Lightning Girl Read online

  “Mum, what’s wro—”

  “Look at your hands.”

  I had been so wrapped up in what they were saying that I hadn’t noticed my skin was glowing. I quickly tucked my hands into my pockets.

  “Strong emotions,” Mum said softly. “I thought we might have another garden-style incident in the house.”

  “It’s OK, I can’t feel the tingling. I think we’re safe.”

  She nodded. “That’s good.”

  We stood in silence for a moment. She moved some dirt with her foot and I just stared straight ahead.

  “This is all my fault.”

  “Aurora, no,” she said sharply, gripping my arm. “It’s not.”

  “If I didn’t have these powers, then you would be home more and Dad would be happier.”

  “Aurora, listen to me. This separation is nothing to do with you. Or Alexis or Clara. You have to trust me.”

  I bit my lip, trying not to cry. Mum put an arm round me and I sniffed into her shoulder.

  “I’m scared,” I whispered. And I wasn’t sure if I was talking about my parents’ separation or my new-found ability of superpowers.

  “Me too,” Mum replied gently. She pulled away to bend down to my height and look me in the eye. “But it will be OK. That much I do know.”

  We stood outside for a bit until the glowing wasn’t so obvious and went inside to find that Alexis had retreated to his room with strict instructions not to be disturbed and Clara was reading one of her favourite science fact books with Dad. Mum said we could eat whatever we liked wherever we liked this evening, so I made some toast with her and took it to my room, but every bite I had tasted like cardboard.

  I gave up, put the plate down and got into my favourite pyjamas, before turning off the light and crawling under the duvet. I thought about calling Kizzy but realized it was too late for phone calls, so I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. Every time I let my mind dwell on Mum and Dad, my skin began to throb and the room would grow bright from my glowing, hurting my eyes. I tried my best not to think about it and distract myself by reaching for a book Kizzy had lent me. Thanks to my natural light, I didn’t need a torch to read it under the covers.

  I don’t know what time I fell asleep but I must have drifted off in the early hours of the morning because I woke up with my forehead stuck to the first page of chapter five.

  I yawned, removed the book from my face and blinked into the eyes of an ostrich.

  “Morning!” a shrill voice said from the corner of the room.

  I screamed and started, banging my head on the wall.

  “Aunt Lucinda, Alfred, what are you doing in my room?” I cried, rubbing the back of my head.

  “Sorry about him.” Aunt Lucinda laughed, nodding towards Alfred who had now pulled his face away from mine and was pecking at my trainers. “He still hasn’t quite got the hang of personal space. He brought this back for you though.”

  She held up the remnants of my dressing gown.

  “I’m afraid he had a little trouble getting it off his neck in the end and there was a minor tear.”

  “It’s completely ripped in two!”

  “Nothing a needle and thread can’t fix,” she said breezily, throwing the pieces into a corner. “Now, are you ready to go?”

  “What? Aunt Lucinda? What are you doing here? What’s going on? I have to go to school – it’s the history trip today and I—”

  “I thought you deserved a day off,” she said. “Don’t you?”

  I hesitated.

  “Aurora,” she said gently, sitting down at the edge of my bed, careful not to disturb the bright blue feather headdress she was wearing today, perfectly matching her blue silk dress and silver kimono. “You’ve just found out you have superpowers, that your mum claims to be a superhero, and now that your parents are going through a tough patch. You deserve to have some fun and I have some wonderful ideas. If anyone needs a day off, it’s you.”

  Her broad smile was so infectious; I couldn’t help grinning back at her.

  “Now, why don’t you get dressed and we can sneak out of here before your parents awake from their slumber. I thought we’d start with a spot of breakfast. How do fresh strawberries, blueberry pancakes and orange juice with the best view in the country sound?”

  My phone beeped and I reached for it before Alfred began pecking at it too. It was a message from Kizzy:

  See you on the bus!

  Can’t wait, I’ve sneaked us some snacks! Xxx

  “That is –” Aunt Lucinda raised her eyebrows as I read the message “– unless you’d rather spend the day in a cold, damp castle filling in a boring fact sheet?”

