Read Shared Skies for Free Online Page B

shoulders, decided she’d been panicking
about nothing, closed her eyes and allowed sleep to claim her.
    She didn't stir till Mrs. McCrea was shaking
her. “Come on, love, we've got a taxi for you, he’ll take you
straight to your grandparents.” She bustled Gaiah and her bag out
of the bus and into the waiting taxi. The children kissed her,
their father shook her hand and Mrs. McCrea hugged Gaiah as if she
were her own daughter heading off for parts unknown.
    Gaiah felt a tug saying goodbye to this
lovely family. For a moment she longed to be part of it, wished she
were heading off with them, rather than to the weirdness that was
her life. She waved until the street corner shut them out of sight.
The taxi driver was a talkative, middle-aged man who wanted to know
everything about the accident. After all, he said, he’d a bona fide
survivor in his cab and that was going to be worth a drink or two
at the bar later. Gaiah, nervous about her impending meeting with
her grandparents, welcomed his conversation as a distraction. When
there were no more details left to prise from her about the crash
and the fatality, he turned his attention to telling her all he
thought she should know about Scotland, from the best place for
salmon fishing to where to buy kilts.
    It was a short journey, only about twenty
minutes at this time of night, as they approached the roundabout at
Broughton Street his voice began to falter and slur and he stopped
mid-sentence. “Now for real Scottish music you…have…to…”
    “ What?” prompted Gaiah,
but there was no answer. She looked at his eyes in the mirror, they
seemed unfocused. The blare of a horn drew her attention to the
road. They were passing a Gothic building complete with turrets and
gargoyles, but what really scared her was, they were driving
directly into the oncoming traffic.
    She could see the oncoming headlights
swerving around them. Gaiah screamed, “STOP! STOP!” But it was as
if she were alone in the car. She didn't even try to have eye
contact with him; she didn't pause to plan her words, they just
rang in her head. 'I must stop the car now!’ She silently fired the
words at his head. He jumped like someone tasered and slammed the
brakes on.
    “ What the...dear Jesus,
how did we get here…what happened?”
    A police car pulled up
alongside them and an officer ordered the shaken man out of the
car. His face, in the beams of passing cars, was ashen and his
mouth was slack. Once it became obvious he was neither drunk nor
drugged the police became concerned for his health and called for
an ambulance to take him to hospital. Then they ushered a very
shaken Gaiah into their car, put a blanket around her and drove her
the short distance to the hotel. Gaiah stared out the
window. This can’t be coincidence, it just
can’t be. What in God’s name is happening?
    A discreet entrance to the
hotel was set in a line of fresh modern shops, but all housed in
the beautiful architecture of eighteenth century buildings. The
police escorted Gaiah up the stairs. The roller coaster of a day
had numbed her. Oh my God, this is it. The
big moment, the Reveal, the answer to one of the biggest questions
of my life is only a few steps away, and all I want to do is pull a
blanket over my head and sleep. However,
as the door sighed open into the warm, hushed foyer, her clenched
teeth and white knuckled fists betrayed a deeper level of
anxiety.
    A couple, sitting on a deep leather sofa
opposite the reception desk, turned as she came in and sprang to
their feet. They were exactly as she remembered, tall and slim,
tanned and smiling and even though her grandmother’s hair was tied
up in a tight bun, Gaiah could tell at a glance, she had the same
troublesome mane of curls as her own.
    “ Gaiah!” Alasdair was the
first to reach her and despite all her firm intentions to reject
them, to hurt them or to shame them into abject apology, all she
felt was a huge sense of belonging as he wrapped her in his