Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie Page B

rolled his eyes. ‘D’you even like real girls?’
    ‘Of course I do,’ I said.
    I did too. I’d got off with quite a few girls in the past year – at parties mostly, while Roy waited outside the front door. It was easy. You talk for a bit. Get into a snog. Go as far as they’ll let you. Move on to the next one.
    No problem.
    ‘They’re not creatures from another planet, you know.’ Jake stared at me thoughtfully as he did up his tie. Then he grinned. ‘Though Max is kind of weird. How come she knows all that stuff about encryptions and network protocols?’
    I grinned back. ‘She taught herself mostly. She’s obsessed. Never does any schoolwork.’
    ‘Good thing for you now.’ Jake picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. ‘Without her you wouldn’t know about Rachel’s dad. Or what he’s going to do next.’
    The smile slid off my face as I trudged after Jake to the main school exit, where Roy was waiting to take me home.
    I’d been trying not to think about what Rachel’s dad would do next. I knew it depended on how that guy, Lewis Michael, from RAGE replied to his email. Max had put some kind of blind copy trace on Rachel’s dad’s email address, which meant that if Lewis Michael responded, Max would see it.
    I wanted to know. Of course I did. But at the same time I was scared. If RAGE knew I was James Lawson’s son, I wasn’t sure what they’d do.
    Rachel had promised not to tell her dad any of the details that might lead them to me – like my real address or my actual school. My stomach clenched whenever I thought that my safety might depend on her keeping that promise.
    Max phoned that night, about an hour after I’d got home from school. Her voice sounded strained. ‘You’d better come round straight away,’ she said.
    I called Jake. It was only fair, I figured. Anyway, Rachel wasn’t going to be there. We got to Max’s house at just after six. As usual, Roy did a check round the ground floor for open windows and doors, then retreated into the front room with his paper. Max led Jake and me straight up to her room. ‘Lewis Michael sent this to Rachel’s dad this morning,’ she said. ‘It’s kind of creepy, Theo.’
    Zeus didn’t send Apollo and He isn’t pleased. Especially that you just let the boy go. When you’re back from your trip, find out how much Artemis knows but don’t make her suspicious. Zeus wants to keep it low key, not even telling Leto.
    So long as Simpson doesn’t know, all we have to worry about is shutting Apollo up, and Zeus is working out a way to do that – permanently. We’ll make a move at the weekend.
    The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. I was Apollo and RAGE wanted to shut me up. Permanently. What did that mean? It didn’t sound like it had anything to do with getting at my dad. It sounded like they wanted to kill me.
    The same people who were after my dad, were coming for me. And by going to Mr Smith I’d walked straight into their hands.
    My heart raced. It suddenly hit me how stupid I’d been. Mum had warned me, over and over, that I had to stay hidden. Why hadn’t I listened to her?
    I turned away from the screen to find Max and Jake both staring at me.
    ‘Guess I’m not exactly Mr Popular.’ I attempted a weak smile.
    ‘What you gonna do, dude?’ Jake said. His face was pale.
    ‘I’ll be okay,’ I said, more confidently than I felt. ‘I’ve got Roy, haven’t I? And Mr Smith doesn’t know where I live. I lied about everything – surname, school, address. Everything. I’ll call Rachel – make extra sure she doesn’t tell him the—’
    ‘Like your pathetic lies are going to stop him finding out.’ Max snorted. ‘Theo, I think you should tell your mum what’s going on.’
    I imagined the conversation. Mum would be angry. And then upset. But most of all she would be scared. So scared she would probably never let me outside the house again. And she’d hire a new bodyguard. Three probably. Or