  Aunt Lucinda was right – I needed a break. The last week had been a bit mad, and I hadn’t had any time to myself. It was only a school trip and Kizzy would understand. I just wanted to get away from everything; to forget that everything at home was rubbish. Even if it was just for one day. I quickly replied before shoving my phone into the drawer of my bedside table.

  Can’t come, am sick.

  Will call later xx

  “Nope, I can skip school today,” I assured Aunt Lucinda, jumping out of bed, darting around Alfred, who was now pinning my hair clips to his feathers, and throwing open my wardrobe.

  “Wonderful news,” Aunt Lucinda said, her eyes twinkling at me. “Time to show you just how fun superpowers can be.”

  8

  “What did you do?”

  Kizzy’s big brown eyes searched mine quizzically as we sat on the school steps, watching Suzie and Georgie teach others from our class a new dance routine during lunch break.

  You mean, what didn’t I do? I thought in response to my best friend’s question, smiling to myself as I thought about my day off with Aunt Lucinda.

  It had all started with Aunt Lucinda and Alfred sneaking me out of the house and into Aunt Lucinda’s flashy red convertible sports car.

  “Wow!” I gasped, crouching to slide into the front seat. “When did you get this?”

  “This old thing? Yesterday,” she said from the driver’s seat, putting on a pair of big sunglasses and offering me a pair from the glove box before tossing a pink headscarf in my lap. “We have to have the roof down because of Alfred; you’ll need to put that on to protect your hair. Although, I guess with you, it won’t make much of a difference… ”

  She laughed as I shot her a grumpy look and then, before I’d had time to tie my headscarf on, she put her foot down and we zoomed off the drive and whizzed down our sleepy road. Alfred had made himself comfortable in the back seat and was also sporting a floral scarf round his head and a pair of reflective aviator Ray-Bans.

  Admittedly, he looked good.

  Aunt Lucinda decided we would have breakfast at the poshest restaurant in London, so we flew towards the city, gaining many envious looks as we roared along the roads. Feeling like a glamorous movie star, I turned up the music and the three of us began bopping around in our matching headscarves and sunglasses. As we pulled up at the restaurant, I felt extremely smug until I caught a glimpse of our reflections in a shop window. I looked like someone’s great-great-grandmother. The ostrich in the back seat looked more stylish than me. And that really is saying something.

  Leaving Alfred in the car with the latest issue of Vogue – ostriches were not allowed where we were going – we walked into the grandest restaurant I had ever seen, with polished marble floors and vases bigger than me bursting with flowers. Even though it was early, the restaurant was already busy and there was a queue of people waiting to get a breakfast table. I said to Aunt Lucinda that we could go somewhere else and that was when she gave me this knowing wink and whispered, “Watch this.”

  Leaning against one of the pillars nonchalantly, she opened her hands and beams of bright red light exploded from her palms, sending one of the big vases nearby toppling over into a silver-plated pastry stand. As croissants and cinnamon swirls went flying dramatically across the room, the waiters and reception staff r
ushed over to help, encouraging their customers not to panic while diners asked about the bizarre zap of indoor lightning they could have sworn they saw behind the pillar.

  During the commotion, Aunt Lucinda wrapped her fingers around my wrist and calmly swept across the floor, guiding me to an empty table before sitting down gracefully.

  “You see? Superpowers are not just for saving the world,” she said, laughing at my stunned expression before gaining the attention of the nearest waiter and ordering the most expensive items on the menu.

  That wasn’t the only time it happened either. We got into absolutely everywhere with Aunt Lucinda using flashes of light to distract doormen and concierge. We even managed to sneak into the VIP backstage area at one of my favourite popstar’s concerts thanks to Aunt Lucinda’s little trick.

  But, I couldn’t tell Kizzy any of that.

  “If you weren’t sick, what did you do all day?”

  “Nothing.” I shrugged. “I just wanted a break from everything.”

  “I’m so sorry about your parents, Aurora,” Kizzy said, putting an arm round me. “Were they mad about you skipping?”

