Cecelia Ahern - Perfect

“We went there to find you,” Carrick explains. “I thought it was the best chance of me getting to you. Obviously when the raid occurred we couldn’t go inside. After the raid, we followed you and your granddad from the house. We saw you go into the supermarket.”

“You set me up in the supermarket,” I say suddenly, and from the look on his face, I know that’s exactly what happened.

He stutters and stammers his version of events, but it doesn’t matter how much he tries to twist it.

“You set me up,” I say louder.

“I needed to find you, Celestine.”

“You could have tapped me on the shoulder and said, Hi, Celestine, it’s me, Carrick. Remember me?” I say sarcastically, voice trembling. “You didn’t have to start a riot.”

“I needed Enya and everybody else to see how good you are, how brave you are. Under pressure, you’re a real hero, Celestine.”

“I’m not a hero! I’m just a normal girl who did the right thing! There is nothing heroic about anything I did!” I say with frustration.

“We have become so lost in the fear of making mistakes that nobody is acting on gut instinct. You are rare. Celestine, believe me, we need Enya, and she needs you. She needed to see that you’re worth getting behind, that people can believe in you. Fergus and Lorcan believed in you straightaway at the supermarket; they’ve backed you all the way since then. Nobody expected it to turn out the way it did. Nobody expected the police officer to behave the way he did. I just wanted people to see your strength, how you stand up for yourself. It doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

My head is racing.

“You set me up,” I roar now, and he falls silent. “Because of you, because of what happened in that supermarket, I had to leave my family.” My voice cracks. “I had to run away from the people I love. You got me into this mess.”

“No, Celestine, no,” he says, hands out at me like he’s trying to tame a wild horse.

“You’re just as bad as Art,” I spit out, the anger and hurt coursing through my veins. All that I’ve been through since that moment, and it’s because of Carrick. I was following the rules until Lorcan and Fergus stood beside me in line. Three or more Flawed are not allowed to gather together. And for the second time, my life changed forever. “So if Enya Sleepwell is going to help me, why don’t we sit tight until the election is over? When she’s in power, she can put an end to the Guild herself; she can free the Flawed or whatever it is she is intent on doing.”

“Enya needs you to convince the people that the Guild is worth disbanding. You’re the only Flawed person the public has ever really rooted for. You’re allowing them to see that we’re human; it’s because of you that they’re hearing our stories, and only through sharing our stories can we make changes. The more Crevan chases you, the more people are questioning his motives. But most important, you have the tool to do so. You have the footage. It’s what everybody needs to see.”

But I don’t have it. A secret that I’ve kept from him. I feel the blood rush to my face. I’m accusing him of being a liar but I am one, too. But isn’t his lie worse?

“Enya Sleepwell is just another person who needs me for her cause,” I say. “I can’t trust her. She’s trying to get the Flawed vote so that she can climb the ladder to her own success. If she’s elected as prime minister who knows what she’ll do then? A U-turn on every promise she made? And where will that leave me? You’re right, Carrick. I am on my own. Everybody is in this for themselves, and I have to start thinking of me. I don’t need anybody. I don’t need you.”

He blinks in surprise, obviously hurt. His eyes go from black to brown, brown to hazel, green flecks appear.

And before I change my mind, I say, “Please go. I can do this on my own.”

I leave the room in search of Raphael, who is no doubt listening to everything transpiring between me and Carrick. He’s in the kitchen feeding mushed banana to the baby.

“Thirty-five minutes until the Whistleblowers get here,” he says. “Tick, tick, tick. You’re staying?”

I nod.

“You’re alone?”

The front door bangs and the car engine revs. I truly am alone now.

THIRTY-SEVEN

“WELL, THAT ANSWERS THAT,” Raphael says jovially, giving the spoon back to the baby for her to finish, but the food is sent flying around her face, the table, and the room like a catapult. “Well done, Maple,” Raphael congratulates his daughter on her eating talents. “Don’t worry, Celestine, you’re not completely stranded. I have a car you can take. One that you stole, after you threatened the life of my child and forced me to hand over the key.” He turns to his children. “Ash, isn’t that right, dear?”

She nods, big blue eyes serious. “She was so scary, Daddy, I thought I was going to die!” she says dramatically, disturbingly credible, and the others laugh.

“Good enough,” he says. “Now, let’s get to work.”

We sit outside in his back garden on wooden benches at a table, the trees our only counsel.

“Who knows about the sixth brand?” he asks.

“The guards—”

“Names, please.”

“Tina, June, Funar, Bark, Tony. Crevan. Then there was Mr. Berry.” I pause. “And Carrick.”

He looks at me to see if I’m serious.

Nobody knew that part about Carrick.

“If I’d known that then…”

“What?”

“Well, it’s just that … he has a purpose. He’s important. He’s a witness , Celestine. I would never have let him go if I’d known.”

I close my eyes, groan, and rest my forehead on the table.

“And Mr. Berry was filming this,” he continues.

“Yes.” I speak to the table. “From the viewing room.” I sit up again. “And now he’s missing. As are all the guards.”

Raphael looks up from his notepad in surprise.

“Pia Wang also knows about the sixth brand. She’d started asking some questions, but she’s missing, too.”

He takes off his glasses. “You trusted Pia Wang?” he asks, as though I’m a fool.

“She also writes as Lisa Life.”

His mouth falls open.

“She was looking for the guards, to question them,” I say. “She was building a story against Crevan. I haven’t heard from her in over two weeks. My mom and dad know about the brand, but they didn’t witness it and they don’t know that Crevan did it. I didn’t tell them. I’m not sure if my sister knows; we never discussed it. The Guild has been leaving my family alone. Kind of. But they took my granddad in for questioning two days ago. He knows about the brand and that Crevan did it.”

Has it been only two days?

“They’re trying to get him for aiding a Flawed,” I continue. “Then there are some students I went to school with who know. They kidnapped me and locked me in a shed, stripped me, and photographed me.” I say this all without emotion, and he stares at me in shock. “They are Logan Trilby, Natasha Benson, Gavin Lee, and Colleen Tinder.”

At that, he drops his glasses on the table and his eyes go even wider. “Come inside.”

I follow him into the kitchen and he switches the TV to Flawed TV, which the children groan at. There is a Pia replacement reporting. A beautiful blond with icy pink lips and cheeks like the Good Witch, who smiles through every hate-filled word she says. Photos of Logan, Colleen, Natasha, and Gavin appear. Natasha’s is a selfie after her lip injections. She looks ridiculous, like a blowfish. I’m not sure why I’m looking at their photographs, at all their silly, smiling faces. Like butter wouldn’t melt. I know the truth.

But then I realize why. One word pops up beneath their pictures.