‘Just don’t look too hard.’ I crossed my arms.

‘I guess one of them at least must have been a savant.’ He snagged a curl and twirled it playful y.

‘My family comes from savants on both sides. Dad’s people are part Ute—that’s a Native American tribe.

Mom says she has gypsies and al sorts in her bloodline. Dash of Irish somewhere along the way and a big dose of Mexico. I’d say we were doomed from birth.’

‘That’s how it works?’

‘Yeah. My parents are both key players in the Savant Network—it’s a kind of world-wide web for those of us with a gift. Mom’s gift helps check those who join, making sure they are in it for the right reasons.’

‘So bad guys need not apply?’

He shook his head. ‘Not that they’d want to. The Net is about using our gift for the benefit of others.

We keep ourselves secret so we can live as near to normal lives as possible, but that doesn’t stop us helping where we can.’

‘And you real y think I’m a savant too?’

‘Yeah I do.’

‘But I can’t move things.’

‘Have you tried?’

‘Wel , no. I wouldn’t know what to do. I thought I saw stuff once—aura, I suppose you’d cal them—

but I don’t any more.’ Not that I’d admit, anyway.

We sat for a while, hand in hand, gazing out of the window. The skies were thick with iron-grey clouds.

Snow began to fal , thick and fast, gusts of wind driving it horizontal before letting it drop back to a gentle downward progress.

‘I think this is it,’ said Zed. ‘The first proper snow.

I’d love to be able to teach you to ski but it’s not safe for you to be with me out there.’

‘I suppose it wouldn’t be a good idea.’

‘You should get Tina to take you out: she’s pretty good.’

‘I might do that. But she’l laugh at me.’

‘Yeah, she wil .’ He was doing it again—reading the future.

‘Then again nothing can be as humiliating as the skeleton suit.’

‘Don’t knock the suit. I’m preserving that and gonna beg you to wear it on special occasions.’

I kicked myself. I real y mustn’t fal in love with this guy, but I wanted to curl up and tuck myself inside him, never to leave him. ‘Wil you teach me to shield?

I don’t want your family reading every thought that crosses my mind.’

He put an arm round me. ‘No, we wouldn’t want that. I catch some of them sometimes, you know. I like the one where you …’ He whispered the rest in my ear, causing me to die of embarrassment.

‘Shields—I need shields,’ I said when my cheeks stopped burning.

He laughed. ‘OK. The technique is simple but it just takes practice. It’s best to use visualization.

Imagine building wal s, putting yourself inside them, keeping the emotions, ideas, thoughts safe behind the barriers.’

‘What kind of wal ?’

‘It’s your wal ; you decide.’

I closed my eyes and recal ed the wal paper of my bedroom. Turquoise.

‘That’s good.’

‘You can see what I’m seeing?’

‘An echo. When someone’s shielded I see a shadow, a blank. Yours is a pale blue colour.’

‘My bedroom wal s.’

‘Yeah, that’s good. Safe, familiar. When you throw that up between you and anyone listening, they should find it hard to get behind it. But it takes work

—and we al forget from time to time.’

‘The savant working for the shooter—has he let his shield drop?’

Zed shook his head. ‘That’s why we know he’s good—powerful. Either that or he’s long gone, but we doubt it.’

‘They’l try again?’

‘We think so. We hope so, because now we are expecting them, we have a chance of catching them, and they might rol over on the mole in the FBI. But knowing what’s in the wind, you be extra careful, promise?’ He ran his finger lightly over the back of my hand, sending a shiver down my spine.

‘I promise.’

‘I’m keeping you a secret, even from my family.

You’re too precious to risk anywhere near this mess.’

Tina couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting Zed to teach me to ski. ‘You’ve got one of the best skiers in the district as a boyfriend—and I’m stil angry with you for not tel ing me the truth about that, by the way

—and you ask me to teach you?’

‘That’s right.’ I picked up a scraper and helped her clear the snow off her car windscreen in the school parking lot.

‘Why?’

‘Because according to Zed you total y rock on the slopes yourself. You’re my Obi Wan and I am your faithful apprentice.’

She preened with pleasure at the praise. ‘Thanks.

I didn’t think he noticed girls like me.’

‘He’s not what you think. He’s not as unapproachable as he seems. He’s just got this …

this problem with relaxing around people.’ And he’s stressed out half the time witnessing major crimes for the FBI, but she didn’t need to know that part.

‘And our parents aren’t too keen we spend time together—not since we ended up at the police station.’

‘Oh my God, it’s like West Side Story!’

I didn’t think that very accurate. If my memory of the musical was any good, I don’t think either of them was pursued by assassins with extra-sensory perception.

‘Fine, I’l teach you,’ continued Tina. ‘Besides, there’s only so many times a girl wants to fal on her butt in front of the boy she’s out to impress.’

Actual y, she had a point. Perhaps it would be better to learn from her.

‘Wisdom you speak, Obi Tina.’

She laughed. ‘None of that—I’m the one who gets to speak backwards—no, we’re both wrong—that’s the little green guy, Yoda.’

I slapped my forehead. ‘You’re right. So I just get to pout and act badly when you try and teach me anything.’

‘Try channel ing Luke rather than Annakin—the outcome is better. I’l take you Sunday morning if you like, after church. We finish about eleven so I’l pick you up at quarter past.’

‘Great.’

‘Got any gear?’

‘No. What do I need?’

‘Don’t worry. I’l bring you my old suit—I grew out of it years ago. You can hire skis at the sports store.’

‘I can’t wait.’

‘Think you’re going to be a natural?’

‘Um.’

‘Sure you are. Feel the force, Sky.’

I wasn’t a natural skier—not by a long way. But I was a natural at fal ing over. My balance needed a lot of work. I’d been compared to Bambi before but today I felt like him when he first gets up on his hooves, legs slipping in al directions.

‘Don’t you sometimes have those daydreams,’ I panted, spitting out snow after my most recent face plant, ‘where you try something new and find yourself to be an undiscovered talent?’

Tina patted my back consolingly. ‘Al the time.’

‘It’s just not happening here.’

We were stil at the foot of the nursery slopes. I could see the cable car doing good business taking the more experienced skiers up to the peak, Xav manning the ticket booth. It was a perfect day for skiing—sky pale blue, snow glistening with seductive promise, the heights beckoning. The mountains were at their most benign, Old Man Weather in his chair, rocking gently, no nasty changes of mood in mind.

Tina caught the direction of my gaze. ‘Zed’s probably up top. Mr Benedict pays the boys to work the weekend shift.’

At least he wasn’t here to see my failure. I was providing Xav with enough entertainment as it was.

‘OK, let’s go again. Remember, Sky, it’s just your first lesson.’

I watched with a sensation of despair as a little four year old whizzed by on mini skis. She wasn’t even using sticks.

‘You can’t compare yourself to them. They don’t have so far to fal and are indestructible at that age.

Once more. Yeah, that’s it. Keep the skis paral el.

No, no, don’t let them spread!’