Read Soul Storm for Free Online

always busy.’
    ‘Ah, bless you, mate. You’re pretty much the only one here who actually notices how I am. Or treats me as a human being.’ She laughs, then coughs, a hacking sound that sounds
wrong above the gentle whoosh of the breeze through the palm roof. ‘If that’s what I am.’
    ‘Is
it what you are?’
    ‘Eh?’
    ‘When you touched me just then, well, you know how since Javier went, I’ve seen . . . no,
felt,
a Guest’s last moments whenever I make contact?’
    ‘Uh huh. Your latest reward, right?’
    Sam’s the one who helped me see that whenever I help a Guest escape, the Beach experience intensifies, like a game. ‘Yeah. Only with you, I saw . . . nothing at all.’
    Sam looks at me. Her brown eyes are the only part of her that don’t show exhaustion. ‘No, well. Maybe I’m different.’
    ‘Are you?’
    ‘You know robots, right? They’ve been designed to be as smart as humans, but they’re hollow inside. Like, in movies, they learn, but they don’t have memories or feel joy
– which is why they always end up smashing stuff up. Out of frustration at being, like, empty vessels. Soul-less.’ She takes a puff, then breathes a long stream of smoke out of the side
of her mouth, to avoid blowing it into my eyes. ‘Like me.’
    ‘Come on. You’ve got a soul. A good one.’
    ‘What, you can see mine, can you? Souls aren’t like that, Alice; they’re not solid like a nose or a big toe.’
    I gaze through the open side of the bar, towards the shore, where the Guests are basking in the sun. Some of them while away the hours talking about this kind of deep and meaningful question.
Whether they’re really here. What’s the difference between body and soul? It makes me dizzy, especially as no one ever finds the answers.
    ‘I can’t see it. But I know you’re not empty.’ I try to think of a way to convince her. ‘Like, if you really don’t have memories, how could you know about the
movies where robots try to take over?’
    Sam winks at me. ‘Hey, good point. Though I could have heard the Guests talking about them. Or maybe I come preprogrammed, loaded with teenage facts so I can relate to the kids, but with
no memories of my own.’
    There’s always been a darkness around Sam, but I hadn’t noticed sadness before. ‘You must have had a life, Sam. Honestly. Because you’re wise. All the advice you’ve
given me, and the tough love. You’re too kind-hearted to be a robot.’
    She laughs more warmly this time. ‘I’ll miss you when you’re gone.’ She puts her hand to her mouth. ‘Don’t panic. I don’t have insider information about
your departure date. It’s just, well, you
will
leave, won’t you? That’s what Visitors do. I don’t keep count but you’ve already stayed longer than any of the
others.’
    ‘A lot longer?’
    Sam nods. ‘Loads. I won’t slag them off, but the few we have had didn’t have the staying power. But it’s obvious that you love the bones of your sister. And she’s
the same about you.’
    Something about the way she says it makes me wonder. ‘Has she been talking to you?’
    ‘Maybe.’
    ‘So you know she wants me to leave?’
    ‘It’s not that clear-cut, mate. She’s just having her own little crisis. They all go through it, sooner or later. Hers has been delayed, first by you arriving, then Tim. But
now all the excitement’s worn off, she’s feeling blue.’
    ‘Is there anything I could do?’
    ‘Apart from the obvious thing?’
    She doesn’t have to spell it out: she means resolving the killing, ending my sister’s unfinished business. ‘I’m working on it, Sam.’
    ‘Yeah, Meggie said. She’s scared for both of you. Scared of the unknown if you do send her on her way. Scared of what’s gonna happen to you if you don’t.’
    ‘I won’t take any unnecessary risks.’
    ‘Alice,
I
get that. So does she, deep down. But to be honest, I don’t see the biggest threat as coming from whoever killed your