Dad kept looking in the rear-view mirror. He was nervous for some reason and I could see the beads of sweat on his forehead as he turned his head.

‘Daddy, what's wrong?’, asked Suzie who was sitting behind me on the back seat.

My little sister Suzie might have been young, well eleven is young in my opinion, but even she could sense that something wasn't quite right. I had had my thirteenth birthday just two days before and knew it all, or thought I did anyway.

‘Don’t worry honey,’ he replied, his voice sounding strangely shaky.

Dad was now almost constantly looking in the mirror. I looked behind and could see a black 4X4. It didn't seem all that close and I had no idea why Dad was worried.

‘Dad...’

‘Don’t talk for a minute Jason, I need to concentrate.’

Our Jaguar’s engine, although normally very quiet, was now racing as we increased our speed. Looking back, I could see that the 4X4 had also increased speed and was edging ever closer to us.

I shut up and started to worry, a lot. Dad was the calmest person I knew. He worked for the government, but never talked about it. I once laughingly asked if he was a sort of James Bond, 003 and a half or something and he said that he was a civil servant and then abruptly changed the subject, telling me not to be silly.

I looked behind through the rear window and noticed that the black car had disappeared, that was all right then. There was another car behind, about two hundred metres away. Funnily enough, the car looked like the same model as the other one, but it was silver rather than black.

I relaxed a little bit, but Dad kept looking in the mirror and Suzie had gone very quiet, very unusual for her. I liked to call her motor mouth and she never much liked that for some reason.

We were on the way to our Christmas holiday. Dad had booked an air B and B somewhere in Wales. He told us that it would be a surprise and that we would love it, lots of sand and sea and plenty of things to do even though it was winter, the beach would be cold and the sea freezing. Let's face it, Dad was a bit of an optimist! We rarely had a holiday due to Dad’s work and the fact that Mum had died of cancer just about a year before. We all missed her lots and not a day passed that I didn't think of her and want her to come back.

‘Jason, Suzie listen to me, don’t say anything. I haven't got time for questions. We might be in danger, correction, we are in danger.’

I could hear the catch of breath coming from my sister, or was that me?

‘Suzie, my case is on the floor behind my seat, give it to Jason.’

‘Why?’

‘Don’t ask questions sweetheart, just do it.’

I leaned back and Suzie handed the slightly worn leather case to me.

We were going quite fast now and were overtaking other cars. I looked at the speedometer and saw that we were going at close to 90 miles an hour.

I didn’t like going fast. Alright, I’m a wimp, but that’s how I feel.

‘Jason, I am speeding up because we are being followed and I am trying to get away from them. There are at least two cars alternating in the pursuit, maybe more. These are bad people and we do not want to be caught. I think that this car might have a tracker and that is why they were able to find us, despite my not telling anyone where we were going. I should have swept the car for bugs but I didn’t - stupid mistake. The case is free from bugs or trackers though, so don't worry about that. In the case are a number of papers.’

He stopped for a moment and looked in the mirror.

‘We seem to have dropped them for the moment, but they will be back. Let me explain as briefly as I can what’s happening. I work for a government department, a secret one. My job is in security and we have had a number of leaks which meant that some of our people have been compromised; two have been killed and a number are in custody in unfriendly foreign countries. I have been close to getting answers as to who is responsible for this, but I haven't gained enough evidence yet. These people are worried that I might expose them and they are out to get me. At the moment I can’t trust anyone in my department or even higher up in the chain. Twice I have been close to having a fatal accident. Once when a lorry nearly ran me down and another time when on a crowded station platform. I was pushed from behind and only avoided being thrown in front of a train by some nifty footwork.’

I was looking at Dad as he spoke. I could see the beads of sweat on his forehead and icy grip that he had on the steering wheel. He kept looking behind. I glanced at the speedo, we were now doing over a hundred miles an hour and everything was going by in a blur.

‘The trip to Wales was a bit of a fib, one that I told anyone who would listen to me about where we were supposedly going. I wanted us to have a sort of head start before the crap hit the fan. I have a cottage in the hills nearby; it’s stocked up with food and other necessities. My great aunt left the cottage to me when she died. I have kept that fact secret as I wanted a bolt hole if anything did go wrong and I have been making plans about keeping us all safe until I can get to the bottom of what’s being going on at work. I’m getting close to finding answers but not close enough. I now realize that I have to disappear for a bit and do some deep digging. I wanted you to stay close to me, but I can see that that would be too dangerous.

‘About a mile up the road, I am going to pull over. I want you to get out and run up the small lane. At the top of the lane, turn left and then right at the end of that lane. The cottage is on the left and its called Rainbows End. The key is in the case together with a mobile phone for you to use. It’s clean and non-traceable to me - what’s known as a burner. I have the number and I will contact you when I can, but kids, you will be on your own for a while. Trust no-one and try to keep safe. Right, get ready to run. Don’t forget my case and your rucksacks. I love you both, remember that.’

We went around the corner and skidded to a stop in a small lay-by and I was out of the car in seconds and so was Suzie.

We didn’t have a chance to say goodbye. He was gone with a screech of tyres and before we knew it, we were running up the lane as fast as we could go. Suzie was crying and so was I. She tripped and I picked her up. It had all been so sudden. We were supposed to be going away on a nice holiday, with beaches and lots of things to do. It was to be our first proper holiday since Mum died and we were all looking forward to it. Now this had happened.
Dad had left us.

Looking back, I could see that we hadn't been followed. We stopped for a moment and I could hear nothing other than our laboured breathing. Looking at Suzie, I could see that she was in quite a state, she was sobbing quietly and looked terrified. Well, I wasn’t in much better shape and the shock of all that had happened was weighing down on me.

‘Come on Suze,’ I said shakily, ‘let’s keep going.’

Holding Suzie’s hand, we walked as fast as possible up the narrow lane and went around a bend and then another one. Then, as Dad had said, there was a cottage on the left, surrounded by a tall hedge with a gap where the wooden gate was. The sign on the gate said Rainbows End. Without pausing, I pushed the gate open and we went through.

The garden was a bit overgrown and the lawn definitely could do with a trim, but the cottage itself looked nice and I noticed in passing that it had a thatched roof.

The door looked quite solid, maybe oak. I tried the door handle, it was locked, of course. Thinking for a moment, I had a bright idea.

Letting go of Suzie’s hand, I put the case on a garden bench and opened it. I rummaged about a bit and then in a pocket of the lid, I found a key. Closing the case, I went over to the door with Suzie shadowing me closely. I had never seen her like this and I could tell that she was in a bad way. Well, I wasn’t feeling much better myself.

Holding my breath, I tried the key in the lock. I sighed with relief as the key fitted the lock and the door opened without any problems. Picking up the case, I went into the cottage with Suzie following closely behind like a little shadow. I shut the door behind us and locked it. I noticed that there were also bolts on the top and bottom and I pushed the bolts across. Better safe than sorry as Mum used to say.

There was no hallway, the door led straight into the sitting room, which was small and cosy, straight out of the nineteenth century or maybe earlier. It had old furniture and it looked like it hadn’t changed since dad’s aunt’s days. But it was clean and tidy and didn’t have any sort of musty smell.

‘Jason, where’s Daddy? I’m scared, I want to go home.’

I looked at her. She had been crying and her eyes were red. Her face was white, without any colour. I could see how scared she was; heck I was terrified myself!

‘We can’t go home Suze, we could be in danger there. Maybe the bad guys will try to get us, so that they have a lever to get to Dad. You know, like if he doesn’t give himself up to them, something bad will happen to us if they find us.’

I went over to the window and looked out; no sign of any bad men just the occasional bored looking sheep in a field in the distance. Mind you, what do bad men look like? They don’t have a label on their forehead to say that they were nasty or anything like that?

I wondered where Dad was. I was missing him already. I was trying to stay strong for Suzie’s sake, but I had to admit that I was scared witless, worried about Dad and wondering if the bad men had caught up with him or not. He was a good driver, a very good driver; he used to go rallying when he was younger and had won trophies but still...

To be honest, I just wanted to curl up and cry but I had to stay strong for Suzie.

‘Dad will be fine,’ I said turning back to her and giving her a hug, ‘he’s clever and he knows what he’s doing. It’s just a matter of time before he gets in touch with us. Let's see what’s in his case.’
I went over and opened it. Inside were some papers, some money rolled up in a rubber band, a mobile phone and a small sealed envelope with my name written on it with PRIVATE printed across the top.

‘Suzie, why don’t you go into the kitchen and see if there is anything we can eat and drink. Look in the fridge, Dad said that he had stocked up on things.’

‘Okay,’ she said uncertainly as she walked off.

The fact that she didn’t argue with me showed how upset she was. I sighed and walked over to the settee and sat down.

Looking at the envelope, I was a bit reluctant to open it. It just seemed like it would be bad news. It had to be bad news, otherwise, why would Dad have written it?

I could hear Suzie, clanking about in the kitchen, so I hoped that I wouldn’t be disturbed.

Taking a deep breath I slit open the envelope and pulled out the letter:

Dear Jennifer,

I stopped and gasped. What was all this? I couldn’t believe it…no, no, NO!

My hand shook and my heart thumped hard as I held the paper and continued to read:

Yes honey, I said “Dear Jennifer”.

Dad XXXXX

I put the letter down. Tears were pouring down my face. I didn’t know what to think. I wasn’t stupid, I knew that Dad may be dead or captured, but I had to think positively for Suzie’s sake as well as mine…

‘Jason, why are you crying?’

I looked at her, she was carrying two glasses filled with cola.

‘Come and sit down Suze.’ I said, patting the settee cushion.

She came over, gave me my drink and sat down.

I wondered briefly whether I should or should not tell Suzie about the contents of the letter, but then I knew that I had to.

I sighed, this was going to be hard.

‘I have a letter from Dad, he wrote it before we left home and I think that you should see it.’

I held it out to her.

She put her drink down on the coffee table and took the letter from me. Her hand shook slightly.

She was quiet, very quiet, as she read the letter. She struggled a bit with it as she was dyslexic, but she got there in the end.

She put the letter down and looked at me. She had tears in her eyes.

‘Blimey Jennifer, what are we going to do?

“You’re not calling me Jason. Aren’t you shocked about all this?’

‘About Dad and the mess he’s in? Yes, who would have thought that he was some sort of James Bond type.’

‘What about me?’ I asked.

‘What about you?’ she said with a puzzled look on her face.

‘Jennifer?’

‘Yes?’

‘He called me Jennifer?’

This was getting very hard.

‘That’s your name, isn’t it?’

‘Erm, yes.’

‘What’s the problem then.’

I took a deep breath.

‘Doesn’t it worry you that I am a girl in a boy’s body?’

‘Oh that, I’ve known for ages.’

‘You what?’

She giggled.

‘I’ve seen you a couple of times in your bedroom wearing girls things. You thought that you were alone, but I came in early from school once. You were at home, one of those stupid teacher training days. You were wearing a blouse and skirt. You looked quite pretty, not as pretty as me of course, but I am very pretty.’

She had a smug look on her face. She wasn’t shy about telling anyone how wonderful she looked. To be honest, I had been envious of her ever since I realised that I couldn’t be like her in the looks department. But hey, nobody is perfect.

I had to get the conversation back on track.

‘What about the rest of the letter.’

‘You mean about Daddy?’

‘Yes.’

‘Daddy is a great driver and is also very clever. He’ll be alright. What do you think about his new girlfriend?’

‘Claire?’

I thought for a moment.

‘Daddy needs someone. I hope that this Claire is good enough for him. I miss Mummy a lot, but life goes on and Daddy has the right to be happy again.’

There was a sad look on her face as she continued.

‘Doesn’t he love Mummy any more?’

‘Of course he does. Daddy has a big enough heart to love more than one person. Just because he now has Claire, that doesn’t mean he loves Mummy any less.’

‘I ‘spose,’ she replied, not sounding very convincing.

‘Look he loves us, doesn’t he?’

‘I know he does,’ she replied indignantly.

‘Well, that shows that he can love more than one person then, doesn’t it?’

She thought for a moment. Then looked at me.

You’re not as silly as you look are you?’

‘Flaming cheek,’ I replied as I hit her with a convenient cushion.

For a few brief moments, we forgot our worries as we had a cushion flight and giggled like silly idiots.
After a bit, we calmed down and just sat hugging each other as we caught our breaths.

She looked up at me enquiringly.

‘So, what now?’

I was in charge of both of us now and I didn’t like the idea of such a heavy responsibility. I took a deep breath.

‘We have no idea where Daddy is or even if he’s safe, so we stay here for a couple of days at least, unless we hear from him.’

‘And if we don’t hear from him?’

I took the letter from her and turned it over.

Claire’s address was there. It was in Devon, that was a long way away, but there was a phone number and in case of emergency written beside it.

‘I suppose that we’ll have to get in touch with Claire and see what she says.’

Where does she live?’ asked Suzie.

‘Devon.’

‘That’s a long way from here.’

‘Tell me about it. Look, let’s give it a couple of days and see what happens. Daddy will probably ring and he’ll tell us what to do.’

Suzie looked upset.

‘What is it sweetie?’ I asked.

‘I’m worried about Daddy,’ she whispered.

I gave her a cuddle.

‘I know, so am I, but he knows what he’s doing.’

Despite all our worries, we were both hungry and thirsty so we had some toast and jam and a cup of tea.
After that, we went upstairs to have a look around.

The cottage wasn’t very large and there were just two bedrooms and a bathroom leading off the narrow landing.

The bedrooms were at either end of the landing, the bathroom being in the middle. We turned left and walked into what appeared to be the main bedroom. It was sort of old fashioned with furniture that hadn’t been changed for many years.

On the bed were two cases, a label on one said Jason and the other one said Jennifer.

Despite my worries about our father and what might happen to us, I felt a thrill at seeing the case labeled with my girls’ name.

‘Well, you won't need the Jason one,’ said Suzie interrupting my thoughts, in a sort of matter of fact voice.

I looked at her.

‘Are you sure you won’t mind?’

‘Won’t mind what?’

‘My being Jennifer rather than Jason?’

She looked at me.

‘You’ve always been Jennifer really, haven’t you?’

I wondered how a girl so very young could be that clever and wise. I think that I had underestimated her. I wouldn’t do that again.

‘Yes,’ I replied quietly, almost in a whisper.

Suzie picked up the Jason case and put it over in the corner.

‘Well, come on then, let's open the case!’ She said turning back to me.

I felt rather shy about it but nevertheless, with shaking fingers, I pulled the latches back and holding my breath, I opened the case.

I don’t know who had done the packing but it definitely wasn’t Dad. He couldn’t pack a sandwich box neatly; let alone a case full of clothes.

It must have been Claire. So Claire was more involved in this than I originally thought.

With Suzie’s help, we soon had all the contents of the case placed carefully on the bed and the two dresses we found, draped carefully over a chair.

One of the dresses was a sundress, that a bit strange as this was winter and I assumed that the clothes were for me to use in the short term. The other dress was more of what Mum would have called a posh dress, for going out in. It had two layers, the outer layer being fine black lace the base layer being midnight blue taffeta. It was gorgeous, but I had no idea when I would be able to wear it.

The other clothes were more practical but very girly. There were several skirts of various lengths, one being so short that I didn’t think that Daddy would let me wear it.

That stopped me for a moment, as I had just referred to my father as being “Daddy” rather than “Dad”. I had read on a few transgender story sites about kids who suddenly called their father exactly that and I sort of laughed at how unlikely that would be, but, thinking about it, in my mind he had always been Daddy as I suppose Mum was Mummy, so maybe those stories weren’t as far fetched as I thought!

It all seemed so natural

I shrugged, things were changing and I would have to go with the flow and stop thinking about the whys and wherefores.

You might be thinking that Suzie was being rather quiet while all this was happening, but she soon bored with my going ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ and had gone off to her bedroom. From the squeals I heard, I think that she was happy with what she found in her case!

‘Don’t come in for a minute,’ I shouted as I shut the door.

‘Okay,’ was the muffled reply.

I was shy of my body and the last thing I wanted was an inquisitive sister coming I and seeing me in the nuddy.

I picked up a black skirt and cream blouse and put them aside. I decided that I wanted to wear them. To the side were some under things. Several packs of panties, girls socks, tights and wonder of wonder, some bras! The bras were trainer ones with some padding that would give me some shape. One of the things girls want from an early age were nice breasts and I was no different. I didn’t want huge great ones, I wasn’t strange, I just wanted to look like any other girl. I knew that I had nothing on top and some girls of my age wouldn’t have much either and needed a bit of help, so wearing something that enhanced my appearance was OK by me.

I had a few problems with the silky white bra, understandable as I had never worn one before, although I dearly wanted to! I nearly asked for my sister's help, but decided the quicker I got the hang of it the better. In the end, I fastened it in the front and twisted it around so that the cups were in the right place. I had a bit of what Daddy called puppy fat and the cups were by no means empty.

There were some matching panties and I slid them up my legs, marveling how the silky fabric felt on my hairless legs.

Hairless - how long will it be before I started sprouting hairs all over the place, developed muscles I didn’t want and have a voice that no longer sounded very girlie?

Yes, some people thought that I was a girl when I spoke on the phone. You can’t hear your own voice as other people do. I thought that it was just like a normal boy’s, but often I was mistaken for a girl. Nice for me sometimes though, as that is exactly how I feel I am, but embarrassing when I am supposed to be all manly.

After pulling up my panties (my panties, I liked the sound of that), I frowned as there was a little bulge showing. It upset me a bit as I didn’t want any sort of sign that I wasn’t a genetic female. Then I remembered something I read online. I won’t go into details - if you are curious there are plenty of articles online - but after a few wincing attempts, I was able to tuck things away so that I presented a more or less flat area where it wasn’t flat before!
Let’s say it helped that the panties were a bit tight.

After that, I put on the blouse, black tights and skirt.

There were a few pairs of thankfully low heeled shoes in the case, one pair was black and the other blue, in the same style. I slipped on the black pair.

I was finished.

Walking over to the mirror, I had a look at myself and smiled at the girl in the reflection.

I liked what I saw, especially when I parted my hair in the middle with my fingers. My hair had always been on the long side. I had wondered why Daddy had never forced me to cut it. Now I knew why, he knew about me and in his own way was encouraging me.

I only wished that we had talked about it before. Many a time I had wanted to tell him about the real me, but I had always worried that I would be rejected. Things had been bad enough when Mummy had died and I couldn’t bear to think of anything bad happening if I was rejected.

Well, I hadn’t been rejected, but Daddy was in danger and for all I knew fleeing for his life. By extension, my sister and I were in danger too and the immediate future didn’t look too great for Suzie and me.

I saw the frown in my reflection as I realised that talking like that wouldn’t help Suze or me. I had to be positive and hope for the best. It looked like we were going to be on our own for a bit and it was up to me to make the right decisions if that was what needed to be done. Daddy might be back before I had to do something but I had to assume that he might not be able to contact us.

There was a knock on the door.

‘Jennifer, can I come in?’

‘Yes.’

The door opened and there was Suzie, wearing a red party dress. She loved dressing up and this was a lovely dress that suited her. She was very pretty.

She looked at me, her mouth slightly open.

Then she frowned and she started to pout.

‘Not fair, you look prettier than me. I hate you!’

She stepped out and slammed the door.

To be continued..?

Please leave comments and let me know if you want this to continue. Oh, and if you can, please do the kudo-thingie...thanks! ~Sue

Previously...

There was a knock on the door.

‘Jennifer, can I come in?’

‘Yes.’

The door opened and there was Suzie, wearing a red party dress. She loved dressing up and this was a lovely dress that suited her. She was very pretty.

She looked at me, her mouth slightly open.

Then she frowned and she started to pout.

‘Not fair, you look prettier than me. I hate you!’

She stepped out and slammed the door.

And now, the story continues...

I just stood there, my eyes pricking with tears and then I sat on the bed and held my head in my hands. What with Daddy missing and now this…

I heard the door opening quietly, a gasp and then the patter of feet coming towards me. Suddenly, I was enveloped in a fierce hug.

‘Oh Jennifer, I was just joking, don’t cry. I didn’t mean it, just one of my silly jokes. You are beautiful and I love you lots and lots!’

Tearing myself away, I looked up and looking at her through my tears, I could tell that she was the telling the truth.

‘You do look lovely and nothing like a boy. You are a girl and I love having a sister. Its a good job that you’re not wearing makeup, your face would look a right mess!’

Suddenly, things were all right again between us.

I giggled.

I had somehow forgotten that Suzie liked to play tricks and do silly things. Maybe I was losing my sense of humour chip!

‘Ooh, you’re wearing a bra,’ she exclaimed.

I nodded.

‘It all looks real. It suits you. I started when I was ten; I’m getting a bit bigger now, but I don’t want to be huge. Luckily Mummy wasn’t very big and I hope that I am the same. Periods suck though; I just had my third one. I’m quite light though, so that’s something.’

It was strange talking with my sister about things that weren’t mentioned in any way shape and form by boys. I knew most things about how a girls’ body worked, as I wanted to be a girl and had lapped up anything I could read on my online friend, Google.

‘Are you going to take pills and then have your thingie cut off? Jodie, she’s a year ahead of me at school, used to be Jack, she’s quite pretty but not as pretty as you. Her sister, Katie is in my class she told me that Jodie is on pills to stop her sprouting hairs and things and when she’s old enough, she’s going to have an operation to get rid of her boy bits. Are you going to do that?’

This conversation was getting a bit weird!

‘I hope so,’ I replied after a moment, ‘ I wanted to talk to our parents about it, then Mummy got ill and died and everything went bad for us. At least Daddy knows about me. Maybe I can get the changes I need eventually.’

I sighed, it was nice to talk about girlie things, and what I intended to do if and when I got the chance, but we had more important things to worry about before thinking too far into the future.

‘We need to sort things out Suzie.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like how we are going to get through this.’

‘We already said that we would wait here and see what happens,’

‘I know, but I’m so worried about Daddy and I want to make sure that we are prepared in case we are found.’

‘They don’t know that we are here, the bad guys, I mean.’

‘We don’t know that. Daddy said that there are bad people are after him, they may know more than he thinks they do. We have to be ready to run if we have to. Heck, we don’t even know who the baddies are. They could be anyone.’

‘What do we do then?’

‘We make sure that our rucksacks are filled with things we need so that if we do have to get out fast, we don’t have to scramble about looking for stuff.’

‘Okay, but can we eat first, I’m starving!’

For growing girls, a slice of jam on toast wasn’t nearly enough to keep the hunger pangs away!

At that moment, as if on time, my stomach gurgled and we both laughed.

I’m not much of a cook and Suzie could burn water, so we just made do with some beans on toast - it was a good job that it was one of our favourite meals - together with some cola from the fridge and some tinned pineapple for afters.

It was lovely wearing girls’ clothes again; it had seemed such a long time since I had been able to be my true self outwardly. Inside I knew that was a girl, but the clothes made me feel more complete somehow. Just sitting there with my sister, just like two ordinary girls having a bite to eat, was so nice and if we didn’t have so many problems hanging over our head, I would almost be in Heaven.

As we ate, we talked a bit about where our father could be and hoped that he was safe. I had his mobile number, but was frightened that if I phoned him, the call might be traced back to us. We would just have to wait it out.

‘When we’ve finished eating, we had better repack our rucksacks with clothes that we need to take with us if we have to leave in a hurry. We won’t have room for a lot, but we will take what we can. I don’t want to leave any of my new clothes, but I might have to.’

‘Never mind, we can always come back another time to pick up anything that we’ve had to leave behind.’

‘That’s what I like about you Sis, ever the hopeful!’

‘There’s no point in worrying about things that we can’t do anything about.’

I sometimes wondered who was the older sister!

