Anywhere

by Jon Robinson

‘This way,’ Jes said, trying her best to run. Her hand fell to her side and she let out a cry.

  ‘Get behind the tree,’ Ryan hissed. He dropped to his knees, steadying his hand, and fired. The shot missed. One of the guards fired his own weapon, and Ryan only just moved out of the way in time.

  He scrambled to his feet and raced towards where Jes was hiding. ‘There are too many of them,’ he panted. He passed the ibis to Jes. ‘I’ll try to hold ’em off. You head back to the tunnel, get Henry.’

  ‘There’s no need,’ said a disappointed-looking Henry, who appeared behind them. ‘This is why I told you both to stay put.’

  ‘Look, we’re sorry,’ Ryan said, anxiously peering out from the tree.

  Henry ignored him and pointed through the trees. ‘Go two miles east and you’ll see a car arriving soon. It’ll be one of my people.’

  ‘We’re not leaving you here,’ Jes said. ‘This is our fault! We’ll stay and fight –’

  ‘With what, that rock?’ Henry said. ‘We’re outnumbered. You need to get as far away from here as possible.’

  ‘But what about the –’

  ‘I’ve dealt with worse,’ Henry said, and tried to smile.

  ‘Come on,’ Ryan said, pulling Jes towards him. He looked at Henry, offering him a brief nod in parting.

  The pair darted through the trees, not looking back, flinching only at the sound of a solitary ibis blast, and the sound of something heavy falling quietly into the powdery snow.

  31

  ‘We’re here,’ Pyra said, opening the car door.

  ‘So is this your headquarters?’ Elsa hopped out, tilting her neck back at the neglected block of flats in front of her. Looks like somewhere you wouldn’t want to hang around alone, she thought, gazing at the mass of criss-crossed wires and the grubby satellite dishes, some of which seemed slumped with shame. A gang of teenage boys sat sullenly on bikes in a deserted playground not far from the flats. Behind her was a busy main road and a few faceless offices scattered behind it.

  ‘Are you coming, or what?’ Pyra said by the door.

  Elsa nodded, running towards her. Hermes House, she read, looking at the peeling sign above.

  Pyra jabbed a code on a grey metal box on the wall. There was a buzz, and the gated door creaked open.

  ‘Ugh, what’s that smell?’ Elsa said, pulling a face. Bits of litter floated around aimlessly in the breezy hallway. She scurried after Pyra and Anton to the tiny lift in the centre of a winding stairwell. Some graffiti had been scrawled on one of the metal panels and the floor was covered in muddy footprints.

  ‘This lift is safe, right?’ Elsa said, gripping the handrail as it began to rise.

  Anton shrugged. ‘I’ve only been stuck in it once or twice.’

  Elsa’s eyes widened.

  ‘Just kidding,’ he said with a grin.

  The lift soon came to an excruciatingly slow halt. Elsa breathed a sigh of relief as the doors peeled open, and paused. She was on the top floor of what seemed, at first glance, to be a palace.

  Large stone columns rose up from the tiled stone floor with its enormous eight-pointed star, which Elsa followed with her eyes to a row of windows, giving a sweeping view over the streets and houses below. Above her was a cream-coloured coffered ceiling, while to the far side of the room was an ominous set of oak doors, guarded by two statues on either side.

  ‘Whoa,’ Elsa said. She walked round one of the columns to a large circular table, covered in scraps of paper and photographs. ‘This is the coolest thing ever. How do you keep something like this hidden?’

  Pyra walked over to the window. ‘You saw what it looked like from the outside. No one would ever think of looking.’

  Elsa peered out of the window on tiptoes. ‘So they’re fake satellite dishes and everything! Ha! So this whole building is yours?’

  ‘Yep. It’s ours,’ Pyra said.

  As Elsa was about to embark on a second survey of the room, a bald man in his early forties appeared. His face was covered in deep-set wrinkles and he wore a black long-sleeved shirt. ‘You must be Elsa,’ he said. ‘You were one of the prisoners.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Elsa said, still gazing around. ‘How do you know my name?’

  ‘My name is Luthan. I’m in charge while our leader, Henry, is otherwise engaged,’ he said, ignoring her question.

