by Susan Moore
She stepped inside as Fizz came swooping in through the porthole.
“Oh my!” she screamed, clutching her chest.
Fizz landed on Nat’s shoulder.
“He’s my dragon robot,” said Nat.
Mrs Stalick stared at him.
“I thought he was a bat. A live one at that!”
“Many apologies, ma’am,” said Fizz, using his poshest English accent and giving a sweeping bow.
She smiled. “Very polite, I must say. Most of the robots in boarding don’t do much, apart from that snake. She’s about the only one with any real character like you.”
“Would you be speaking of Vesperetta?” said Fizz, his eyes flashing purple.
She nodded. “Yes, that’s it; can never remember its name.”
Fizz swooped under the bunk, pulled out Nat’s old grey suitcase and flipped open the lid with his talons.
“Let’s get packing,” he said.
They were up on deck within five minutes. Nat’s suitcase was bulging, mostly because of the Boxbury uniform.
“I want to take Gobi with me,” she said, unhooking the cage from the mast.
Mrs Stalick sucked in her breath. “Well … I’m not…”
“She was my guardian’s. I can’t leave her.”
“Oh, very well then. It’s against Boxbury rules to have live creatures boarding, but as long as she’s well behaved I’m sure we can make an exception.”
“And I need my Slider too.”
Mrs Stalick held up her hand.
“That is against the rules for boarders, and there is no leeway on that one. You can ride it during exeats back here.”
Nat groaned. She was off to prison.
“Righty-ho, say your goodbyes and we must go.”
Nat turned to Ah Ping. “Look after it all, please. I’ll see you at the weekend.”
Ah Ping handed her a tin. “Cake for you.”
Nat took it and gave Ah Ping a hug. “Ku, thank you.”
“I bring you noodles in takeaway if food bad,” she whispered in Nat’s ear.
Those were the kindest words she’d ever said to her. Nat felt tears welling up. She bit her lip to stop them and headed for the gangplank.
The driver took her bag. Nat followed Mrs Stalick into the Overrider. As the door closed she pressed her nose up against the window, looking at the Junko.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
LILIES
The boarding house was a tall townhouse attached to the main Boxbury school building. The driver unloaded her case while Mrs Stalick led Nat into a long hallway inside.
“You must Retscan here every time you go and in out of the boarding house,” she explained, showing Nat the security scanner by the door.
“Dining hall and sitting room are on this floor, girls’ boarding first floor, boys’ boarding second floor. Access to each floor is by Retscan. Read and adhere to the rules, please, and all will be well.” She started climbing the staircase. “Robots must be powered down by ten pm. Laundry is Tuesday and Friday. Prep is done in your room. Since you are in Year B you are in a three-bed dorm, sharing with Charlotte and Phoebe. Wake-up call is at seven, breakfast seven thirty, school at eight latest.”
She opened the door to the girls’ floor and strode in. It smelled of shampoo, nail polish and stale biscuits.
Three doors along she knocked and entered. The room was large and square with a high ceiling. A row of three desks sat against the far wall; three beds stood against another. A few posters of ballerinas and horses had been stuck on the walls. Two girls from her class were seated on one of the beds deep in conversation. They looked up.
“Say hello to Natalie, please, girls. She’s had a tough time so I need you to make her feel very welcome.”
Charlotte and Phoebe smiled. Their smiles looked fake to Nat. “Hello,” they said in unison.
“Your bed is by the window,” continued Mrs Stalick. “You can put the bird on the sill; it’ll like the light, I assume. Bathroom is next door down the corridor. Now then, get settled in and I’ll see you at supper in a few minutes.”
She exited briskly leaving Nat stranded. The girls turned their backs to her and continued their conversation, this time in whispers. Fine, if they didn’t want to talk, neither did she. She dumped her suitcase on the far bed.
“Should we unpack?” whispered Fizz.
“No. Let’s just go down for supper.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Delivery for Miss Walker,” said a security guard, walking in.
Nat looked up to see that she was carrying an enormous bunch of lilies in a crystal vase. She set them down on the table in the middle of the room and left. Their sweet, sickly smell filled the room.
