by Paul Bristow
TJ pulled at the crypt gate hopefully. “Locked.”
“You know what we need,” said Megan, smiling, “a skeleton key.”
Cam just scowled at her.
“I have burned out the lock,” announced TJ. “There is no key required.”
The gate creaked open in exactly the sort of way Cam hoped it wouldn’t, and they stared down the steep stairway that descended underground.
“This probably isn’t the time,” said Cam, “but I’m not totally sure what a crypt is. Is it, like, where they store all the garden tools and lawnmowers?”
Megan quickly silenced TJ with a look. “Uhm… yeah,” she said.
At the bottom of the stairs, a carved wooden door opened into a small room.
“Bit posh for a shed,” said Cam.
“Look at the carvings,” said Megan, “they’re really weird.”
In place of the cherubs, angels and roses traditionally found in cemeteries, the carvings on the crypt door included skeletal knights, sea monsters, flying horses and crows.
“Cheery,” said Megan.
“Not much room for gardening stuff in here,” said Cam. “What are all these name plates for?”
For a moment it was quiet enough in the crypt to hear a penny drop.
“Crypts are actually where posher families would all get buried together,” said Megan quickly, which she hoped would make it easier for Cam, like when you rip off a plaster.
“We’re in a grave!” shouted Cam, backing towards the stairs, then turning around with a start just in case there was a vampire walking down, on his way home. “People are buried in here! Right here!”
“Do not worry Cameron, they pose no current threat.” TJ patted Cam reassuringly on the arm. “There. There there.”
“Doesn’t this seem like the most likely place for a hidden sigil Cam?” asked Megan.
“It seems like the most likely place for a horror movie.”
“It’s so sad,” said Megan, tracing her fingers across the engraved lettering of the name plates. “So many of them died really young. Wait. This one says Watt – it might be a clue!”
“Hold on a second… She died one hundred and eleven years before she was born?” said Cam. “That’s a hard life.”
TJ reached out to touch the plate, and it fell from the wall.
Cam squealed, “Are there bones behind it?”
TJ took the remaining brick carefully from the wall and examined it. “There is some writing carved onto the brick, but it is hard to make out.”
Megan took it from him, while TJ stuck his hand without hesitation into the gap left by the brick.
“TJ, don’t do that!” said Cam. “Something could grab you.”
“There’s something else written here,” said Megan. “I think this says ‘ill’?”
Cam knocked the brick out of her hand. “Plague grave. It’s a plague grave. Let’s get out of here!”
TJ pulled his hand from the wall. “I cannot reach all the way in, but I am sure there is something there. A smaller hand could reach.”
Megan sighed. “Of course it could.” She took off her glove and began rolling up her jumper sleeve.
“Cameron’s hands are smaller,” said TJ.
“No, it’s ok,” said Megan, “I’d only have to do it anyway after he fainted. But Cam, seriously, if I get grabbed by a skeleton you’d better turn into a dog and start hunting for bones.”
“I just don’t like dead things,” said Cam. “That’s actually one of the more normal things about me.”
“TJ was right!” Megan’s arm was now deep inside the wall. “There is something here!”
“Is it something with teeth?” asked Cam.
“Got it!” Megan pulled her hand out. She was holding a small leather pouch, tied with what looked like old shoelaces. She carefully untied the bag and tipped the contents into her hand. The sigil was slightly grubbier than the other two had been, a bit scratched, but there was no mistaking that they had found what they were looking for.
“Excellent,” said Megan, “now we have two out of three!”
“Great news,” said Cam. “Can we go now?”
“You’re already halfway up the steps so we might as well,” said Megan.
Chapter 31.
Bells and Whistles
As they emerged from the crypt, coloured lights streamed across the tombstones, illuminating the graveyard and casting long shadows. At the cemetery gates was the source of the light show: a large, mostly spherical sculpture. Pale reds and greens beamed eerily from its interior.
“It’s Evolve,” hissed Cam. “I didn’t know it had lights inside it.”
“Yes, very pretty,” said Megan, “but I don’t think it’s here to go disco.”
Megan turned to TJ, quickly opened his chest cavity and threw the little leather pouch inside. “Remember TJ, you get back to John even if we don’t, ok?”
“I remember,” said TJ, “though I am not pleased with this plan.”
“Me neither,” said Cam, “but we don’t have enough time to come up with a new one. Come on.”
Cam and TJ ran around the back of the crypt while Megan flew upwards to give herself some room. Evolve swivelled, following Megan’s flight, silhouetting her against a night sky of red and green.
“It’s just like taking a run up,” Megan told herself. “Just like a long run up to a big jump.”
She breathed in and swooped down towards Evolve as quickly as she could, balling her hands into fists, and aiming for the smallest sphere in the centre of the robot. Megan connected with Evolve, generating a clang that sounded like a bell chiming. She was so surprised she hadn’t broken her arms that it took her a few more seconds to realise she had actually knocked Evolve over.
There was a loud ringing in the graveyard, and Megan turned towards the portacabins, worried that they had accidentally set off a security alarm. The noise seemed to be all around them. Evolve’s lights spun wildly, beaming out across the graveyard, lighting up TJ and Cam who were clambering over the wall.