After dutifully doing the washing up, we went into the sitting room. There was a proper fireplace with logs in it and everything; but the last thing I wanted to do was to draw attention to ourselves by lighting a fire. There was a small three-bar electric heater sitting in the corner, so we used that instead and we were soon warm and toasty.

On an impulse, I turned on the TV. There was the usual mid-afternoon rubbish about people wanting to buy their dream home and not liking anything on offer from the presenters.

I switched channels and found the local news.

‘…Mr Jefferson said that his prize marrows grew so big due to the special secret fertiliser formula he has used since he was a lad...
Breaking news, there has been a fatal accident on the bypass just past Nettlesham. Reports say that two cars were involved a Range Rover and a Jaguar, one person was taken to St Stephens Hospital but we do not know the details of his or her identity. Further details will follow.’

We looked at each other in horror.

‘It couldn’t have anything to do with Daddy,’ whispered Suzie.

‘I…I don’t know,’ I replied, ‘lets not jump to conclusions, we don’t know enough.’

Even though I was trying to sound positive, I was almost certain that Daddy was involved in the accident. It was all too much of a coincidence for it not to be. I needed to know what was going on but I didn’t know how to find out.

Talk about frustrating!

I could use the phone to ring the hospital, but I knew that hospitals didn’t give out information to anyone and anyway, it might not be my father who had been taken in.

I felt frustrated and worried and I was finding it hard not to cry. I had to be strong for Suzie but it was so very hard.

We left the TV on in case of any further news and we just sat about, not doing an awful lot. Then I decided to pack our rucksacks for any emergency getaway and that took all of fifteen minutes. In the case was a girls’ puffa jacket. That was good, as I really didn’t fancy wearing my boys’ coat.

It was strange how time dragged as we waited for any possible news. I had looked at a map book that I had found on a shelf with some other books and I could see where we were, roughly anyway. St Stephens Hospital was about five miles from where we were so if the worst came to it, we could walk, although in the winter, it wouldn’t be much fun.

Time went on and it started to get dark. I pulled the curtains, as I didn’t want to announce our presence. I even went outside to make sure that there were no chinks of light that could be seen from outside. We were off the road, but I wasn’t taking any chances of being discovered.

There were some further news reports but there was no additional information about the accident, they just regurgitated what they had said before. I was hoping against hope that Daddy was safe and I did know that he would contact us as soon as he could, that was if he was still alive and able to do so.

It was no use worrying and finally, as it was getting late and Suzie was dropping off on the settee, we decided to go to bed in the hope that the following morning, we might get more positive news.

Before going upstairs, I went around and checked all the windows and doors, just in case. There was a large umbrella in a stand by the front door, so I took it up with me; I was taking no chances. I did consider grabbing a kitchen knife, but I knew that was too squeamish to ever use it and anyway, I would more likely cut myself than any intruder.

We decided to share my bed, as it was a double. After cleaning our teeth and washing our faces, we got ready for bed. It was strange wearing a nightie but infinitely preferable to wearing scratchy boys PJ’s. I liked the idea of girlie satin jim-jams, but that was for the future. So many choices for a girl! I could easily get used to all this!

Suzie soon dropped off, the poor wee thing was tired out and although she tried to appear cheerful and positive, all that had happened had certainly taken its toll. I wasn’t much better.

I couldn’t sleep for a long time as my mind churned over the events of the day. What had started out as a holiday had turned into a terrible nightmare.

I tried to think of the positives of our situation and found very few. The one and only positive thing was that I was now able to be the girl that I truly was. All right, I had some extra, unwanted bits that I would get rid of when I was old enough and sadly, I would never have babies, but lots of women couldn’t have children and that didn’t make them any less feminine. For more years than I could remember I had been hiding as a ridiculous parody of a boy and I was so pleased that I could be myself, at last.

I was never a boy; never, never, never. But I looked like one and was expected to act and be one. It broke my heart when I saw that I wasn’t allowed to be a girl. Girls were allowed to be pretty. Girls were allowed to be feminine. Girls were allowed to show their feelings. Girls could wear pretty clothes. Girls were…oh I could go on all night and I was so tired and I couldn’t think straight.

And still I couldn’t sleep.

I had lost my mother and that was awful. I still missed her desperately. I could still feel the loving hugs, the smell of her fragrance and the warmth of her voice; all things that made her special. Now my father was…was…I didn’t know where he was and whether he was alive or dead. Had he been involved in that accident or was it just a coincidence? I didn’t know and I desperately wanted to know, for my sake and for the sake of my lovely sister, lying there beside me, looking sweet and innocent and without a care in the world.

I wanted to wake her up and talk to her about what had happened and what we were going to do, but I couldn’t be that cruel. I would let her sleep. There would be time enough to worry tomorrow.

I must have fallen asleep because I was awoken by having something wet slapped on my face.

‘Oof, what!’

‘Wake up Jennifer!’

I threw off the wet thing, which appeared to be a face cloth and looked up blearily, I was dog-tired after my almost sleepless night.

‘What time is it?’ I yawningly asked.

‘Eight o’clock.’

I sat up in bed and stretched. Looking at my sister, I could see that she had dressed herself. She was wearing a pink blouse and a yellow skirt. The colours seemed to clash a bit, but I was no expert.

‘I saw the news; it said that the police was looking for the driver of the Jaguar as they were concerned about his condition. The two dead men and the injured one were in the Range Rover.’

That woke me up all right.

‘So Daddy must have got away?’

‘Yes,’

‘Wow, that’s good. Let’s hope that he’s not injured.’

‘He couldn’t be too bad, he managed to get away from the scene without getting caught.’

Somehow, in my heart, I knew that he was okay and that he had managed to get away without being caught. But did that mean that the police were after him? I couldn’t tell but I had to be positive about it.

‘Get dressed Jennifer, I’m starving.’

‘You’re always starving.’ I replied, laughing.

‘Am not!’

‘Am!’

We proceeded to have a pillow fight and in seconds we were laughing and giggling like we didn’t have a care in the world. We did have plenty to worry about, but any news was good news and we needed to let off some steam.

We had cornflakes and long life milk for breakfast followed by toast and jam.

I had dressed in a short denim skirt with a hem that was mid-thigh, a cream blouse and black tights; much less loud than Suzie, but then I was far more sophisticated than her. The girl had no sense of style and colour!

It was so nice to dress as a girl and be accepted by my sister. It was all a novel experience to me and seemed almost unreal. For far too long I had hidden away my true self. There was no way that the genie would be going back into the bottle!

We had the radio on all the time to see if there was any further news of our father. I took it as a good omen that all was quiet on that front.

I was in a bit of a quandary. I didn’t know what to do. If Daddy was OK, why hadn’t he contacted us? He was on the run from the people that would do him harm, that much I did know. Maybe he was afraid that if he did try to contact us, then he might be traced or we might be found and used as some sort of sick pawns in a horrible deadly game to get at him.

I couldn’t trust the police because they might be in on it, or the senior policemen might be. They wanted him for questioning anyway about the accident. Also, if we went to the police, we might be put into care and heaven forbid, split up. No, I couldn’t and wouldn’t take a chance on trusting them.

It all seemed to be like it was us against the world.

Suzie was just staring out if the window. It had started to rain quite heavily and water droplets were running down the window.

I washed the breakfast things up and then I made us a cup of tea, more for something to do than anything else.

We went into the lounge and just sat there. I don’t think that I had ever seen Suzie so quiet. The mini-euphoria about finding out that Daddy wasn’t one of the dead people in the accident had been great at the time, but reaction had set in and we were worrying about other things, like if he had been injured and where he was now. He would have phoned us on our new phones if he could, I was certain. It was the lack of knowing what was happening that was dragging us both down.

I needed to get out of my mental fog. I looked at Suzie and then I had a bit of an idea.

‘Suzie, want to try experimenting with some makeup?’

She looked at me.

‘I do have some in my bag. Daddy thinks I’m too young but that’s nonsense. Girls younger than me wear makeup and Mummy let me use some for special occasions.

‘Daddy’s a bit of an old fossil,’ I said and we both laughed, lightening the rather gloomy mood. Then I had a thought.

‘There was a makeup bag in my case. I haven’t looked at it and if Daddy chose what’s in it, I’m not hopeful that it will be any good, but shall we try and see?’

Suzie grinned and looked much happier. This was more like my Suze!

We had a great time and we almost forgot our problems, as we tried and experimented with different looks for ourselves. It was obvious that Daddy had not chosen the makeup and I assumed that Claire had something to do with it.

Hmm, interestink!

Suzie, being Suzie tried all the colours of the rainbow on her face. She was admittedly quite good at applying the lotions and potions, but her colour sense was abysmal. I, on the other hand, knew all about what colours look nice together and what clashes. Years of secretly reading teen mags and looking on the Internet meant that I had a pretty good idea of what looked nice and what looked yucky!

I had made sure that we had towels to cover our nice clothes. Makeup doesn’t always wash off clothes easily, as I knew to my cost.

It was fun and so nice to be able to express myself without the worry of getting caught in the act. I really wished that I had come out to my parents before. I had been so worried that they might hate me or cast me out, although that was a ridiculous thought as I was underage. Now Mummy was no longer with us and Daddy was, effectively, on the run from people that would do him and possibly even us some harm. I felt that most of my life had been wasted. I could have been the true me years ago.

Sometimes, life really sucks!

After our experiments with makeup and trying on clothes, things got a bit boring, although I did keep glancing at myself in the mirror. The makeup made me look and feel so much more girlie!

There wasn’t much else to do but wait. I kept an eye on the outside to make sure that we had no unwanted visitors, but thankfully, no one came by the cottage. It was lucky that it was out of the way and I didn’t think that our father could have chosen a better spot for us to have a hideaway.

Where was he? I was dying to know (bad choice of words!). By now he could be anywhere. Being a child of the digital age, I was well aware of the fact that we are all easily traceable. As soon as you pay anything by card, you can be traced. There were CCTV cameras almost everywhere, especially in towns and cities. Number plate recognition was common, so I had to assume that Daddy had ditched his car and had found other means of transport. If he was a James Bond type, he probably knew what he was doing, but I was far from confident about that.

The TV was on and we constantly kept looking for any information about Daddy, there was none. Didn’t the saying go no news is better than bad news? I wasn’t so sure.

Suzie went up to her room, mumbling about sorting through her clothes, yet again. I was tired and I sort started to doze…

The mobile phone started ringing and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

I picked it up; the display said that it was an anonymous caller. Should I answer? It could be anyone. I could feel my heart thumping in my chest. In the end, I did answer, as no one, hopefully, knew the number except for two people.

‘Hello?’ I said hesitantly.

‘Is that Jason or maybe Jennifer?’

It was a female voice.

‘Who wants to know?’ I replied, my voice quavering.

‘It’s Claire, you know about me?’

Previously...

‘Hello?’ I said hesitantly.

‘Is that Jason or maybe Jennifer?’

It was a female voice.

‘Who wants to know?’ I replied, my voice quavering.

‘It’s Claire, you know about me?’

And now, the story continues...

Her voice sounded soft and pleasant.

‘Claire, Daddy’s girlfriend?’

‘Erm, yes, I suppose I am,’ she replied laughing.

‘Have I said something funny?’ I thought.

‘Sorry, Jennifer, I’m a bit nervous. I always start giggling when I’m nervous. How are you both?’

Hmm, so she assumed that I now was Jennifer and not Jason. Maybe my voice sounded girly – I hoped so.

‘We’re OK,’ I replied after a moment, ‘but have you got any news about our father?’

‘No, not directly anyway that’s why I’m ringing; I wondered if he’s contacted you.’

‘No, he hasn’t; do you know what happened today?’

‘No, I’m in the dark except that earlier he texted me to say that he was in danger and he was concerned about you and that I should ring you using a burner phone. I think that something happened, as he didn’t reply to my texts or attempts to contact him. I’m worried. I assume that you are in that safe place, don’t mention the name of it or anything about where you are. I don’t trust open communications.’

‘Yes, we are here now. Our car was being tailed as we were going on holiday. Daddy tried to get away from them but there were two cars chasing us. We increased our speed and got enough space between them and us for Daddy to get us to a place of safety.’

I wasn’t going to tell her everything, as I didn’t really trust anyone at the moment. I just told her what I thought she needed to know.

‘Anyway,’ I continued, ‘Daddy dropped us off. He gave us his briefcase and told us where to go. We’re here now.’

‘I assume then that you have read Phillips letter to you.’

So she knew about the letter. I wondered just how much she did know.

‘Yes.’

We talked a bit more about how we were doing and the fact that we were worried that Daddy hadn’t contacted her or us.

‘Are you OK for food and stuff?’

‘Yes, we are, but I don’t know what to do. If you haven’t heard about what’s happening and we haven’t, where is he and is even still alive?’

Even I could hear the quiver in my voice. I wasn’t far from crying. I was glad that my sister wasn’t in the room; I didn’t want her to see how upset I was. I was trying to show a brave face all the time but was failing miserably.

‘Look, Jennifer, don’t get upset, I know things are hard for you, but try to think positive, if you can. How is Suzie taking it?’

‘She doesn’t seem too worried and keeps saying that everything will be alright, but I think that she’s as concerned as I am.’

‘Try and stay strong, if you can. There’s no point in thinking the worst. Mind you, what with all that’s happened, I’m not happy that you are there by yourselves. Without any word from Phillip, we have to assume that he isn’t in a position to help you at the moment. I would prefer you to be here rather than alone in that remote spot. Phillip might be out of the picture for a while. I know that you don’t know me, but will you trust me enough to look after you?’

I had to trust someone and if Daddy loved her, I would trust his instincts, despite my misgivings

‘Yes, that would be good,’ I replied without too much hesitation.

‘I would love to come and pick you up, but I can’t right now as I have to stay here. My daughter had a riding accident and she’s broken her leg. She can’t really be moved or left alone. Right, I will order a taxi for you from a random company. Go to Philips’ case. In a pocket, there is an envelope with some money in it. Get your things together and then wait for the taxi. The taxi will take you to the station. When you get there, tickets will be waiting for you under the name of, erm Davison. When you get to Bristol Temple Meads, change for Paignton. When you get there, text me with the words ‘see you soon auntie.’ Use the money you have to take a taxi; you have my address. Do not take the first or second taxi on the rank. Take the third one. I may be paranoid and worrying for nothing, but I want to make sure that you get here safely, without a tail. Will you do that?’

‘Yes, I will.’

‘Good girl, now hang up and don’t use the phone unless absolutely necessary. Oh, by the way, wear the wig; it might disguise you even more. See you soon.’

With that, she disconnected.

I stared at the phone for a moment, my mind in a turmoil. My brief conversation with Claire brought up more questions than answers. Could I trust her? What was this about a daughter? Did she ring true or were we being lured into a trap?

Then I remembered Daddy’s letter, he more or less said that we should trust her. But I didn’t know her and hadn’t even heard of her until today. What was I to do?

I sat there and thought about it. I had no choice, I would have to go with my instincts and trust her. If Daddy did, then so would I.

I remembered seeing the wig in my case. My hair was slightly long and dark, just about passable for a girl - maybe. The wig was a long blond one, not my colour, but beggars can’t be choosers as Mummy used to say. I hadn’t tried it on and to be honest had forgotten all about it, what with everything else that was going on.

‘Suzie,’ I shouted.

A few seconds later, she came in.

‘Yes, big sis?’

‘I haven’t got time to explain too much, but get your things together, we are going to Claire’s.’

‘Claire’s?’

‘Yes, she rang me and explained things. A taxi will be here shortly and we are going to her house. I’ll explain in a minute, let's get our things together.’

As we finished packing, I told Suzie about the phone call. Surprisingly, she was pretty laid back about it all. She seemed to like the idea of meeting Claire and her mysterious daughter and appeared more interested in that than the apparent danger we were in.

I would never understand how her mind worked!

Ten minutes later, we had finished packing. We only took what clothes we thought that we might need. I hated leaving some of my lovely new clothes, but we didn’t have much time and I didn’t want to be laden down with heavy cases, so we made do with our rucksacks and crammed as much as we could into them.

Suzie had a bit of a hissy fit when I told her that she couldn’t take a particular dress, she just didn’t have the room, but she saw sense in the end and with only a minor amount of grumbling she finished packing. Mind you, she thought the blond wig suited me and made me look even more of a girl, if that was possible.

I think that that was a compliment!

We both now had shoulder bags, so we put our personal things in them including, in mine, the money found in Daddy’s case.

I heard a strange noise coming from outside. I looked out of the window to find a helicopter fairly low over the trees on the other side of a field. It was so low that sheep had scattered and I knew how they felt. It was coming our way.

‘Quick Suzie, in the closet now, NOW!’

I hustled her into the closet and shut the door behind us. Thank goodness it was empty and big enough for us both to cram in there.

‘What is it Jen?’ asked Suzie.

‘Helicopter.’

‘Coming for us?’

‘I hope not.’

I held her close and could feel her hot breath on my shoulder.

I had no idea if they could see us. For all I knew, they could have had powerful binoculars or heat-seeking equipment or whatever it’s called. I hoped that we had enough cover now for them to miss seeing us. They might not have been after us and it could just be a traffic or private helicopter, but I was taking no chances.

The sound of the chopper became louder and louder. I held on to Suzie tighter and she was trembling, or was that me?

Soon, by the sound of it, the chopper appeared to be overhead and hovering. I don’t know what Suzie was feeling like, but I was close to wetting my knickers!

After what seemed like ages, it gradually moved on. Maybe it had nothing to do with us…maybe.

I opened the closet a little and listened, I could still hear the helicopter, but the noise of it seemed to be gradually receding. I looked out of the window, but I couldn’t see it, so I went into Suzie room, with her following behind me like a little shadow.

Looking out of the window, I could now see it in the distance. By the markings, I could see that it was a police helicopter. It was hovering over what looked like a farmhouse. In my opinion, they were definitely looking for someone or something. Was it us or perhaps our father?

I now felt that we were in real danger there in that cottage. It would have been easier to hide in a town or city with lots of people around us. I was glad that Claire had told us to get to her house.

The helicopter finally disappeared out of sight and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Suzie just shrugged.

‘That was a lot of fuss about nothing.’

I wished that I could have the same temperament as Suzie, but I was a born worrier. Then I remembered how frightened she has been when we hid in the closet. Was she so unconcerned as she seemed?

After that, it was just a question of us waiting in my room for signs of the taxi, as there was a good view of the lane from there. I wondered if he or she would find the cottage ok.

Just then I saw a flash of something from behind the bushes by the side of the road.

Yes, it was a car with a taxi sign on the roof.

A lady got out of the taxi, opened the garden gate and came up the path.

‘Come on Suze, it’s time to go.’

We went downstairs and I opened the front door and there she was. The lady was quite old, at least thirty, but seemed quite nice.

‘Taxi for the station?’ she asked.

‘Yes please,’ I replied.

‘By yourselves then?’ she asked as we walked back down the path.

‘Erm, yes, we are visiting an aunt. Our parents arranged it.’

That sounded a bit weak, but she didn’t say anything else. Maybe she was forever picking up kids from remote places…

Soon, our rucksacks were in the boot of the car and we were on the way to the station and hopefully safety.

The radio was on in the car and it was just our luck when the announcer piped up.

‘Further news of the accident on the Nettlesham bypass. It has been confirmed that two people died and one was injured in a crash involving a Range Rover and a Jaguar. The names of the dead and injured have not been released, but were all thought to be in the Range Rover. The driver of the Jaguar has not been named but is believed to be a male Caucasian aged between thirty and thirty-five with blond hair. If anyone has information about the accident and the drivers and passengers involved, please contact the police non-emergency line 101.'

‘That was a nasty accident,’ said the taxi driver, ‘another one of our drivers’ saw it happening. He swears that the Range Rover was chasing the Jaguar at a hell of a speed and near enough forced it off the road. He was on the other side of the dual carriageway and couldn’t stop, he did radio it in though.’

Suzie and I looked at each other. I felt a bit sick and Suzie’s face had turned nearly white. I shook my head slightly, warning with my eyes for Suzie not to say anything.

After a few more miles, we arrived at the station and the driver pulled up outside the station entrance.

‘There we are girls. The fare is all paid for, have a nice journey to your aunt’s.’

We thanked her and then made our way into the station. I noted the taxi driver waited until we went into the station before driving off.

We were lucky that the station had a ticket office, a lot of them didn’t any more, so we made our way over there and spoke to the lady behind the counter.

‘Hello, we’ve come to pick up some tickets in the name of Davison.’

‘Hang on,’ she said as she got up and went over to the back of the room.

I looked around nervously, wondering if we were being picked up on CCTV. I was being paranoid but better that than being stupid.

The ticket lady came back and handed us two tickets.

‘There you are love, nothing to pay.’

‘Thanks,’ I replied.

‘No problem, have a nice journey.’

‘Thanks,’ I replied with a smile.

Everything was going well. It had been easy so far and I hoped that our journey to Claire’s would stay just that – easy.

According to the board, our train was due in at 13.53, so about a ten-minute wait. That was good, as I didn’t want to stay at the station any longer than we had to. This thing I had about being watched was getting me down a bit. Suzie wasn’t bothered or didn’t appear to be. She had one of those hand game things that were all the rage and she spent her time sitting on a seat on the platform, swinging her legs, humming quietly to herself and totally engrossed in what she was doing.

Me? Well, I was looking at every face coming on to the platform. No one seemed to be a baddie, but what did I know, they didn’t have a sign saying I am the evil one. Maybe that frail little old lady with the walking frame was an MI5 operative, undercover and was really a criminal mastermind in disguise.

Then there were the CCTV cameras. When I wasn’t worried about them, I didn’t notice them, but now, they seemed everywhere.

I shook my head. I knew that I mustn’t draw attention to myself. I was just an ordinary girl, waiting with my sister for a train to come into the station. Not a boy in a skirt waiting to be found out and exposed for being a fraud. But I was a girl and didn’t Suzie say that I was pretty? It didn’t matter what I had between my legs. It far more important what I had between my ears – the brain of a girl.

Five minutes to go and I was looking down the line to see if the train was coming. No sign yet. At least it was supposed to be on time, no silly delays like the wrong sort of leaves on the line!

I shivered slightly as the breeze whipped up my skirt slightly. That made me smile. I wondered what the kids at school would say if they saw me now.

Someone touched my shoulder and I nearly screamed.

‘I need to use the toilet,’ said Suzie.

‘Oh, don’t creep up to me like that. Go then, but be quick.’

If my nerves were bad before, they were worse now as Suzie dashed into the Ladies and did her stuff. Of course, I could now see in the distance the train coming in and I was effectively Suzieless.

I nearly went into the toilet to gee her up, but once again; I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. The train was getting nearer and nearer and still Suzie didn’t come out. What was she doing in there, touching up her makeup or sitting in toilet playing that damned game?

The train drew into the station and I was having kittens, the last thing I wanted was for us to miss the train. I was reluctant to go into the ladies loo, because I wasn’t officially a girl, no matter how much I wanted to be and how I felt about it. Mind you I was being silly because I would have to use the facilities dressed as I was, there was no way that I would use the Men’s.

She came out, looking breathless.

‘Sorry, no toilet paper.’

‘Come on!’ I said as the train stopped just then.

We clambered in and found some seats. Luckily, there weren’t many people on board so we had a choice of where we could sit. The train was one of those walk-through ones so you could if you wanted, walk the entire length, but we were happy to sit where we were and soon made ourselves comfortable.

After a short time, the train left the station and we were soon up to speed. I had always liked anything to do with trains. We occasionally took trips to the coast and I loved the fact that you didn’t have any traffic jams on a train. Also, as a matter of interest, Daddy had a train set and he used to go up in the loft and play with it on a regular basis. He said that he was just an enthusiast and collector, but I knew better, he liked to play and I have to admit that I liked his train set too!

