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The next morning Sienna pushed her makeshift costume into a small bag and headed out with Charlotte to talk to Ryan.

Charlotte’s family lived in a three-bedroomed Victorian terraced house on the other side of Castleham. Sienna had always felt that it had more character than her family’s modern build especially since it had renovated sympathetically. Her stomach had never roiled with nerves before and she found herself looking up and down the street for any sign that the men with guns had found out about Ryan yet.

Charlotte was just as twitchy as she unlocked the front door and ushered Sienna inside.

“Wait here. I’ll check mum and dad are out before we go upstairs.”

“Okay,” Sienna said.

Charlotte was gone for only a few moments before returning and gesturing at Sienna to come upstairs.

Sienna followed her and Charlotte raised her hand to rap on the door of the spare room.

“Go away, Char,” Ryan said from beyond the door before her fist connected.

“Come on, Ryan,” Charlotte said in a wheedling tone. “We need to talk.”

“I don’t wan…” There was a long pause. “Char, why are you thinking Sienna is with you? No one is with you.”

Charlotte and Sienna stared at each other for a moment and Charlotte mouthed ‘he can’t hear you?’ silently.

“What do you mean I can’t hear her?” Ryan actually sounded curious now.

“Ryan, let us in, please,” Sienna said. “We think we can help you.”

There was a startled gasp and Ryan opened the door a crack and peeked out. “Sienna! You really are here? Why can’t I hear you?”

“I don’t know,” Sienna said. “It might be something to do with what I can do. Can we come in?”

Ryan sighed and stood aside. From the look on his face he still mostly wanted to be left alone but his curiousity was getting the better of him.

Inside his room it was dim because the curtains were still shut tight but Sienna could make out the bed and it looked like he’d been curled up in it with his pillow over his head very recently. Probably trying to shut the noise out.

He looked awful as well, pale and drawn with terrible dark circles under his eyes. Sienna bit her lip at the sight.

“Has the noise been stopping you sleeping?” she asked sympathetically.

Ryan nodded miserably. “Yeah. Char told you?”

“She did,” Sienna said. “She thought I might be able to help.”

“I don’t think anyone can help with this,” he said bitterly. “Mum’s right. I am a freak.”

“No, you aren’t!” Charlotte said. “Don’t call yourself that.”

Sienna just sat down beside him on the bed. “If you’re a freak then so am I.” She looked around the room then grabbed a couple of books from one of the boxes and floated them over to him. “That stupid mist got me too.”

Ryan’s head jerked up and he stared at her for a moment. “Can you hear everyone as well?” he asked finally. “How do you cope?”

“No,” Sienna said. But people can hear me when I want them to.

“But not when you don’t?” He tilted his head. Can you hear me?

Sienna nearly fell off the bed in surprise. “Yes! Yes, I can. That’s new.”

“It’s new for anyone to be able to hear me too,” Ryan said. “It must be a telepath thing. Do you really think you can help me?”

“I don’t know,” Sienna said. “But I know I can try.” She reached out and touched his hand. “Will you let me–” She broke off as Ryan gave another shocked gasp and pulled her hand back. “Sorry, did you want me not to touch you?”

“No!” He grabbed her hand. “Quite the opposite. When you touched me the voices stopped. It’s the first time since that day that I’ve had quiet in my head.”

“And they came back when I removed me hand?”

He nodded. “I know you can’t hold my hand forever but please hold it for a while.” He gave a pathetically pleading look.

“Of course I will.” Sienna’s mind raced. Why would her touch block Ryan’s telepathy? Martin was going to have a field day with this one. “I have a friend who has been helping me get control would you come with us to see if he can help you too?”

“A friend?” he asked.

“His name’s Martin,” Charlotte said. “He’s Wendy’s brother.”

“The robot guy!” Ryan said. “He’s cool. I’m not sure how he can help but I’ll come and see him as long as Sienna will hang around long enough for me to get some sleep afterwards.” His expression was conflicted like he was trying not to get his hopes up of escaping his situation.

“Of course,” Sienna said. “You need to get out of your pyjamas so I’ll have to let go of your hand.”

Ryan nodded reluctantly.

Sienna looked over at Charlotte. “Why don’t you find me those gloves while Ryan is getting dressed?”

Charlotte nodded and they headed across the landing to her bedroom.

“Here they are!” she pulled a pair of white cotton gloves from dressing table drawer. “I have no idea why mum bought me these. They don’t even fit. Probably her idea of a joke.”

“Thanks!” Sienna took the gloves and tried them on. They fitted her perfectly. “These are great! Thanks again.”

Charlotte grinned at that. “You’re welcome.”

Sienna smiled back and sat down on the corner of Charlotte’s bed while they waited for Ryan. After a moment Sienna sighed and gave Charlotte a serious look.

“Ryan’s in a much worse state than I imagined from that video and your description.”

Charlotte nodded unhappily. “He’s falling apar–” She broke off at the sound of a heavy car door slamming. Sienna tensed and saw Charlotte do the same. Apparently that weren’t the only ones because within seconds they could hear a massive row going on outside even though the street had been empty when they arrived.

Charlotte snuck across to the window and peeked out before swearing violently.

“We have to get you and Ryan out of here now!”

Well that didn’t sound good. Sienna joined her at the window and saw that a group of the gunmen were trying to reach Charlotte’s front door but were being held back by a crowd of the neighbours who were risking being shot themselves to try and stop them.

“We can sneak out the back way,” Charlotte said. “Thank goodness for the neighbours.”

“We can’t,” Ryan said. “They’re coming that way as well. I can hear them.”

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