Double-Cross Read Free Page B

. her face screwed up with anxiety.
    ‘What is it?’ Ketty said, turning to follow my gaze.
    I pointed at the woman, too shocked to speak. She had stopped to consult a map and was chewing on her lip.
    I took a deep breath. ‘Tell me that’s not . . .’
    ‘Geri . . .’ Ketty said. She turned to me, wide-eyed. ‘How can it be?’
    We both stared at the woman. It was definitely Geri . . . the same face . . . the same clothes . . . the same hair . . . except, now I was really staring at her, I could see she wasn’t holding herself like Geri. She didn’t make the same sharp, birdlike movements or exude Geri’s usual poise and confidence.
    And I’d never seen Geri Paterson look anywhere near that anxious. At that moment the woman looked up. I ducked behind a tree, tugging Ketty beside me, but it was too late. The woman had seen us.
    ‘Nico?’ she squeaked, in a high-pitched girl’s voice that was a million miles away from Geri’s clipped tones. ‘Ketty? Is Ed with you?’
    I glanced towards the pier. I could just make out Ed and Dylan, their silhouettes shadowy against the railings. They were looking away from us, out to sea.
    ‘It’s a trick,’ Ketty said. ‘Be careful.’
    I flung out my hand and teleported a cardboard box from the pavement up into the air. I steadied it for a split second, then hurled it at the woman’s face. She ducked, then stood up.
    ‘Stop it, Nico,’ she said.
    Again with the high-pitched, girly voice. I frowned.
    ‘I’m not Geri,’ the woman said. Her face seemed to alter as she spoke, softening and filling out.
    ‘Yes, you are,’ Ketty said, her voice shaking.
    ‘No.’ The woman screwed up her face, clearly concentrating hard. ‘Look.’
    And then, before our eyes, she changed. The sharp blonde bob lengthened and darkened . . . the skin paled and the face plumped out and grew smoother . . . the body shrank and narrowed . . .
    A girl – about twelve years old – stood on the pavement. She looked at us with terrified eyes. ‘Please don’t throw things at me again. I came after Ed . . . to find you all . . . I know the hotel’s on this street somewhere . . . Don’t you remember me?’
    I stared at her. She did look vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place her. Beside me, Ketty give a gasp of recognition.
    ‘Amy?’ she said.
    The girl nodded.
    ‘Who’s Amy?’ I turned to the girl. ‘Who on earth are you? And how come . . . how come a minute ago you looked just like Geri Paterson?’
    ‘I’m Ed’s sister,’ Amy said. ‘And I have the Medusa gene, too.’

 
3: Amy
    The sea breeze was cold, but it wasn’t the air making me shiver now.
    ‘What d’you mean you’ve got the Medusa gene?’ I grabbed Amy’s plump arm, still sure this was some kind of trick. ‘What’s that got to do with you looking like Geri Paterson?’
    Amy’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I realised a couple of weeks ago,’ she said. ‘I’d been looking in the mirror and I hated my nose and I’d been wishing and wishing to be able to make it straighter and then one day I realised that it was happening. I mean, I could see . . . actually see the nose rearranging itself. So I focused on my mouth and my eyes and . . . my size and I realised I could change all that, too. It’s hard to hold it all with your whole body, but I’m getting better at it.’
    ‘You mean you’re a shape-shifter ?’ I said.
    As I spoke, the moon appeared from behind a cloud illuminating Dylan and Ed across the street. They were still standing by the pier railings, looking out to sea, unaware of Amy’s arrival.
    Ketty nudged me. ‘Remember what Harry told us before we left . . . about the records he’d hacked into that proved William Fox threatened to go to the police if Geri sold the Medusa gene?’
    I nodded. It had struck me earlier that if Geri had killed Fox to stop him going to the police, that must have left her free to sell the Medusa gene fifteen years ago. At the time I’d kind of assumed she hadn’t