  ‘So what do you guys do here?’

  ‘We find people like you,’ Luthan said. ‘We train them.’

  ‘Train them to do what?’

  Luthan smiled. ‘To use the gift that you, and all the others, possess. We call it the Ability.’

  ‘Cool! So when are you going to train me?’

  ‘That depends on whether or not you’re ready,’ Luthan answered. ‘But right now you must be tired, Elsa,’ he continued. ‘I’ll show you to your room.’

  ‘My room? Hang on, you mean I’m staying here?’

  ‘People are looking for you and the rest of your friends. You really think they would risk you all running free? They aren’t going to stop until they find each of you. And if Pyra and Anton managed to find you that easily … those people won’t be far behind.’

  I need to find the others, Elsa thought, suddenly worried. ‘Can I go home?’

  Luthan shook his head. ‘It’s not safe for you to go home. We have to keep you here to protect you.’

  ‘So you’re the good guys then?’

  ‘ “Good” is a funny word, Elsa,’ said Luthan. ‘Your room is this way.’ He beckoned for her to follow him.

  Elsa went after him through the oak doors to an adjoining corridor. A couple of men and a woman with short blonde hair quickly ended their conversation and watched them walk by.

  ‘They don’t seem very friendly,’ Elsa whispered, tugging Luthan’s sleeve.

  ‘You’ve all been kidnapped and held as prisoners. They’re probably not sure what to say.’

  Elsa looked back over her shoulder at the group.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Luthan said. ‘I’ll make sure you’re all properly introduced later.’

  ‘So how many of you are here?’ Elsa said.

  ‘There are twelve of us. Hopefully more, if we can find your friends. Now, your room is just here …’

  Elsa started to push open the nearest door, but found it locked.

  ‘Not in there,’ Luthan quickly said. ‘Come away from there, please.’

  Drawn to the door, Elsa stopped and studied it for a few moments. ‘What’s in here?’

  Luthan gently guided her away. ‘You’re allowed in any room here except that one, Elsa.’

  ‘Structural damage,’ Pyra said from behind. ‘You wouldn’t want the ceiling falling on you, would you?’

  Elsa shook her head vigorously from side to side.

  Luthan walked over to another room and held the door open for her. ‘In you go,’ he said.

  Elsa slipped inside. Apart from two beds and a desk in the corner, the room was bare. There was a pile of folded clothes on one of the beds.

  She exhaled. ‘A bed. You’ve no idea how pleased I am to see one of these!’

  Elsa ran to the bed and threw herself at it with such force she almost bounced straight back off. She extended her arms, affixing herself tightly to the mattress.

  ‘Before you rest, I do have a few questions, Elsa. While you were in the prison, did you find out anything at all about the people who were in charge?’

  ‘Like what?’ asked Elsa.

  ‘Any names?’

  ‘Yeah, we found out one man’s name,’ Elsa said. ‘Felix. I don’t know who that is, but we know he has something to do with it. Something important, I’d say.’

  Luthan raised his eyes to the window. ‘James Felix. Just as we thought.’

  ‘You know him?’

  ‘He’s the richest man in the country,’ Luthan answered distantly. ‘Are you quite sure this is what you heard?’

  ‘Yeah, it was just after we escaped! We stole the teacher’s phone and found his name in it.
We even called him and everything.’ With this, Elsa gave out a loud yawn.

  ‘That’ll be enough for now. Thank you, Elsa. Dinner will be at six,’ Luthan said. ‘You’re free to rest until then.’

  Elsa’s stomach ached at the thought of food. ‘I’ll be there,’ she murmured contentedly. Then with a great deal of effort, she pulled herself off the bed. ‘Hey, can I ask something?’

  ‘Of course. You can ask me anything.’

  ‘The catch. I mean, there must be a catch, right? You letting me stay here and all.’

  Luthan shook his head. ‘No catch. Your friends will stay here too.’

  ‘Yeah, about that – I left Harlan back at the station. Who knows where he is now. And Julian’s floating around too.’

  ‘We’ll get looking for them straight away,’ Pyra added, peering round the door.

  ‘We need to free all the other kids back at the prison too, right?’ Elsa said, tiredness building in her voice. ‘We need to show them they can’t just go kidnapping us for no reason!’

