Chapter 8

Hope opened her eyes the next day to the smell of cooking pancakes and the blazing light of another unforgiving day in the heatwave. But there was something else in there too. A scent that was unfamiliar to her. An intruder. Quickly, she was out of bed and throwing open her door. Looking down the hall, she saw a man sitting at their kitchen table. He was smartly dressed with scrappy stubble all over his face and holding the bag she'd found yesterday. With a fierce growl rising in her throat, she started sprinting at a blistering pace down the hall. But Chloe was there in an instant, hooking her arm across the child's midriff and stopping her cold as all of her momentum ended up flinging her off her feet and into Chloe's arms as she wrapped her in a bear hug to immobilise her while trying not to burn her with a hot pancake spatula.

"Hope, no!" Chloe practically shrieked. "He's a cop!" Somewhere in Hope's mind, fresh out of bed as it was, Chloe's words registered. The brain cell that picked up the warning managed to communicate with the one remembering Alison's warnings about being careful around cops since they carry guns but always make sure to ask them for help if you're ever lost. That was when she took note of the man's uniform. The shoulder iconography that should have stood out so brightly had been all but lost amid the numerous tones of grey her eyes registered it as. She hadn't been able to see it from a distance.

"Sorry!" Hope said, relaxing to show Chloe it was okay to let go. She did so and Hope slid to the ground, landing on her feet as Chloe moved back to making sure the pancakes didn't burn. "My glasses got broken two days ago. I can't see too well without them." To her relief, the officer didn't seem to have taken offense. If anything, he'd found the whole thing kind of amusing. He suppressed a chuckle as he took a hefty drink from the glass of water in front of him and turned to face her properly.

"That's okay, young lady. As it happens, your parents were just telling me about that. I understand that you were also the one who found this thing." With that, he took a pair of gloves out from his pocket and pulled them on before reaching into the plastic bag and pulling the contraption out. "Out of curiosity, what do you think to it?"

"I think it's the thing that made the garage explode." Hope replied. "I don't understand how."

"Well it might be hard to know what you're looking at without these!" Hope spun to see Max coming back in with a stack of envelopes that looked like bills in her hand and a box on top of them. She set the envelopes down on the counter top before handing the box to Hope.

"It's for me?"

"For you and you only." Max nodded. Hope opened it up and took the top off to reveal what was inside. It was her new glasses. Having already unboxed a pair of these once before, she wasted no time in taking them out and putting them on. But her excitement passed quickly as her eyes re-registered what she was seeing. "Is everything alright?" Max asked, seeing her face falling.

"These aren't working properly." Hope told her. "I think it's red and orange I'm missing. I'm getting patches of grey where I shouldn't have." Max's face was blazing with fury while Chloe let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Well they're going back then. I'll contact the company after breakfast. And speaking of..." With a flourish, Chloe dished up the final pancake and only then did Hope notice there was a stack of them ready and waiting. She all but jumped into her seat as the cop was going over the thing she'd found.

"Oh, well that's a stroke of good luck. It looks like these mirrors focus beams of sunlight to a point so that it can cause damage without a projectile. Whoever calibrated this thing didn't wear gloves. There's a lovely print on this mirror! I'll get this to the station and we'll be running that."

"Thanks, Officer Caldwell." Max nodded gratefully. "Will you join us for some pancakes? Chloe always makes way too many."

"Thanks but no thanks, I need to get this to the station and make some follow-up inquiries based on that print." Officer Caldwell stood up to leave, taking the bag with him. "I suppose I'll see you all in a couple of hours for the beach day."

"You will." Chloe grinned. "We'll be there. It's just a chance for the kids to have a good charge around and let loose. Kids around here haven't really had that in at least five years, so it'll be good for them. And if everyone enjoys it, we're hoping to make it a monthly thing."

"Well, I wish you ladies the best of luck with it." Officer Caldwell said as Max got up to show him to the door. The two carried on talking until Hope heard the door shut. When Max came back, she was alone. As she got sat down, Hope took the glasses off and rubbed her eyes. They were beginning to give her a headache since she could basically feel part of her brain trying to process the colours she should be seeing and just not managing it.

