The Bolt from the Blue (Working Title)

Chapter 23- Lucy

The three of them stood in a strange tableau- Veronica, one foot on the stair, one foot off, John, arms raised from self-defense and pure hatred, and Sam, scared but intrigued, peering out from behind John's shoulder, his fingers kneading into his boyfriend's muscles for support. John and Veronica's eyes were locked, daring the other to speak.

John broke first, "Drop. Dead."

Veronica bit her lower lip and snarled, "I don't want to ask-"

"I don't care; whatever it is, I hope it kills you!" He spat the words at her as though the venom in them might do the job.

"John!" Sam didn't want to help her either, but he also didn't like the anger in his boyfriend's voice.

"It's not me," And here John detected a faltering in her voice, a dissonant quaver that suddenly made her seem all the more vulnerable, "it's my sister. She's missing."

Sam's grip on John's arm lessened, "You have a sister?"

It was only then that John remembered he was not meant to know this and tried to compose his features into a semblance of shock; he was finding his acting talents tested more and more this evening. He decided not to say anything, in case he gave himself away- he had to wait until Veronica revealed everything he already knew.

Veronica nodded, "She's sixteen; she lives with me, but I can't find her anywhere."

Sam turned to John, expecting him to step in, but he kept mum, so then Sam continued, "When was the last time you saw her?"

"About three hours ago- I went out and when I came back...she's never gone out on her own before."

"Never?" Sam sounded sceptical.

"She's vulnerable, ok?" Veronica snapped, her voice echoing down the stairs. "I don't have to explain everything to you."

"You do if you want us to help." John's voice was cold- he himself was sort of surprised that he'd spoken. But this was the perfect opportunity to force Veronica to reveal everything. He didn't need to use Sam after all: he could just make her tell him right here, right now.

"I'm not going to tell you anything." She said, affronted.

"No skin off my nose." John shrugged.

Veronica's face trembled with rage and indecision and for a second John thought she might slap him, then she looked down to the floor and said "You can't tell anyone this." She looked up and Sam nodded minutely; John remained stony. Veronica continued, "Lucy's power makes her disoriented; any object she looks at, she instantly knows everything about, including people. She's incredibly powerful but she gets too much information streaming through her brain. It's...it's maddening for her. She can't function, she gets overloaded. I take her out every day but never for this long and never on her own." Here her voice caught and she stammered, "I- I'm scared."

John felt like his mind had been tethered to two racehorses who were running in opposite directions: on the one hand, he wanted to watch Veronica break down into tears and then be swallowed whole by the earth, never to be seen again. On the other, Lucy was an innocent, who seemed to be in real danger, and John had sworn to protect such people. He knew what he was going to do- he just hated that he had to do it.

"Where are her favourite places?" John asked, keeping his voice as flat as a freshly laid road. He refused to let Veronica know he cared.

She looked at him as though he was an idiot, "She doesn't have any favourite places, you moron, going outside is like sticking needles in her frontal lobe."

"If I'm such a moron, then why do you need my help?" John screamed back. He was considering just walking back through the portal.

"You're a policeman, you know detectives- get them to help!"