Invisible Girl Part 13

"Ready?" he says, leading the way down the towpath to the boat.

And gripping Blue Bunny's ear tightly, I nod.

I have a little cabin of my own on our boat. It's painted white and has a tiny porthole window with a circle of s.h.i.+ny bra.s.s around the edge. When I wake in the mornings the world is full of duck quacks and suns.h.i.+ne and when I go to bed at night I get rocked to sleep by the soothing swish of the water. I never knew this much happiness was possible. When I was out that night by the Cathedral, with the rain glittering down and no shoes on my feet, I never knew that all this love was swimming towards me.

"Hey," says a man, knocking his fist on the top of the boat and jumping aboard. "Anyone home?"

"Hey, Joe, come on in," says Beckett, leaping up to greet him. "Come and meet Gabriella."

And there he is. The lemon juggling man with the beautiful swoosh of black tattooed angel wings down his back. And everything inside me crackles and thrums.

"Hi, I'm Joe," he says, making a little wave. "I'm Beckett's mate. Pleased to meet you, Gabriella. How's boat life treating you?"

This big blush rises in my cheeks, knowing those silky wings are hiding under his jumper. I can hardly look at him.

"Hi," I say. Then I think my face might explode if I sit there any longer so I tell Beckett I'm going for a walk.

I walk to Connor's school and watch him through the fence trying to kick the ball in a straight line. I sprinkle some magic dust in my palm and blow it through the air to him. I blow some more to Jayda and go past my new school, which I start at on Monday. I peer through the gate at all the children in navy blue jumpers, looking to see if there'll be someone as special as Grace there.

I go to Manchester Piccadilly station and stand next to Leila. I watch the coins twinkle and clink in her hat and I swim in her chocolate-smooth voice. I run to the coffee shop and bring her a creamy latte and she winks at me while she's singing.

I walk through the maze of streets, past the shops, past the silver people and the man playing the big xylophone thing, swinging the sticks so fast that they blur. And when I get to Piccadilly Gardens, Henny's there, plaiting a girl's red hair.

"Hey," she says, smiling. "You back?"

I shake my head and nod at the same time. "Kind of," I say, "but not really. I found him, Henny. I found Beckett. I get to live with him now on a boat on the ca.n.a.l. Come and see it. Come and meet him. Come and see me."

Henny shrugs. She blinks and wipes her eye. "Cool," she says. "That's really cool, kitten."

She finishes tying the girl's plait and they both look up at me.

"This is Chicky," Henny says. "She's the new girl. You know me. Cluck! Cluck!"

I slip two of my bracelets off and give them one each, then wander over to Tia. She's sitting on the gra.s.s with her arms wrapped round her legs, twisting her jumper sleeve. I sit down next to her and her eyes s.h.i.+ne when she sees me. We don't talk about that night. I know that she can't.

Instead, I tell her about Beckett and our boat. I tell her if it's raining she can come to the ca.n.a.l and find Providence. I tell her if she comes for a sleepover we might have to squeeze in tight like sardines, but Tia doesn't mind about things like that and neither do I. I give her a bracelet and we lie back on the gra.s.s together and look up at the sky, making pictures in the clouds.

And then I go into the Cathedral alone. That deep quiet hush drapes over me like the softest duvet ever. And I drink it all in.

All of it.

All the whispering people and the gla.s.s windows whose colours fall on my hands, the nave, s.h.i.+ning like a golden chocolate wrapper.

I sit on one of the chairs and listen to the choir practising songs that soar up to heaven like doves. And without anyone noticing, I open my mouth and make a sound that flies right up with theirs, up to the rafters, through the roof and out into the wide open sky.

I find some coins in my pocket and with a steady hand I light one of the little candles on the stand. I watch as it flickers for a moment and then rises bravely up, s.h.i.+ning so brightly for everyone to see.

Thank you Daniel for your presence, for your tender heart, for holding my hand as we walk the streets of this wonderful life together.

Thank you my beautiful children, Jane, Tim, Sam, Joe and Ben, for bringing so much love and joy to my life. I am so proud of you all.

Thank you Tim and Susie for your love, for witnessing my entire life, for always seeing me.

Thank you Paul for your constant encouragement and support a for the love that we share a for our children.

Thank you Michael and Jules for cosy bed s.p.a.ce when I'm in London and for all your love and support a and Dao, Amida, Nikki and Benita for being my family in Devon, Sura-land.

Thank you Andy McCullough for sharing your own story, for helping me sense what life for a child living on the street is really like and for all your wonderful support.

A big thank you to Rob, Kate and everyone else at Railway Children, and to John, Stephen, Moira, Claire and everyone else at The Big Issue Foundation for being so wonderfully enthusiastic and helpful a and for coming up with so many great ideas.

Thank you Eve for your enduring commitment to my work, for your love, for our heart sharing.

Thank you Lizzie and Rachel for your patience, care and editorial expertise. I feel so blessed to have your support.

Thank you Eliz for the gorgeous cover design, I love it!

Thank you everyone else from HarperCollins who's involved in some way or other with my books. I have so much appreciation for all the hard work that you do.

