Soul Fire

decision. It’s a once-in-a-death-time opportunity, after all.’
    I smile. Sarcasm from Javier is a good sign. I sense that he’s on the point of saying yes to my help. ‘You must know what you want, deep down?’
    ‘I know I do not want to feel like this forever.’
    ‘Is that a yes?’
    He frowns. ‘What of you, little Alice? What becomes of you when you’ve spent a lifetime helping the lost souls here? Because they’ll keep on coming, won’t they? As many
tragedies as there are grains of sand on this beach.’
    I shiver. It hasn’t occurred to me before that their eternity could be my eternity, too. As long as Meggie’s on the Beach, I will be too. But if I never find her
killer, is this forever for both of us?
    ‘Meggie comes first,’ I say, trying to make it sound simple. ‘Only after she has justice can I think about what happens next.’

25
    Javier blows me a kiss – I think it’s his way of apologising for calling me a bitch – then drifts away to the far end of the Beach, where he can be almost alone with his thoughts.
    I’m on my own, too. I should log off now, in case Lewis catches me. Though there are no sounds of movement in the flat. Nothing but the whirr of computer fans.
    The world goes black.
    I struggle as unseen hands cover my face.
    ‘No!’
    ‘Guess who?’
    ‘Danny!’ I stop struggling, but my heart is pounding. ‘You scared me.’
    His grip relaxes, and he turns me gently. ‘I’m sorry. Let me make it better.’
    Our Hollywood kiss goes on for ages. He stops now and then, whispering my name above the gentle shushing sound of the waves.
    When our lips are so numb that we have to break apart, Danny frowns. ‘You’re not getting tired of me, Alice? I know you came last night, but you never even looked for me. And
you’re not here as often as you were.’
    ‘Just, you know, life getting in the way.’
    He flinches, and I hate myself for using the L word. The other L word – Love – is easy to say and easy to get on the Beach. But Life is out of his reach.
    ‘I’m sorry, Alice. I don’t want to make you feel bad. What matters is that you’re here now.’ He takes my hand. We walk towards a new hammock that’s been
strung up between two palms so slender they don’t look like they’ll hold my weight.
    ‘I’m not getting up there . I’ll break the rope. Or the trunks.’
    Danny laughs. ‘I wonder what you look like in the real world, because I promise you that right here on the Beach, your figure is adorable, and represents zero threat to the health of the
trees. Come on. It’s super-cosy.’
    His hands grip my waist, and he lifts me up as though I really do weigh no more than a skinny supermodel. I allow myself to fall against the warm cotton of the hammock. It smells of coconuts and
the sea.
    ‘Hang on, now,’ he says as he vaults up and into the hammock: strong as an athlete, graceful as a ballet dancer.
    Mine. How can he be mine?
    After a few more seconds, the movement turns mellow, like being rocked in a cradle. It’s delicious to feel the sun on my face, his skin next to mine. He leans towards me . . .
    Ah, kisses like this should go on forever.
    Except I sense someone watching us. I open my eyes and I see Guests watching. They’ve realised Gretchen’s gone, and now they’re waiting. Hoping they’ll be the next one to
get away.
    ‘What’s up, Alice?’
    I realise Danny hasn’t noticed yet that Gretchen’s left the Beach. I should take it as a compliment. He only notices me. Yet I would have expected him to be more sensitive,
somehow.
    ‘It’s Gretchen, she—’
    A text rumbles in my pocket. I take out my phone: Morning, dirty stop-out. Time to go home. Yr mum’s just rung. I told her u r in shower. Call me later, I want
details of night with Lewis the sexy geek. Love from yr alibi, Cara
    ‘What?’ Danny asks.
    ‘I have to go. Sorry.’
    ‘You only just showed up.’
    I kiss him one last time. ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow,’ and I can see from his face that he’s never read Romeo and Juliet .
    I click off the Beach. Do I have time to check Burning Truths again? Otherwise it’ll be the early hours of tomorrow before I can sneak online again at home. Yes. It’ll only take
seconds, and then I can wake Lewis and go home.
    The site looks less disturbing to me this morning. Am I used to it – or is it because I feel, at some deeper level, that the person behind it might be on the same side as me?
    FURTHER NEWS UPDATE, 2