The Aura Read Online Free PDF

can have fish and chips any night.”
    “No, they can’t because I won’t let them,” said Leo firmly. “It’s a treat because it’s Saturday and first day of their half-term break.”
    “Well, let the boys have fish and chips. We’ll eat this. All the more for us.”
    Leo nodded. “All right. You open the wine while I run to the chippie to pick up our order. I’ll be just ten minutes.”
    I put plates and cutlery out on the kitchen island, retrieved two dirty wineglasses from the dishwasher, washed and dried them. There were no napkins to be found, so I folded pieces of kitchen towel into triangles and laid them by the two plates. I opened the wine, poured a little of the deep red liquid into each glass, then took a sip. It tasted of sun and warm earth. I rotated my shoulders, trying to roll the tension of the morning away. I wanted to check in to make sure Sophie was recovering but didn’t know which hospital she’d been taken to. I didn’t even know her second name.
    In the living room, the boys were shrieking in excitement and I wondered how Leo managed to stay so calm. He was a great Dad, single since his wife ran off with the realtor who had sold them this house two years ago. He was a math professor at Oxford University. Somehow, he managed to juggle his teaching with ferrying the boys to and from school, sports clubs and music lessons. I knew that cleaning and laundry came pretty far down the to-do list; the house had a faint odor of cooking fat and sweaty socks.
    “What are you doing, Katie?” Leo came in with two white carrier bags. The smell of fish and malt vinegar filled up the kitchen.
    I jumped. “Just straightening things a little.”
    “You were arranging the mugs so the handles all point in the same direction,” he said accusingly, looking at the shelf holding the offending crockery.
    “Well, it makes it easier to get them down that way.”
    “Here, help me dish this up. The boys can eat out of the paper. It’ll save washing up later.”
    I realized that Leo had ordered enough for all four of us and felt a pang of guilt. It had never struck me to ask whether he would have preferred to eat fish and chips. We gave the boys their food, although I winced at the thought of what havoc the greasy meal would wreak on the sofa. Then Leo and I settled on the stools at the kitchen island.
    “Cheers.” Leo clinked his glass against mine. He looked serious. “Are you all right?” he asked. “You seem a bit jumpy.”
    I told him about the near-drowning in the park that morning. “The little girl will be all right,” I said, “but it was scary.”
    “Goodness, Katie. That’s rough. Good for you for saving her.”
    He paused, took a sip of wine. “I’ve been worried about you ever since Dad called. How are you feeling? Dad said your legs were pretty banged up. It can’t have helped to be jumping in and out of ponds like you did this morning.”
    “I’m fine. Everything is healing quickly and no harm was done today, apart from to my nerves.”
    I tore a piece of bread in half, the white fibers stretching and breaking under the assault.
    “What did Dad tell you about the accident?” I asked.
    Leo looked at me over the rim of his glass. “Just that you had a bump on the head and seemed a little confused about what had happened. He sounded rattled, to be honest. It must have scared him to see you hurt like that, especially after Mum… Well, you know.”
    I took a gulp of wine. I’d had all week to think about what had happened and still didn’t understand it. Was I going to tell Leo the truth or the anodyne version I’d stuck to with everyone else? I’d always confided in him, looked up to him when we were kids, shared with him my dream of becoming an architect. But he wouldn’t want to hear this.
    And then there was that strange moving air that I could see.
    “Dad says the police are trying to trace the car, but that you didn’t get a plate number, so he doubts they’ll find