Soul Fire

sees Sahara’s glowering face. He corrects himself, ‘Wait for us !’
    They leave the room. Zoe and I are alone.
    ‘How are you finding it here?’ I ask. ‘Better than home?’
    She shrugs. ‘Honestly?’
    ‘You don’t have to lie to me, Zoe. I know what it’s like to lose someone.’
    ‘Then you’ll know it doesn’t seem to make that much difference where you are. Though at least the sun shines more here than it did in London.’
    I study her colourless face. I bet she never sunbathes.
    ‘What about you, Alice? Did you take my advice to move on?’
    ‘I’m here, aren’t I? My first holiday since it happened.’
    Zoe seems to see right through me. ‘Holiday? Is that what this is?’
    The odds are that this is the person behind Burning Truths. I could ask her right now if she is, and where she got that photo and who she believes killed my sister.
    Unless she killed Meggie herself.
    No. If she did kill her, surely she’d have been happy to let Tim take the blame. I’ll only have one chance to catch her off guard. I don’t feel ready now.
    ‘You coming to join us on the beach?’ I ask, gesturing towards the door.
    ‘No. Apart from having to earn a living, I think beach bums are the dullest people in the universe.’
    ‘Funny place to live if you hate beach bums.’
    She shrugs. ‘Funny choice of boyfriend, for a girl like you.’
    ‘Lewis? He’s not my boyfriend,’ I snap back, before realising something. ‘Do you know him?’
    Zoe stares at me. ‘How would I? But I know his type. Be careful, Alice. Not everyone is on your side.’
    ‘What do you mean? What aren’t you telling me, Zoe?’
    ‘Leave it, Alice.’
    ‘I can help you. You don’t have to live with this alone. If there’s anything you know, you should share it. It might . . . keep you safer.’ It’s the nearest I can
come to hinting that I know about Burning Truths.
    She shakes her head. ‘You’re very young, aren’t you, Alice? The world doesn’t work like that. Not all stories have a happy ending.’
    ‘Don’t fob me off. At least think about it, Zoe. Promise you’ll do that.’
    She looks at her watch. ‘I have to go, now. We’ll meet later. I can tell you about the city. Oh, and prepare you for the Correfoc tomorrow.’
    ‘The what?’
    ‘The finale to the fiesta. Correfoc means fire run. It’s not meant to start till tomorrow evening but they’re letting off firecrackers already, so tell the others they
should cover up tonight. People here have a thing about fire. After dark, nowhere’s safe.’

35
    Barcelona’s beach looks all wrong to me. So many strange people: too old, too pale, too sunburned, too irregular.
    I close my eyes, blink hard. Soul Beach has made me expect perfection but I’m not that shallow. When I open my eyes again, I make myself notice the laughing families and the old men
playing board games, their eyelids hooded against the sun. I hear squeaky bikes and babies’ cries and buskers’ drums. I smell fried food and brine.
    I feel a hand on mine.
    ‘Everything all right?’
    Lewis. I pull my hand away. ‘Yeah, planes make me sleepy. I thought you’d gone to check into your hotel?’
    ‘I did.’ And he nods towards the sail-shaped building further along the shore.
    ‘Wow. That looks amazing.’
    ‘Yeah, and it costs amazing too. It’s all there was left, because I left booking so late.’
    ‘Good job you’re a millionaire, then, eh? So what do you make of Barcelona?’
    ‘Obviously the daylight’s a bit of a shock to the system for someone who spends his life in front of a screen in a darkened room, but it seems fun – assuming we can avoid being
robbed or pickpocketed or abducted by aliens.’
    ‘She’s quite something, Zoe, isn’t she?’ I say, watching his face.
    He laughs. Or most of him does. Somehow the amusement doesn’t reach his eyes. ‘You think she’s hiding something, Ali?’
    ‘I don’t know. I was so certain it was her after you found out the site was being updated abroad. But nothing’s changed since that horrible picture appeared. Maybe whoever is
behind Burning Truths has given up.’
    Lewis shakes his head. ‘No. There’s some work going on behind the scenes, like the designer is getting ready for something. An update, maybe?’
    ‘More pictures?’ The idea is sickening, but I know I need more to go on.
    ‘Your guess is as good as mine. Oh, and I’ve got their name, too.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Not their real name. That’d be too