The Sentinel Read Online Free Page B

him stopped talking and turned to look at us too.
    ‘Seth, go, for god’s sake go!’
    He turned the bike around and accelerated down the road.
    I watched the people through the trees. Eli and a few others leapt back into the silver car and the car took off up the road after us.
    ‘We have to get off the road,’ I yelled. ‘They’re coming after us.’
    Seth took me at my word and almost immediately took a tiny dirt track through some houses and soon we were cutting across a field, heading up a hill and back into the trees. The field stayed empty behind us. The Land Rover was too big to go down the dirt track.
    Seth seemed to know exactly where he was heading as he picked his way through the trees and suddenly a huge white house appeared before us.
    ‘It’s a friend’s,’ he yelled over the engine. ‘He’s not here, but I have the keys.’ He stopped the bike outside, killing the engine and silence descended on us. ‘We’ll be safe here, the others won’t find us.’
    The door flew open as we approached and as soon as we crossed over the threshold, it slammed behind us and the lights came on.
    I stood with my mouth open and he shrugged with embarrassment.
    ‘Sensors. Cain always was a bit of a show off. Look at the state of you, come on let’s get you sorted.’ He took my hand and led me through to the kitchen.
    He lifted me easily onto the kitchen worktop and then turned to fill a bowl with water. I watched him as he moved round the kitchen. He had shot up and out over the last few years. He towered over the other children in our class, easily well over six foot, and he was so broad and muscular. His skin had the exotic look of an all year round Mediterranean tan, he had dark eyes to match his hair and the longest eyelashes of anyone I knew.
    He turned back to face me, dipping a cloth in a bowl of warm water and wiped it gently over my face.
    ‘Seth what were you doing in the woods at three in the morning?’
    ‘Riding my bike. I love riding it in the dark; it just adds a sense of thrill to it. It allows me to forget everything with the wind in my face.’
    Absently, I took his free hand, feeling the strength that was in his fingers, in his palm. ‘I envy you, I wish I could forget everything right now, wish I could wipe my brain clean.’
    ‘What were you doing in the woods Evie? You shouldn’t be out alone in the middle of the night, there are a lot of unsavoury characters in this world.’
    ‘If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.’
    ‘Eve, you’re my best friend, of course I’ll believe you.’ He dipped the cloth back in the bowl again. The water swirled with the blood and dirt he had wiped off my face. Like my brain, a swirl of chaos and confusion.
    I looked at my friend and shook my head sadly. ‘I think I’m losing my mind.’
    He lifted my hand and started wiping the blood off my palm. I suddenly pulled my hand back, remembering the lightning that had shot out of it. Surely there should be some scars from the heat of the lightning, but there was nothing. None of this made any sense.
    ‘Eve?’
    I sighed and then made up my mind. I could trust him, I knew I could. I took a deep breath and told him everything, about the fire, about Quinn and Eli. I told him about the coach crash, about me holding the coach, the constant vigilance of the Guardians and the lightning that had shot from my hands. And Seth listened without interrupting and when I finished I felt so much lighter. Then I waited for his reaction.
    ‘Eve…this is surreal, are you seriously telling me there are really shape shifters out there, and beings with super strength that are only here to protect you? I’m not being funny or anything love, you know I love you, but what’s so special about you?’
    ‘I know, it doesn’t make any sense, but I’m not making this up, I swear. You saw them too, outside your house.’
    ‘I’m guessing they were the police, they must have traced my reg plates. Look Evie, these