With horror, Megan realised she was hearing an alarm clock.
Clock-faced Chronos was waiting for Cam and TJ on the other side of the wall, behind the crypt.
Luckily, Cam had spotted the robot on his way over the wall and transformed instantly. This time he was more creative, knowing how strong Chronos had been at Crowfell Hospital. He became a mouse and scurried through the grass towards the sculpture.
The sculpture could tell something was not right. It began thrashing out at its own body when it felt the little creature climbing up its legs. Mouse-Cam scampered higher, creeping along the clock hands before finding a tiny gap he could squeeze through at the top of the robot’s head. Cam took a quick moment to catch his breath, his tiny heart racing.
He wasn’t sure how he had expected the inside of a robot’s head to look, but it seemed quite empty, with the exception of a few microchips, wires and a tiny black aerial. The aerial was attached to a bulb that flickered green and angry red.
Chronos figured out where Cam had disappeared to, and began banging and shaking his own head. Inside, Cam started to feel worse than the day he was seasick on the Rothesay ferry.
By the time Megan had flown over to help, Chronos had removed his own head and was furiously rattling it. Cam fell to the ground and transformed back into himself, looking slightly green.
“Cam! Quick, get up, come on!” Megan shouted.
While Chronos secured its giant clock head back on its shoulders, Evolve began moving again, despite being slightly wobbly. It weaved between gravestones, heading straight for the wall, as though it would crash through onto Megan and the fallen Cam.
TJ decided to lead Chronos off in a random direction. While this would mean leaving Cam and Megan behind, they’d at least have only one robot to deal with. What TJ had not factored into his calculations was that Chronos was much quicker than he was. The sculpture grabbed him and they tumbled down into a wide ditch of recentl
y opened graves, soon to be the foundations for the Bingo hall.
“Cam, can you change into anything?” said Megan, panicking. “Anything at all, even a mouse again?”
Cam didn’t reply. Evolve rolled ever closer.
“Cam seriously, come on!” said Megan.
Without speaking, Cam managed to change – a tiny gecko lay on the grass.
“I hate lizards,” said Megan, scooping him up and gently putting him in her jacket pocket. “Did you do that on purpose?”
Megan flew back over the graveyard, where she could see TJ struggling with Chronos. “TJ! Catch a hold,” she shouted.
“I cannot,” said TJ, looking up to see Megan sweeping across the ground towards him.
Megan grabbed TJ by the arm, and together all three of them flew away from the graveyard back towards the hills. Megan’s training had helped – her flying was stronger than it had been before – but soon the weight became too much. When she was sure they were far enough away, she lowered TJ and the gecko to the ground.
“I am sorry, Megan,” said TJ. “It is my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” said Megan, “we just didn’t expect two of them, that was silly. But we made it!”
“No, the mission failed. Chronos took the sigil from me.”
“What?!” Megan was unable to hide her upset. “When?”
“When we fought in the hole in the ground. I was trying to get it back when you grabbed me.”
“So… that was all for nothing!?”
“I am sorry, Megan.”
Cam groaned. “Listen Meg, I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but you probably need to throw this jacket out, unless you want to stink of gecko sick.”
Chapter 32.
Toys and Games
Chronos lay twitching in the opened graves. Mr Finn had decided to watch his sculptures in action again this evening, and had noted of a few modifications to assist with future battles. This time, any dents and bumps had been worth it.
“It’s a terrible thing,” said Mr Finn, clambering down into the grave. “Most people just don’t appreciate great art. But I do.”
He took the little leather pouch from the sculpture and examined the sigil.
“One for them, two for me,” he said. “Y’know, these guardians have a bad habit of letting their guard down.”
Mr Finn started whistling ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen (which he liked to imagine was his own evil theme tune), hauled himself out of the grave, and headed home.
***
The laboratory was jam-packed with evil that day. The final sculpture, Kevin’s sea monster Destiny, was almost complete, and Mr Finn was still working on Resilience’s weaponry upgrade.
“What do you think? Time to move house? Getting a bit cramped in here.”
Resilience shuffled awkwardly in agreement, his spikes grazing the walls.
“And we need somewhere to fix Chronos now as well… hmmm. What about that old Gaelic church in the town? I was going to send you to knock it down… but it might be just what we need right now. How are you getting on?”
Resilience pointed to a collection of dangerous-looking objects on a bench. Mr Finn picked one up and pulled the trigger. A purple laser blasted a massive hole in the wall.
“No!” said Mr Finn angrily. “No, no, no! That’s completely the wrong colour. It shouldn’t be chill-out purple, it should be angry red! If we use this to melt a building everyone will laugh. It’s embarrassing.”
Resilience looked down at his jaggy robot feet.
“And as for this disintegrator cannon… it looks like it’s been made out of Lego.”
Mr Finn threw the cannon onto the floor angrily, where it immediately smashed, because it had been made out of Lego. Resilience looked sheepish.
“This is serious. I left strict instructions for you. We’re supposed to be getting ready to destroy superheroes, not having fun.”
