Deborah Hockney Read Online Free Page A

answered David with a worried expression on his face. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
    ‘Yep.’ Will continued smirking at Jocasta. ‘All that farting and belching. It’ll be quite an experience for your delicate nature.’
    She gave him a playful slap in reply.
    ‘Mind you, I do hope to get there someday.’ His voice became quieter and more serious. ‘You guys know that’s where my mum died. And I’ve never been able to find out how or why. Dad refuses to talk about it and there’s no-one else who’s been willing to help me find out. Perhaps you’ll be able to make some headway for me.’
    ‘Not sure about that, Will,’ Jocasta reluctantly answered. ‘Can’t see the Elite exactly letting us snoop around, asking questions.’
    ‘I’m not asking you to snoop around,’ he snapped back. ‘Just if anything turns up…’
    ‘Yep, sure thing,’ David had intervened. ‘We’ll bear it in mind.’
    And Will had seemed satisfied with that, much to Jocasta’s relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help. It was just that she couldn’t see what they’d be able to find out. By all accounts Will’s mother had disappeared in mysterious circumstances and no body had ever been found. Will had always believed that there’d been a cover up, but as he’d only been a toddler at the time, she wasn’t sure exactly how his conspiracy theory had taken shape.
    Jocasta sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to recapture the feeling of elation that she’d experienced on that first day when Officer Delaney had told her she’d been chosen. Oh, what an honour for the academy and her family. She had felt proud then and so special, but now she realised how small and insignificant she really was, just a tiny part of a universal organisation. The enormity of her decision began to weigh heavily on her mind and a fear of letting her family and friends down if she didn’t succeed began to take hold.
    Besides, she couldn’t think of any discernable reason why the Elite would have chosen her . For all her mother’s fierce maternal pride of Jocasta and her abilities as a potential cadet: had Mr. Stratton had been right? She remembered the Meyer triplets, who’d been recruited from the Academy – and it was obvious why they had been chosen, they were easily three of the best minds that Woodbridge had ever taught. A little difficult to control at times, by all accounts, but there was no denying that they had each excelled academically far further than Jocasta had.
    But this is no good, she told herself, I’ve made my decision and I’ll just have to do my best. No one can ask more than that; after all, I must have proven myself to somebody to get this far.
    And with a greater sense of determination she returned to her packing.
    At last, most of her possessions were organised into two fairly neat piles. One extremely large: the items that had to stay behind, and the other a tidy little pile which represented her most precious items. Now she turned her attention to her gemstones. She had studied geology in one of her previous years, and though not every type of rock was a source of marvel for her, she couldn’t deny that the semi-precious stones she had begun collecting had become treasures for her. She placed them, one at a time, carefully in the palm of her hand turning each one over and over trying to determine which ones to take. Finally she picked three of her favourites. Agate, for luck, black onyx for safety, and a tiny, precious sapphire for intellect. Luckily they were all quite small and she predicted that they wouldn’t put her over the weight allowance.
    ‘Thank goodness,’ she muttered, taking a gulp of water and flinging her window wide open to let in the cooling evening breeze. She leant out, turning her face to the north, trying to locate Mars in the murky night sky. The large, heavy clouds moved slowly in drifts, revealing a few dark gaps, dotted with the enticing light of a bright star. Jocasta