She takes a step towards me. ‘That’swhat you want to talk about? OK, yes. I was.’
‘How could you—’
‘Because I didn’t trust your nan.’ She lets out a long sigh. ‘And I’m sorry, but I was right. She was going to destroy the photos and those notes. You know what that means?’
My hands are in tight fists. My neck is hot.
‘She wanted you to forget everything.’
I rub my temples. ‘I know. But she must’ve had her reasons.’ I look away. ‘And for doing it the last time.’
Meg blinks. ‘The last time? She’s done this to you before? What the fuck, Michael? You need to stay away from her.’
The anger boils over. ‘Why are you so obsessed with her being evil?’
‘She just tried to destroy your memoriesagain. Why areyoubeing so naive?’
I whirl on Meg. ‘Because I love her!’
Her face softens. I slide down the fence and sit on the ground. It’s too much. This is all too much. Dad, the stupid powers and now my nan has…what? Betrayed me? I press the balls of my hands into my eyes. She always treated me with respect. I grew up with parents who kept things from me, but she told me the truth.
‘I hate all of this.’
Meg sits down beside me. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No, I shouldn’t have snapped.’ My throat aches.
‘I get it, you’re hurt. And the last thing you needed was to be confronted with my pathological need to be right.’
I sniff out a laugh. ‘I think we both share that need.’
She puts an arm round me. ‘That’s what makes us such twisted friends.’ I lean into her. ‘That poor cat. I hope he’s OK.’
‘Don’t… Thank you for watching out for me,’ I say.
‘Yeah, I prefer that to spying.’
‘How did you know?’
A pause. ‘Can I be honest?’
I let out a breath. ‘Hit me.’
‘I’ve never met your granny before we asked about your dad’s cameras, so I don’t know what she’s usually like, but she hated us asking. She was tense, like super tense. She knew what we were up to. Then you saw your dad hide his power from her. Why would he do that? You said he looked scared, right?’
I nod. He was terrified.
‘Why would he be so scared of her unless shedidknow about it?’
It makes sense now. ‘He was scared of disobeying her.’ I feel nauseous.
‘So she knew about his powers?’
I have to tell Meg everything. ‘She knew, because she has them too.’
‘No way?’
‘Yup.’