There was an envelope sticking out of the top. Nat picked it up. Someone had handwritten “Natalie Walker” on the front. Turning it over, she froze. “I.S.” was stamped on to the back. She opened it with shaking hands and drew out a stiff white card.
Darling girl,
So desperately sad and sorry to hear the news about your guardian. I had the pleasure of briefly meeting with Mr Borjigin on the night before his passing. He was a most charming and considerate man. Both I and Saskia pass on our heartfelt condolences. Please do come for tea again tomorrow. Don’t worry, I know you are now a boarder, so I have already cleared it with Mr Limpet. Saskia will be waiting for you in the carriage after school.
Be brave,
Yours, Ivy
Limpet had cleared it? He’d said she wouldn’t have to see her again! Rats’ tails, this was bad news.
Nat put Gobi on the windowsill and emptied some bugs from the container in her backpack into the tray.
“Yuck!”
She turned around to see Charlotte and Phoebe looking at her with disgusted sneers across their faces. Phoebe held her nose.
“That stinks,” she said.
Nat raised an eyebrow. “You’d better get used to it, babe. There are plenty more where those came from.”
She tossed her backpack on to her pillow and marched out of the door.
“We’re not going to win any friends if you speak to them like that,” said Fizz.
“I don’t need to win friends like those girls.”
“But Jamuka taught—”
She opened the door on to the landing.
“Jamuka is dead, Fizz. I’m going to play by my own rules from now on.”
She found the oak door with “Dining Room” painted on it and headed inside. It was like a miniature version of the main school dining room – long tables and benches with some dusty old paintings of ex-headmasters hanging from the walls. On the far table a familiar head was bent over a FastPad.
“Hey.”
Zixin turned around. “Ah, welcome. I heard you were coming to join us.”
Vesperetta hissed loudly and came slithering across the tables. Fizz flew down to meet her.
“I’m sorry about your guardian. That really sucks.”
“Thanks,” Nat said, sitting down opposite him.
“Limpet announced it this morning. Don’t you have anyone else to look after you now? Is that why you’ve come to board?”
“There’s a fight over who gets the heiress. My aunt and uncle are contesting the will so they can get my money.”
Zixin’s tongue flicked out. “That sucks too. And you’re in a dorm with that cow Charlotte. Phoebe’s sort of OK but steer clear of Charlotte.”
She managed to smile. “I will. Is there a way to get out of here without being tracked by the Retscan?”
He turned, checking that no one had walked in. “Why do you want to know that?”
Nat knew that Zixin was her best, and only, option. “Can I trust you to keep a secret?”
“Who would I tell anyway?”
Chapter Thirty
ESCAPE
Nat brushed her teeth, scowled at Charlotte and Phoebe, put a blanket over Gobi’s cage
, climbed into bed and flicked off her bedside lamp. Fizz curled up next to her on the thin foam pillow.
Supper had been interesting – baked beans on toast. It had tasted like cardboard with tomato sauce. She’d ask Ah Ping to bring her noodles tomorrow so that she wouldn’t starve.
Limpet had checked in on her during supper. When Nat complained about Ivy’s invitation, he’d said that Ivy wanted to make amends and that Nat should go to tea just this once.
Then it’d been prep in the dorms for an hour, during which time she’d messaged with Wen and Henry, bringing them up to date on all the news.
Henry was about to leave for the airport with Uncle Fergal, Aunt Vera and Prissy. He said his family was a nightmare and that his mum had been out and brought a whole new wardrobe from Shan-xi.
Now Nat was in bed all she had to do was wait for the others to fall asleep…
After what seemed like forever, the whispering finally stopped and she heard the girls’ breathing slow. She slid out of bed, stuffed her uniform under the duvet – making it into the shape of her body – and tiptoed into the corridor.
“They’re meeting us at the dorm door,” whispered Fizz.
There was a clicking sound and the door unlatched and opened. Zixin was standing there with Vesperetta slung around his neck like a scarf. In his hand he held a MagicEye card that contained the retinal-scan bypasser program that he’d built.
They moved downstairs, silent as ninjas, and exited the building through the kitchen back door, coming out into a side street where a GrooveCab was waiting for them. They hopped in and sped off towards the City.
“Ku work!” said Nat. “You could sell that retinalscan program for a fortune!”