As the countryside went by in a blur, I tried to think nice thoughts about how everything was going to be okay, but my mind kept returning to my father and where he was. I was still worried that he might be hurt and injured somewhere without any help from anyone. At least we had somewhere to go. I wondered if I would like Claire. What if she was horrible?

‘What are you looking so worried about?’ asked Suzie, looking up from her gamepad thingie.

‘I’m alright.’

‘No you’re not, you’ve been frowning a lot and sighing, you’re making so much noise, you’re putting me off my game.’

‘You know me, I worry a bit.’

‘Well, you can’t change things just by worrying. There’s no point. Worry when you have to. Now can I get on with my game without you sounding like an asthmatic sheep all the time?’

I laughed.

I so wished that I had a bit more of her personality than mine sometimes!

We stopped several times and eventually arrived at Chippenham. There was a bit of a delay in the station, changing drivers or something but soon we were on our way again. Suzie slept through all of this, having become bored with her game. I was concerned that we might miss our connection at Bristol due to the delay. Luckily, the train driver put his foot down and we were soon going along at a good speed and we arrived at Bristol Temple Meads only a minute or two late.

We grabbed our things and made our way onto the platform.

There were lots of people milling around and that was good as there is always safety in numbers. The train we wanted was on platform 4 and we hurried over, only to find that it wasn’t in yet and wasn’t due for another thirty minutes due to livestock on the line or something.

“I’m thirsty,’ said Suzie in that whining voice that she sometimes used to wind me up.

I sighed and looked around. My eyes lit up.

‘Let's go to MaccyD’s then.’

‘Goody!’

I agreed with her sentiments!

It didn’t take us long to demolish double cheeseburgers, chips and strawberry milkshakes and we arrived back on the platform just as the train came in.

After the passengers got off, we managed to get on the train and found seats about halfway up the train. Many others got on just after us and soon the train was quite full. It was a good job that we were there early as otherwise we might have had to stand!

Soon, we were on our way and the train picked up speed. We stopped a number of times and the train gradually emptied, so that by the time we left Exeter St Thomas, I estimated that only about a quarter of the seats were occupied.

It was late afternoon now and the sun was low in the sky. At that time of the year, it got dark early and I was pleased about that. The darker it was when we got to Paignton, the better chance of us getting to our destination unnoticed.

We stopped at a number of other stations; I didn’t notice the names because I was dozing a bit. Everything was catching up with me. Suddenly, I was rudely awoken by a dig in my ribs.

‘Eh, what?’

‘Look Jen,’ whispered Suzie urgently.

I looked around, noticed that we had arrived at Teignmouth Station and then saw, to my horror that two policemen had got on further down the carriage and that they were coming towards us, looking at the passengers and asking what looked like pointed questions.

I looked at Suzie in alarm.

‘What can we do Jennifer?’ she whispered.

I wanted us to get off, but we couldn’t; the train was now on the move and we had nowhere we could go. We couldn’t hide. If we got up and tried to move further down the train, we might draw attention to ourselves.

We were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I hadn’t understood that saying until now.

They got ever closer.

‘Who are they looking for I wonder?’ said a woman sitting opposite us.

I had no idea, but suddenly, one of the policemen looked up and straight at me.

Previously...

I wanted us to get off, but we couldn’t; the train was now on the move and we had nowhere we could go. We couldn’t hide. If we got up and tried to move further down the train, we might draw attention to ourselves.

We were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I hadn’t understood that saying until now.

They got ever closer.

‘Who are they looking for I wonder?’ said a woman sitting opposite us.

I had no idea, but suddenly, one of the policemen looked up and straight at me.

And now, the story continues...

There was nowhere to go. We were like rabbits caught in the headlights.

I grabbed hold of Suzie’s hand and whispered, ‘Don’t say anything and look innocent.’

She actually giggled. How could she giggle at a time like this? Maybe it was nerves. I knew that mine were torn to shreds.

I looked away. I didn’t want to show how terrified I was. The policeman was coming nearer and nearer. He stopped and asked a question of a man sitting in the next row but one. After a few seconds, he had finally reached us.

‘Anything wrong officer?’ asked the lady. I could tell that she was dying to know what was going on.

The policeman looked at Suzie, who was fiddling with her purse and then me. His eyes seemed to see right through me, piercing my soul, or so I thought anyway. Then he looked at the lady.

‘Just looking for some people that might have got onto the train. Have you seen a boy and a girl alone?’

She looked at me and Suze, frowned slightly and then back at the policeman.

‘No officer, sorry I haven’t.’

‘Thanks anyway,’ replied the policeman. ‘Nice kids,’ he continued glancing at Suzie and me.

‘Yes,’ said the lady, sounding slightly puzzled.

I gave him a smile; I hoped that it wasn’t too sickly. Suzie just carried on looking in her purse, ignoring him completely. She was chewing bubble gum and made a big bubble that burst over her lips.

The policeman looked at her with obvious distaste and then carried on, shaking his head slightly. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The other policeman passed by, not even looking at us and they were soon at the other end of the carriage.

‘That was strange,’ said the lady, ‘what was all that about, I wonder?’

I shrugged.

‘Don’t know.’

‘By yourselves then?’ asked the lady.

‘Yes, our auntie is picking us up at the station.’

‘Which station?’

‘Paignton,’ I replied without thinking.

She frowned and then shook her head.

‘You shouldn’t be by yourselves on a long train journey,’

‘I’m a big girl!’ I replied indignantly.

‘Erm yes, of course,’ she replied, looking slightly flummoxed. ‘But still, you are a little young to be on a train like this without someone with you.’

‘It’s okay, Daddy and Mummy saw us onto the train and told the conductor or whatever he’s called to look out for us and Auntie is at the other end for us.’

She looked slightly mollified.

‘That’s all right then, you can’t be too careful.’

She smiled and then went back to reading her paper.

Suzie blew another bubble and I sympathised with the policeman; she was a bit disgusting sometimes!

Then I mentally kicked myself. I would have to be careful about what I said to people. I shouldn’t have said anything about our destination. I had a feeling that the policeman thought that the lady opposite was our mother or something, so we were lucky in that respect, as I was obviously dressed as a girl. He was looking for a boy and a girl, not too sweet, innocent girls. All right I wasn’t all that sweet and innocent nor was Suzie for that matter, but you know what I mean!

I hoped that our luck would continue to hold out!

The journey continued and the woman got out at the next station.

‘Look after yourselves girls,’ she said with a smile.

‘Oh we will,’ piped up Suzie with a slight smirk on her face.

I noticed the policemen got off at the same station as the woman and it was lucky that they didn’t seem to notice the fact that we weren’t with her.

That could have been awkward!

Eventually we arrived at Paignton station. That journey had seemed to take forever.

We got our things together and left the train. I was on the lookout for people on the lookout for us, if you know what I mean. No police or suspicious people that I could see. Was I being paranoid? Probably, but that was the way it was.

Then I stopped and Suzie, who was just behind, bumped into me.

‘Oof,’ she exclaimed.

At the exit gate, by the ticket collector stood a policewoman. She appeared to be scanning the crowd and it didn’t take a bright mind to work out that she was looking for someone – probably us or our father.

I grabbed Suzie by the hand.

‘Look Suze, a policewoman.’

‘Oh no.’ She groaned, ‘not again!’

Luckily, there were several people in front of us including a woman pushing a pram. I held on to Suzie and quickly walked up to the lady and followed close behind her to the barrier. I wanted to appear that we were part of her family. I got the idea from the train incident.

‘It might work.’ I thought desperately.

We were so close behind I could smell the lady’s perfume, quite nice but rather overpowering. Enough of that, I had to concentrate.

We got ever closer to the barrier. There were several small groups in front of us, including a man with a boy and girl, slightly older than us, I would say. I tried to appear unconcerned, looking at Suzie; she had zoned out and had that particular bored look on her face that Daddy always hated, especially when it was time to do the washing up or tidying her room. Of course, I never minded doing either of those chores...

Anyway, the policeman seemed rather interested in the man and his kids and he spoke to them as they walked through the barrier and then led them to the side.

Shortly after we were through and we didn’t have to use the “pretending to be with our mother” trick as the policeman was interrogating the man, who was getting a bit irate and loud. His kids looked scared and I wasn’t surprised at that as I knew how they felt!

We stood just outside the station, out of sight of prying eyes while I texted Claire with the agreed message, ‘see you soon’. She must have been waiting for my text as she answered 'ok' straight away.

A woman of few words, I thought as we left the station and looked for a taxi. Luckily, there were several in the road outside and I picked the fourth one as the driver in the third taxi looked slightly shifty.

‘Can you take us to Percival Road please?’ I asked the lady.

‘Yes, get in. Where’s is your parents?’

I don’t think that her English was very good, she appeared to be eastern European, not that that mattered.

‘At home, that’s where we’re going.’

I was getting good at this lying lark.

‘What number?’ asked the lady.

‘Sorry?’ I replied.

‘What number house at Percival Rd.’

‘Oh, Erm 7 please.’

It wasn’t 7 but I didn’t need to tell her that. Maybe the spy gene my Dad obviously had was rubbing off on me!

‘I’m hungry,’ complained Suzie.

‘We’ll eat when we get home,’ I replied.

‘What?’

‘Home, you know, where we live, Percival Rd.?’ I gave her some meaningful looks and pointed at the back of the driver.

She looked puzzled. I do wish that she paid more attention.

‘Oh right,’ she finally said, getting my meaning – at last.

The woman didn’t say much, which was good as I didn’t want to talk to her. The less said the better as far as I was concerned.

It was a bit grey and drizzly; seaside towns at that time of year were not exactly jolly in the bad weather. But, I didn’t mind as we weren’t there to holiday, but to hide.

‘I wonder what the house is like,’ whispered Suzie.

‘Don’t know, but that’s the least of our worries, now don’t say anything more. I don’t want to raise any suspicions.’

‘Her? She can hardly string two words together.’

‘Don’t be rude Suzie, I bet you couldn’t talk Latvian or whatever language her home tongue is.’

With that, Suzie went into huffy mode and just stuck her tongue out.

As we went along Suzie lapsed into silence and started playing with her Game Girl or whatever it was called. I stared out of the window, wondering how long the journey would take and thinking about Claire. Was she nice, was she pretty, what was her daughter like and finally, we were going into a trap?

Daddy trusted her, should I?

I sighed; too many questions and not enough answers.

I looked down at my skirt and smiled. At least I was able to look like a girl now. No one seemed to notice anything different about me. I had always wondered whether I would pass as a girl and it seemed that I did.

For years, I had had a recurring nightmare about me being in a crowd of people dressed as a girl and then everyone turned on me and accused me of being a boy in a dress. The ground opened up and I was swallowed up. I went down a long tube and ended up in a cellar without doors and windows. I couldn’t get out and all I could hear was the screams of my accusers echoing from above. I usually woke up sweating then, which was a good thing, considering...

Would Claire accept me as a girl and would her daughter too?

That got me thinking about how we found ourselves here in a taxi, being driven towards a house that we had never been to; to see people that we didn’t know and a future that was as uncertain as the latest boy band to hit the streets. Was I being paranoid about everybody being after us? Was the helicopter really looking for us? The policemen asking questions on the train and at the station; was that about us too or was it just a series of coincidences?

No, I didn’t believe that for a minute.

From the brief and hurried words that we exchanged in the car as we were being chased, I was convinced that our father had become involved in something rather nasty, something that meant that he was being chased and hounded. The knowledge that he had was dangerous to some rather highly placed individuals. They were using the power of the system to try to stop him and they would, I believed, stop at nothing to get their man and that included capturing us to use a lever to get him to give himself up. I had no idea whether the police force knew what was going on or if they were just following orders,

This was no good, I was going around in circles playing the “what if” game. I would know soon enough. I felt slightly nauseous, sick with worry if you like; and to cap it all I was desperate for a wee. Given the things that we were going through, it was hardly surprising.

As you can probably tell, Jennifer was not a happy bunny!

We were now in the outskirts of town and the houses were thinning out. A few moments later we pulled into a wide tree-lined road with rather large houses with long drives.

The driver pulled up outside a particularly large house and said, ‘£20.’

Looking in my purse, I gave her £20 and a £5 tip. I had no idea if that was right, but as she didn’t shout and scream at me, I assumed that she was happy with that.

We got out and grabbed our bags and seconds later we were on our own as the lady went off without a smile or goodbye.

‘She wasn’t very nice,’ remarked Suzie.

‘At least she got us here.’ I replied, ‘now we need number 16.’

We crossed the road and walked up it, looking for the right number. Whoever lived in this neighborhood was quite well off. The cars parked outside on the drives looked expensive and the houses themselves big and well looked after.

Luckily, due to the weather, we didn’t meet anyone as we walked along. I rather regretted wearing a skirt as my legs were cold, but it was a minor inconvenience that we girls had to suffer sometimes, so I put up with it without complaint. Not so, Suzie.

‘I’m cold and hungry.’

‘Not far now, look this is 14, the next one is ours.’

We went past some high hedging and then there were twin wooden gates on one was the number 16 and on the other the name “Faraway”.

We had arrived.

There was another smaller gate next to the big ones and we let ourselves in.

The gravel drive seemed like a hundred yards leading up to the house, but I think that that was because I was nervous; the drive was long, but not that long.

Was it a trap?

Were there policemen or enemy agents waiting to pounce on us and take us prisoner?

Had we made a terrible mistake?

My heart was pounding and my palms sweaty as we carried on down that ever so long drive.

Before we reached the house, the door opened and a woman stood there.

She was smiling and had her arms open.

Suddenly, everything seemed okay, as we hurried up and fell into her arms. She held us in an embrace so much like our mothers’ that I couldn’t help but cry. I wasn’t the only one crying as Suzie and Claire were at it too!

The hug seemed to go on for ages as all my worries seemed to evaporate. I felt safe for the first time since it all started.

‘Ahem.’

We detached ourselves and looking behind Claire. In the spacious hall stood a girl, one with crutches and a leg in plaster. About my age, I would say and looking very much like a younger version of her mother. She had a big frown on her face and didn’t seem too pleased to see us.

‘Oh sorry girls, this is my daughter Stephanie.’

‘Hello,’ she said in a frosty voice, ‘so, which one of you is the boy?’

‘Stephanie, don’t be so rude!’

Claire looked more than a little annoyed.

My heart sank and I was ready to cry.

‘We’re both girls, do you need glasses?’ replied Suzie indignantly.

Stephanie looked as if Suzie was something nasty that she found at the bottom of her shoe and then, she put her hand up to her mouth and suddenly giggled.

‘It’s no good, the look on your faces, it was to die for.’

‘Stephanie, that was not funny, say sorry to the girls.’

Her face fell as she mumbled, ‘sorry, just a joke. I didn’t mean to hurt you.’

Claire turned to us.

‘You’ll have to forgive my daughter; she has a rather weird sense of humour.’

‘That’s all right.’ I said, swallowing hard and trying not to blub like a kid.

I was getting very emotional at the slightest thing. It must be the girl in me.

Stephanie hobbled up on her crutches. I could tell that she wasn’t used to using them very much.

‘Look, I am sorry, I do have a strange sense of humour, I didn’t mean to upset you. I am pleased to see you both, Mummy has told me all about you and I do think that you are terribly brave to have gone through what you have and arrived here safely. I haven’t met your dad yet, but Mummy loves him, so he must be nice too.’

‘Steph, you are embarrassing me.’

‘Well you do love him, don’t you? You go all gooey eyed when you talk about him and all those long conversations you have on the phone, whispering sweet nothings. I’m surprised that you don’t have tooth decay!’

All thoughts of crying were forgotten as we all laughed at the description. Claire looked embarrassed, but I noted that she didn’t contradict her wayward daughter.

It looked like things between us were going to be ok.

Before I knew it, we were sitting down eating sandwiches and cups of tea in the rather large lounge. That is Steph, Suzie and I were snacking. Claire just sat by the window, reading a book. Evidentially, we would have a takeaway delivered in about an hour’s time, but being young, we were always hungry and never turned down food when it was offered to us!

It was strange, as no-one was talking about the situation we found ourselves in. It was as if everything was on hold until we had settled ourselves in. Even Stephanie, who looked as if she would burst if she didn’t say something, anything about what was going on, kept silent. Suzie was doing her usual impression of a Labrador, scoffing her food down as if there was no tomorrow.

After finishing our snack, I looked at Claire. She was staring out of the window. I had no idea what she was thinking about, but she looked a bit worried. She was so pretty; I could see why Daddy fell for her as she had brains as well as beauty. I hoped that we would all get on. Would Daddy marry her once we had all gotten out of this mess? I kind of hoped so I. I was desperate to be part of a whole family again.

Previously...

After finishing our snack, I looked at Claire. She was staring out of the window. I had no idea what she was thinking about, but she looked a bit worried. She was so pretty; I could see why Daddy fell for her as she had brains as well as beauty. I hoped that we would all get on. Would Daddy marry her once we had all gotten out of this mess? I kind of hoped so I. I was desperate to be part of a whole family again.

And now, the story continues...

Claire turned away from the window and saw that I had been staring at her. She smiled.

‘We had better talk, hadn’t we girls?’

I looked at the others and they both nodded.

‘OK,’ I said.

We went into the lounge which was large and had a comfy looking settee and several chairs scattered about.

I sat with Suzie on the settee while the other two sat on the chairs facing us.

‘Jen and Suzie, I suppose its best that I let you know what has been going on as far as I know it. Your father and I have been seeing each other for quite a while and it’s now no secret that we are very attached...’

‘That’s a laugh,’ piped up Steph, ‘You’re joined at the hip, stuck to each other like glue and you’re all over each other like a rash, the last time he came here, I was nearly sick...’

‘Be quiet Stephanie,’ replied Claire, looking a bit red in the face for some reason, ‘as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, your father and I are close. I will never replace your mum and I would never want to, but your father has tried to move on and that’s where I come in...’

‘And me,’ said you know who.

I couldn’t help but smile and Suzie giggled. Life would be interesting around these two!

A withering glance at Steph, shut her up and the kid made a zip motion across her mouth.

‘We didn’t want our meeting with you to be like this, but circumstances have forced this on us. Phillip contacted me a few days ago about concerns that he had been having about work. He felt that he was in some danger due to the job that he was on at present. He couldn’t give me any details as the job that he does is somewhat secret and covered under the Official Secrets Act, but what he did say was that he had uncovered something that had security implications that reached the very top of government and that he was concerned that certain people were working against the country. He wanted to tell me that he might be in some danger and that danger might involve you girls. The people that are involved would stop at nothing to get at Phillip he felt that they might try to get at him through you. If you were captured, it would be a lever to persuade your father to give himself up to them.

‘As I say, we don’t know too much regarding what this is all about but it must be something very big to make these people want to do all this. What I do know that it appears that there is a leak in an important and secret department that has resulted in people getting killed. Phillip was getting too close to the ring leaders of all this and they want him silenced.

‘I don’t know anything more but I helped Phillip to write you that letter you read in the cottage Jen and we agreed that you should both be put into safety should anything did go wrong. We agreed he would text me with a single word, should that situation arise, to let me know that he had had to take emergency measures. A high priority was to make sure that you children would not be found by what I like to call the enemy. To do this, we would try to make sure that you were in a safe place, somewhere where ‘they’ would not find you.

‘When I received the text from Phillip, I knew that the erm, crap had hit the fan and something was up. The word he texted me was Rainbows, the name of the cottage. I knew about the cottage and I also knew that the intention was to get you there if the need arose and then I would pick you up when the coast was clear. The fact that he did get you to the cottage and had managed to get away from his pursuers tells us that he is very good at his job. Unfortunately, Steph broke her leg and I didn’t feel comfortable enough to leave her.’

‘I would have managed,’ said Steph.

‘No you wouldn’t. You think that you can do all sorts of things, but you can’t with a gammy leg.

‘Whatever that is,’ I said.

She smiled.

‘Yes, as you say, whatever that is. Anyway, I had a second text from him using a burner phone, it was brief and he said that he was safe and would contact me as soon as possible. I didn’t reply, as that was agreed, but I did know that he wanted you to be with me and Steph as soon as possible and that is why I phoned you. I suppose that I could have asked someone to pick you up, but one thing that I have learned is that in these situations you trust no-one. So I had to rely on you Jen and you, of course, Suzie to get to me without being caught. The fact that you were on that train and nearly got caught makes me feel very guilty about all this.’

‘You had no choice and anyway it worked out in the end,’ I said.

‘Yes, thank goodness. Anyway, we now need to decide what to do.’

We were silent for a few seconds and then I had a thought.

‘Do these people know about you?’

Claire looked thoughtful for a moment.

‘I don’t know, but we have to assume that they know an awful lot about Philip and you girls and it is just possible that they might be aware of me and Steph too.’

‘Are the police after us?’ asked Suzie, with a scared voice.

‘I don't know honey,’ replied Claire, ‘but we have to assume the worst and assume that everyone is against us. That means that we can’t stay here. I do know that Phillip kept his personal life under wraps and he was careful that he never mentioned me or Stephanie to anyone else at work. That might give us time.’

‘The accident involving Daddy and those people that were after us was in the news. We still don't know if he’s been hurt,’ said Suzie, choking slightly.

‘I’m sure that he’s OK honey,’ said Claire soothingly.

‘Where can we go?’ I asked whilst giving Suzie’s hand a comforting squeeze.

‘I have a few ideas, but I need to make a phone call first and look some things up. I might be a while.’

With that, she left the room, leaving us girls to wonder what she had in mind.

‘I don't like all this cloak and dagger stuff,’ remarked Stephanie.

‘What’s cloak and dagger stuff Stephanie,’ asked Suzie, ‘is it dress-up?’

‘No,’ she replied laughing, ‘It’s about secret phone calls and hiding things, stuff like that. Mum’s doing that a lot lately and don’t call me Stephanie, I prefer Steph. Mum calls me Stephanie when I’ve done something wrong.’

‘Do you often do something wrong” I asked.

‘Mum thinks so, but I don’t agree.’

We all laughed. I could see that things would be interesting around Steph!

‘So,’ Steph asked me, changing the subject suddenly, ‘when did you find out that you were a girl and not a yucky boy?’

‘I don’t know really. It wasn’t as if I just woke up one day and decided that I was a girl, I suppose it kind of crept up on me. As far as I remember, I’ve always felt like this.’

‘She’s more girly than me,’ said Suzie, ‘and that’s saying something.’

‘Come on Suze, you’re more girlie than the girliest girl I know.’

‘Not,’

‘Am.’

‘Not.’

‘Am…’

‘Oy, you two, button it. You are both girlie, let’s leave it at that. I hope that it’s not catching. I like being a girl, but I’m not over fussed about sugar and spice and all things nice!’

‘Are you a tomboy then?’ asked Suzie.

‘Do I look like a tomboy? Of course not, it’s just that I don’t want to look like a Barbie Girl. Anyway Jennifer, do you like boys or girls or both?’

I felt myself go red in the face.

‘I…I don’t know.’

‘Boys are yuk,’ said Suzie firmly.

I must admit to thinking about it occasionally. I was young, but I had started recently to think about these things. I had even had the occasional weak, floppy erection, but there was no way I was going to mention that to these two or anyone else for that matter! Time enough to think about that embarrassing subject later…much later.

We moved on to other less embarrassing things, as we talked about what music, games and importantly, what clothes we liked to wear...

Claire was gone for ages and we finally decided to play a board game, nothing technical, just snakes and ladders. Believe it or not, we really got into it and I swear that the others were trying to out-cheat each other, whilst I, of course, played the game with a straight bat as Daddy used to say.

Just then, Claire came back.

‘What’s happening Mum?’ asked Steph.

‘I can’t get a reply; I’ll try a bit later.’

‘Who were you calling then?’ asked Steph.

