Flight of a Starling. Lisa Heathfield

      

      First published in Great Britain in 2017

      by Electric Monkey, an imprint of Egmont UK Limited

      The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

      Text copyright © 2017 Lisa Heathfield

      The moral rights of the author have been asserted

      First e-book edition 2017

      ISBN 978 1 4052 8590 2

      Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1779 3

       www.egmont.co.uk

      A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

      Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

      To Frank, Arthur and Albert – for being my extraordinary.

       Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

RITA

CHAPTER ONE: LO

RITA

LO

RITA

CHAPTER TWO: LO

RITA

       CHAPTER THREE: LO

       CHAPTER FOUR: LO

       RITA

       LO

       RITA

       CHAPTER FIVE: LO

       RITA

       CHAPTER SIX: LO

       RITA

       LO

       CHAPTER SEVEN: LO

       CHAPTER EIGHT: LO

       RITA

       CHAPTER NINE: LO

       RITA

       CHAPTER TEN: LO

       RITA

       LO

       RITA

       LO

       CHAPTER ELEVEN: LO

       CHAPTER TWELVE: LO

       RITA

       LO

       RITA

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN: RITA

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN: RITA

       CHAPTER FIFTEEN: RITA

       Acknowledgements

       Back series promotional page

       Praise for Lisa Heathfield’s SEED

       Praise for Lisa Heathfield’s PAPER BUTTERFLIES

RITA

      The air in the alleyway sticks to my skin. The bricks sit too close, pushing grief deeper into me. I stop to touch the walls.

       Were you here, Lo?

      I listen for a reply. Listen hard for her laughter, but it’s not here. The silence grips so hard at my heart that I don’t know how I breathe.

      Dean stands waiting at the end of the alley, framed by daylight. It’s only a few weeks since I’ve seen him, a few weeks since he was my sister’s whispered secret, but he looks so different. Lo loved his eyes, but they’re raw with a sadness I never knew could exist.

      ‘Are you ok?’ he asks, but he knows I’m not. Neither of us are.

      ‘She really liked you,’ I say, my words stumbling in the bricked-in air. But he just stares at me, this boy from a world I don’t know, a world that never moves on, unlike our circus.

      ‘It’s this way,’ is all he says.

      A building stands in front of us and I know it’s the abandoned factory that he came to with Lo. But she said it was beautiful and it’s not. It’s grey and broken and I feel cheated.

      ‘Is this your ma’s old factory?’ I ask.

      Dean looks surprised. ‘Lo told you?’

      ‘She wanted me to see it.’

       I’m here now, Lo. But where are you?

      The pain of missing her weighs on me, so heavy that I have to crouch down. I put my head into my hands, press so hard that my eyes hurt, dig my fingers deep into my skull until I can feel my hair pulling hard from my scalp.

      I know Dean sits next to me. He moves my hands and puts them on the floor where Lo once walked. Then he stands up, this boy who burned