At that moment, the plate of pancakes arrived in front of her. Chloe had already learned Hope's usual combo- unusual as it was- of lemon juice, chocolate sauce and some strawberry pieces on the side. It was perfect and, just like with any seven-year-old, the chocolate served to greatly improve the condition of her head. Meanwhile, Max was studying the glasses in bitter annoyance.

"I can't believe they sent defective glasses! These guys had one thing to do and they dropped the ball!"

"Chill out there, Super Max." Chloe said calmly as she made her way over with more pancakes. Hope's stomach gave a growl at the sight of them. What Max and Chloe were eating she had no idea. "And you can cool your jets too, young lady." Chloe added, fighting back a laugh as she handed one plate to Max and wrapped her arm protectively around the other. "Seriously though, they probably just took a knock in transit. Or maybe they over-exposed the lenses when they were manufacturing them."

"You're really not selling the idea of chilling out." Max pointed out to her.

"Look..." Chloe inhaled deeply and fought for patience. "The point is that these things were going to happen at some point when making someone's glasses. It was an eventuality. No matter who gets a pair that's not up to spec, they're not gonna be happy. I'm sure they'll send a replacement out when we tell them what's wrong. For now, just enjoy the pancakes." Max sighed in resignation and started eating.

Meanwhile, Hope had just about finished up. She jumped down from the chair and took her plate over to the sink before turning to go and get dressed. With or without working glasses, she was going to the beach today. Just like with Ginger Snaps, one day she would see the ocean in full and glorious colour. But for now, she knew Connor would be there and she was determined to enjoy the time with him. After all, he was one of the only people her age who'd treated her as being anything close to human. She felt she could trust him. Once they found each other, they could stick together. It was going to be loud and the water and sand could ruin their headphones so they'd have to go without. That was okay. They'd help each other through it.

The truck pulled up at the beach about an hour later just as people were beginning to arrive. Max helped Hope to climb out and Hope began scanning around for Connor. Unfortunately the crush of bodies that was beginning to form became a wall of noise and scent she couldn't sort through. That was when she saw Max waving. For a second, she thought it must have been Malcolm she'd spotted. That hope was dashed when she saw Alison and Trussy stepping through the crowd towards them. She instantly felt her skin prickle and started retreating behind Chloe, not even trying to be subtle. The less she saw of these people, the better. But to add to her misery, neither of them seemed to be able to take the hint.

"Well if it isn't Max and Chloe!" Trussy said as they approached. "Thanks so much for organising today. And how is our little Rain doing?" Hope instantly grit her teeth so hard she felt her mouth fill with blood. Luckily for Trussy, she recognised her mistake early enough that nothing drastic had to happen. "Oh no, wait... It's not Rain anymore, is it? Sorry, I've been calling you that for the last five years. I'm still not used to it." Hope said nothing and Trussy's focus shifted to Max and Chloe. "How's she been doing?"

"She's doing amazingly." Max said as Chloe took Hope by the hand and stepped back slightly.

"Max? I'm just taking her to find Connor so she's got someone her own age to chat to."

"Sure thing!" Max grinned, waving them off as she turned back to resume talking to Trussy and Alison. But just as they were about to move off, Stella came sprinting over. Just like Alyssa, she was working at Joyce's Two Whales Diner and had volunteered to come down to the beach to give out water and soft drinks to the thirsty people. But there was no way anyone would get Alyssa running like Stella could in a heatwave.

"Chloe! Listen, we really need a hand with setting up the stall! The truck just arrived and there's so much more on there than we anticipated!" Just as Chloe opened her mouth to reply, Alison stepped forward.

"Would you like me to take Hope to find Connor while you go and help set up?" she asked. "Hope knows who we're looking for so I can just follow along and make sure she doesn't come to any grief. I know Dani and her family are supposed to be coming too, but they're running late."

"Oh my god, thank you so much!" Chloe said, looking ready to hug Alison on the spot. Hope instantly felt herself gritting her teeth again. But at least Alison wasn't going to try and befriend her after everything. All she had to do was find Connor while Alison made sure she got to him okay. No matter how much of a poor job of it she'd done, she'd still tried to look after her for five years. She was an adult. Surely she could be trusted to do that at least?