‘Never mind, I’ll tell you later. Now girls, I need to arrange a few things. Make yourselves useful and go and do the washing up, oh and tidy up the kitchen while you’re at it.’

‘I can’t do anything, my leg is in plaster,’ said Steph smugly.

‘Your arm isn’t in plaster young lady, you can sit down and do the drying up.’

‘Not fair.’

‘Who said it was?’

Claire went back upstairs leaving a grumbling Steph, Suzie and I to do the menial chores.

The TV was on in the kitchen and after a few minutes, the news was on. After a while, I heard something over the constant ‘not fair’ moaning coming from the ever whinging Steph.

Police are looking for a man believed to be involved in an accident yesterday on the bypass at Nettlesham. There were two cars involved, a Range Rover and a Jaguar. The Range Rover had two occupants, one man died at the scene and the other later died in hospital. The driver of the Jaguar left the scene before the emergency services arrived. We now know the name of the missing driver; it is Phillip Marshal aged 34, six feet tall with dark blond hair. The police are anxious to find him as he might be injured and also, he left the scene of the accident without reporting it. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Mr Marshal, please contact the police. And now, Chester Zoo has a new giraffe calf…’

‘MUM!’ shouted Steph.

Claire hurried into the room.

‘I saw it upstairs,’ she said, ‘now we know that the police are definitely after Phillip. We don’t know what the police have been told, but we have to assume that Phillip is considered a wanted man, not only by the police, but by others, possibly in the government who want to silence him. I wish I knew a bit more about what they are frightened of, Phillip wouldn’t tell me anything other than there are moles in the departments he was investigating. He probably shouldn’t have told me even that, official secrets and all that.’

‘Daddy just said that he was a civil servant and we kind to thought that he had an office job,’ I said, ‘it was only when all this nasty stuff hit the fan that he decided to tell us a bit more and we realised that he hadn’t been telling the truth before that.’

‘He didn’t have a choice,’ said Claire,’ it’s a very serious thing when you sign the Official Secrets Act, you can go to prison if you divulge anything you shouldn’t, even to family. Look I’m going to try to make that phone call again.’

She left the room hurriedly leaving us to wonder who she was actually trying to contact.

Claire didn’t come back in and we just sat around for a while, getting a bit bored. Snakes and ladders were getting a bit old hat and we were more than a little worried about what might happen to us, or rather Steph and I was worried. Suzie didn’t seem that worried though, almost as if it was water over a ducks back. She was like that sometimes, not bothered and then very bothered in the space of a few minutes.

Eventually, we watched a silly movie about a boy who turned into Spiderman after being bitten by a radioactive spider. I ask you, who thinks up these things?

I must have dropped off, because I was shaken awake by Suzie.

‘Whaaa?’

‘Wake up silly,’

Claire was in the room and the TV had been switched off. She looked worried, so did Steph.

‘Right, I have been able to get things sorted out. Jen and Suzie, your clothes are more or less packed and I have packed some things for Steph and me to take. I want you all to collect your stuff and put it in the back of the people carrier. It’s a good job we have a big enough car for what we need. Now don't ask any questions about where we are going, it’s a surprise and we all like surprises don't we?’

‘It depends on what it is,’ grumbled Steph.

‘Don’t start Stephanie; just do as you are told for once. We haven’t got time to muck about.’

I wanted to ask questions but I didn’t. I think I knew why Claire didn’t tell us where we were going. What we didn’t know, we couldn’t tell if any of us were caught. Not a very nice thought that. It wasn’t about trust, it was about security.

Very soon after that, we left the house and were on our way. Getting Steph into the car with her broken leg was fun, but we soon all settled in. I think that she liked all the fuss and the fact that she had a feeble excuse not to help with loading the car. We were told as we moved off that it was a long drive and that we might not get to wherever we were going before dark.

‘We’ll stop at some services for a break and something to eat, but I don't want to stop for too long,’ said Claire as we moved off.

‘Enough of the break references please!’ said Steph in a pained voice.

‘Oh don’t be such a wimp Stephanie,’ replied her sympathetic mother.

‘Hmmph.’

It might have been me, but once we left the side roads and got onto the motorway, I seemed to see police everywhere, in cars, vans and there was even a convoy of six police motorbikes rushing past as we hit the motorway. I also saw several helicopters overhead, or, I suppose it could have been the same one crisscrossing the motorway. It couldn’t have anything to do with us could it?

Nah.

Motorway driving, as far as I am concerned, is boring and I soon reached for my air pods and started to listen to some music on my phone. Steph was doing the same, but Suzie just looked out of the window and watched the world go by. As Claire drove, she had Radio 2 on, listening for traffic reports and possibly other information more personal to us.

We were heading for the West Country and that was about as far as I knew. I wondered where we were going more than once, but Claire was tight-lipped and wouldn’t give the game away.

After about an hour and a half, we pulled into the services and got out to stretch our legs or in Steph case, leg.

We all needed to use the loo and I could see that Claire was worried about that. Stephanie’s leg was a problem, she couldn’t go fast on crutches and we would obviously draw attention to ourselves. We couldn’t just sneak in and out.

In the end, I went in with Steph, as they, whoever they were, would be looking for a boy and a girl and not two girls, one with a leg in plaster. Claire would go in after a few minutes with Suzie. We would meet up, back at the car. Claire and Suzie would get a takeaway and we would eat in the car. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best that we could come up with.

I was a bit concerned as there appeared to be quite a police presence at the services. There were several police cars dotted around and in the service area; there were policemen and women seemingly looking at everyone with beady searching eyes. A few family groups were being questioned. I noted that the groups included a boy and a girl about our ages. Anything to do with us? Well, I don’t believe in coincidences. The sooner we were out of there the better. I didn’t want to ride our luck. However, despite my worries, everything went swimmingly well and we weren’t accosted by suspicious policepersons.

The only other thing had concerned me was that it was the first time that I had used the women’s toilet. Surprisingly, it was a lot cleaner and less smelly than the men’s loo and that was a bonus as far as I was concerned. I didn’t have to worry about standing up to wee as I had always sat down in a cubicle and it was second nature to me as I tended to sprinkle when I tinkle! Anyway, I would never use horrid urinals in public toilets as a matter of principal. Steph used the disabled one and I didn’t ask how she managed to go. After all, it wasn’t the sort of question you ask, However, I did hear a few unladylike remarks and exclamations coming from behind the door and she did look a bit flustered when she came out and I had to suppress a giggle!

‘What are you laughing at?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Hmm.’

I noticed that a lot of women and some girls were using the mirrors to freshen themselves up and I followed Steph’s lead and tried to do the same with the meagre resources that I had in my shoulder bag (borrowed from Steph who had a least seven at her disposal at home). We finally finished titivating ourselves using the huge mirror and left the toilets, braving the suspicious police presence as we made our way out of the services. Luckily it was quite busy and I don’t think that we drew attention to ourselves as we quickly made our way back to the car. Shortly afterwards, Claire and Suzie arrived and we were tucking into some healthy burgers and fries, washed down with milkshakes and cokes.

We discussed why the police were there in such large numbers and the consensus was that they were looking for us, that is Suze and me. So it wasn’t just me being paranoid – they were out to get us!

After we had finished feeding our faces, we were on our way again. Suzie did ask how much further several times, but all Claire said was that we were about half way and we would be there soon enough.

It was all very mysterious and not in a good way.

We passed a few places where the traffic went into a single file, causing snarl-ups and some very cross drivers. At one point we ground to a halt for several minutes and then the traffic crawled along for what seemed to be several miles. Before I saw it, I sort of suspected that there was something up as police cars and bikes were hurrying along in the other direction and then a few minutes later, on the hard shoulder going our way. They must have doubled back using the roundabout a couple of miles down the road.

Sure enough, up ahead, there was a sort of roadblock, where cars were stopped and a number of policemen were peering into windows to see who was in there.

‘Act normally girls,’ said Claire, her voice quivering slightly as we moved nearer and nearer to the front.

I wondered in passing why we hadn’t heard anything about the holdup on the radio traffic reports. Also, the satnav didn’t flag up delays. Were there delays on other roads? Was there some sort of news blackout going on and why didn’t the satnav tell us of a delay? All these unanswered questions went out of my head as we got ever nearer to the roadblock.

A few cars had been pulled out of the queue and were surrounded by the men and women in blue.

We crept forward. I held Suzie’s hand. She seemed a bit out of it, almost bored. Steph looked scared though and I could see that if we weren’t careful, we would draw attention to ourselves.

As we drew ever nearer, I got more and more frightened. What if they realised who we were? It was as bad as on the train, if not worse.

There were only a few cars and a lorry in front of us now. I wondered if we could make a run for it and if we did, how far would we get? Totally illogical thought, as we would have been caught before we had gone even a few yards.

I had to do something, anything. I was convinced that the game was up and we would get hauled off to jail or something worse. Looking at Steph, I could see the fear in her face. Claire was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her hands looked white. Suzie looked out of the rear window and waving at some kid behind. What was she like? Nuts if you ask me.

Two cars in front now and I thought that I could see the whites of a policeman’s eyes. He didn’t look happy.

What could I do? There must be something.

I did the only thing that seemed logical.

I started singing Ten Green Bottles.

The others looked at me as if I was mad and Claire started to say shut up when she cottoned on and started singing with me. The others finally got in on the act and soon we were all singing, one off-key, but I name no names.

Ten green bottles hanging on the wall,
Ten green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be nine green bottles hanging on the wall.

Nine green bottles hanging on the wall,
Nine green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be eight green bottles hanging on the wall...

One car in front; he was waved through.

And then it was our turn and we pulled up beside the man in blue.

We didn’t stop singing.

The policeman looked into the car, smiled, shook his head and waved us on.

We had made it!

‘What was that all about?’ asked Suzie.

I looked at her.

‘Didn’t you realise that they might have been looking for us?’

‘No, yes, well, I sort of worried a bit because of what happened before on the train and that, but surely we aren’t important enough to block a motorway.’

‘Don’t call me Shirley, anyway you did sing with us.’

‘I know, only because you all did. I hate that song; they used to sing it at school. It’s so boring and anyway, who sang off key?’

I do wonder what planet she’s on sometimes.

We carried on our journey and my heart gradually stopped thumping in my chest. The road was fairly clear because the roadblock behind had lessened the traffic and we were able to make good progress. We didn’t talk about the roadblock or anything else of interest for that matter. Claire was quiet and I could tell by her eyes reflected in the rearview mirror that she was worried. She had the radio on and there was still no news about us or the roadblock. Maybe no news was good news? Or perhaps there was some sort of sinister news blackout.

I think that my paranoia now had knobs on!

Steph kept on asking where we were going and when would we get there, but Claire just kept saying that we would get there soon enough and stop asking stupid questions.

And so the journey went on and on and on and before I knew it, I was asleep.

There was a slight bump in the road and I woke up. The others were still asleep, apart from Claire of course.

Claire signalled and we went through some rather imposing gates and down a long gravel drive. In the distance, I could see the sea, glinting in the late afternoon sunshine. We seemed to go a long way along the drive and it twisted and turned a bit. My parents once took me to a large country estate run by The National Trust, with gardens, lakes and a huge mansion and this was very similar. I noted in passing that there seemed to be a fair number of molehills dotted about on the lawn. I wondered if Claire had brought us here, as she was a member of the National Trust and maybe wanted to break the journey or something.

We turned a corner and there suddenly in front of us was a large mansion. It looked like something out of Pride and Prejudice and I wondered if Darcy lived there. To the left was a large lake with ducks and swans and a fountain that shot water high up into the air.

The car stopped outside the imposing double doors.

‘Eh what?’ said Steph,

Suzie yawned and stretched and then looked out of the window.

‘Where are we?’ she asked.

‘Oh bum... Mum, not here,’ exclaimed Stephanie.

‘Yes here, we’ll be safe.’

‘But she’s so strict and she shouts at me when I do something wrong and she makes me tidy up after me and...’

‘Be quiet, Stephanie.’

‘Oh Mum!’

The double doors of the mansion suddenly opened and a lady came out accompanied by a dog. A Labradoodle, I think. To the right of the mansion were several large trees. In those trees were some birds. The birds took flight and disappeared over the lake and into the far distance. The lake appeared to have lost its swans and ducks too.

Very strange.

The lady was bizarrely carrying a doubled barrelled shotgun. She looked like she was anything between fifty and a hundred years, but she was very sprightly, whatever her age. She looked like she had just got back from the Queens Garden Party, only I don’t think that you are allowed to have shotguns at functions like that. Behind her, was a man that looked a bit like what I think a butler looked like. He seemed harassed for some reason.

The lady strode over to the car and pulled the passenger car door open.

‘You’re here then? What kept yer?’ Anyway, welcome ter Penmarris.’

‘Hello Auntie Dotty,’ said Stephanie in a world-weary voice.

Previously...

The double doors of the mansion suddenly opened and a lady came out accompanied by a dog. A Labradoodle, I think. To the right of the mansion were several large trees. In those trees were some birds. The birds took flight and disappeared over the lake and into the far distance. The lake appeared to have lost its swans and ducks too.

Very strange.

The lady was bizarrely carrying a doubled barrelled shotgun. She looked like she was anything between fifty and a hundred years, but she was very sprightly, whatever her age. She looked like she had just got back from the Queens Garden Party, only I don’t think that you are allowed to have shotguns at functions like that. Behind her, was a man that looked a bit like what I think a butler looked like. He seemed harassed for some reason.

The lady strode over to the car and pulled the passenger car door open.

‘You’re here then? What kept yer?’ Anyway, welcome ter Penmarris.’

‘Hello Auntie Dotty,’ said Stephanie in a world-weary voice.

And now the story continues...

I was puzzled, so was Suzie. What were we doing there? Who was this Dotty character, she looked larger than life and a bit intimidating to say the least.

Claire got out of the car, followed by a struggling Steph and then Suzie and me.

This Dotty person then took charge.

‘Hello young Claire, what the hell have yer bein’ doin’ with yerself now. Got inter trouble again? I remember when you were a little sprog, yer went orf with me second best pony and jumped her over half a dozen fences and hedges before fallin’ a over t and comin back with yer tail between yer legs. It took Beecham two hours to find the pony, he nearly ended up in Cornwall.’

‘Hello Auntie Dotty,’ said Claire in a tired voice, ‘this is Jennifer and Suzie.’

Her eyes fell on us. She didn’t look amused. I was a bit scared of her, but Suzie just seemed to take it all in her stride.

‘Nice place,’ she said, looking around, chewing bubblegum and making a large bubble.

‘Hmm,’ replied the Dotty person, ‘Are you American?’

‘What? No English,’ said Suzie.

‘Eisenhower used ter chew gum. Told him it would rot his teeth.’

‘Who’s Isenthingie?’

Miss or Mrs Dotty sighed and turned her somewhat jaundiced eyes on me.

‘Jennifer?’

‘Yes Ma’am.’

‘None of that Ma’am nonsense. You may call me Auntie Dotty. Not that I am dotty, as sane as anyone else, it’s just my nickname from school. Well Stephanie, what the hell have yer done with yer leg?’

‘Broke it Auntie.’

‘Bloody stupid thing ter do. But yer always was clumsy. Anyway, enough of this politeness, you had better all come in. Jenkins, get the cases sorted out.’

‘Yes, milady,’ replied the unflappable looking butler type.

As we all trooped in, I looked at Steph who was hanging back a bit, not helped by the fact that she was hindered by her crutches.

I fell behind to speak to her.

‘God, she’s scary,’ I said.

‘Her bite’s much worse than her bark,’ said Stephanie.

‘Shouldn’t that be the other way around?’

‘No.’

Steph would not elaborate and we went inside the house, mansion, whatever.

The hall was like one of those National Trust places that Daddy used to drag us around when he felt that we needed a bit of culture. There were huge ceilings painted with cherubs and other religiousy things, marble pillars and floors, and an impressive looking sweeping staircase. I would not have been surprised to see a gaggle of camera-toting Japanese tourists with a guide holding a brightly coloured umbrella over his or her head...

‘Don’t dawdle,’ barked erm, Auntie Dotty, who strode on ahead, her Labrawhatsit keeping pace with her.

Just then, I looked up as a girl came into view, sliding down the bannisters at an alarming rate, making a sort of whooping noise and braking to a stop just before hitting the bobbly thing at the end.

‘Sarah Fairbairn, what the hell are yer doin’?

The girl brushed down her skirt and looking up and grinned.

‘Sorry Mummy, I must have slipped.’

‘Yer walk down the stairs girl, that was what it was made fer.’

‘You used to do it when you were a kid, the gardener told me.’

‘Never mind that. We have guests.’

‘Oh, hello you lot. Auntie Claire, Stephanie.’

She turned to Suzie and me.

‘I’m Sarah, you must be Jennifer and Suzie.’

‘Yes,’ I replied. Suzie just blew another gum bubble and nodded.

I wondered what had gotten into her; she was behaving like a brat.

‘Sarah, why don’t you show the girls to their rooms while I chat ter Claire?’

‘OK Mummy, come on you lot.’

With that, she rushed off upstairs and we followed, trying to keep up. Steph, bless her, was struggling to get up the stairs and I noticed that the butler was helping her otherwise I, being a nice person, would have assisted her like the Good Samaritan that was.

I tried to speak to Suzie as we walked or shall I say nearly ran up the stairs to keep in touch with the rapidly disappearing Sarah, but she was having none of it and just shook her head and blew another one of her damned bubbles! Then she scowled and looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Sisters eh?

The house, sorry mansion was huge, I wondered how many rooms it had. We went along corridors with sombre pictures of what I assumed were long-deceased relatives on the walls and I marvelled how plush the whole place was. The floors were thickly carpeted and the walls and ceilings were expensively decorated. It all must have been hell to clean!

Sarah came back to find us.

‘Come on you lot,’ she said impatiently.

I wondered why she was in a hurry. Eventually, we came to the end of a corridor and she opened one of the doors.

‘This is yours Suzie,’

Suzie mumbled her thanks and went into the room and slammed the door behind her.

‘What’s up with her?’ asked Sarah.

I just shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea what had gotten into her, she was normally nice, friendly and cheerful. At the moment she was like a bear with a sore head.

‘Anyway, this is your room,’ she said as she opened the next door along.

‘I’m across the hall and Steph is next to me. We can have a good chat when the olds have gone to bed. They are on the next floor above and we shouldn’t be disturbed. I do hate it when the olds tell us to go to bed at an ungodly hour like 10 o’clock. They stay up later and I don’t see why we can’t too. Anyway, I have to go and see Mummy; I’ll see you later when you’ve settled in. I think that Cook has arranged some sort of supper, so I’ll go and find out about that too. I don’t know, always on the go.’

She turned away and then, looked back.

‘You might want to go and see what’s up with your sister. She’s got a bit of an attitude prob and that’s a bit thick coming from me!’

With that, she smiled and scooted off at a hundred miles an hour. I wondered if that girl could actually walk anywhere!

It was a nice room, quite light and airy, not dark and dismal like you would expect in a place like this. The bed was large, a double and when I sat on it, it was nice and soft. When I went into the en-suite (yes it one of those too –cool or what?) it was all plush marble and had a roll-top bath, a shower and all the usual stuff, all done in the best possible taste. I could get used to all this.

Somehow, my bags had been put into the room. I didn’t know how that happened as we had only just arrived and we were shown up to our rooms as soon as we got here. Maybe some secret short cuts used by staff on motorbikes? I didn’t know, but I was well impressed!

You might think that I had stopped worrying about Daddy. Well, I hadn’t and thoughts of him and where he might be was at the back of my mind all the time. I was just trying to stay positive, hard though that was. I did wonder if that was why Suzie was acting the way she was and I decided that it was about time I went to see her.

I went over and opened the door and then went down the short corridor to next door.

I knocked and tried to enter. The door was locked.

‘Suzie.’ I called out.

‘Go away!’

She sounded upset.

‘Suzie, open the door, please.’

‘No. erm go and get Claire, please!’

I felt hurt at that. We were close, very close and she preferred Claire rather than me.

‘OK,’ I said sadly, turning away.

As I went downstairs, I got a bit lost but there were a few people about that I took to be servants or footmen and I was soon pointed in the right direction.

I think that I needed to get a scooter or something, as the place was humongous. Anyway, after walking several miles (well it seemed that way), I arrived at a door where yet another servant type was standing outside and looking a bit bored.

I could hear Auntie Dotty through the door as she had a voice that could cut through fog.

‘…so I said to Lilibet, you shouldn’t take any nonsense from Phillip, he’s only a man…’

The Footman or whatever opened the door.

‘Miss Jennifer, ma’am.’

I liked that, it sounded a bit posh like, you know?

‘Come in then, don’t stand outside like a flamin’ lurker.’

I went in.

It was a large room. Every room seemed large, heck, even the toilets were huge. Anyway, it appeared to be a library, well it had loads of books. Bit of a giveaway that.

Claire was sitting by the fireplace on a deep sofa and opposite her was Auntie Dotty who looked at me enquiringly.

‘Settled in then? Like the room? Good, now what are ye after. Has that pest Sarah been up ter her tricks again? That girl should be put to the stocks for what she puts me through. I didn’t have as much grey hair on me head before she came ter me…enough of that.’

I looked at Claire; she seemed happy enough to be there and didn’t seem fazed by what Auntie Dotty said.

‘Erm Claire, Suzie wants you?’

‘Oh why, is there something wrong?’

‘I don't know, she doesn’t want to talk to me, she won’t even open the door.’

‘I’ll go up, sorry Auntie.’

‘No problem, go and see what’s up with the child. IN my day Nanny world have sorted her out. Come and sit down Jennifer and let’s have a little chat.’

I felt a bit like Little Red Riding Hood having an unpleasant encounter with The Big Bad wolf.

She tapped on the seat next to her with a bejewelled hand and with some foreboding, if that’s the word, I sat beside her, tucking my skirt under me as a good girl should.

‘Right, are ye settling in all right?’

‘Yes thank you Ma’am.’

‘I told yer ter call me Auntie Dotty, are ye deaf or something?’

I think that I had been bottling up for a long time, what with all that had happened to Suzie and me. The worry about Daddy and then having to try to keep out of the clutches of I didn’t know who. The constant pressure on my shoulders and now Suzie throwing a wobbly and not speaking to me, all took their toll and I just burst into tears.

I held my head in my hands and rocked backwards and forwards. It was all too much and now the lady, who I didn’t know from Adam or Eve come to that, was speaking to me sharply. I cried my eyes out.

Suddenly I was being held and I just sunk into a soft embrace.

‘There, there Dear, don’t mind me, I didn’t mean to be sharp. It’s just my way of speakin’. I know that you have been through it. Don’t worry, yer safe here, I won’t let anybody get ter yer. I’m sure yer fathers is safe. From what I’ve heard, he knows how ter handle himself…’

She said a lot more, much of which I didn’t take in fully, but I felt her kindness and from that point on, I started to like her and not feel afraid. It wasn’t as Samantha said, her bark was much worse than her bite, not the other way around.

After a bit, I pulled myself together and I had a cup of tea. Proper bone china with a cup and saucer, not a mug, never a mug.

Auntie sipped her tea and then looked at me.

‘Feelin’ a bit better?’

‘Yes thanks Auntie.’

‘That’s the ticket. Now, I’ve heard from Claire about yer problems but would yer care ter tell me?’

She seemed to care and I was sure that Claire would have told her about my somewhat unique situation, but I told her everything. It helped to talk and I needed to unburden myself and she had a sympathetic ear, once you went beneath the surface shell of her rather weird personality.

‘You erm, know that I’m officially in the eyes of the law, a boy?’

‘Yes, Claire told me, but I don’t see any signs of a boy. How long have yer felt like this?’

