Angel's Fury by Bryony Pearce Page A

DVDs?’ He shuffled his feet. ‘Or maybe you won’t want to come with me now.’
    Chilled, I rubbed my elbows. Seth’s uncertainty made him seem less like the person I’d been coming to know. Suddenly I wondered how much of that person was really him and how much some ghost.
    I couldn’t think straight, so I just followed my instincts. ‘Of course I want to come.’
    Seth said nothing as we climbed the stairs but when we neared his room my memory of Pandra’s angry face intruded.
    If she thinks I’m moving in on her territory, she might turn on me.
    Much as I wanted to get closer to Seth, I didn’t want to upset Pandra doing it. I had to ask an awkward question. I squirmed. ‘Um, Seth w-what went on with you and Pandra?’
    Seth must have been expecting me to ask about his transformation. His shoulders relaxed. ‘Me . . . and Pandra?’
    Embarrassment coloured my cheeks, but I pushed on. ‘She doesn’t seem to like me spending time with you . . . so, you know, I just wondered . . . were you boyfriend and girlfriend or something?’
    ‘God no, nothing like that. It’s just that she pretty much hates me and, right now, she likes you.’
    ‘That’s it?’ My voice rose.
    Seth dragged his key card through the slot by his door. ‘When Pandra takes against someone she
really
does. There’s nothing half-hearted with her.’ His voice held grudging respect. ‘I don’t actually know why she hates me, but I’m on that list, alongside her real parents and a few others.’
    I cast a quick glance behind us as if she would hear us gossiping. ‘Her real parents?’
    ‘It’s no secret, she’ll tell you herself if you ask her, but you might not want to wind her up.’ He paused with one hand on his doorplate. ‘Pandra’s a scholarship case. She’s been in and out of foster homes all her life. Her last family used to watch one of those paranormal TV shows. Pandra saw the Doctor and tracked her down. I think she’s been here ever since.’
    ‘Ever since . . .’ Seth made it sound like Pandra had been in Mount Hermon forever. ‘How long ago was that?’
    ‘Not sure exactly, she was here when I arrived.’ He shrugged. ‘From what she told me when we were still speaking, I know it’s been over a year.’
    ‘A year! I thought I’d be home in a few weeks.’
    Seth’s eyes crinkled. I couldn’t tell if he was sympathetic, ormarvelling at my stupidity. ‘It’ll take more than a few weeks, but remember . . . Pandra has nowhere else to go.’
    My fingers felt numb and I flexed my hands. ‘The Doctor lets her stay for free then.’ I thought about my own parents and the crippling financial agreement they’d had to sign.
    Seth waved in the vague direction of the treatment rooms. ‘I think she’s agreed to all sorts of experimental therapies. To the Doctor she’s a sort of lab rat-cum-book subject, crossed with a surrogate daughter. Did the Doctor tell you how pleased she is with Pandra’s progress?’
    I nodded but my mind raced. ‘So . . . she sees her like a daughter but does experimental treatments on her . . .’
    Seth’s lips narrowed. ‘I’m not sure the Doctor sees things like you and me.’ He looked around almost surreptitiously. ‘I’m not sure she feels things the same way either.’
    We regarded each other silently and the shadows in his eyes seemed to deepen. Then he shook himself free and opened his door. ‘Ignore the mess,’ he said.
    Inside, Seth headed for the bathroom, already toeing off his trainers and peeling his shirt over his head. The remains of his ponytail pulled free and slapped on to his spine. The cold waterhad bleached his skin but a sprinkle of coffee-coloured freckles tapered towards his waist. Quickly I averted my eyes.
    ‘Make yourself at home,’ he called, to the sound of waterlogged denim hitting the bathroom floor.
    I glanced at the chair, which was piled high with laundry, and opted to sit on the bed. Seth emerged a few minutes later with a blue towel round