Leo cast a dull glance in Charlie’s direction. “What?”
“You don’t look very well,” Charlie said. “Mum’s taking you to the doctor today. You should tell her if you feel sick.”
“I don’t feel sick.”
“Yeah? What’s up, then? It’s not that bad here, honest. Even Fliss likes it.”
Leo started to smile, Charlie was almost sure of it, then Kate bustled into the kitchen, and the moment passed.
“Good morning, boys.” Kate stopped in front of Lila and signed, “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
Lila started to answer, but Leo pushed his chair back, wooden legs scraping the tiled floor with a flat shriek. “She slept fine.”
He pulled Lila from her seat and towed her from the room, leaving her daisies abandoned on the kitchen table. Charlie watched them go and tried to figure out what was worse—the disappointment in Kate’s gaze, the confusion in Lila’s, or the black emptiness in Leo’s.
Orthe sight of his favourite purple pen disappearing up the stairs.
Leo watched Charlie pedal his bike down the street. Charlie’s BMX was blue, like one Leo had once had, but he’d decorated it with weird Japanese stickers and symbols. Combined with his skinny jeans, emo hoodie, and crazy dark hair, he looked a little strange. Not a bad strange, though. Where Leo came from, all the boys were the same: baggy jeans, football, and hair gel. Rinse and repeat.
Leo thought of his old friends.Do they ever think about me?
“Leo?” Kate knocked on Leo’s bedroom door. “Are you ready, honey? It’s time to go.”
Leo suppressed a sigh and tore his gaze from the window. Charlie was long gone anyway. “What kind of doctor are you taking us to?”
“Just our GP this morning, but you have an appointment at the hospital with the burn specialist this afternoon. Reg is going to take you to that one.”
“Reg?”
“Yes. I’ll be taking care of Lila.”
Leo swallowed. He didn’t know which was worse: having a hard-faced doctor prod at his ruined skin, or spending the afternoon with creepy Reg.
He followed Kate downstairs. Reg was already in the car, but Lila was waiting by the door.
“Hurry up,” she signed. “Baking cakes when we get back.”
Leo found a smile from the pit of his stomach and plastered it on his face. “Not me. I have to see another doctor.”
He took Lila’s hand and led her to Reg’s car. She poked him. “Why? Your poorly arm?
Leo nodded. Lila had never seen the mangled flesh on his arm, but she knew it was there. A few days after the fire, she’d told him she could still smell it burning. Leo strapped her into the car. He felt sick and dizzy, like he didn’t know which way was up, and most days, he smelt it too, awake, asleep . . . always.
The doctor’s surgery was a twenty-minute drive away. The doctor was a young Asian woman who listened to Lila’s chest and gave her a sticker. Lila smiled like she hadn’t smiled in months, and skipped back to Kate, who took her outside and left Leo alone with the doctor.
The doctor ran through the checks Leo had come to expect. Until the fire, he hadn’t seen a doctor in years. Recently it seemed like he saw one every bloody day.
“So, Leo. How are you settling into your new foster home?”
Leo forced himself to meet the doctor’s gaze. “We only got here yesterday.”
“And you were in Swindon before?”
“Yeah.”
The doctor made a note, though Leo couldn’t see why it mattered. “I read in your file that you’ve had trouble sleeping since the accident.”
“It wasn’t an accident.” Leo’s temper flared. Why couldn’t people call it what it was? “My dad killed my mum.”