‘Since I was little. I can’t say exactly when I knew that I was sort of in the wrong body. I suppose that it crept up on me. I was sad that people were treating me as a boy when I always knew deep inside that I was a girl and I always would be, no matter what the world thought.’

‘I heard about yer mother, sorry ter hear that. Yer father knows about you then?’

‘Yes, it was a surprise, he told me in the letter he wrote after he…he…’

I’m afraid that I broke down again. All this girlie crying was all very well, but it does break up the conversation a bit.

‘So Jennifer, you have had ter cope with yer gender problems and then on top of that yer father bein’ chased around the country and you worryin’ about whether you and yer sister might be caught up in all the mess?’

I nodded, not wanting to speak about it.

‘Right young lady, let me tell yer this, you are safe here and you will love it. Penmarris is a great place ter stay and everyone is friendly and will look after yer back. We have plenty of support and yer never need worry about any nasties getting to yer. For the time bein’ no-one other than the people here knows who yer are and that is the way we’ll keep it until we know it’s safe for yer. As far as anyone else is concerned, you and Suzie are my great-nieces, as is Stephanie. You have come to stay with me for a while.’

‘Thank you Auntie,’ I replied giving her a hug.

‘Enough of that young Jennifer, the staff might walk in and I have ter keep up appearances, now, shove off and get yerself settled fer the night. Yer look all done in.’

I kissed her on the cheek, got up and ran off. Just stopping at the door and turning back.

‘I think that you are very nice but you shouldn’t try to kill moles.’

I shut the door quickly and I think that I heard her laugh!

I went back upstairs, only getting lost once. I managed to find my room though and I was just about to go in when…

‘Jen, there you are, how did you get on with Auntie?’

I turned to see Stephanie coming out of her room.

‘She’s nice and she listened to me when I started to get upset.’

‘Yes, she can be sweet, but don’t get on her wrong side; she’s scarier than the scariest thing you can think of.’

‘OK, I’ll remember that – I think.’

‘Where’s Suzie?’

‘In her bedroom with your mum.’

‘Wonder what that’s about. Mind you, Suze is acting a bit strange…I wonder?’

‘What?’

‘Never mind; is your room all right?’

‘Yes, it’s neat.’ I replied, noting the swift change of subject.

‘Mmm, not bad this place for an ancient pile. Anyway, I have to go and see Mrs Bridges, the cook. She keeps forgetting that I don’t like greens.’

‘Do you come here often?’

‘Only when I have to. Mind you, the gang are good?’

‘Who are the gang?’

‘Oh, you’ll meet then sometime soon. They are the kids who live in the village and of course, there’s Sarah, Auntie’s daughter, she’s a laugh,’

‘So Auntie is really your Aunt?’

‘No, Great Aunt. Mum’s her niece.’

‘It's all confusing.’

‘Tell me about it. Anyway, see you later.’

I watched her clump off on her crutches, then I went into my room and closed the door. Going over to the window, I looked out at the scenery, but my mind was more about Suzie. I was quite worried about her and didn’t know what to do. I sort of promised Daddy that I would look after her and I felt that I was letting her down a bit. Also, I admitted to myself that I was a bit jealous of Claire as Suze wanted to see her and not me. Silly, I know, but that was the way it was.

I sat on the bed feeling a bit sorry for myself. Things were not going too well. Alright, we appeared to be safe in this lovely place, but I was so worried about Daddy and now Suzie. Why were things so difficult…

There was a knock on the door.

‘Come in.’

The door opened and Claire walked.

‘Hi Jen, are you OK?’

‘Yes, I suppose.’ I replied, not able to keep the sadness out of my voice.

‘Worried about Suzie?’

‘Mmm.’

She came over and sat on the bed beside me.

‘Suzie isn’t feeling herself at the moment.’

‘Is she ill?’ I asked in alarm.

‘No, well she doesn’t feel very bright but that is because she is having her first monthly visitor.’

I felt a stab of fear.

‘Sorry, what visitor is that? No-one knows we are here!’

She smiled.

‘Not that kind of visitor. Do you know what periods are?’

‘Periods, what… oh. She’s too young isn’t she?’

‘No, she’s about the right age, some are younger and some are older. That is why she’s been a bit off. The poor kid doesn’t know if she’s coming or going.’

I felt so sorry for Suzie. It was the one part of being a girl that I would definitely not miss. Alright, I would like to be a mother and that is what you need to go through to be a birth mother, but I would just be as happy to adopt. There are so many kids who don't have parents for one reason or another, anyway enough of that. This was about Suzie, not me.

‘She was embarrassed to tell you. Not because she didn’t love or trust you, but because she wasn’t sure what to do and didn’t have a mum to talk to and give her instructions. She did learn a lot at school, but evidently, she missed out on that part of the birds and bees lessons because she had the mumps. All she had to go on was what the girls told her and she didn’t believe them as it all seemed far fetched. She did go online but got scared away by the horror stories. Google isn’t always your friend.’

‘Tell me about it. I looked at some horrid things online about trans problems. I got very embarrassed at some of the sites I came across. Poor Suze. Is she OK now?’

‘Yes, I’ve put her straight and given her some things. Don’t pay any attention to her being a bit grumpy for the next few days.’

Just then, Stephanie barged in, her crutches clomping, if that is the word, noisily on the polished wooden floor.

‘Stephanie, you should knock?’ said Claire.

‘Yeah, I know, whatever. So what’s the gos?’

‘Gos?’

‘Yea, gos, you know gossip.’

‘Never mind that. Have you put all your clothes away and is your room tidy?’

‘Of course.’

‘So if I go in there now, it will be all clean and tidy?’

‘Erm, I gotta go, something to do.’

With that, she left in a bit of a hurry.

Claire shook her head, mumbled something under her breath and then turned to me.

‘Have a nice chat with Auntie Dotty?’

‘Yes, she nice under that hard shell.’

‘Yes, she’s been good to me and a lot of others hereabouts. It's nice that she’s agreed to put us up.’

Just then, a mobile started ringing.

We both looked around. On the bedside cabinet, my burner phone was ringing and vibrating.

I stood up and went over to it.

The screen said, unknown caller.

‘Shall I answer it?’

‘Yes, there is only one person other than us who knows that number.’

With shaking hands, I picked the phone up and pressed the answer button.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi Jennifer, it’s me.’

‘DADDY!’

Previously...

Just then, a mobile started ringing.

We both looked around. On the bedside cabinet, my burner phone was ringing and vibrating.

I stood up and went over to it.

The screen said, unknown caller.

‘Shall I answer it?’

‘Yes, there is only one person other than us who knows that number.’

With shaking hands, I picked the phone up and pressed the answer button.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi Jennifer, it’s me.’

‘DADDY!’

And now the story continues...

‘Hello darling, I haven’t much time. Are you all safe?’

‘Yes Daddy.’

‘Daddy, it’s a long time since you called me that. You now are Jennifer then?’

‘Always really. How are you Daddy, we’ve been so worried about you?’

‘I’m fine except I have a broken arm, rib and some cuts and bruises from the car crash. Did you know about that?’

‘Yes, it was all over the news. Daddy, we have gone into hiding, we’re with Claire and her daughter. We’re staying with…’

‘Don’t tell me Jennifer, if I don’t know then I can’t tell. I’m in a fairly safe place with loyal friends. Its all a bit of a mess, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I may be out of touch for a while, but don’t worry and do everything that Claire tells you to do. Where’s Suzie?’

‘In her room, shall I go and get her?’

‘Yes, but be quick. Let me speak to Claire.’

‘OK, Daddy.’

I handed over the phone to Claire and rushed out to get my sister.

I knocked on her door. After a few seconds, she opened it and peered out. It looked like she had been crying.

‘Quick, Daddy’s on the phone. In my room.’

Her face lit up and we ran back to my room. Claire was deep in conversation but just said a quick goodbye to Daddy and then handed the phone over to Suzie.’

‘DADDY! Where are you what are you doing? When I are you coming home, what…’

Suzie went quiet for a moment.

‘Yes but….yes, but… when? Why? I miss you…. Yes, Jen is very pretty, much nicer than when she pretended to be a boy. Claire is brill. OK Daddy, here’s Jen.’

She passed the phone to me, looking happier than I had seen her in a long time and then, after giving a surprised Claire a hug, she left the room.

‘Jennifer?’

‘Yes Daddy?’

‘I have to go now but as I said before, don’t worry, things will work themselves out. Try to stay safe and not draw attention to yourself and the same goes for Suzie, you need to keep under the radar and not be seen by anyone who could do us harm. Can you do that for me?’

‘Yes Daddy. I have been so worried about you and it seems like we have been targeted. There were searches near the cottage and on the train to here…’

‘Don’t tell me anything more, I don’t trust even burner phones at the moment. I won’t be using this one again and when I next speak to you, I may even be out of the country. Anyway, I have to go now but let me have a word with Claire again. I love you honey. I think that you are a lovely girl and I know that your mum thought so too.’

‘B…bye Daddy.’

‘Bye sweetheart,’

I handed the phone over to Claire and then left them to it. I went back to my room and sat on my bed. I so missed my father but I was pleased that he was safe and that he appeared confident that he would be getting out of this horrid mess soon. I would do as he said and try to keep Suzie and me out of sight and out of trouble. How easy or hard that would be, I would no doubt find out.

That night, I lay in bed wondering what would happen to us. I was a born worrier and could imagine all sorts of nasty things happening to us from being caught by undesirables to being assassinated and everything in between.

To take my mind off of things, things that I didn’t really want to mull over, I marvelled at the fact that everyone was so accepting of my, shall we say, change of status. It was wonderful that I could dress as a girl. All the time, when I was pretending to be a boy, I was so unhappy that I couldn’t be seen to be as the person I really was, a girl. When I dressed in secret, I was constantly worried about being caught out. Then there was the frank envy and jealousy that I had for other girls who could dress as they liked. Girls could wear shirts, jeans and other boy style clothes but boys couldn’t. it was so unfair.

But it wasn’t all about the clothes, it never was. Boys shouldn’t show their feelings or cry or even show emotions when watching soppy (their words) films. Boys are expected to be tough and strong. Alright some girls are tough and strong and that’s fair enough, but I wasn’t one of them. I had always felt that I was a girlie-girl and I don’t care what anyone else thinks. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t defend those that I loved and that I wouldn’t make tough decisions when I had to, but that was out of necessity not choice.

Eventually, I grew tired and before I knew it I was asleep.

The next morning, I was awoken rudely by someone jumping on my bed.

‘Jen, wake up, its breakfast in half an hour and Auntie Dotty is strict about timekeeping or so Sarah says.’

I opened up a gummy eye and there she was, Suzie, looking perkier than I had seen her in a while, although I didn’t like the look of her eyes. She looked like she had been crying as they were all puffy.

‘Go away, I’m sleepy.’

‘Come on Jen, you don't want to get into Auntie’s bad books.’

She pulled off my covers, leaving me shivery as it wasn’t very warm in my room.

‘Alright alright, I’m getting up.’

With that, she shot off out the door as I threw a pillow at her and missed.

I wasn’t at my best in the mornings, as you would have gathered.

I got up and padded over to the bathroom, feeling decidedly chilly in my thin strappy nightie.

I had a quick shower, wearing a shower hat thingie as I didn’t want to have to dry my hair. At least the water was hot. I would have to ask someone about having a fire in my room. In the fireplace obviously dah!

Eventually, I was ready, wearing a nice white top and black skirt, looking every inch (I thought,) a nicely brought up and well-scrubbed girl. After walking what seemed to be endless corridors and countless flights of stairs, I entered the breakfast room to find everyone already there and Auntie looking very pointedly at her watch. I ignored her as I was at least thirty seconds from being late.

Anyway, I thought that it was fashionable for ladies to be late. Mind you, I was no lady, just a goil!

There were several waiter/waitress types milling about and we were served quietly and efficiently overlooked by the butler. I noticed that the others were saying nothing and I assumed that this was the custom.

We all tucked in to the food and after coffee, juice and other drinks were served and the plates were whisked away, we were left to ourselves.

We all looked at each other. I had a feeling that we were going to have a discussion about what we were going to do next…

‘Right,‘ said Auntie, ‘Claire, the floor is yours.’

I looked at her and I could see that she wasn’t keen on being the centre of attention.

‘Erm, right well, this is all between ourselves…’

‘And Jenkins, can’t do without him,’ said Auntie.

‘OK, including Jenkins then.’

‘JENKINS!’

We all jumped as Auntie shouted out.

‘She could get a second job as a foghorn,’ I thought in passing.

Jenkins must have been hovering outside and he came in quietly and efficiently as a good butler should.

‘Ma’am?’

‘You’re in on this Jenkins, drag up a pew and listen up,’ said Auntie pointing at a chair. ‘Now Claire, carry on. Won’t interrupt again.’

Jenkins sat down, looking slightly uncomfortable. I noticed that Fiffy had slinked or is that slunk in and had positioned herself by her mistresses chair. Autie scratched her ear absentmindedly and Fiffy went goggle-eyed with pleasure.

‘Right,’ said Claire, ‘where was I? oh yes. As I said we must keep all this to ourselves. I have spoken to Phillip and he agrees that our identities should be kept a secret from everyone and includes all Sarah’s friends.’

‘Oh poo!’ exclaimed Sarah.

‘Enough of that young Sarah. Do as yer told.’

‘Yes Mother.’

Auntie frowned and looked like she was about to say something to her wayward daughter but Claire continued hurriedly.

‘Anyway, ‘we don't know what the enemy, and that is what I call them, knows regarding where we are and what we are doing. We should be safe but we don't want to take any chances and so we trust no-one, agreed?’

I looked at everyone and they all nodded, almost in unison. I giggled for some reason, earning a look of disapproval from Auntie.

‘It's inevitable that you are going to be in contact with others here. This is an open house for many people. Stephanie and I know, obviously but Jennifer and Suzie are not. To make sure that there is no way that you can be connected to Phillip, you are both Dotty’s great-nieces…’

‘Yes, I've got loads of the little tykes, can’t keep up ter date with the numbers. So many birthday and Christmas presents to dish out, I’m surprised that I’m not a pauper.’

‘ Er, right,’ continued Claire, ‘we need to change your name Suzie temporarily until we know that you are safe. Everyone knows Jennifer as Jason, so that should be OK but from now on, you Suzie will be…erm, what name would you like?’

Suzie frowned a bit.

‘Amelia? I’ve always liked that name.’

Claire smiled. ‘Alright, Amelia it is. Everyone, say hello to Amelia.’

She blushed a deep red as everyone repeated her new name. I happened to know that Amelia was the name of her best friend in her nursery, who had moved away a few years back, so it was a nice way for Suzie…I mean Amelia to remember her by.

‘Hang on,’ said Sarah.

‘What now child,’ interrupted Auntie.

“Jennifer can’t be Jennifer, its too confusing.’

‘What do you mean?’ I ashed.

‘Well she would be confused with Jennifer Gotobed, she’s always here, there and everywhere and we can’t call her Jen 2 can we?’

Claire looked tired.

‘I forgot about her. Unless we lock you in your room, she and Pippa are bound to see you. ‘

‘Who is Pippa?’ I asked.

‘Jen’s sister.’

‘Oh. So I can’t be Jennifer then?’

‘You can, of course, after all, it’s your name,’ said Claire, ‘but maybe it would save confusion all round if you temporarily change it to something else. It’s up to you, no pressure.’

Auntie was delicately sipping tea from a delicate-looking bone china cup. As you can gather, it was all terribly delicate and she looked every inch the Lady of the Manor.

‘I could always call myself Dotty,’ I said.

The tea sprayed across half the room and I thought that Auntie was going to have a fit and choke, not necessarily in that order. Fifi went to hide under a table with her paws over her eyes and everyone and everything (apart from a sputtering Auntie Dotty) went quiet. Even a mole, quietly digging up the lawn outside, seemed to pause for a moment.

‘Oops!’ I thought.

Everyone tried to help Auntie, a bit like wasps around a honeypot, but she was having none of it.

‘Leave me alone blast yer! Its only tea not acid, it’ll wash orf.’

I wasn’t sent to the stocks down in the village for suggesting calling myself Dotty. It was only a joke after all.

Auntie only looked at me with a jaundiced eye and said, ‘stupid girl, almost as bad as Sarah.’

Once things had settled down again, I decided that I wanted to be called Emma, I don't know why, it just popped into my head and it sort of sounded right. Nobody laughed, so that was a good sign!

Later on, us kids were out in the garden just walking around and talking. It was a bit chilly, so we all had coats on. Steph was being wheeled about in a wheelchair that one of the servant types found in the attic. She seemed to like the idea of being pushed about, if you know what I mean. Also, she wasn’t clumping about on crutches, trying to keep up.

‘So Sarah, when are you back at school?’

‘End of next week when the new term starts.’

‘Is it a good school?’

‘The best that money can buy according to Mummy. At least its fairly local and I can come home at night and not be a boarder.’

‘Will we have to go to school here?’ Su…I mean Amelia asked.

‘I hope that this is sorted out quickly enough for us not have to worry about that.’

‘I hate school,’ said Steph.

‘Why?’ I asked.

She sighed.

‘I can’t seem to stop getting into trouble. Oh look.’

She pointed into the distance and I saw two girls on ponies in full riding gear coming up the drive. I wanted to go and hide behind a hedge or something…

‘Oh, it’s Pippa and Jennifer.’

I then realised why having the same name as the other girl would be a bit confusing. Anyway, I did like Emma, it was sort of classy, I might keep it.

The girls clip-clopped up to us.

‘Hi,’ said one of the girls.

‘Hi Jen, Pippa,’ said Sarah.

The one on the left, continued Sarah, ‘is Jen and the other kid is Pippa.’

‘I’m not a kid,’ said Pippa,

‘Yea, right. Anyway, I suppose you need to know that this is erm, Amelia and J…Emma. You know Steph.’

‘Hello Amelia, Jemma,’ said Jen.

‘Its Emma, I said, looking daggers at Sarah.

‘Oh, right,’ replied Jen, looking a bit confused. I wasn’t surprised, I was confused as hell.

The ponies were let loose and they started having a snack from the grass as we all carried on walking.

It turned out that Pippa and Jen’s dad, David, was the local vicar and his wife, Jocasta, was a pillar of the local community and the person everyone went to with their troubles.

Jen started to try and find out a bit more about us and it was very hard not to give ourselves away. I hate lying at the best of time and this was particularly hard. Luckily, Pippa said something derogatory (I think that’s the word) about Poppy, Jen’s pony and then they started having a go at each other.

‘Poppy is such a wimp, wouldn't go over that low gate on the other side of the orchard.’

‘Wimp, wimp! I have you know that poppy is worth two of Rosie. She can’t jump for toffee. She sees a fence and…and runs for the hills…’

I smiled as I watched the two of them arguing backwards and forwards. I could see that they would be interesting to be around.

‘Belt up, you two,’ said Sarah, ‘can’t you see that you are shocking Emma and Amelia?’

I wasn’t shocked, I was laughing, so was my sister. It was nice to see her a bit happier.

‘What’s with the wheelchair then Steph?’ asked Pippa.

‘Broke my leg in two places. You could hear the crack in the next county.’

‘Yuk,’ said Pippa.

As we walked or in the case of Steph, wheeled along, I glanced at the ponies, they were quite happy on the lawn and it looked like they weren't the sort to gallop off.

‘Coming down to the harbour later?’ asked Jen.

‘Yea, why not,’ said Sarah with Steph nodding her agreement, ‘ we can get a bag of chips or something and see what Samantha’s up to.’

I wasn’t sure about going anywhere where we could be seen.

‘I don’t know…’ I started to say.

‘Don’t be a spoilsport. Samantha is ace. She owns the gallery and next door, her partner Abby has the pottery. I want to ask Sam if we can go on a trip on her little boat. Its absolute ages since we've done that.’

‘I’ll ask Claire.’ I said, hoping that she might say no. I didn’t want to be seen as someone who spoilt things for everyone and if she said no, I would be off the hook. Anyway, little boats made me feel seasick and I couldn’t swim. That was excuse enough for me not to want to go.

I left the others and went back into the mansion, hall, palace, whatever. Not before I spoke to Amelia (it was hard to get used to that name after a lifetime of referring to her as Suzie).

‘Be careful what you say,’ I whispered in her ear.

She looked at me and nodded. At least she seemed to realise that we had to be very careful as to what we say to strangers.

I asked a few people milling about where Claire was. I was told that she was in the conservatory. Eventually, I found her. It would have been nice to have a map of the place. Locating rooms was, to say the least, a bit of a hassle!

Claire was sitting in a chair by the window reading a book. She looked up and smiled as I walked in.

‘Hi Emma,’

‘Who? Oh me, right yes, erm…’

‘You want a chat? Sit down then. She pointed at a seat opposite her and I sat.
‘Not like that Emma, sweep your skirt under you. You don't want the dreaded creases, do you?’

I stood up again and did the skirt sweep thing. So much to learn and never enough time!

‘Claire, we have just seen Pip and Jen and they want us to go and do things with them. What do you think?’

She looked out of the window and pondered a bit.

After a moment she nodded to herself and turned back to me.

‘One thing that you need to know is that you and your sister's presence here is almost certainly known to the vast majority of the village by now. It’s that type of place. That was why we had that meeting earlier. Emma and Amelia will be who everyone sees and not Jen and Suze. The staff here are very loyal and they would never give out your real names. Others won’t suspect anything. Dotty has a large family and loads of great-nieces and nephews, many of which like to visit, you will just be a couple more and won’t raise any suspicions. One of the reasons why I decided to bring you both down here is that you are a long way from where you live and also, as far as I am aware, that you have no family or acquaintances down here. So my answer is yes, I think that it’s a good idea for you to do things with the others and act like normal kids. If you hide yourselves away, things might be said. But if you act like normal, you won't have questions asked about you.’

‘So you think it's safe?’

‘Yes, I do, otherwise, I wouldn’t agree to it. Have you ever heard of the saying, hiding in plain sight?’

‘No.’

‘It means that if you… I mean… oh look, here’s an example,’

She thought for a moment.
‘A man robs a jewellers shop, OK?’

I nodded, wondering where all this was going.

‘After robbing the shop, he went outside and mingled with the crowds and then watched the police search in vain all the local alleys and roads for him. He had merged with the crowd and became one of them. He was hiding in plain sight, do you understand?’

‘So, what you’re saying is that if we act normally and be Emma and Amelia, none will suspect that we are Jen and Suze hiding from the authorities and anyone else who wants to find us?’

‘That’s it.’

There was a sort of weird logic to that. If we act suspiciously then we would be found out eventually, but if we act like there is nothing wrong then we wouldn’t draw attention to ourselves.

‘Sarah and the others want us to go down to the harbour. What do you think?’

‘Good idea, the sooner everyone sees Emma and Amelia, the better. Soon you will just another couple of the kids around here.’

‘Sarah wants to see someone called Sam.’

‘Oh, that’s Samantha, Abby’s partner, she’s nice.’

‘Sarah was saying that she had a little boat and she was keen to go on it for some reason.’

Claire smiled and then giggled for some reason.

‘What’s so funny?’

‘Nothing. It’s a good idea.’

‘I can’t swim?’

‘Don’t worry about that. I can guarantee that if you go on the boat, you’ll be safe. Anyway, you don’t want to be a spoilsport, do you?’

I shook my head.

‘OK, go and have fun then.’

So we made our way down to the harbour. We met several people on the way and I was disconcerted when the first person we met, a lady with a small girl in a pushchair, said, ‘Hello you lot. Nice to see you Emma and Amelia.’

It wasn’t a one-off.

As we continued on, a few other people, referred to my sister and me by our new names. I wondered what sort of place we were living in and whether anyone could actually have secrets here!

We arrived at the harbour; a harbour dominated by a huge yacht moored on the other side. It dwarfed every other boat and to be honest, looked more than a bit out of place.

