“I didn’t know if you were coming.”
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to.”
“It’s up to you.”
So I go in and shut the door. And without really saying anything more we both go to sleep.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The next morning Lily wakes me up suddenly by blowing into my face. As soon as I open my eyes she kisses me quickly, and then prods at my nose.
“Monopoly is a stupid game, and you are a stupid boy.”
It’s quite late, but I’m still a bit sleepy, so I don’t reply. I think I just blink at her.
“Remind me never to play it with you again.” She kisses me again, but before I can kiss her back, she rolls out of the bed and goes to the bathroom. I think she’s going to come back, or maybe I hope she is, because she seems in a much better mood, but instead I hear the noise of the shower running.
When I’m a bit more awake I check my phone, and right away I see another anonymous email came in the night. It has more pictures of dead sea-dragons washed up on the beach by the Fonchem compound. So then I’m back to feeling conflicted. I know I should say something to Lily about it. Even if she can’t do anything about it. Even if they’ve just been washed up by some bad weather, which is quite possible. Because what if they haven’t? What if her father’s company is responsible for discharging dangerous chemicals into the ocean and destroying a valuable habitat?
“Are you OK?” Lily is out of the shower. She’s got a towel wrapped around her and she’s rubbing at her head with another. Her sudden appearance jolts me back to my strange reality.
“You’re not still bitter about last night?”
“What?”
“Losing the game.” She sits down at her dressing table, and I see her in the reflection.
“We didn’t lose.”
“About not winning then? About not destroying everyone and dominating the world?”
“No.”
She frowns. “What then?”
I think for a few seconds, then I pull up the picture on my cell phone again, and turn it around so she can see.
“What’s that?” She turns around to face me properly.
I explain. “It’s a picture of the beach to the south of the Fonchem facility on Lornea Island. You remember?”
“Of course. But what is…”
“They’re sea-dragons – well seahorses really, but dead ones.”
“Why? How?”
“I don’t know. It could be a chemical leak. From the facility.”
She looks horrified. Which is nice, in a way, because I was scared she might not even care.
“Well, how do you…? I mean, how come you’ve got this picture?”
But just then there’s a knock on the door, and we hear Eric’s voice. “Breakfast will be served in five minutes.” He waits a moment and then goes on. “I do hope I’ve just interrupted you two having sex.” And Lily throws something at the door.
“We’ve just finished!” Then she turns back to me. “We’ll talk. About this. But let’s have breakfast first.”
The others must have been up for a while, because James has already been out to get bagels and croissants, and Eric has found a waffle maker and already has a pile of them on the kitchen table. And Jennifer, whose hair is all ruffled up behind her head, is making coffee. We chat, about nothing much, and then the others drift away.
“So tell me,” Lily says when we’re the only ones left. So I start to explain, about how I set up the site, and how I think that Fonchem might be leaking something into the water.
“You should tell your dad,” James says at one point. I hadn’t noticed him coming back into the kitchen, but he must have heard the whole thing.
“I will. But are you sure it’s chemicals? Could it not just be natural? I mean don’t things die sometimes? There’s only a couple in the photos?”
I hesitate. I’ve been asking myself the same question.
“I don’t really know.”
“Fonchem’s not one of those really bad firms,” James says suddenly. And he’s looking at me more than Lily. “They have really high environmental standards, and there’s no way they’d deliberately do this.” I see Lily smile at him gratefully.
“I mean it, Billy. And if Lily tells her dad about this, he’ll look into it. Properly.”
I let the subject go. I didn’t want to talk about it with James. It seems Lily doesn’t want to either because she gets up and leaves the room. So then it’s just James and me left.
“By the way Billy, I never got your cell phone number,” he says, out of the blue. He pulls out his phone, and waits, until I call out my number. Then he gives me a call, and – a bit surprised this is happening – I add him to my contacts, and type the name: James
Chapter Forty
I’m not completely surprised when he calls me, a couple of days later. He asks if I want to go for lunch with him. When I don’t reply right away, he goes on, and says that there’s a few things he wants to say to me. That’s the only reason I agree.
“Great. How about tomorrow?” He gives me the name of a burger joint that’s half way between the two colleges.
“Oh, and don’t worry about the tab. This is on me.”
So the next day I walk out there after my morning lectures have finished. I don’t take my bike because I don’t want to lock it up off campus, where it might be stolen. I don’t know if that’s likely, but I guess I have a strange sense of foreboding about this meeting.
I meet James as I arrive, him
