Excerpt: Verity Bloom and the Sea of Stars

Chapter One

Verity lay motionless and concentrated on keeping her breathing slow and even, as if she was still asleep. Grace was banging around the room in the dark like a herd of elephants, getting things out of the cupboard. The second drawer squeaked its usual protest. Zippers whizzed open and closed. Was she packing stuff in her backpack? Putting on a jacket?

The ticking of the hallway clock fell into the gaps between Grace’s noises, loud in the quiet house. It must be very late.

“I can tell you’re awake, Fleabite,” Grace said. “Stop pretending to snore before you wake Mum and Dad up.”

Verity opened her eyes. Her sister was a silhouette against the grey square of the window. “You’re the one making all the noise. What time is it?”

“Just after midnight. Go back to sleep.”

“But what are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

Verity yawned and sat up. It was cold in the moonlit bedroom.Grace’s breath made little puffs of warmth in the chilly air as she stuffed clothes and makeup into her school backpack. The textbooks and folders it usually held had been dumped on the floor, just one more tottering pile among the general devastation. Her side of the room always looked like someone had let off a clothes bomb.

“You’re going somewhere!” Verity said.

“No kidding, Sherlock.” Grace forced the zip closed on the bulging backpack.

“But you can’t go out in the middle of the night. Mum and Dad will freak!”

“Mum and Dad don’t need to know. I’ll be back soon.”

“Then why are you taking so much stuff? Where are you going?”

“You don’t need to know either. And you better not tell or I’ll rip all the heads off your Littlest Pet Shop toys and flush them down the toilet.”

“How can I tell? I don’t know anything.”

“Well, don’t go sneaking off and waking Mum and Dad as soon as I’m gone.”

Panic started to bubble in Verity’s chest. “But Grace! What if something happens to you?”

Grace paused in the act of pulling on her gloves and stepped closer.

“Don’t worry, Fleabite,” she said, her voice gentler. “I’m not going alone. I’ll be fine.”

She leaned down and kissed Verity on the forehead. That was so weird it only made the panicky feeling worse. Grace never kissed her any more. She must be doing something dangerous. Maybe she was never coming back!

Then her sister shoved her back down on to her pillow. “Tell and you’re dead.”

The world was normal again.

“Now go to sleep.” Grace shrugged into the backpack and turned to the door.

Verity snuggled back into her blankets, reassured by how grown-up and capable Grace looked, like an explorer setting off on an expedition. “Hurry back,” she said.

One of the bulges in Grace’s backpack wriggled.

Verity started up again, her heart hammering, but Grace was gone. The front door clicked shut as she fought to get her breathing back to normal. She must have imagined it. It was dark, and backpacks didn’t wriggle.

Outside she heard a car door slam, then the sound of the engine as it accelerated down the street. Who was Grace going with? And what on earth did she have in that backpack? What could be small enough? A puppy? A rabbit? But of course Grace didn’t have any pets, because of her asthma – and even if she did she wasn’t likely to go lumping them around on her back.

Had Grace remembered her asthma puffer? Verity groped around on top of the chest of drawers between their two beds. The puffer wasn’t there, thank goodness, she must have taken it – but her hand bumped against Grace’s precious diary. It was one of those lockable ones, and the metal lock was like ice under her fingers in the cold room.

Grace was usually so protective of her diary, snapping it shut every time Verity came near, hiding it away whenever she couldn’t take it with her. She was so paranoid about it nobody but Verity even knew she had one. She must have had a lot on her mind to make her forget about the stupid diary.

Verity slipped out of bed and picked it up, automatically testing the latch with her thumb. It was locked. What did Grace find to write in it, anyway? It wasn’t as if being in Year 10 at Holburn High was anything exciting. But Grace would chuck a wobbly if Mum saw it, and somehow it would end up being her fault.

Verity sighed and shoved the diary into its usual hiding place under her sister’s mattress. Grace thought she was so clever hiding it there. As if! Lucky Grace wanted to be a vet when she grew up and not a spy. It might be enough to fool Mum but Verity wasn’t blind. Hopefully Grace would forget she’d left it out. She’d spit if she thought Verity had touched it.

Verity climbed back into bed, her feet icy, and tried to stay awake. Grace would be back soon. She’d promised.