The harbour itself was lovely. The noise of the boat rigging in the wind and the hustle and bustle of the place was great. It wasn’t that warm but the sea was calm and the sky was a deep blue. The harbour had beaches on either side with sand that was almost white. A few people were walking dogs and a couple of small children were playing in the sand with parents actually sitting on deck chairs. The kids appeared to be making sandcastles.

Beyond the beaches were some hills dotted with cottages and beyond that some low cliffs.

There were lots of people walking along the quayside looking at the shops. Others were sitting in the Copper Kettle Café or The Lobster Pot restaurant.

There were all sorts of smells wafting around including some coming from the fish and chip shop, making my mouth water and thinking that a bag of chips would be very nice at that moment.

I wondered if it was mainly locals walking around the harbour. It was difficult to tell who were holidaymakers and who actually lived there. I have a theory that you can always tell holidaymakers by the clothes they wore. You know, things that you wouldn't be seen dead wearing at home. But it's difficult to tell when everyone was wearing coats.

We went into the Copper Kettle and it was hot chocolates all round with the obligatory whipped cream and marshmallows. It was nice and warm in there. The tables were covered with white cloths and the silver cutlery gleamed in the bright light. It was all very traditional and what my mum would call quaint.

That made me think of my mum. I missed her more than anything at that moment. I wondered what she would think of me, sitting there sipping my drink and listening to the others laughing and chatting. We were a bit of a noisy crowd but no-one seemed to mind.

I wasn’t being clocked as far as I could tell and no-one in the café stood up and screamed ‘boy in a skirt!’ I considered that as a good sign for now and the future.

I was wearing a long black skirt, black tights and boots with a cream chunky knit sweater over a white camisole top, all given to me by Sarah who had grown out of them. I also wore a training bra with slight padding and matching white panties. I didn't have any girlie breasts yet (shame) and I hoped that when things settled down a bit, I could go to a doctor and start my transition rolling. I had no doubt that I wanted to go all the way and become the girl outside that matched the one I already was inside. I felt that Mum would approve and that made me feel happy or as happy as I could be in these strange times. I felt a warm feeling in my tummy that Daddy approved of what I was doing and I hoped so much we would be together again as a family.

Amelia looked happy now. I almost felt jealous that she had a body that gave her monthly periods, then I remembered how miserable and snappy she had been earlier and thought that perhaps I was the lucky one after all.

We finished off our drinks and then left the warmth of the café and walked along the quayside. The consensus was that we would have chips and maybe fish later but Sarah said that we should go and see if Samantha was in her gallery.

I had the job of pushing Stephanie’s wheelchair. She couldn’t use the crutches very well as Penmarris was all hills. I think that it was just an excuse though!

The gallery was at the end of the quay, next to the pottery shop owned by Abby. Samantha’s partner. We were just about to go into the gallery when there was a shout from behind.

‘Hey, you lot!’

I looked around and my heart went into my mouth as standing there, at least six foot tall in his stockinged feet and looking very menacing, was a policeman.

Previously...

We finished off our drinks and then left the warmth of the café and walked along the quayside. The consensus was that we would have chips and maybe fish later but Sarah said that we should go and see if Samantha was in her gallery.

I had the dubious job of pushing Stephanie’s wheelchair. She couldn’t use the crutches very well as Penmarris was all hills. I think that it was just an excuse though, lazy cow!

The gallery was at the end of the quay, next to the pottery shop owned by Abby. Samantha’s partner. We were just about to go into the gallery when there was a shout from behind.

‘Hey, you lot!’

And now the story continues...

I looked around and my heart went into my mouth as standing there, at least six foot tall in his regulation issue socks and looking very menacing, was a policeman.

He was tall, very tall. He looked like he was a rugby player, as he was stocky but not fat, all muscle by the look of him and he scared the living daylights out of me. I looked at my sister Amelia and I could see that he was having the same effect on her.

He walked over to us. We must have looked guilty. I know I did, even though Amelia and I were as clean and innocent as the driven snow. That is if you discount the fact that we were on the run from the police, MI5, MI6 and any other alphabet spaghetti you could think of.

He walked over, I swear his stride was twice the length of mine, even in high heels. That’s me in high heels, not him. I mean if I was wearing high heels, which I wasn’t… I was being silly, I know I was but I did have silly thoughts at embarrassing moments. I can remember a time when I wet myself in nursery. Now that was silly and embarrassing and all I could do was sing a song that Mum loved from a film I can’t remember, oh yes, Singin’ in the Rain.

‘’Ello, ‘ello ‘ello, what have we here then?’ asked the policeman.

I think that was what he said because he talked with a broad Devonian accent full of clotted cream. He seriously needed subtitles.

‘Hello Hector,’ said Sarah.

‘Don’t you go calling me ‘Ector when I’m on duty young Sarah.’

‘Sorry Inspector.’

‘And don’t be cheeky or I’ll tell your ma.’

‘Sorry constable.’

‘That’s better. Now as I say, what have we ‘ere then?’

He was looking pointedly at Amelia and me. I swear that he knew that we were effectively runaways from the authorities and that I wasn’t who I seemed, ie a boy in girls clothes. I mean a physically a boy but in my heart of hearts a girl. I mean…oh hell, you know what I mean. Give me a break, I was stressed!

‘Oh,’ said Stephanie, ‘these are my cousins Amelia and Emma.’

‘Hmm,’ he said his eyes now on Steph, ‘Stephanie isn’t it? Not seen you hereabouts for a while.’

‘Yea, been busy.’

He looked at her leg.

‘What happened there then?’

‘Fell off my horse.’

‘Damn’ silly thing to do.’

‘So Mummy said.’

He suddenly looked at me. Talk about piercing eyes.

‘Staying long?’

‘I…I don't know officer.’

‘Well take it from me, if you do the complete opposite of what Sarah and Stephanie say, you won't go far wrong.’

With that, he laughed as if he said some sort of incredibly funny joke and then with a nod he went off.

‘Phew,’ I said, sitting down on a bench.

‘What’s up?’ asked Sarah.

‘I thought that we were done for there. He looked at me as if he knew all about me. I expected him to grab his handcuffs, zap me and sis with his taser and take us into custody and throw away the key.’

‘Blimey, you have a bit of an imagination there. The last time Hector arrested anyone was when old Percival Potts had too much to drink after a session at the Toad and Tart and ran about naked singing I’m a Little Teapot Short and Stout.’

I felt a bit better. I would have to get over thoughts that everyone was out to get me and Amelia. I would become paranoid soon…

‘Anyway,’ said Sarah, ‘anyone fancy a bag of chips?’

Everyone agreed and we made our way over to the fish and chip shop. The smells coming from there were mouthwatering and should carry a government health warning. There was a sign on the door that said that haddock was off, but I didn't mind as we only wanted chips.

We all piled in and Sarah did the ordering. She did seem to like taking charge, that one!

‘Bag of chips all round please Grace.’

The girl behind the counter smiled and completes the order in quick time.

‘Any callouts lately?’ asked Sarah.

‘Not since last week. Silly bugger went out on an inflatable dinghy. I ask you, in Winter, peein’ down with rain and enough wind to blow the skin off cold custard.’

‘Mad,’ agreed Sarah.

We collected our bags of piping hot chips, salted and vinegared of course, and we were off, sitting on the benches down by the quay.

‘What was that about Grace?’ asked Amelia, blowing on a chip.

‘She’s the coxswain of the RNLI lifeboat.’

‘Wow, she’s a bit young for that isn’t she?’

‘Her Dad and Grandad were coxswains before her. It’s a bit of a family tradition. It helps that she works down at the harbour. She’s closest to being on call most of the time and she lives over the shop.’

‘I would love to live over a fish and chip shop,’ mumbled Amelia dreamily, her mouth half full.

We all laughed.

I don't think that I’ve mentioned it yet, but the quay, harbour and village were heavily into the Christmas season. There were Christmas lighting everywhere; on the cottages in the village and all the shops. It was very festive. A big tree was up over on one side of the quay, covered in lights and something was being put together beyond that. It looked like some sort of framework with a tarpaulin inside it. I was going to ask Sarah what it was but got distracted by the thought that this was going to be our first Christmas without Daddy. I wondered for the hundredth time where he was and whether he was safe. I missed him so much, I could cry.

Then I was put off my rather gloomy thoughts, as I was suddenly divebombed by a seagull who pinched the chip out of my fingers, just as it was going into my mouth!

Everyone thought it was hilarious, except me!

After feeding our faces and trying to avoid the attentions of hungry seagulls, we continued along the quay until we reached the pottery and gallery. The pottery had several people in it watching a lady throwing a pot and making the lump of clay into something that looked like a vase. She was talking to the people watching and they were all laughing at what she was saying. She was rather pretty and I could see that she was very popular. Also, she was heavily pregnant and her tummy was sticking out in such a way that I didn’t know how she could cope with the wheel thingie.

‘That’s Abby, she’s nice and her and Samantha are great friends of Mummy,’ Said Sarah.

‘Samantha?’ I asked, ‘oh yes, you said, Abby’s partner.’

‘Yes, that’s right. They are getting married in spring next year after the sprog pops out and Sam has an operation to correct her plumbing. Sam owns the gallery and she paints fantastic landscapes and portraits. Let's go and see her.’
I didn’t particularly want to know about operations as I knew at some stage when I was older, I would have an operation to correct my male defect. I was a bit of a wimp about all things medical and I hated the sight of blood, particularly my own; and don’t get me started about dentists... I wasn’t a hypochondriac, but even they get it right occasionally don’t they?

‘Samantha, she’s the one who owns a little boat isn’t she?’ asked Amelia.

The girls laughed for some reason.

‘That’s right,’ said Steph, giggling.

‘What so funny,’ asked Amelia who was in one of her moods all of a sudden. She hated not being in on the joke whatever that was. I, being more mature, didn’t mind…much.

‘You’ll see,’ said Jen, grinning.

I wished I knew what was so funny. I was getting as peeved as Amelia!

The gallery had lots of paintings in the window and they all looked rather nice. I particularly liked the one of the cove. It was a Christmas scene and it was early evening. The who place seemed festooned with brightly coloured lights and off to the side was a huge Christmas Tree and beyond that, an outdoor ice rink with lots of kids skating around, in scarves and gloves having a great time. I now knew what the construction was near the Christmas tree, an ice rink! Wow, golly, gosh, I would love to try that! I had never skated in my life, but I had a sudden dream of me gliding along, doing spins wearing an incredibly short ice skating dress and looking ever so professional…

Who was I kidding I would land on my bum more often than be on my feet. Having too left feet doesn’t help.

‘Come on, you lot, let's go in.’ said Phillipa, ‘we might get some hot chocolate!’

That sounded okay to me and judging by the enthusiastic response from the others, I think that they agreed!

The door made a ding-dong noise as we walked in with me leading up the rear, pushing Steph’s wheelchair. I was getting fed up with the flaming thing. I think that Steph liked the idea of being pushed around. Penmarris was hilly and not very pushchair friendly. I had uncharitable thoughts of accidentally pushing the thing, with her in it, into the harbour, just to see if she sank or swam. Then I felt guilty, I wasn’t that kind of girl…I think.

I giggled at the thought and Amelia looked at me strangely.

Someone came out of the back. She looked at us all and raised her eyebrows, questioningly.

She was so lovely and she had such a sunny smile that the gallery seemed to light up with her personality.

‘This must by Samantha,’ I thought,’ 'she and Abby are well suited’.

I so wished that I could look as glamorous as that. But, for some strange, unaccountable reason, I was still considered to be a child and I would have to wait and dream that I could actually turn out looking like her.

I sighed. I was doing rather a lot of that lately.

‘What’s this then, some sort of school trip?’ asked Samantha, smiling.

‘Don’t be silly Sam,’ replied Sarah, ‘we just came to see how you were.’

‘Oh, so it wasn’t anything to do with hot chocolate and hobnob biscuits then?’

‘If you’re offering…’

‘Hmmm. Okay Sarah, you know where the stuff is.’

Sarah grumbled something about forced labour.

‘Go and help her Jen and Pippa.’

The girls went into the backroom giggling and that just left Steph, Amelia and me.

‘Well Stephanie, you’ve been through the wars a bit.’

‘Fell off my horse.’

‘I hope that the horse is all right.’

‘She’s okay, I busted my leg.’

‘Nasty. On the mend?’

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘Good. Well, aren’t you going to introduce me…’

‘Oh yea, sorry this is Jen…I mean Emma and Amelia.’

‘Hello Emma and Amelia. Dotty told me and Abby about you two. No need to worry, we are all one big sometimes happy family and we all look out for each other. If ever you need to talk, just come and see me. Sometimes it helps, believe me, it does.’

I was initially a bit shocked to know that other people knew about our plight but instinctively knew that Samantha was telling the truth and that I had nothing to worry about with her and Abby. Mind you, I was surprised that the jungle grapevine hadn’t reached the ears of PC Harold.

‘Thanks,’ I replied quietly.

I wondered if she knew the whole truth about me, probably not. It wasn’t something that I wanted bandied about. I didn’t fancy rejection. Would a normal boy ever think that he’s a girl? I think not. But there again I wasn’t normal. What’s normal anyway?

I sighed about getting myself in mental knots again. I would have to stop that or I might get carted off to a nice padded cell wearing the latest fashion in straight jackets. Did they do them in pink...?

‘So, girls, how do you like the village?’

‘It's nice,’ said Amelia, ‘everyone’s friendly, even the plod.’

‘Plod, oh you mean Harold, yes he’s nice. He’s what I call a traditional no-frills policeman. He suits the village and the village suits him. Evidently, before I came here, there used to be a policeman who did everything by the book, I mean, for example, book anyone who parked in the wrong place, dropped litter and spoke back to him. Dotty, that’s Lady Fairbairn, had a word with the police commissioner and he was pulled out and replaced by Harold.’

‘Wow, ‘I said, ‘Lady Fairbairn seems to have a lot of power.’

‘You don't know the half of it, but she’s a sweetie. Anyway, is that hot chocolate I see coming through the door?’

Yes, it was and we were all soon sipping the lovely hot velvety drink and dunking biscuits. If you never dunked, try it, but be careful about dunking for too long as you might get a soggy bickie situation where you have to fish the biscuit out with a spoon.

‘Samantha,’ asked Sarah as she blew on her drink.

“Mmm?’

‘Emma and Amelia would like to go on your little boat.’

‘Litt…oh right, it’s a bit cold though.’

‘They don’t mind.’

I did really, I didn’t fancy bobbing about on the high seas, worrying about capsizing in some tiny thing. But I didn’t want to rock the boat. Get it, rock the boat? Never mind.

Samantha looked at Amelia and me with a slight smile playing on her lips. What was so funny? Mind you, it might just be an innocent smile. She did seem to smile a lot…

‘I’ll make a phone call.’

‘Its no trouble,’ I said in desperation, not wanting to end up in a watery grave.

‘Don’t fret, its no trouble at all. It will be my pleasure.’

Without further ado, she went into her office and shut the door.

The others had gone over to look at the paintings so Amelia and I went over to join them, more to take my mind off my impending drowning rather than anything else.

There were all sorts of paintings and I could see that there was a lot of talent in Penmarris. It surprised me to learn that many of them were painted by Samantha. She had a real talent and I wished that I had some sort of gift like that. I could draw matchstick men at a pinch, but that was the limit to my expertise.

I was looking at a particularly nice, bright, colourful painting of what I took to be the cove at Penmarris, taken from the cliffs when I heard Samantha talking quietly to Sarah, who had a wicked grin on her face. I didn’t trust Sarah, she was the sort of girl who liked to play tricks, in my opinion. There again, I have a suspicious nature, especially after all that had happened lately!

Sam went back to her office to answer a phone call and Sarah came over to me.

‘Right, ready for the little boat ride?’

‘I think a storm is brewing,’ I replied.

‘Rubbish, the sky is blue and the sea is as calm as it ever will be. Scared are we?’

‘I’m not scared.’ I replied hotly, I’m worried that Amelia might get seasick.’

‘I don't get seasick,’ said Amelia unhelpfully.

I looked daggers at her, but she didn’t seem to notice.

Sarah started to make squawking noises and flapped her arms like wings.

‘I am not chicken,’ I said.

The others were looking at me and I felt like a deer or was that a chicken caught in a car’s headlights.

‘Ok, I can’t swim, are you all happy now?’

I rushed out of the gallery and ran over to the quayside and sat down on a bench. I was crying for some reason. I seemed to get very emotional lately and I didn’t know why. There was no shame in being a non-swimmer. I had an accident in the swimming pool once when having a swimming lesson. One of the kids pushed me in and I went under. I thought that I would drown and I went under a few times before the lifeguard pulled me out.

Why was I crying? At least as a girl, crying wasn’t seen as something to be scorned at or be ashamed of.

I sensed someone sitting next to me and then I felt someone putting an arm around my shoulders.

‘Don’t cry.’

It was Samantha.

She pulled me into a gentle hug and that made me cry even more. I sobbed. It wasn’t about Sarah and the others having a go at me. They were only playing with me, I knew that. It was because everything was getting on top of me. I couldn’t be like Amelia. She seemed to go through the world without worrying about things. Maybe that wasn’t fair as I knew that she was worried about Daddy.

I had no idea where the others were and to be honest, I didn’t care. I was wound up in my own misery. Everything that had happened since the car chase had seemed somehow a bit unreal.

My father was a wanted man. My sister on I were on the run. I constantly worried about being caught. Then I was worried about being seen as a boy in girls clothing. No matter what everyone said about how I didn’t look anything like a boy. Penmarris seemed like a magical place with weird, quirky but nice characters, but I didn’t know everyone so would I ever feel safe?

One minute I was happy the next minute sad and worried. Was I going mad?

Sam was talking to me and I began to take in what she was saying.

‘…Don't blame you for being upset. What you and Amelia have been going through would upset anyone. But we are all here for you and you are among friends. When I came down here, I was in a hell of a state, one day I’ll tell you the story, but one thing for sure is that Penmarris is almost magical and if I could pull through the fug that I was in, I’m sure you can. Now, you don't have to go on a silly boat ride if you don't want to.’

I pulled away from her and looked at her kind face. I could see why she was so popular, there was a genuine niceness about her that couldn’t be faked.

‘I can’t swim.’

‘That doesn’t matter. I promise that you will be safe. Look I’ll go with you. Would that help?’

I nodded.

She handed me a tissue.

‘That’s the spirit, now wipe those eyes carefully, you don't want to have the panda look, it isn’t in this year!’

I laughed.

The others joined us, Sarah looking sheepish.

‘Sorry,’ she said, hugging me, ‘I sometimes go a bit overboard…oh God, I didn’t mean that, I mean, over the top!’

I giggled, maybe I was feeling a bit better!

We walked along the quay with Samantha holding one hand and Amelia the other. I think that she was a bit apprehensive herself about this boat thing.

Steph in her pushchair – sorry wheelchair, was being wheeled along by Phillipa who was complaining bitterly about how heavy it was. Steph looked happy. She really seemed to like being ferried about and was milking her injury for all it was worth. I was just glad that I wasn’t doing the pushing this time.

‘I’m not heavy!’ said Steph.

‘Yes you are, too many cakes if you ask me!’

‘No one was.’

‘Humph.’

I smiled. I was still worried about the boat thing, but I was sure that Samantha wouldn’t put me in danger. We passed several steps leading down to the water. At the bottom of a couple of the steps were some small boats bobbing about as boats do. In the distance at the end of the quay was that huge yacht and I wondered who owned it. I could see some people on the boat, ship, whatever. It seemed to have a big crew. I bet it cost a bomb to run it. I wondered what it was doing there. It would have looked more in place at Cannes or Saint-Tropez.

We carried on walking along the quay, passing a few people who nodded or said hello. There were a few hardy souls fishing from the quay, all wrapped up against the rather chilly December weather.

Still, we didn’t stop and go down the steps.

We were getting ever closer to the big yacht. It seemed even bigger the nearer we got to it.

The girls couldn’t stop giggling. I didn’t know what was so funny. Amelia looked at me and shrugged, implying that she thought that they were all slightly loopy. I was beginning to think that there was something in the water around there.

Samantha squeezed my hand.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I am, I don’t know about the others.’

She smiled but said nothing.

Sarah went to another set of steps and looked down. Everybody followed her. My grip on Samantha's hand made her yelp a little.

‘Sorry,’ I mumbled.

There at the bottom was a small boat, a very small boat, an extremely small boat. It bobbed about and I felt seasick without going anywhere near it.

‘Erm, are we going in that?’ asked Amelia.

Even she seemed nervous so my impending panic attack was probably justified.

Sarah didn’t say anything but just walked down the steps and stepped into the minuscule boat. I couldn’t see any life jackets. Why were there no life jackets? Even the poor passengers on the Titanic had life jackets…

Sarah jumped up and down, making the boat rock alarmingly. She had a wicked grin on her face.

‘Sarah,’ said Samantha, ‘enough.’

Sarah looked guilty and then sheepishly got out of the boat.

Climbing the stairs, she looked at Amelia and me and mouthed, ‘sorry,’ then she went on ahead and joined the other kids who were giggling away. I wished that I was in on the joke.

I still hadn’t a clue as to what was going on. I knew that Sarah had a weird sense of humour, but this was on another level.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Samantha, ‘let them have their fun, all will be revealed soon and I promise, it's not that bad!’

I sighed, wishing that I had a normal life. I was getting a bit fed up with all this cloak and dagger stuff.

We continued on and eventually we arrived at the humungous yacht that looked even bigger up close.

It was decked out in Christmas lights and it looked very erm, Christmassy. I was sure when it was dark that it would look very pretty. All the chrome and brasswork shined brightly and it looked pretty spick and span as they say in naval circles.

There was a man in a sort of sailors uniform looking down at us from the poop deck or whatever its called. Poop deck, that sounds a bit rude. I may have got my terminology wrong as I don’t know a stem from a stern or port from starboard for that matter.

All of a sudden, two lady sailor types arrived at the side at a run, opened a gate in the railings, pushed out a gangway thingie and it landed with a thunk just in front of us.

Sarah and the gang calmly walked, or in the case of Steph, wheeled up the gangway, giggling like maniacs.

‘Go on up,’ said Samantha to Amelia and me.

‘Erm,’ said Amelia, ‘won't we get told off?’

‘Why,’ asked Samantha.

‘Well it’s trespassing, isn’t it?’

‘No, its mine.’

‘What's yours?’

‘The little boat,’ replied Samantha laughing.

‘Bloody hell.’ I said as the penny or would that be the anchor finally dropped in my brain.

Amelia looked speechless and I was just numb. Now I knew why they had all been laughing!

I walked up the gangway closely followed by Amelia with Samantha bringing up the rear.

When we reached the top, there was a man there wearing a captains uniform. The other girls had disappeared somewhere.

The captain saluted Samantha and smiled. His teeth were so bright, I blinked at the glare.

‘Nice to see you ma’am,’ he said.

‘I keep telling you James, call me Samantha. Ma’am makes me feel old. Now, this is Emma and Amelia. Could you give them the tour of the bridge?

‘Certainly, young ladies, follow me.’

We walked along the deck, peering into cabins and other larger rooms as we went. It was all so luxurious. I didn’t know how many cows had died to make all that leather seating but it must have been quite a lot!

Samantha had disappeared somewhere and I wondered just how rich she was. Maybe running a gallery and painting pictures made tons of money? I hadn’t a clue but I was very impressed by what I was seeing.

The captain was speaking to Amelia.

‘…Sunseeker 171 Luxury yacht. Powered by twin MTU 12V4000's M90's, rated at 2736 hp each, she will cruise at 21 knots and top-out at 23 knots…guest cabins, peninsular beds …main deck saloon…luxurious… state of the art entertainment systems… bla bla bla…’

It all went over my head. I could see that this was a millionaires dream. It must have cost a fortune to buy and even more of a fortune to run. Samantha, who would have thought?

