Dicing with Death by Beth Chambers

on a plane all by yourself? Or rather, with your, er… girlfriend? How did you get my address?’

    Max jumped in with some answers, concerned his father was going to go into meltdown. ‘I live in Scotland now, with Mum. You know she got re-married, right, and had a baby? Not that she’s a baby any more.’ He hurried on, afraid that if he dwelt on the subject of Amy he’d follow his fatherinto meltdown territory. ‘Liah’s just a… um… friend. She’s looking for a job out here.’
    â€˜Holiday job,’ Liah said when Max’s father’s frown deepened. ‘Waitressing. I’ve done a lot of that sort of thing before, er, sir.’
    â€˜Call me Greg.’ Max’s dad returned his attention to Max and asked the question he was dreading.
    â€˜Does your mother know you’re here?’
    * * *
    Max perched on the edge of the sofa. He’d promised to call his mother immediately and while part of him was longing to hear her voice, the other part was dreading the tongue lashing he was no doubt about to receive. With a sigh he finally picked up the receiver.
    As soon as Max’s mother heard his voice she burst into tears. ‘Where are you? We’ve been worried sick! Where have you been? Are you alright?’
    â€˜I’m fine,’ he said quickly. ‘I’m really sorry, Mum. I didn’t want you to worry.’
    â€˜What do you mean you didn’t want me to worry?’ Her voice rose. ‘What did you think I’d do when you disappeared for
two whole days
?’
    So that was how much time had passed in the Overworld since he’d been away. Max swallowed. ‘I didn’t think. I’ve been really selfish and I’m
really
sorry.’
    â€˜Where are you?’ she asked again.
    â€˜I’m at… Dad’s.’ He tensed, waiting for an explosion on the other end of the line.
    Instead his announcement was met with a long silence; so long, in fact, that Max began to wonder if his mother had hung up. ‘Where?’ she finally whispered.
    â€˜Crete.’
    â€˜Crete?’ She seemed unable to speak in words longer than one syllable.
    Before Max could say anything else the phone was taken out of his hand. Greg winked reassuringly at him before speaking into the handset. He listened while his father offered to have him over Christmas before handing back the phone.
    â€˜I can’t pretend to understand why you’re doing this,’ his mother said bitterly. ‘As if we haven’t had enough worry over Amy.’
    â€˜Is she okay?’
    â€˜She’s fine now. She’s asking for you. She’s convinced that a bogeyman’s taken you away.’ She took a shuddering breath. ‘We’d looked forwardto a family Christmas together, and it feels as if you’ve torn that up into little bits and thrown it back in our faces.’
    â€˜Mum…’ Max didn’t know what to say.
    â€˜I can’t talk to you any more right now,’ she sniffed. ‘I’m just too upset. Call me again tomorrow, OK?’
    â€˜OK.’
    After he hung up Max lay back on the sofa and stared up at the ceiling until his eyes ached. How was he ever going to make this up to his mother?
    * * *
    That evening Max laid the table while his dad fried fish, serving it up with golden chips.
    â€˜Come on,’ Max called over to Liah who was sitting cross-legged on the sofa staring in awe at Greg’s laptop screen.
    â€˜You’ve got to see this!’ she cried. ‘If I click the rat, music plays!’
    Max crossed the room. ‘I’ve already told you, it’s called a mouse,’ he murmured. ‘Come on, it’s time to eat.’
    Greg forked up flakes of soft white fish. ‘You’re welcome to stay here with us if you’ve not got anywhere else to go,’ he told Liah.
    Liah shot Max a surprised look. ‘How long is Max staying, Greg?’ she