Knowing she was now stuck with Alison, Hope started walking. She knew Connor was near. Pretty much the entire town was on the beach. It was just a matter of trying to find him. She started moving through the crowds, using her small size to slip between groups of people and make for the edge of the beach. It was the highest ground there was so if there was anywhere to spot him it would surely be that. Checking over her shoulder, she confirmed that Alison was still with her. That was okay. She pressed on and reached the edge of the beach. It was just as she was about to turn and start scanning for Connor or Malcolm that she actually spotted them. They too were at the edge of the beach. Gesturing to Alison to follow her, she made her way over,

Connor was clearly struggling as Hope neared him. She could understand. She liked the beach and the sights, sounds, textures and smells it had to offer. But not so much when heaped in with everyone else in Arcadia Bay at once. He clearly didn't want to go in there. Luckily, Malcolm spotted her coming and pointed her out to Connor who looked up to see her. He broke away from his dad and ran over to her. As soon as they reached each other, she wrapped her arms around him and held on as he started shaking violently. He'd obviously been on the verge of a panic attack for a while.

"Are you Malcolm?" Alison asked making her way over and shaking his hand. "I'm Alison Lincoln. I used to look after Ra- Hope- before Max and Chloe took her on."

"Please to meet you." Malcolm replied, returning the handshake. "It's good to have her here. I know she gives him confidence. I think he just saw the number of people on the beach and freaked out a bit."

"If you want, I can take them over to my van and get them some water." Alison offered. "It's just parked up on the side of the road and I am a registered child carer. Chloe's helping to set up a water stand so there'll be plenty more later on as and when they need it, but that'll probably be about an hour."

"That would be nice." Malcolm nodded. "Of course, I'm sure you know why I have to ask to see an ID."

"I sure do." Alison mirrored his nod before pulling out her ID card. Hope had been listening in on the exchange, her heart sank to her shoes. She'd just found Connor and here she was still stuck with Alison.

Sure enough, Malcolm gave his nod to the ID card. Hope found herself following on as Alison walked while keeping Connor close to her. She didn't like Alison. She never had. She hadn't liked any of the carers in the home. But that didn't stop her from knowing that their hearts were in the right place and Alison was offering water. As much as she hated it, it was just the thing they needed right then.

They reached the van and Alison opened the back of it. Instantly they could all feel the blast of cool air from the back of it. Hope didn't understand how it was so cold in there but was glad it was. That would mean the water was definitely cold. Looking in, Hope could see a cooler in the back. That must be what she was after. Sure enough, Alison confirmed it.

"See that cooler at the back? That's full of bottles of water. If you kids-" She was cut off as Hope's feet landed on the floor of the van, having cleared the considerable jump up there from a standing start. From there, she extended a hand for Connor. "Oh. Okay, that's impressive. Climb on in then and drink your fill."

Hope helped Connor to the back of the van and sat him down. It didn't take a professional to know that he'd really managed to panic himself and so she decided to focus on just getting some fluids in him because of the heat. Or she would have if there was any water in the cooler. The second she registered that the box was empty, the door slammed shut behind them.

"Alison?" Her head snapped up as she looked around and registered that the door was indeed shut. That was when the engine started and she felt the van pulling away. She could see Alison in the driver's seat through the barrier that separated the cab from the back. "Alison, what are you doing?"

"You know, I've noticed something different about you for a long time, Hope Callows." Alison's voice sounded different. It was way too calm. This had been planned. "Seeing your eyes change like that time and time again every time you got stressed. Your strength was so much greater than the majority of the other kids there and even some of the adults. I know. I know everything." Hope paled. She could get away. She could keep herself safe. But she wouldn't be able to take Connor with her. Alison had done this knowing she wouldn't be able to bring herself to leave her friend.

"What's going on?" Connor asked, looking around. Without the clamour of the beach, he was starting to focus properly. The last thing Hope needed was him realising they were in danger and beginning to panic again. It took a lot to panic him, but when he did he totally shut down. That would be even less use than a hole in the head. So instead, Hope decided to play it calm. She sat down next to him, taking his hand in her own and keeping her voice soft.

"Do you trust me?"