We arrived at the wheelhouse, I knew it was that as it had a steering wheel, lots of dials, knobs, buttons and computer screens. I did wonder if I had wandered into a space launch room, but no, this was a ship. I was being silly, as usual.

All the gang were in there, including Samantha, who was now talking to Captain Caveman. After a whispered conversation, the captain came over and gave Amelia and me a coe-turling… I mean a toe-curling smile.

Why was my tummy going all squishy, was I coming down with something?

‘Well girls, would you like to help me?’

We both nodded in perfect unison.

There was a big red button on the bank of dials, thingies and whatchamacallits in front of the steering wheel.

‘Well, would you both like to press that button?’

He gave us another thousand-kilowatt smile, lighting up the cabin making my squishy feeling go into overdrive.

Amelia, who was grinning, and I looked at each other and then put one of our hands over the button and pushed down on it…

To be continued..?

Please leave comments and let me know if you want this to continue. I know that updates have been a bit irregular, but real life seems to be getting in the way at the moment! Oh, and if you can, please do the kudo-thingie...thanks! ~Sue

Previously...

There was a big red button on the bank of dials, thingies and whatchamacallits in front of the steering wheel.

‘Well, would you both like to press that button?’

He gave us another thousand-kilowatt smile, lighting up the cabin making my squishy feeling go into overdrive.

A grinning Amelia and I looked at each other and then put one of our hands over the button and pushed down on it…

And now the story continues...

The noise was indescribable, so I won’t describe it…

Yes, I will. It was loud and when I say loud I mean LOUD!

Amelia screamed. I screamed, the several seagulls that had been sitting peacefully on a rail outside screamed, squawked or whatever they did.

People on the quay cowered. A lady in a wheelchair being pushed by her loving husband nearly found herself being ejected into the sea. One fisherman dropped his rod into the water and another lost what he thought was the biggest fish he had ever caught as he jerked the hook out of the huge fish’s mouth. Several young children, evidently out on an innocent outing with their playgroup, screamed for their Mummy. A few teenagers lounging about on the quay paid no attention as they were on their mobile phones…

I came that close to wetting myself…I need say no more.

The others in the bridge seemed not affected at all and were laughing their heads off. Samantha took some things out of her ears and I noted that the others did the same. They were earplugs.

We had been set up good and proper as they say in sleazy crime shows.

My ears were ringing still from the sheer volume of that basted horn, hooter or whatever it was called. Amelia looked shaken and very stirred. She was not one to hold back in situations like this and said several naughty swear words that should not have come for the mouth of one so young. I mentally made a note of a few of them for future reference.

Samantha came over.

‘Sorry girls, you have now been through the initiation ceremony. Don’t blame me, it was Sarah’s idea.’

I looked at Sarah. She had a smug look on her face. I would find ways, too horrible to contemplate, to get my own back. I had heard or read somewhere that revenge is a dish best served cold and I looked forward to getting my own back on her.

The tour continued and I saw that the ship was the height of opulence. There was an on-deck jacuzzi, small pool and a place to play quoits whatever that was. All the cabins were amazing, with polished wood everywhere. The beds were fantastic and all double and every cabin had its own en-suite, my gob was truly smacked. There was even a spa and a well-equipped gym with lots of shiny chrome dooda things to make you as fit a flea or kill you in the process. Samantha and Abby were truly lucky to own this tub. I would love to forget all my troubles and go away and sail the world in this wonderful boat.

After the tour, we found ourselves in a large lounge with cream leather sofas dotted about. There was a ginormous TV on the wall and floor to ceiling windows with none of that tiny porthole nonsense. You could see the harbour and the sea and everything in between. If ever I married a millionaire, I would insist on something like his. Well, a girl has her standards!

That made me think about whether I preferred boys or girls. I hadn't a clue but would have fun finding out!

Samantha came over and sat down beside me.

‘Do you like our little boat Emma?’ she asked.

‘If you call this little, what do you call large?’

‘The Queen Elizabeth is large,’

‘Now you’re being silly,’ I giggled.

‘Perhaps,’ she replied smiling.

She was very pretty and I hoped that when I was older, I would look as lovely as she was.

The others had gotten fed up with sitting about and they all rather noisily went outside. It was good to see my sister enjoying herself and letting her hair down. We hadn’t had much time for that recently.

It was rather quiet in the lounge now as it was just Samatha and me.

She looked at me and then smiled slightly.

‘What,’ I said.

‘Nothing, it's just…’

‘Sorry?’

Samantha looked around. We were still quite alone and the door was closed.

‘How long have you known?’

‘Known what?’ I replied.

‘That you are a girl.’

I stood up, upset, all of a sudden.

‘Who told you?’ I said chokingly.

‘That you are physically a boy? Well, I know that you are a girl, but you haven’t been able to start the changes that you need yet.’

‘Who told you?’ I asked sitting down again. I was close to tears but I was, with some effort, holding myself in.

‘No-one. Well, I knew that you had problems involving your father and that you were here because of that and the need to protect yourself and your sister, but I didn’t know until I met you that you had identity problems if you want to call it that.’

‘What gave me away?’

‘Little things that others might miss. The way you walk and sit and say certain things that aren’t very feminine. Don’t get me wrong, you are a very pretty girl and you had me fooled for a while but in the end, I knew that I was right.’

‘How were you so sure about me when the others didn’t see anything wrong with me?’

‘There is nothing wrong with you honey. You are a bright lovely intelligent girl who has had to deal with some very heavy stuff. But to answer your question, what do you see in me?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘How do I look?’

‘Very pretty, I’m jealous!’

Samantha laughed, she had a lovely laugh.

‘Well, would it surprise you to know that I was born a boy?’

‘Never!’

‘Yes, I was and up until relatively recently, I have had to live as a man. I have always thought of myself as a girl, much like you, I think. I was married to a woman and whilst things went well for some time, I was eventually very unhappy and things changed. I won’t go into the sordid details, but things came to a head and I moved down here. It was only after leaving my wife that I realised that I could no longer live a lie. I had to be who I always thought I was, a girl.’

‘You are a girl?’

‘Yes.’

‘A complete girl?’

‘No, not yet. I am due to have an operation soon to correct my defect. But in my head and my heart I am a girl and have always been one. So I know a little of what you are going through. I didn’t tell you that I had you ‘clocked’ as the expression goes just to upset you. I told you so that you know that you have someone nearby who can support you and give you any advice if you need it. The others have your welfare at heart, but they can’t know what you are going through. That is why I’m here whenever you need me.’

I looked at her and I couldn't see any sign of her ever being anything other than what she was, a girl.

‘Do other people know about you?’

‘What, that I was born a boy?’

‘Mmm.’

‘Yes, all the people that matter anyway. You will find that people in this neck of the woods take you as you are. They are tolerant and by in large sympathetic. The ones that aren’t, don’t last long here. One day, I’ll tell you my story. You might find it interesting!’

Later that night, I was in bed but I wasn’t asleep.

The curtains were drawn back and I could see the moon shining brightly and the stars twinkling away. I had a lot to think about. It had been a strange day, full of ups and downs.

Samantha’s yacht was fantastic. She had promised to take us for a trip one day soon when the weather was okay and that was something that I really looked forward to. The revelation that Samantha was like me was incredible and I felt a warm feeling in my tummy that there was someone like me that I could turn to.

My thoughts turned to my father. I wondered where he was and whether he was okay. I missed him so much and I just wanted to be with him and have a nice big cuddle.

Would he like the way I looked now? He hadn’t actually seen me in girl mode and I didn’t want him to see a boy in girls clothes. It wasn’t about the clothes, I know, but we are judged by the way we look and I hoped so much that he saw me for what I was, a girl. I had never been a boy ever since I realised that there were differences between the two genders. Mind you, gender was by some, seen as fluid now and there were many shades of gender, well, that was what I thought anyway. You wouldn’t think so by what you read in some of the trashier papers and daytime TV.

I closed my eyes, I just wanted to sleep. When asleep, you don’t worry and I was a born worrier.

It was no good, I just couldn’t go to sleep. I tried counting sheep, but that was just boring. Then I thought about waves splashing up the shore but that didn’t help. I tried to empty my mind of everything, but that was a washout.

In the end, I got up and walked over to the window. It was a bit chilly in my thin nightie, it wasn’t the warmest of rooms. That’s was a downside to living in an old mansion. There was a fire in the grate, but the embers were cooling and the central heating had switched itself off.

Looking out over the slightly moleified (if that’s a word) pockmarked lawn, I took in the beauty of the grounds with its majestic lawns going down to the lake and the park beyond. In the far distance, I could glimpse the sea and the lights of Penmarris. I had, in the short space of time that I had been here, grown to love Penmarris and its slightly quirky residents. People were so nice - apart from Sarah, who had it coming to her.

I smiled. Sarah was nice, but a pest that had to be dealt with. I would have to have a think about that. I needed a scheme that would out scheme any scheme that she had ever schemed...

I heard a buzz coming from the bedside table. It was my phone. I had it on vibrate only. I walked over and picked it up.

There was a text.

From unknown.

I tapped on the phone.

Hi honey,
Just a quick one.
I hope that you both are okay and safe.
I’m fine and not in danger. I am with friends and they are helping me sort out my problems. Things are coming to a head and I hope to be able to get things sorted very soon. Stay where you are with Claire and I’ll contact you as soon as I can. This is a burner so you can’t contact me, but I will let you know how things go when I know myself.
Missing you all.
Love Dad xxxxx

I re-read the text several times. I wondered if he was saying these things just to make Amelia and me feel better.

I wouldn’t be happy until he was back with us. I just hoped and prayed that it would be soon.

To be continued..?

Previously...

Hi honey,
Just a quick one.
I hope that you both are okay and safe.
I’m fine and not in danger. I am with friends and they are helping me sort out my problems. Things are coming to a head and I hope to be able to get things sorted very soon. Stay where you are with Claire and I’ll contact you as soon as I can. This is a burner so you can’t contact me, but I will let you know how things go when I know myself.
Missing you all.
Love Dad xxxxx

I re-read the text several times. I wondered if he was saying these things just to make Amelia and me feel better.

I wouldn’t be happy until he was back with us. I just hoped and prayed that it would be soon.

And now the story continues...

The next morning, I showed Amelia and Claire the text I had received from Daddy.

‘It looks like things are happening, let's hope that they are good things, ‘remarked Claire.

‘I miss Daddy so much,’ said Amelia, her voice choking slightly.

‘Don’t worry sweetheart,’ said Claire, hugging her, ‘at least we know he’s safe and so are you two. You couldn’t be in a safer place.’

Looking around, I could well see what Claire meant. Here we were in what I thought must be considered a stately home with huge grounds and lots of people looking out for us. It was a far cry from Daddy’s little cottage which never really felt very safe.

I wondered if we would ever feel happy to go back to our house, where we had lived all my life. It was where Mummy and Daddy had lived just after they got married. We had had a lot of fun and happy times there, but I suppose that it was a place of sadness too as Mummy had caught her awful illness there and…

I couldn’t think of that. I had to remain positive about things and try to look to the future where Daddy and we could be together again.

I went for a quiet walk in the garden. I was wrapped up warm, as it was quite cold. Even in Devon, it gets cold in December, although they don’t get much snow due to a quirk in the climate. I was wearing a long skirt with thick tights and boots. I should have worn jeans but being able to dress all girly without question was still a bit of a novelty to me.

It was so lovely in the garden. Looking over to the lake, the fountain was throwing up a huge jet of water. Beyond the lake there was what I think they called a folly. It was a round, tall structure with windows and looked quite old. I wondered over to it and went through the archway. There were stairs inside and I climbed the circular stairway until, puffing slightly, I reached the top.

The view from the tiny ramparts was breath-taking and I could see the extensive park beyond the gardens. To the left was a wood and to the right, the ground sloped gently away into the distance where the sea glistened in the December sun where Penmarris Bay lay.

Looking back, the house looked wonderful and very stately. The lawns were extensive, if a little damaged by molehills. I smiled at that. I had heard stories about those molehills and the ceaseless war Auntie raged against what she called vermin and pests, but I thought they were rather cute and cuddly.

I wondered how long we were to stay there. It was a lovely place to live, everyone was so friendly and supportive, but I missed Daddy and I wanted him back and if that meant leaving here, I would do it in an instant.

I sighed, wishing that I could have some sort of control over what was happening, but I had very little control. Everything was out of my hands. Daddy said that he might have to go abroad. If that was the case, where could he go where he was safe, and would that make us any safer? I didn’t think we would ever be safe until the people that were causing all of our trouble were caught and brought to justice.

I made my way back to the house and found the others in the games room. Not that they were playing games, they were watching cartoons on the huge wall TV, it must have been at least a 50-inch screen.

Claire had said earlier that some relatives were coming to visit and that was why everyone was staying in.

I was bored and looking at Amelia, I could see that she was too. In my opinion, there was no need for us to stay and see relatives that had nothing to do with us.

‘Fancy going down to the quay?’ I asked.

‘Yes, that would be great.’

“Let’s go and ask Claire if we can go.’

‘OK,’ she replied, getting up.

We found Claire in her room. She had been washing her hair and was drying it.

‘Hello, you two.’

‘Hi Claire. Can we go down to the harbour? I thought about popping into Abby’s Pottery as we haven’t seen her pot or whatever it’s called.’

She thought for a moment and I could see that she was torn about the decision.

‘Yes,’ she sighed, ‘all right, we can’t wrap you up in cotton wool, but promise me that you girls will both be careful and not talk to any strangers.’

‘We won’t,’ said Amelia.

It was still strange thinking of my sister as Amelia, but I was getting used to it as I was being called a girl. I rather liked her new name and my one too. Maybe after all this nonsense was over, we would keep them.

We walked down to the quay. There had been some snow overnight and the roads were still a bit slippery, so we had to go carefully. We both had thick coats on with gloves and scarves, together with tights under our skirts, so we were warm enough. Auntie had a selection of boots in all sizes for her many visitors and we both had nice ones that fitted us, and my feet were toastie. After our brisk walk to the quay, I was feeling quite hot!

We reached the quay. It was getting quite busy down there with various people milling about looking at the shops and festive stalls selling everything from trinkets to hot chestnuts. The ice rink was doing a brisk trade and we wandered over and had a good laugh at the kids and some adults falling over. Not that we would be any better, of course!

We went over to the pottery and could see that it was quite busy. Walking in, we said a quick ‘Hi,’ to Abby who was behind the counter, serving a customer and had a little look around. I knew that Abby was gifted, as everyone said so, but I didn’t realise how gifted she was. There were pots, plates, cups, mugs, figurines and all sorts of lovely things that showcased her talent.

I could see that Abby was a bit too busy to talk to us. I wanted to introduce ourselves as we hadn’t spoken to her before, but I could see that it would have to wait for a bit.

So, we went out of her shop and we were going to go into Samantha’s gallery but it looked like she was busy too, so we just decided to go to the Bide a Wee Tea Room and sat in window seats with steaming cups of hot chocolate and yummy cream cakes.

Looking out of the window, it was great just watching the world go by. I couldn’t believe how busy the quay was. It seemed like Christmas was a bit touristy as I couldn’t believe all these folks were locals.

Looking beyond the quayside was the harbour, with all the boats bobbing about and the rigging singing in the slight breeze. At the far end of the harbour lay Samantha’s boat and I smiled at the prank played on us when we pushed that big red button and set off the ships’ horn!

I looked over to the left and there was that policeman talking to a woman with a pushchair. I must admit at the sight of him that my heart got a little jumpy. I was still worried about him. He might be a nice man, but he was a member of the police force and I had no idea what he might do if he found out who Amelia and I really were.

Amelia was happily stuffing her face with the cream cake, little knowing that she had a dollop of cream on her nose. She looked happy and without a care in the world, I envied her. I was the worrier in the family. So much had happened in a relatively small space of time and wondered how long it would take for all this mess to sort itself out.

Was my father still in this country? He hinted before that he might have to leave and go abroad for a while. That meant that he would be even farther away from us and I hated that thought but desperately wanted him to be safe and out of harm's way.

I shook my head and tried to pull myself together. I should cheer up and look on the bright side. Daddy said that he was safe and so were we, living with the mad Auntie Dotty, having Claire and Steph around, not forgetting the almost as mad Sarah causing havoc whenever and wherever she could!

We finished our drinks and cakes and after telling Amelia to wipe the cream off her nose with a serviette, we went out into the cold air.

We looked at a few stalls, then the ice rink where lots of people were laughing and enjoying themselves falling about and then we walked on to the side of the quay where West Beach started.

There were a few hardy dog walkers on the clean sand and in the distance a lone horse and rider were galloping along the beach by the waterline.

‘Jen…I mean Emma,’

‘Yes?’

‘What’s going to happen to us?’

And there was me thinking that Amelia wasn’t a worrier.

‘Daddy will sort things out.’

‘I hope so. I don’t like being frightened.’

‘You’re not frightened now, are you?’

‘A bit. I miss Daddy and I want him here, with us?’

‘So do I but he needs to sort things out first.’

‘I hate having to hide away.’

‘Penmarris is a nice place to hide, don’t you think?’

‘I suppose,’ she said kicking out at a sandcastle and demolishing the ramparts.

It was getting a bit cold and windy on the beach, so we turned back towards the quay and then decided to go home as we had told Claire that we wouldn’t be too long, and I think that she worried about us. I wondered if Daddy and Claire would get married any time soon. I rather liked that idea. I knew that Claire would never replace my mum, but she was nice and I was growing to like her a lot and maybe even to love her. She had put her neck out because of us. She didn’t need to, but she did, as did Stephanie, that goofball who was just like a sister to us already.

I had visions of us in the church with Daddy and Claire getting married. Both Amelia and I would be bridesmaids, of course together with Steph, all in matching dresses – lovely!

We walked up from the quay along the narrow winding lane out of Penmarris that led to our new temporary home.

‘Emma, do you think that Daddy and Claire will get married?’

‘That’s funny, I was just thinking about that a few minutes ago. Would you mind if they did?’

‘Not really, I think that she’s nice and kind and Daddy needs someone. I think Mummy would have liked her.’

I could hear engine noises from behind and I pulled Amelia over to the wall, as the lane was a bit narrow. It was a white van, so it was quite wide.

It came closer and I held Amelia’s hand as it went to go past.

But it screeched to a stop.

The side door suddenly slid open.

Two men in face masks got out and grabbed us and dragged us into the van. I could hear Amelia screaming, but I didn’t have a chance as something was put over my face that smelt awful and everything went black.

I woke up with a pounding head and had a terrible taste in my mouth. I was lying on a mattress that smelt of musty damp. Looking around the room I could see dimly that there was another mattress and Amelia was lying on it. The only window the room had was boarded up from the outside. It was nearly dark and what little light that came into the room was from a gap at the top of the window and I wondered how long we had been there. I stood up, feeling very wobbly and going over to Amelia, I tried to wake her up, but she was fast asleep or drugged. At least she was breathing.

I walked over to the door and tried to open it, but the sturdy door was locked. It wasn’t a very big room and was in a poor state of repair, with wallpaper peeling and an ever-present damp smell.

I banged on the door and screamed, ‘let us out.’ But no one came. It was very quiet and I could hear nothing beyond the room.

Going over to where Amelia was, I once again tried to get her to wake up. I shook her shoulder and she groaned, and I sighed with relief as I was so worried about her.

‘Jen…I mean Emma where are we,’ she said as she slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. ‘Oh, I feel terrible.’

With that, she leaned over and was promptly sick, luckily missing me by inches.

She started to cry, and I hugged her as best I could.

In a corner of the room, I noticed a bucket and two plastic bottles of what I hoped was water. I went over, unscrewed one and sniffed. There was no smell, and I took a chance and just took a little sip. It tasted like water and shrugged. If whoever had kidnapped us wanted us harmed or dead, they had had plenty of opportunities to do that, so I felt fairly safe that the water was harmless, but I waited a while before offering the water to Amelia. Better safe than sorry as Daddy used to say.

As I didn’t have any after-effects, I gave Amelia some water and I think that drinking it made her feel a bit better. I know that it did me.

‘So, where are we?’

‘I don’t know,’ I replied, ‘but I expect that this has something to do with Daddy.’

‘I’m frightened.’

‘Me too, but we have to wait and see what happens.’

And that is what we did, but not after I checked that there was no way out. The door was solid, and the windows were locked and shuttered. We could hear no noise from outside except the twittering of the occasional bird.

We had been left water, but no food and Amelia kept saying she was hungry. I felt too sick with worry to even think about food, but Amelia was different to me. Her mood swings were weird, to say the least. One minute she was all positive and the next she was crying on my shoulder.

Somehow, we both fell asleep and I only awoke when I heard the sound of an engine coming from outside. It was lighter now and I wondered how long we had been there. Was it morning? I had left my watch in my bedroom and Amelia never wore a watch so I had no idea of the time.

Amelia woke up too and we looked at each other with dread. Sitting on the grubby mattress, I held her sweaty hand and waited.

There was a key turning in the lock and then the door crashed open.

Two men came in, their faces covered with balaclavas, we could only see their mouths and eyes. They both had guns in their hands, and they were pointing them at us.

‘Do not move,’ said the smaller man who I took to be the leader. He had a posh accent, very British, but to my ears a bit too perfect, but what do I know?

‘Is he foreign?’ I wondered.

The other man stood by the door, he had a large cooler bag by him and I wondered what it was for. I instinctively took him to be the subordinate one.

‘Why have you kidnapped us?’ I asked the smaller man.

‘A strong word, kidnapped. Just let us say you are helping us with our enquiries. Now do not speak unless I allow you to, understood?’

We both nodded. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. I could only imagine how Amelia felt.

‘You may be wondering why you are here.’

‘Yes why, we’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘I told you not to speak. But as you have asked the question, I will answer it. You are the children of Phillip Marshall and we need to find him. Oh, you might be wondering how we found you. You gave us the run-around, I grant you that, as initially, we were looking for a boy and a girl. However, facial recognition software can look beyond the obvious and we were able to match the faces with ones that we have on record. There are cameras everywhere, even in places you would never dream of. We are in a world of surveillance and there are few places where one can hide.

‘We have your details on record, as your father is of great interest to us. Everyone and everything regarding him is documented and recorded, including his girlfriend and her daughter, by the way.’

‘What do you want? We don’t know where Daddy is.’ blurted out Amelia.

He turned his cold, hard gaze on my sister.

‘If you speak out of turn again, you will be punished, but it is a valid question. Marshall is a danger to us and needs to be found at all costs. He is clever enough not to tell anyone of his present location, but I am sure that he knows where you are. We will simply put it out that we have his children under, erm, shall we say, protective custody and if he gives himself in, we will let you go. That sounds reasonable, I think.’

I put my hand up, like I was in class. I didn’t want either of us to get hit by this psychopath for speaking without permission.

He looked at me and said, ‘speak.’

‘Are you the police?’

‘No, I and my colleague over there are much higher up the food chain than mere police officers.’

‘Why can’t we see your faces.’

‘You ask too many questions. Emma is it now? Nice name for a girl, but you are really a boy, aren’t you? Mind you, dressed and looking like that, you don’t look much like a boy called Jason, do you? Now, enough of this nonsense you are to stay here until your father comes to his senses. If he does not do that, then, I regret that unpleasant things might happen to you both and his girlfriend and daughter, who, by the way, are in our,’ he coughed, ‘custody elsewhere.’

‘What!’ I shouted, ‘Don’t you dare harm them!’

He came over and slapped my face hard. It was a stinging blow and I could feel a trickle of blood coming out of my mouth where I had bit my tongue.

