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Chapters (88)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dear Reader …
  4. Also by Robert Muchamore
  5. PART ONE
  6. Walter J Freeman Adolescent Mental Health Unit – East Grinstead, UK
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. PART TWO
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. PART THREE
  47. Walter J. Freeman Adolescent Mental Health Unit – East Grinstead, UK
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. FORTY
  50. FORTY-ONE
  51. FORTY-TWO
  52. FORTY-THREE
  53. FORTY-FOUR
  54. FORTY-FIVE
  55. FORTY-SIX
  56. FORTY-SEVEN
  57. FORTY-EIGHT
  58. FORTY-NINE
  59. FIFTY
  60. FIFTY-ONE
  61. FIFTY-TWO
  62. FIFTY-THREE
  63. FIFTY-FOUR
  64. PART FOUR
  65. FIFTY-FIVE
  66. FIFTY-SIX
  67. FIFTY-SEVEN
  68. FIFTY-EIGHT
  69. FIFTY-NINE
  70. SIXTY
  71. SIXTY-ONE
  72. SIXTY-TWO
  73. SIXTY-THREE
  74. SIXTY-FOUR
  75. SIXTY-FIVE
  76. SIXTY-SIX
  77. SIXTY-SEVEN
  78. SIXTY-EIGHT
  79. SIXTY-NINE
  80. SEVENTY
  81. SEVENTY-ONE
  82. SEVENTY-TWO
  83. SEVENTY-THREE
  84. EPILOGUE
  85. Discover more books and sign up to the Robert Muchamore mailing list at muchamore.com
  86. Have you read KILLER T?
  87. 1 SLASHED RUBBER
  88. 2 NOT HARRY POTTER

‘I …’ Julius wiped his eyes again. ‘I found out he’d been murdered on the Sunday. It was the end of half-term and I had a taxi booked for six thirty next morning to take me back to school. And I carried on …’

Julius took a deep breath and tried to get some strength back in his voice.

‘It’s hard to explain,’ he began. ‘It was like I had two lives. One good, one bad. The Hall was good. I was playing soccer and working out. Doing OK in lessons and I’d made friends who had no problem with who I was. At boarding school, it’s easy to keep busy, from early-morning swims to evening cinema club. I signed up for everything, to keep my mind occupied.’

‘That’s interesting,’ Tanvi said. ‘Most of you were in yesterday’s group, where we listed the differences between healthy behaviour and distracting behaviour.’

‘Then there was my bad life, back in Nigeria,’ Julius continued. ‘Duke was dead. My mum was arrested. Held in prison awaiting trial after Governor Rotimi took office. My little brother Gabe kept calling in tears because he was scared. Just thinking about home made me shake. I could have flown back for Christmas. I wanted to see Gabe, but I couldn’t face everything else, so I stayed in London and spent Christmas on my own.’

‘Did you talk to anyone about Duke?’ Georgia asked.

‘Nobody,’ Julius admitted. ‘My roommate, Matt, is a good guy. He asked, how come I don’t Skype Duke any more. Part of me wanted to tell, but I knew I’d break down and I didn’t want my good life at school mixing with my bad life. I didn’t want people feeling sorry for me, or asking questions about stuff back home.’

‘You built a wall,’ Alex suggested.

‘A wall,’ Julius agreed. ‘Now I realise it was building up to a crisis. You can’t run two separate lives in your head.

‘About six weeks back, things started going really wrong back home,’ Julius explained. ‘My phone died, because the bill hadn’t been paid. I called my cousin, Orisa, who lived with us. She was saying the state government had got an order freezing all my mum’s bank accounts. Mum was the mastermind of everything our family does. But my uncle, SJ, was running the show now she was in prison. He refused to give Orisa money to run the house, or even answer her calls.