  I had been prepared for Dad to be very angry when I walked through the door, laden with designer shopping bags, goody bags from posh London restaurants and a VIP backstage lanyard pass for Britain’s Got Talent round my neck. But it turned out I didn’t have much to worry about. Aunt Lucinda had left a message saying I was with her for the day so he was just glad I was home safe and sound, and he wasn’t even that mad about me missing school.

  “You’re dealing with a lot,” Dad had said, rubbing my head. “It’s all right. We understand you wanted to get away. Just next time, talk to us rather than skipping school, OK? We don’t want you getting in trouble.”

  Even though I had broken my pinky promise, Kizzy was being extra nice to try and cheer me up about my parents’ separation. It made me feel even guiltier about lying to her.

  “You didn’t miss out on the castle, anyway. The only interesting moment was when Fred Pepe set off an emergency exit alarm and we were all evacuated. Are your mum and dad both coming to parents’ evening tonight?” Kizzy asked cautiously.

  I nodded.

  “That’s a good sign – they’re making an effort.” Kizzy smiled encouragingly, noticing my dubious expression. “It will be fine.”

  But she was wrong. A few hours later as Parent-Teacher evening started, Dad and I had already been waiting forty minutes for Mum to get there when his phone beeped in his pocket.

  “Here we go,” he sighed, pulling his phone out and glancing at the screen. “She’s going to be late and says to start without her. Come on, then. Let’s see how you’re getting on.”

  I hadn’t been expecting excellent feedback judging by my recent distractions, but Dad must have already told the staff about the separation because none of them were too hard on me. Mr Craft, my art teacher, told him I had huge potential and Miss Nimble said that although I might not have the most natural sporting ability, she was always impressed by my perseverance.

  When we got to Mr Mercury’s table, which I was dreading, there was a commotion at the back of the room and I turned around to see Aunt Lucinda floating towards us, wearing a green ballgown and holding a martini glass containing some kind of bright orange drink with a blue umbrella. Alfred trotted along behind her wearing a stalker hat like he was Sherlock Holmes.

  Dad groaned as she approached.

  “Hellooooo!” she called happily, taking a nearby chair and swivelling it to line up next to ours.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Don’t be so grumpy, Henry, it’s bad for your wrinkles. I heard Kiyana was held up at work so I thought I’d step in.” She spotted Mr Mercury staring at her and offered him her hand. “I’m Lucinda, Aurora’s aunt. Excuse my state of dress, I didn’t have time to change after a day at the opera.”

  “N … nice to meet you,” Mr Mercury spluttered, shaking her hand and waiting for her to rearrange her poufy gown as she sat down.

  “Now,” Aunt Lucinda began, taking a sip from her cocktail. “What can you say about my niece’s ability?”

  I slid down in my chair, wishing the ground would swallow me up as Aunt Lucinda batted her false eyelashes at a very flustered Mr Mercury. Suzie was whispering something to Georgie over by Miss Nimble’s table and they were both pointing at Alfred, who had wandered over to the windows to peck at the curtains.

  “This cannot get any worse,” I whispered to Dad, covering my face with my hands. “Can we go? Please?”

  But before Dad could answer there was another ripple of gasps and whispers as someone else came through the door. I peeked through my fingers to see Mum hurrying across the room.

  “Sorry I’m late!” She smiled, coming over to our table.

  Mr Mercury stared as she shook his hand enthusiastically. He was so shocked, he looked like he’d seen a ghost. Searching for somewhere to sit, Mum did a double-take at her sister.

  “Lucinda? What on earth are you—”

  “I was standing in for you,” Aunt Lucinda informed her, taking another sip of her drink and looking very bemused. “I called round and Alexis told me where you all were. I felt it my duty to see how Aurora has been getting on at school.”

  “Well, there was no need. Henry and I have this under control.”

  Dad grimaced as Mum pulled up a spare chair, the sound of the legs screeching across the floor, reverberating through the silence of the room.

  “What’s wrong?” Mum asked in confusion, glancing worriedly around at all the other parents and students staring at her.