‘You pig!’ I shouted through my tears. Amelia hugged me and was crying uncontrollably.

‘I told you not to speak. You will learn manners if it kills you. Now do not try to escape, you are miles from anywhere and this building is secure.’

The big man came over and placed the bag on the small table over to the side and then went back to the doorway. He still said nothing.

‘We will be going now. Whether we come back again depends on your father. We will see how much he loves you both.’

Without another word, he left, followed by his henchman.

As I heard the sound of a car engine grow fainter, I felt more despair at that moment than I have ever felt in my life.

Would Daddy come back and give himself up?

On the one hand, I hoped that he would, on the other, I hated the idea of him giving up to those thugs.

We had gone through so much in such a short space of time and I wondered if we would ever see our father again and whether we would still be alive in a weeks’ time. I was under no illusions that these people would stop at nothing in their quest to get to my Daddy and I dreaded the future like never before.

Previously...

As I heard the sound of an engine grow fainter, I felt more despair at that moment than I have ever felt in my life.

Would Daddy come back and give himself up?

On the one hand, I hoped that he would, on the other, I hated the idea of him giving up to those thugs.

We had gone through so much in such a short space of time and I wondered if we would ever see our father again and whether we would still be alive in a weeks’ time. I was under no illusions that these people would stop at nothing in their quest to get to my Daddy and I dreaded the future like never before.

And now the story continues...

I wondered what Claire and the others were thinking? If I was Claire, I would be frantic by now. I had no idea how long we had been in this place. Our phones had been taken away from us, so we had no contact with the outside world or couldn’t be traced. For some reason our watches had been taken too, so we had no idea as to what time it was.

Amelia was sitting in the corner, rocking herself and crying. I went over and sat beside her and gave her a hug. We both had a good cry and I think that it made us feel a bit better for some reason.

After a while, Amelia touched my face where that brute had hit me. I winced, as it was quite painful and my tongue was sore where I had bit it.
I now wished that I had kept my mouth shut. It was a hard lesson.

‘Does it hurt?’ she asked.

‘Mmm,’ I admitted.

‘What’s going to happen to us?’

‘I don’t know honey, but I bet that everyone is looking for us and that we’ll get out of this somehow.’

I had tried to sound positive for Amelia, but it was hard to be positive knowing how ruthless these people were.

It led me to wonder who “they” were. Were they working for the government or just thugs, hired to do a nasty job? Were we expendable? Probably, I thought. And what about the police, were they in on this or just blindly following orders to find us?

I glanced over to the door and noticed the cooler bag that thug number two had left there.

I went over and unzipped the bag. Inside were some pre-packed sandwiches bought from a supermarket or petrol station, together with some cans of cola and bottled water and a couple of bars of chocolate. Not much, but better than nothing.

Amelia was now sitting on her bed, looking into space. I worried about her. She was only a kid and I had to do something to cheer her up, maybe some food?

I took a sandwich, choc bar and can of cola over to her.

‘Here, have this.’

‘I’m not hungry.’

I staggered back and gave a little scream.

‘What?’ she asked, looking puzzled.

‘You,’ I gasped, ‘not hungry, are you a clone and what have you done with my sister?’

She giggled at that and then, cheering up a bit, reluctantly took the food and drink.

‘You’re silly Emma.’

It seemed so natural calling each other by our new names. I kind of preferred them and I thought that I might keep mine when all this nastiness was over. My acceptance by everyone that I was a girl and not a boy was the only positive thing to happen to me since all this mess started. It might seem daft to think of that in the current circumstances, but it gave me a little bit of comfort and I would take anything going at that moment!

I smiled and joined her on the bed as we ate our small meal. I did wonder in passing whether the food could have been drugged, but on reflection, I didn’t think so as what would be the point of that? They had us locked up and they could have harmed us at any time but we were, I assumed, some sort of pawns in the sick game they were playing.

It didn’t take us long to eat the sandwich and chocolate bar although I had to be a bit careful as my tongue was pretty sore. I was kind of glad that there was no mirror on the wall. My face probably wasn’t a very pretty thing to look at. I was hungrier than I thought and it left me wanting more, but at least food helped me feel a bit better and Amelia looked a bit more chirpy.

It was a strange, unreal situation that we were in. After eating, we just sat on our musty beds and wondered what was going to happen.

I tried to reassure Amelia.

‘At least they’ve fed us. If they wanted to harm us, they would have starved us,’

Or even worse, killed us, I thought.

‘ I miss Daddy,’ sniffed Amelia.

‘Me too, squirt.’

‘Don’t call me squirt,’ she said and threw her pillow at me.

I wasn’t going to have that, so I threw mine at her and we were soon in the throes of a pillow fight.

It didn’t last long, as the pillows burst and we were covered in feathers but at least it broke the tension a bit, which was my cunning intention.

After that bit of fun, we just sat there, wondering what would happen to us. Would we get more food and drink? I hoped so, as starving to death or dying of thirst weren’t very nice things to think of. But there again, to have food and drink, those horrible men would have to come back and I didn’t look forward to that possibility. The head brute, man or whatever you wanted to call him, hinted that they would not come back unless Daddy cooperated, whatever that meant.

I estimated that we were there for about two days and nights but it was difficult to know as we had no watches and only had the rays of light from the shuttered windows to go by. The food, such as it was, had run out and there was very little water left. We were both starving and getting more than a little desperate. The boredom took its toll and we began to get on each other’s nerves and we had silly rows about stupid things. I can’t remember what about, but each hour that passed seemed to get longer and longer and I was feeling desperate about our situation. I almost got to the stage when I would welcome the return of our kidnappers just for something to happen.

I suppose I had thought that we might be rescued and that the countryside was being scoured for us but apart from some noisy birds, all was quiet. I didn’t hear any cars, trains or anything that indicated that we were close to any sort of civilisation. It was all very worrying and depressing.

I wondered what the others were doing. Were they worried about us? Would they call the police? I supposed that they would have had to and that worried me because I didn’t know which side the police were on.

I suppose that it was mid-afternoon. Amelia was lying on her bed asleep, covered with her coat to keep her warm. December wasn’t the best month to be imprisoned without any heating. At least when she was asleep, she wouldn’t be worrying about what was to become us. I felt in my bones that no one was going to come to rescue us in the near future and as far as those men were concerned, we were expendable.

I couldn’t believe that the men who captured us had anything to do with the authorities or government. The authorities were the good guys, weren’t they? Maybe I was being naïve, what did I know? Daddy said something about suspicions people in his department and the police had definitely been looking for us on the train, so were they just following orders to find us or was it something else. I felt my face where the man had hit me, feeling all the more confused as to who were the good guys and who were the bad ones.

In the end, I had enough of fruitless speculation and going over the same things again and again and again. I decided to do the same as my sister and just tried to sleep. It beat the hell out of worry and the boredom.

Despite the things going on in my head, I finally dropped off. I had no idea how long I was asleep but when I woke up, I saw that it was just getting light outside. Amelia was still in the land of nod and I decided not to wake her. What was the point, weren’t going anywhere.

In the gloom, I went over to the door and tried the handle, it was locked, of course. It was very solid and I didn’t think it would be easy for anyone to break it open. For lack of anything better to do, I went over to one of the shuttered windows. The window itself was locked and anyway, the shutters on the outside were closed and looked very secure. The other window was the same and I despaired of ever getting us out of there.

I went over to my bed and sat down with my head in my hands. I was very close to tears. It wouldn’t take much to push me over the edge, but I had to be strong for Amelia. I missed my father so much and hadn’t felt this bad since Mummy died so horribly.

I pulled out a tissue from in my coat pocket and blew my nose gently and somehow, I dropped the tissue on the floor.

Stooping down to pick the tissue up, I noticed, under my bed, the carpet had a slight depression under it.

For lack of anything better to do, I quietly moved the bed out of the way. I didn’t want to disturb my sister so I tried to make as little noise as possible, although normally, she could sleep through the middle of a fireworks display.

The stained and worn carpet definitely had a square depression in it. I wrinkled my nose as the carpet smelt of… I didn’t know what. I peeled back the edge and blinked in surprise when it revealed a square wooden trapdoor!

I managed to get my fingers under the edge of the hatch and swore silently in an unladylike manner when I broke one of my nails in the process. But I didn’t worry about that for long, as I pulled the trapdoor up and out of the way. It creaked alarmingly on its rusty hinges and it looked like it hadn’t been opened in ages. I saw some stone steps leading down into complete darkness.

I could feel cold air coming from below, so I realised that this could be our way out. Maybe, it wasn’t just a cellar but a way out of our prison!

‘What,’ asked a sleepy Amelia yawning. The noise must have woken her up.

I turned and looked at her.

‘Wake up sleepy head. I’ve found a trap door.’

This grabbed her attention rather more quickly than usual!

She jumped off the bed and came over.

‘It looks rather dark,’ she said uncertainly, ‘it’s probably an old cellar and full of spiders, rats and snakes.’

She always had a bit of a wild imagination, not like me, all calm and brave.

Who was I kidding?

‘I can feel a bit of a breeze.’ I said.

‘Can you? Wow, maybe it’s a way out.’

‘That’s what I was thinking. Shall we try?’

‘It is very dark.’ She replied uncertainly.

‘Well, do you really want to stay here and starve?’

‘Of course not. OK let’s do it.’

I grinned at her and then, after Amelia put her coat on, we made our way over to the trapdoor. Then I had a sudden thought.

‘Hang on a minute. Help me drag the beds up against the door.’

I thought that it might be an idea to barricade the door in case the baddies turned up suddenly. It might give us a few minutes.

We heaved and pushed the beds hard up against the door and then went back over to the trapdoor.

‘You lead the way,’ said Amelia bravely…not.

I gulped. This was not going to be easy. Who knows what was down there? We had no light to guide us and I was just an incy-wincy bit scared of the dark, although I would never live it down if I told my sister.

‘Right,’ I said as confidently as I could manage, ‘I’ll go first and you follow on closely. When we get to the bottom, hold on to the tail of my coat, OK?’

‘Yes, get on with it.’

It was alright for her; I was the one leading the way!

I sat down on the floor with my legs hanging over the opening, one foot on the first step. With a deep breath, I stood up and started to go down. I had my hand up against the roughly hewn wall and after a few steps, I came across a handrail which I gripped like someone who had just been thrown a lifebelt ring.

‘There’s a rail on your left,’ I said as I continued down, feeling my steps like a blind person, which, I suppose, I was, near enough at that moment.

I could hear Amelia breathing hard behind me and could sense that she was not enjoying this.

I suppose there were about twenty steps until I reached the floor, which was hard rock, like the steps but felt a bit gritty underfoot.

‘I’m at the bottom now,’ I said.

Amelia bumped into me.

‘Careful,’ I said.

‘Sorree,’ she replied indignantly.

‘She’ll have to go,’ I thought

Looking back up from where we came, I could see the opening and the faint light coming from the room above. I could also see the steps dimly as my eyes grew accustomed to the poor light.

There was a definite breeze coming from somewhere and now that my eyes had become accustomed to the dark, I could see that we weren’t in a cellar but a passage. This didn’t surprise me as I had heard stories of smugglers tunnels both in Devon and Cornwall. In the distance, I could see a chink of light coming from the roof and we headed that way, being careful of where we put our feet and hoping that we didn’t come across nasty creepy crawlies or worse, rats.

My bravery, such as it was, had its limits.

I held onto Amelia’s rather sweaty hand or was that mine that was damp? Never mind that, we continued on slowly and carefully. The chink of light grew larger and larger until we were under it. Looking up, I could see some metal rails lodged in the rocks, that formed a ladder. Above the ladder was an opening that appeared to be partially covered in branches.

‘Shall we go up?’ I asked.

‘Der, obviously,’ said cheeky chops.

She definitely had to go. Where, I didn’t know? But I would think of something when I had the chance and we weren’t fleeing for our lives.

I bravely went first, so if a rung broke and I fell, I would land on her and serve her right!

Such silly thoughts spurred me on as I went ever up towards the opening. Amelia followed close behind. She should have waited for me to get to the top, but I think that she was as spooked as I was about staying in that dark and dingy tunnel. I heard an animal type squeak from below and it sounded like it might be a rat, so that made me go faster.

‘Hurry up, slowcoach,’ exclaimed Amelia bumping up against my leg. I think that she heard the squeak too!

The metal rungs were somewhat rusty and I wondered how long ago that the ladder had last been used. The granite walls looked roughly hewn, giving me the impression that the passage was very old, perhaps used by smugglers?

I didn’t have much time to ponder as Amelia let out a little scream as we heard the scurrying of tiny feet and squeaking sounds.

‘H…hurry up!’

I continued climbing the ladder as fast as my feet would take me, hoping and praying that a rung wouldn’t break.

I reached the top and pulled myself up over the edge, pushing some overgrown bushes out of the way and scratching my hands in the process. I then turned to help Amelia, not that she needed much help as she came up and out of the opening a bit like a cork out of a bottle of champagne.

‘Oooh, I feel all creepy and crawly,’ said Amelia, brushing down her cobwebbed coat.

Looking down, I saw that I was in the same condition. I didn’t much like spiders either and we checked each other out for any signs of life on our clothes. Luckily, all clear.

Looking around, I saw that we were in a small clearing, surrounded by high bushes. The hole itself had been covered in branches and bracken, presumably hiding it from prying eyes.
It all confirmed to me that the secret tunnel was more than likely something to do with smuggling.

I pushed a bush out of the way and saw that we were by the side of a narrow, seldom used lane with grass growing down the middle. At the end of the lane, just fifty yards away, was an old cottage and it didn’t take much brainpower to work out that this was our former prison. It was strange, I thought that we had gone a lot further than that in the tunnel. Mind you, you can’t really judge distance very well in the dark.

‘Let me see,’ said Amelia, pushing me out of the way.

‘Wow, was that where they kept us?’

‘Looks like it.’

‘We’re well out of that! I’m hungry and thirsty.’

‘Always thinking of your stomach.’

‘Aren’t you hungry and thirsty then?’

‘A bit.’ I admitted, ‘We’ll go and see…’

I stopped talking as I heard the sound of an engine in the distance, coming closer.

We both pulled back to hide amongst the bushes and not soon enough, as a car came down the lane at a terrific speed, throwing up dirt as it went.

I had hopes that it might be someone there to rescue us and we both carefully looked out from our hiding place and saw two men get out of the car. They were wearing balaclavas and I knew that they were the men who had kidnapped us.

They went over to the front door and tried to open it. They found some resistance and they pushed hard before it finally opened and they rushed in. slamming the door closed behind them.

‘Now we’re for it!’ said Amelia.

I had a mad idea.

I went over to the hole and covered it up with as many branches as I could find.

‘What are you doing. This is no time for doing gardening.’

‘Shut up and help me cover the opening. Quick we haven’t much time.’

We did as best as we could and soon the opening was completed covered over.

‘Come on, let's go.’

‘Where?’

‘To the cottage, where else.’

‘Are you mad?’

‘Probably. Now come on, no questions.’

We pushed through a gap in the hedge and ran down the lane towards the cottage with Amelia constantly complaining behind me.

We reached the cottage and saw the front door. I was gambling on the fact that the men were by now in the passage trying to follow us and that they would not just come out of the cottage.

There was a key in the lock of the cottage door and I locked it and then as an afterthought, threw the key in a patch of stinging nettles. Why? I hadn’t a clue but it seemed a good idea at the time. Then I wondered what to do next.

‘Emma?’

‘What?’

‘The key is in the car ignition.’

‘So what?’

‘Let’s pinch it?’

‘What?’

‘The car, silly.’

‘I can’t drive.’

‘You drove that go-kart at the fair once.’

‘Yes, but a car is different.’

‘Have you any better idea?’

I had visions of the men getting through the passage and up that ladder.

‘Oh sod it, let's try it.’

‘You swore, I’ll tell Daddy about that.’

‘You would, you snitch! Oh come on then, at least we can try. Get in the car and for goodness sake, put on your seat belt.’

I got into the driver’s seat. It was miles back and I had to pull the seat as far forward as I could towards the steering wheel for me to just about reach the pedals. I put on the seat belt and then tried to remember what I had seen when other people like my dad had driven. At least the car was an automatic, so I didn’t have to worry about gears.

I didn’t have much time to think, I just pressed the ignition button and the car engine started.

I looked down and put the gear lever thingy into drive and the car crept forward. Not a good idea as there was a wall six feet in front of the car. I slammed on the brake, put the lever in reverse and the car went backwards a bit too fast. In the reversing camera, I saw that we were now in danger of hitting a tree.

‘Watch out,’ shouted Amelia.

Once again, I slammed on the brakes. This driving business was harder than I thought!

‘Not so fast, I want to get out of this alive.’

‘Shut up squirt. If you think that you can do any better, you try it.’

‘I would if I had long enough legs.’

I put the lever into drive again and then, turning the steering wheel, I gently accelerated and managed somehow to turn the car around, so it was facing the right way.

‘What are you waiting for?’

I gulped and then pressed down on the accelerator. The car moved forward but I was finding it difficult to keep to a straight line as the lane was rutted and had holes in it.

‘Oh no.’ exclaimed Amelia.

I gasped as up ahead to our left, the two men burst out from the bushes and came out onto the road. They saw us immediately and they both had guns in their hands, aiming them at us.

‘Duck down,’ I shouted.

I went as low as I could whilst still seeing in front of me and just kept moving. My heart was in my mouth and I impulsively pressed down hard on the go pedal and the car shot forward.

There was a huge bang and the windscreen had two holes in it. Later, I was amazed that the screen didn’t shatter. The two men were a few feet in front of the car by now and I didn’t apply the brakes.

I’m a gentle person and I wouldn’t hurt a fly, but at that moment, I didn’t want to do anything but to get away and if they were stupid enough to stay in the road, they would get run over.

They both dived out of the way and we accelerated down the road. Unfortunately, one of the men was too late in getting out of the way and there was a sickening thud as I hit him a glancing blow with the wing of the car.

‘What’s happening?’

‘Keep down.’

It was a good job I told her this as, in our mad dash to get away, the car was hit by several bullets in the back, including the rear windscreen that exploded into hundreds of pieces.

We turned a bend and looking at the rearview mirror, I could see that we were out of sight of the men. It was then safe for me to sit up properly. How I managed to get the car that far was nothing short of amazing.

I felt sick as I realised that I had hit that man. I hated him but I didn’t want to kill him. I stopped the car for a moment.

‘You can sit up now. They’ve gone.’ I said with a quavering voice.

‘What happened.’

‘We got away from them.’

‘That was cool.’

‘Cool…cool, are you mad?’

‘Just like in a film. You were like James Bond or is it Jane Bond?’

‘You do talk rubbish sometimes. Blimey, I was nearly wetting myself.’

‘Gross, too much information Emma.’

That bit of banter helped to calm me down a bit and after a moment I well enough to carry on.

We went down the lane at a slower pace, knowing that there was no danger now from those men. It took a while for my heart to stop beating furiously. I had never been so scared in my life. I wondered at the calmness of my sister and then remembered that she had seen nothing after she spotted the men bursting out from the bushes. Lucky her, I was going to need intensive therapy after all this was over!

We came to the end of the lane and I wondered where I should go.

‘Where are we?’

‘I don’t know, do I. Why not turn on that satnav thingy?’

I felt a bit of a twit, Of course, the sat-nav!

I stopped at the junction. The flaming car kept wanting to creep forward so I stuck it in neutral and pulled the handbrake up. I then pressed a few buttons and finally, the satnav screen jumped into life.

The map showed on the screen and I zoomed out far enough to tell us where we were. Of course, not knowing anywhere in Devon or Cornwall, I was none the wiser. So I keyed in Penmarris and the sat-nav showed us the way back. I had thought that we might be miles away, but we weren’t we were just ten miles from there.

‘That’s not far is it?’ said Amelia.

‘No, I don’t know whether to stop and ask for help somewhere or try to drive the thing home.’

‘Drive home; we don’t know who we can trust.’

‘It’s against the law for me to drive.’

‘What’s more important, breaking a few silly rules or getting us back safely?’

I thought for a moment.

‘Breaking a few silly rules,’ I replied.

‘That’s my girl!’

I pressed GO on the sat-nav and turned left, as instructed.

There were no other cars on the road, which was almost as narrow as the lane that we had just left. I was glad of that as I wasn’t sure that my driving skills would allow me to do anything complicated like passing another car or heaven forbid, anything bigger.

Luckily the holes in the windscreen were to the side and they didn’t impair my vision much, just making a whistling noise where the wind came in. It was really cold in there as we had no rear windscreen and I had to have the heater full on to counteract that.

I got a bit more used to driving the car after a bit and only scraped a wall once. I wasn’t too bothered about that as the thing had more bullet holes than Swiss cheese and anyway, it wasn’t mine.

After a bit, Amelia chirped up.

‘I’m hungry. Can we go to a McDonald’s?’

‘No, are you nuts?’

‘No, just hungry and thirsty.’

‘One, I don’t know where McDonald's is around here. Maybe none at all and two, just think what would be said if we turned up in this car, in the state that it’s in and people saw a kid driving it? Don’t you think that they might be a little bit suspicious?’

‘Maybe.’ She admitted. ‘So, how long till we get home?’

I looked at the screen.

‘About twenty minutes. I’m not driving fast though.’

‘You’re only doing 15 miles an hour. At this rate, I’ll be seventy by the time we get back. I could walk faster.’

‘Want to get out and walk?’

‘Don’t get huffy with me, but you could drive a wee bit faster.’

‘Don’t talk about wee. I am dying to go,’

‘Pull over in that layby then, we can go in the bushes.’

I was kind of desperate. I don’t know why because we hadn’t had much to drink lately. It must have been nerves. I pulled over and we both got out and ran in different directions.

I had just finished doing my stuff and adjusting my tights and skirt, not as easy as it sounds, when in the distance, I heard sirens. I hid behind a bush and then a police car whizzed past us, going in the direction that we had come from. It must have been doing 70 at least.

‘Emma,’ called Amelia.

I came out of the bushes and there was Amelia, looking worried.

‘Is that anything to do with us?’ she asked.

‘Possibly. Look we have to get going. We need to get back home.’

‘Home?’

‘Well, Auntie’s mansion anyway. It’s our home for the moment isn’t it?’

She shrugged.

‘OK, stop talking and start driving, but for goodness sake go faster!’

I shook my head. I’ll never understand her if I lived to be a hundred. One minute she’s the scared little girl who still sucks her thumb when she sleeps and the next, she acts older than me; not that I’m that ancient!

We got back in the car, belted up and continued our journey. Soon we reached the main road and were belting along at 25 miles per hour. I daren’t go any faster as I wasn’t exactly confident but at least Amelia stopped complaining about the speed.

As the road was wider now and I was feeling easier about driving the car, I wasn’t too worried when the occasional car went past us, although I nearly had kittens when an articulated lorry overtook us on a bend and blew his horn, making me almost jump out of my seat. The impatience of some people!

Eventually, there was the sign for Penmarris and we went up the hill, around the bend and there in front of us was the large gates that led us into the mansion’s grounds.

The gravel drive led up for some distance, turned left past the mole infested lawns and the fountain spewing water high into the air and then finally, the mansion itself came into view.

I was so relieved to get back safely and couldn’t wait to see the others.

I screeched to a stop, the engine running.

My heart was in my mouth.

There, in front of us were no less than three police cars, a police van and an ambulance.

A couple of policemen had noticed us and came running over.

I wanted to turn the car around and get away, but there was no chance of that, as another police car came up behind us, effectively hemming us in.

Amelia started crying and I felt like it too. I didn’t trust the police in any way shape or form. After getting away from one set of villains, I had no doubt the police would take us away to God knows where and then hold on to us until Daddy came back.

The driver’s door was wrenched open…