Thank you Mike and Pete a I'm blown away and touched beyond measure by the incredible gifts you're laying at my feet.

Thank you Sophie for being the first reader of Invisible Girl and offering your helpful comments.

I have such grat.i.tude for all the people I never get to meet a those who plant and cut the sustainable forests, make the paper, print the pages, wrap and pack and drive and stack and sell my books a without you Invisible Girl would be left drifting in my imagination a Thank you for the part that you play in bringing my books into being.

Thank you Adam for seeing me when I couldn't see myself.

Thank you to the s.p.a.ce in which we all appear a in and as this...

Love Love Love x.

Afterword by John Bird a Founder and Editor in Chief at The Big Issue.

Can we stop children from running away? Can we reduce the vulnerability of the child when they are out there on their own? Places of safety near home, crash pads, and support need creating. Workers who can envisage what a child is going through need to prevent the poor home life leading to the streets. Charities like *Railway Children' need our support and our attention. For once you get to the streets, the sharks and the piranhas are there for you to fall into the hands of.

The streets the homeless walk, I walked many decades ago. I slept down the back of cinemas and hotels, in little gardens and up alleys. There was always a threat. There was always someone to prey off boys like me, who had only just made it into their teens. But it was a rare enough thing then for a boy like me to rear up against the violence of home life and seek the streets as a better option, rather than stay in a badly behaving family.

Now, in the new century, I would dread to face street life. The threats are even greater. There are no longer the patrolling policemen who roamed in search of the rough sleeper. We now live in a more dislocated society and it is reflected in the amounts of children that reach our streets and seek solace in the most dangerous of places.

We have to tell stories and we have to read stories. We have to read books like Invisible Girl and be inspired to do something about children running away. We have to ensure that there is support for children who have abandoned hope and gone off to inhabit the threatening world of street life. I hope that this work will help us understand that we need to shake up a society that can produce so many runaways. That fails children who should have a safety net that works.

Once, a policeman brought a girl of sixteen to the Big Issue offices. She was desperate, having some problems with her exams and her family's expectations. She came from what by the look of her was a good home. But even that did not stop her from feeling that she could not face home life and school life any more, or from choosing a desperate act.

The suffering of children needs not to lead to street life. But if it does, we need the supporting net to pick them up and carry them to places of safety. Away from the ever watchful eyes of those who would exploit them. Many Big Issue vendors began their journey to the streets by running away as a youngster. We want to play our part in helping young people think differently about what it can mean to become homeless; our schools education packs aim to do just that.

The streets are worse than anything I encountered in my childhood. And for that reason alone I want to support books like Invisible Girl. And support the work of people who try to provide an answer to children's vulnerability. Please encourage others to read this book generously. Tell everyone, spread the word.

Visit www.bigissue.org.uk and www.bigissue.com The Big Issue is a registered charity by the Charity Commission in England & Wales (no. 1049077).

Turn over for more great reads by Kate Maryon Maya wishes she could go surfing and hang out on the beach, but as an only child her parents are pretty overprotective.

Cat has the freedom to do what she likes a her mum barely looks after herself...

But now Maya's family are adopting Cat and suddenly their lives collide. As tensions rise and secrets surface, can Maya and Cat ever be friends, let alone sisters?

"We talk about everything. Dad and me. About all the mysteries inside of us. About all our wonderings of the world. But tomorrow my dad goes to war. Then what will I do?"

Jemima's dad is in the Army and he's off to Afghanistan for six whole months. Her mum's about to have another baby and Gran's head is filled with her own wartime memories. So while Mima is sending Dad millions of guardian angels to keep him safe, who is looking out for her?

"It was just school to me. I'd been there since I was seven years old. But I'm not there any more, I'm here and I need to get on and get used to it, just like all the other changes in my life."

Liberty is sure there's more to life than getting good exam results and earning lots of money, but her super-rich, workaholic dad doesn't agree.

And when Dad's business goes bust and there's no money left, Liberty's whole world is turned upside down...

"The page is staring at me waiting for words, but I don't even know where to start. I'd quite like to begin the letter with something like, Dear Mum, Thanks for ruining my life, but I don't think that's the kind of letter that Auntie Ca.s.s has in mind."

Tiff's sparkling world comes cras.h.i.+ng down when her mum commits a crime. Packed off to live with family in the dullest place on the planet a and without Mum around a everything seems to lose its s.h.i.+ne . . .

About the Author.

Kate Maryon is officially addicted to writing. She also loves meeting her readers when she goes into schools to give talks and run writing workshops and is always so touched by the many emails and letters she receives from them telling her how much they enjoy her books.

Kate lives in Somerset with her husband, Daniel, and their cheeky kittens, Misha and Loki. Sadly, her gorgeous dog, Ellie, died last year She loves spending time with her grown-up children and all her gorgeous friends and feels so happy and blessed to be living the life she lives.

But wherever she is, whatever she's doing, there's always a story running through her imagination, the shadow of a character forming in her heart.

Kate loves chocolate, films, eating out, reading, writing, and lying on sunny beaches. She still dislikes peppermint and honey.

Also by Kate Maryon.

s.h.i.+ne.

Glitter.

A Million Angels.

A Sea of Stars.

end.