no matter how hard I tried to forget, I could still hear her voice resounding in my head over and over again: ‘
I’m your worst nightmare
.’

CHAPTER
FIVE
     
    The new cafe in the high street was decorated in Neapolitan colours – vanilla, mocha and strawberry. There were giant photographs of coffee beans on the wall and attractive people with perfect teeth laughing together in leather club chairs, clutching outsize cups. Nat, Hannah and I had decided to try it out before going to college for the first student exhibition of the year. I was nervous about my work, but this anxiety stopped me focusing on the real thing that was troubling me.
    Hannah sipped a banana smoothie, her forehead creased with concern. ‘We’re the three musketeers, remember? All for one and one for all. What’s bothering you, Katy?’
    Nat guiltily tucked into a slice of carrot cake and spoke with her mouth full. ‘Is it Merlin?’
    ‘No, everything’s great with him.’
    ‘Your mum?’
    ‘It’s not her either,’ I answered, tipping the pepper pot and making patterns on the table with my finger.
    ‘You’ve been quiet all week,’ Hannah persisted.
    I looked from one face to the other. They were right; I had to get this thing off my chest. ‘Look, I know this will sound stupid, but it’s … the girl we saw at the craft fair.’
    ‘Ah … your stalker.’ Nat winked.
    ‘Thing is … I thought she said something to me, something I can’t stop thinking about.’
    Two pairs of eyes fixed on me expectantly, but my mouth felt dry and there were butterflies in my stomach. I went back to blowing on my coffee. ‘It doesn’t matter …’
    ‘Spit it out,’ Nat urged, and pulled a stupid face which made me smile.
    I studied the hexagon shapes on the floor, not wanting to look at them both. I chewed my lip, adjusted my position in my chair and took a deep breath. ‘She said, “I’m your worst nightmare.”’
    The silence seemed to go on forever. Hannah eventually broke it. ‘Just like that. She said, “I’m your worst nightmare,” just like that.’
    I squirmed a little. It felt horrible having to justify myself like this. ‘She called me Katy, and I asked how she knew my name, and she told me she knew lots about me and then she said—’
    ‘I’m your worst nightmare,’ Nat interrupted. ‘You’re absolutely certain that’s what she said?’
    ‘I
thought
it was my imagination,’ I answered defensively, ‘but now I’m not so sure. Her lips opened, but she didn’t seem to speak …’
    ‘She didn’t speak?’ Hannah echoed.
    My fists clenched under the table and I tried to keep my voice measured. ‘I’m not sure … it’s all a bit of a blur.’
    There was another uncomfortable silence and I almost began to regret confiding in them.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us at the time?’ Nat asked.
    ‘It didn’t seem real,’ I mumbled.
    Hannah’s voice was apologetic. ‘But you did chase her that day. She didn’t come after you.’
    ‘She wanted me to,’ I answered, realizing how bizarre this sounded. I didn’t even understand it myself. ‘I mean … I went after her because she’d left that pendant at my house.’
    Nat took a sip of her drink and licked her lips. ‘It’s not something a sane person would say,’ she commented archly. ‘Did she appear sane?’
    ‘Perfectly.’ I groaned, my previous doubt returning in one hot embarrassing wave. ‘And you’re right, of course. My mind was all over the place that day … I was probably a bit … wound up.’
    Nat yawned. ‘It’s silly to get upset about this anyway. I mean, how much damage could one girl do?’
    I didn’t answer and stared down at the floor. A brand-new penny gleamed at me and I remembered the rhyme, ‘See a penny pick it up and