  ‘Our leader, Henry, is already there. He’s been figuring out the next step. We can’t just crash in unannounced.’

  Elsa gave a murmur of approval before sinking into the mattress. She was buzzing with enough excitement that she stayed awake for a further five minutes, but not a second longer.

  32

  Harlan held the small printed map steady between both hands as it flapped in the window. ‘Nover has three offices scattered around London. Two are over here.’ He circled an area with his finger.

  Julian seemed sceptical. ‘And then what? We approach the second-wealthiest man in the country, just like that?’ Julian snapped his fingers to illustrate the apparently absurd ease of Harlan’s plan.

  ‘We find a way to sneak in.’ Harlan folded the map and put it back inside his pocket. ‘Maybe we could find some uniforms or something. Disguise ourselves. There’s no way they’d let us in like this. We wait until he’s alone and find out exactly who purchased this technology from him.’

  ‘A death trap, in other words,’ Julian offered. And for all we know, he is part of this, not just his weapons.

  ‘You have a better idea?’

  ‘All of my ideas are better than yours,’ Julian quipped. ‘No offence.’

  ‘None taken.’

  Julian scratched his chin, gazing skywards. ‘What we need to do is to let him know we’re on to him – a mind like his simply won’t resist a game of cat and mouse. We need to draw him out.’ Julian made sure nobody was watching and removed the ibis. ‘This is advanced technology. Cutting-edge, closely guarded. If the ibis technology were made public, it would be quickly replicated.’

  ‘You mean we leak it to the press.’ Harlan folded his arms. ‘What if he doesn’t take the bait?’

  ‘And risk us leaking it? He must’ve invested hundreds of millions on research. It would be worthless. And, let’s not forget, the country’s golden boy investing in weapon technology would be sure to raise a few eyebrows.’ Julian smiled. ‘No. He’ll take the bait all right.’ He nodded to a telephone box at the end of the road. ‘Now do you want to do it, or shall I?’

  After quickly deciding who should make the call, Julian headed over, clearing his throat, and running through his opening line in his head.

  ‘I need to speak with Mr Nover immediately,’ Julian said as soon as the telephone was answered.

  ‘You would need to speak with his personal secretary,’ the receptionist replied, ‘and her details are not given out to just anyone. You need an appointment to speak with her.’

  ‘And presumably her secretary, and so on, and so on. Utter drivel! In that case I want you to pass on a message to her for me. Ibis. I – B – I – S. I’ll say that once more. Eye-bis,’ he said, pronouncing each syllable. ‘Mr Nover will understand the significance.’

  ‘Whoever you are, I’m sorry,’ said the receptionist, ‘but I’m not passing on coded messages. This isn’t the school playground –’

  ‘This is no coded message,’ Julian intervened. ‘I have important information regarding the advanced sonic technology that Mr Nover’s company SIGIL has developed in secret. If you don’t pass on this message, I suggest you start looking for another job, because yours will be gone as soon as Mr Nover realizes your error.’

  Julian turned to Harlan with a smug look, then returned his attention to the phone.

  After a moment assimilating Julian’s threat, the receptionist spoke. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘A concerned party. I’m sure Mr Nover can read between the lines, even if you can’t. Tell him to call me back on this number as soon as he gets the message.’

  Julian read out the telephone-box number and slammed the phone down.

  ‘Convincing,’ said an impressed Harlan. ‘Now I guess we wait.’

  33

  ‘We should’ve stayed put,’ Jes grumbled as they continued as quickly as they could through the forest. ‘They’ll take Henry back to the prison and they’ll torture him until he speaks. I swear if they hurt him, I’ll –’

  ‘Calm down,’ Ryan said. ‘There’s nothing the two of us can do anyway, is there?’

  Jes said nothing.

  ‘Henry said to go two miles this way,’ Ryan went on. ‘It shouldn’t take too long.’

  Jes leant against a tree momentarily, holding her scar.

  ‘Wanna stop?’ Ryan asked.

  She shook her head. ‘We’d better keep going.’

  The pair trudged on. Ryan struggled to think of things to say, but gave up after his questions met with little response. His head was soon aching from having to squint so much at the glaring light upon the snow, and his coat was chafing his neck from looking back to make sure Jes was still following.

