Nine Letters Long Read Online Free Page B

will help me.’
    â€˜Who, Evie? Who?’ Alex is screaming and pulling at Evie’s arm. ‘Who’s she ? Who’s she ?’
    â€˜Who’s she ?’ Evie whispers. ‘Who is she ?’
    The glass turns around, changes direction and skids to the letter A. Evie closes her eyes. The rest of the letters she knows only too well.
    â€˜Who? Who?’ Alex pants. ‘Who?’
    â€˜A-T-H-E-N,’ Poppy begins.
    â€˜Athena,’ Evie murmurs.
    â€˜What?’ Alex throws herself back in the chair just as Poppy calls the final letter.
    â€˜A. A-T-H-E-N-A. Athena!’
    â€˜Athena,’ nods Evie, as the heat lifts from her shoulders back up into the atmosphere.
    Â 
    The girls huddle together in Evie’s parents’ bed. All the lights are on. The glass and letters have been thrown in the garbage outside.
    â€˜What are you going to do, Evie?’ Alex whispers.
    Evie lies there, silent.
    â€˜Who’s Athena?’ Poppy asks again. ‘Will someone please tell me who Athena is?’
    â€˜You tell her,’ Evie murmurs. She can hardly form a word. Her energy has been drained and a tiredness so deep is creeping into her spine. She is aware of a part of her distancing itself from the others. It must, for that part is the special part. The part that makes her different.
    Evie’s head takes her to a place that’s small and dark. A place where she’s crouching alone and frightened. It’s hard to breathe. She doesn’t want to be there. She fights her way out to return to the now, to the muffled whispers of Alex as she tells Poppy about Adelaide, Athena and the red cardigan. Evie peers above the sheet, her eyes flitting around the room. She’s safe. She’s here in the warmth of her parents’ bed, her two best friends lying next to her.
    Evie pulls the sheet over her head, closes her eyes. It’s happening again.
    â€˜You know how Evie can sometimes sense things about people?’
    â€˜Yeah.’
    â€˜You know how sometimes she feels it through the clothes people once wore?’
    â€˜Yeah. Like that time we were at Glebe markets and she tried on that old shawl and started speaking, um, in an accent.’
    â€˜Exactly. It happens with second-hand –’
    â€˜â€“ vintage stuff,’ adds Poppy.
    â€˜And, you know how sometimes when Evie draws her pictures end up being different –’
    â€˜Yes, Alex! I already know all that! Now get on with it!’
    â€˜Look, it’s hard to explain, Poppy,’ Alex sighs. ‘You know Evie’s red cardigan – that vintage one her dad got in Adelaide?’
    â€˜Of course I know the cardigan. Evie wears it to school every day.’
    â€˜No she doesn’t,’ Alex tells her. ‘Evie hasn’t worn it since Adelaide. You just haven’t noticed.’
    â€˜So what’s the cardie got to do with anything?’
    â€˜I’m getting to that! Just listen, it’s … complicated,’ Alex says. ‘Evie’s cardigan originally belonged to a girl called Athena Poulos who lived in Adelaide.’
    â€˜Come on, you’re freaking me out, Alex.’
    â€˜Well, this is the really spooky bit …’
    Silence. Evie tries to swallow as she waits for Alex’s next words.
    â€˜Athena had been missing for months. You know, like disappeared, and that’s the real reason Evie went to Adelaide in July.’
    â€˜But you said –’
    â€˜I know,’ Alex sighs. ‘I told you she was there for a funeral … oh god, Poppy, I don’t know how to explain this.’ Alex takes a deep breath. ‘You know how Evie’s … special? Like the way she can know stuff?’
    â€˜Yeah, sort of.’
    â€˜That’s what the Athena thing was about. You see, Evie really seriously has that ESP, sixth-sense thing. Big time, if you know what I mean. She knew where to look for Athena and she ended up