Mr Finn picked up the final item on the bench and pushed a button. A fizzing electrical net sprang out and fired across the room, pinning Resilience to the wall and paralysing him under the current.
“Hmmm,” said Mr Finn. “Ok, that’s actually pretty good.”
He walked over for a closer look at the new sculpture. “And Destiny’s coming along nicely. Looks comfortable enough inside.”
Trapped and sparking behind the electric net, Resilience’s eyes flashed.
“Not long to wait now,” said Mr Finn.
Chapter 33.
Breaking and Entering
Cam and Megan didn’t talk about their graveyard misadventure the whole way through school the next day. Neither of them wanted to think about the most difficult bit – how they would explain losing another sigil to John. That’s why, even though they had to endure double PE, equations, extra washing-up in Home Economics, and cheese-and-spinach pie for lunch, the day still slipped by faster than ever.
Megan found Cam waiting at the gate and they both sloped off to see John, or ‘after-school homework club’, as they liked to call it at home. He had a cup of tea and extra chocolate biscuits on the table for them – even for Cam – when they arrived.
“TJ told me everything,” he said as soon as they walked in. “Sounds to me like you did brilliantly. You were just unlucky.”
“But we lost the sigil,” said Megan.
“It was mostly my fault,” said Cam. “I got dizzy and threw up. That wasn’t very super.”
“It was me who lost the sigil,” said TJ. “Cameron disrupted Chronos from the inside and Megan knocked over Evolve with a flying punch. It was most im-pressive.”
“Sounds it,” said John. “Think about what you did well; don’t focus on where you think you went wrong. Even a few weeks ago you wouldn’t have been able to do what you did last night.”
“I suppose…” said Megan, “but what do we do now?”
“Well,” said John, “even before last night I was wondering what to do about the sigil Waterworx already had. So while you were busy at the graveyard, I went on a wee mission of my own.”
“What sort of mission?” asked Cam.
“I went to look at the Waterworx offices,” said John. “Seems to me that all we need to do is break in and steal the sigils straight back. Finish up your biscuits and we can get going.”
It was the first time Cam and Megan had smiled all day.
***
The Waterworx offices down by the docks were shiny, expensive and mostly empty. One or two employees were still milling around, about to clock off for the day. Big important-looking banners hung in the high windows, each displaying one gigantic word:
As if having the words hanging up in the window was enough to make them true.
“How is this going to work?” asked Cam, self-consciously looking straight at the CCTV camera, then turning quickly and guiltily away. “I’ve never broken into a building before. It’s one of the few things my mum can be proud of.”
John shook his head, smiling. “It’s not like breaking in at all. No smashed glass, no alarms. I go places all the time, no one ever notices.”
“How?” Cam asked again.
“Did you know that in Britain you are never more than three metres away from a rat or mouse?”
Finally Cam understood, “That’s why you’ve been making me practise mouse again?”
John nodded. “Hamsters can be a wee bit too chunky to fit through all the pipes and cracks.”
“So what’s the plan then?” Megan asked.
“To be as quick as possible, since the statues seem to turn up wherever we are, but I’m hoping they won’t arrive while people are still hanging about.” John glanced at the front doors of the office. “Best way in? Always round the back by the bins.”
Not only was it quieter round the back, but the doors were still open because the workers had been smoking outside.
“Filthy habit,” said John. “Right, Cameron and I will slip inside and find a place where we can see the staff setting the
alarm. Megan and TJ, you stay in the shadows back here. We’ll let you in once we’ve deactivated the alarm.”
John and Cam shrank, almost disappearing, before scuttling quietly inside through the open door. Cam followed John, who stuck close to the walls, running along skirting boards and ducking under sockets and cables. He stopped under a desk at the front of the office. Feet clattered by the glass door, a forest of shiny black shoes and sharp-looking heels. There was laughter, doors slamming, more footsteps and then four beeps before all the feet finally disappeared through the front entrance.
All was quiet.
Cam was just about to go exploring under people’s desks looking for crumbs, when he saw John change back.
John turned to look at Cam and shook his head. He then pressed the same pattern of buttons on the alarm panel until there were four beeps again. This time, he gave Cam a thumbs up. “I’ll go let Megan and Jimmy in.”
“Aren’t we supposed to wait until it’s properly dark or something?” asked Cam.
“No time for that,” said John. “Besides, if anyone looks in now, we just appear to be people working late. Get seen wandering around buildings late at night – that’s when you look guilty.”
“Isn’t TJ a bit conspicuous to be in a big building full of windows?”
“Nah,” said John, “he can stand right near the door and keep a lookout. Folk will just think he’s one of the company’s daft statues.” John shuffled quickly through the office and out to the back door, returning with Megan and TJ.
“That was a bit easy,” said Megan warily.
“Lots to do before we can say that for sure,” said John. “Let’s make this quick. Downstairs, five minutes max.”
“What’s downstairs?” asked Cam.
“Usually the stuff people don’t want you to find,” said John.
“And you think the sigils will be here?” said Megan.
“I know they will be – I watched Finn all day yesterday,” said John.
Beneath the gleaming offices was the basement of a much older building. Crates were stacked high along each wall, archaic numbers and indecipherable squiggles scribbled on them.