  “Mum?” I squeaked, unable to bear another moment. “Your … hair.”

  “What?” she asked.

  Aunt Lucinda reached into her bejewelled purse and pulled out a compact mirror, which she gladly held up for Mum to peer into. “AH!” Mum yelped as she caught sight of her reflection. She scrambled to her feet. “Would you excuse me one moment?”

  She ran full pelt out of the room towards the toilets. I put my head in my hands and wished desperately that this was all a crazy, mortifying, silly dream.

  It wasn’t.

  “Well,” Dad chuckled, leaning forwards across the table and attempting to salvage the situation, “it’s not every day you see someone with a big ice block on top of their head, eh, Mr Mercury?”

  My teacher shook his head slowly.

  “No,” he whispered. “It isn’t.”

  9

  “An ice block gun?”

  Mum laughed as I shook my head in disbelief at her explanation. We were driving home from my training session the next day. It had been completely exhausting but I’d managed to spark beams from my hands, and light up the disused warehouse we’d been in, while controlling the energy blast. I’d only been able to do it for about three seconds but Mum was overjoyed by my progress.

  “This way,” she’d said with a big grin on her face, “you’ll be able to light up a room without knocking people over at the same time. Which, you know, is always a good thing.”

  It may be a good thing but it sucked all the energy out of me. I couldn’t imagine being able to do it for a long period of time, but Mum said that came with practice, which was the whole point of these training lessons.

  In the car on the way home, she took the opportunity to apologize for the disaster that was the Parent-Teacher evening, and revealed that she’d had to put a stop to an evil scientist in Yorkshire, who had invented an ice-block gun.

  “Whatever he shoots at and hits gets turned to ice. He took a shot at me but I ducked just in time. My hair wasn’t quite so lucky, as you know. Anyway, I managed to put a stop to his evil plans to use it to take over the world, and handed him over to the police. He was planning on freezing the prime minister and her whole cabinet.”

  “Wow,” I said, looking out of the window. “So, how did you know what he was up to?”

  “You know I have my sources,” she said, smiling mischievously. “As
I promised, that side of things you’ll learn a little later. Let’s just get the basics under control for now.”

  In our training sessions, she had started to tell me a bit more about her day job and the sort of adventures she’d had in the past. So far, I’d heard stories about the Piano Prankster, who was so small and flexible that she could fit herself into grand pianos in which she’d hide during posh events held by public figures before jumping out in the middle of the speeches and holding everybody ransom; the Blackout Burglar, who would cut the electricity supply to banks and jewellery shops before robbing them; the Silent Gymnast who stole thousands by using his gymnastic skills and elaborate set of tools to raid London penthouses during the night without making a sound; and the Brunch Bandit who invited powerful politicians over for avocado on toast and then, when they went to the bathroom, she’d go through their bags and briefcases, learning a load of state secrets she could sell on the black market.

  “What I don’t get is how you managed to stop all these bad guys without the world finding out about your superpowers,” I said, once she’d finished telling me all the details about the ice-block device.

  “It’s difficult,” she nodded. “Luckily, nobody believes the criminals when they say that they were stopped by a woman who could create and control the power of light. I know I wouldn’t believe them if I didn’t know superpowers really do exist. Would you?”

  “No.” I hesitated, wondering whether I should ask the question on my mind, considering our family’s current circumstances. I decided to just go for it.

  “How did Dad find out about your superpowers?”

  “Ah, well, that’s an interesting story.” She sighed, without looking at me and keeping her eyes on the road.

  “We have the whole drive home for you to tell it.”

  She nodded.

  “All right then. It was a long time ago on a lovely hot, sunny day in London and I’d just returned from saving the world from a particularly nasty character. She was a famous hypnotist, and was controlling some very powerful people without their knowledge. It had taken me days to work out how I was going to catch her in the act and stop her, but I got there in the end. I was exhausted, so I decided to take a calming walk around Hyde Park, get myself an ice cream and sit on the grass and watch the world go by.” She paused. “That was when I saw him.”