  No wonder they chose to put us here, Ryan thought. Had they not had directions to follow, he may well have given up completely. And who was to say they were walking east? Or that the old man’s directions were even right in the first place?

  ‘Look,’ Jes said, nodding to a shape between the trees. ‘A car.’

  Ryan looked up. He gestured for her to halt and lifted the ibis. ‘Just being cautious. You go round the back, I’ll go the other way.’

  They scurried towards the vehicle, each taking a different direction.

  ‘Hey,’ Ryan said, pointing his ibis at the shape in the driver’s seat. ‘Open up.’

  The car door opened and out stepped a slim Asian man wearing a baseball cap. He raised his hands in submission.

  ‘Who are you?’ Ryan asked, squinting down the weapon.

  The man opened his mouth to speak, but paused, taken aback at the pair of them.

  ‘Get talking,’ said Jes.

  ‘I’m with the Guild,’ the man said.

  Ryan and Jes shared a look. Ryan lowered the ibis.

  ‘My name’s Charlie,’ the man went on. ‘Where’s Henry? I thought he was supposed to be with you.’

  ‘The guards got him.’

  ‘The guards. You sure about that?’

  Ryan nodded and walked round the car, looking in through the window.

  ‘He’ll be at the prison now,’ said Jes.

  Charlie rested a hand wearily on the brim of his cap. ‘Get in the car,’ he said.

  ‘Think he’s mad at us?’ Ryan whispered to Jes.

  Charlie opened the driver’s door and sank on to the seat.

  ‘So what’s happening?’ asked Ryan when they’d climbed in. ‘Are we gonna go and rescue him?’

  Charlie shook his head. ‘I’m taking you back to our base in London.’

  ‘What about Henry? We can’t just leave him there …’ said Ryan.

  ‘You really think the three of us have a chance? It’d be suicide. You’re coming back with me, so you can be with the others. Then we’ll figure out what to do.’

  ‘Hold on, what others?’ Jes asked. ‘You mean they’re with you?’

  ‘Well, we’re working on it,’ Charlie said. He shot them a look in the rear-view mirror
and turned on the ignition.

  34

  ‘… and then I had to crawl through a vent! I never thought I’d be able to, but we didn’t have much choice because I was the only one who fit inside.’

  Elsa looked at the surrounding faces in the dining room of the Guild’s headquarters. Each of them was watching her, enthralled as she regaled them with the details of the prison escape. The candles on the large rectangular table trembled gently.

  ‘But it all went wrong when Adler took Ryan and put him in solitary. He tried taking me down there too, but I managed to shove him inside and lock the door. And then I –’

  ‘You’re thirteen and you managed to escape a prison?’ said a man with glasses, clearly impressed.

  ‘And they escaped the forest … and spent a few days sleeping rough on the street,’ said another.

  Elsa blushed and gave an awkward smile. This is awesome. They’re hanging on my every word, she thought. ‘Well, when you say it like that. Anyway, are you guys still looking for my friends? We need to find them.’

  ‘No sign of them so far. But Pyra and Anton will be leaving first thing tomorrow,’ Luthan said. As acting leader, he was seated at the head of the table.

  ‘Great! I’ll go with them.’

  Luthan smiled sympathetically. ‘It’ll be safer if you stay here, Elsa. Pyra and Anton are trained.’

  ‘That’s not fair!’ she pleaded. ‘I told you everything about what I did – what we did, right?’

  ‘All the more reason for you to stay. You wouldn’t want to go back there, would you?’

  ‘Good luck bringing them back without me,’ she huffed.

  She hopped down from her chair and hurried out of the dining room. In the gymnasium at the end of the corridor, she heard a steady thumping noise. She peered in and saw Anton, throwing a series of kicks at a punch bag hanging from the wall. Sensing her, Anton stopped and looked over his shoulder.

  ‘So you guys are going after Harlan and Julian?’ she asked, dropping on to the weightlifting bench.

  Anton nodded. He picked up a water bottle and dribbled the contents over his brow.

  ‘I want to come but Luthan won’t let me,’ Elsa complained. ‘But there’s no way they’ll trust you. You need me there.’