“Nah, I’d rather keep it for myself,” said Zixin. “I like the exclusivity of it.”
“Thanks for helping me.”
He shrugged. “Figure you needed a friend. Besides, I want to see what your secret lab gaff’s all about.”
Leadenhall was deserted. The outside chairs were stacked and chained on top of the tables. She ran up to the café door and rang the old-fashioned bell.
The yellow Space Invader bot from behind the counter activated and walked over to the door.
“We are closed,” it said.
“It’s Nat Walker. Philippe’s expecting me.”
The robot reached up and unbolted the door. As Nat passed, it began to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” softly.
Nat stopped dead and looked into the bot’s black shiny eyes. She felt as if they were a window into the past. Images from the films and photos of her dead parents flashed through her mind – sailing on the Junko, in the streets of Hong Kong, in her dad’s old office at SPIN headquarters, onboard the SPIN jet, on Golden Gate Bridge. Her mind stuck on the old photo that Fizz had taken of her as a tiny baby in her mum’s arms, sitting on her grandpa’s terrace in San Francisco. It was her first and only trip there, back to her mum’s hometown to be shown off. Her family all gone but her…
“Nat, we should get inside,” said Zixin.
She tore her eyes away from the Invader bot.
“Yes, sorry.”
With the door closed behind them the smell of the coffee beans was overpowering. The mirrored door behind the counter sprang open and Mangetout came waddling out.
“Greetings! But you were meant to come alone.”
“This is Zixin, I trust him, so you’ll have to as well.”
Mangetout waddled over to him and scanned him up and down.
“No weapons. One robotic snake. Philippe says you can come in. Follow me.”
They went through to the kitchen. “Your wing is fixed,” said Nat. “I’m very sorry I broke it.”
“Quack! Apology accepted. I am repaired and gave myself a Flaptastick upgrade. Observe.”
It flew up high into the air, nearly hitting the roof.
“Tiger’s teeth, that is a ding upgrade,” said Nat as she opened the door to the fridge and stepped in.
“Wow,” said Zixin. “Glad I came along for the ride.”
Mangetout took them straight through the old lab, in through the Space Invader console and down into the sloping tunnel.
Zixin stared round in amazement. “My old man would get such a kick out of this. He says he knows every tunnel in London from his work on the Underground, but I bet he doesn’t know this one.”
He whistled when they emerged in the BlackCod lab.
“Ah, bonsoir, Natalie and Fizz,” said Philippe, looking up from the console desk.
He held out his hand to Zixin. “Nice to meet you, Zixin Smith. I have seen some of your work on the HackerBelt. It is most impressive.”
Zixin gulped. “How do you know me?”
Philippe shrugged. “I ran a facial recognition program the moment you entered Bean Invaders. I wouldn’t let just anyone in. I run HackerBelt so that I can harvest code that is useful. Yours has been, and still is, used here. Your verification cutter helped me accelerate the BlackCod development by many months. You have a genius mind, not unlike mine. You have good taste in friends, Natalie.”
Zixin grinned and his tongue shot out, flicking up and down.
Philippe turned to Nat. “Now, I believe we must hurry if Natalie intends to go into BlackCod again.”
Chapter Thirty-One
ERUPTION
This time the marketplace was deserted. All the stalls were gone, as were the witches and elves. Nat was standing in the centre where the ring in which she’d fought the troll had been. Now it was just a wide cobbled square, lit by two flamelamps that burned up into the night sky.
Nat stood absorbing the silence and warm air. It all felt so real. Normally virtual reality was more dreamlike than this; it had an “otherness” to it that reminded her she was only in it temporarily, for the gameplay. This was different. It was a whole new level of virtual world, more real than real.
Zoinks! Something started moving about in the book, scrabbling and scratching to get out. Keeping the cover closed, she carefully eased it out from under her arm. The scrabbling was making the book shake.
She lifted the cover a tiny bit. Long tips of claws came shooting out, followed by a gold scaly nose, pushing her hand out of the way. The cover popped open.
“Finally I can see!” said a miniature version of Fizz.
The golden egg was split open and lay empty in the bottom of the book.
“Did you hatch?”
He looked back inside.
“Yes, it was very uncomfortable. I guess this is my virtual rebirth. I preferred it when I was as big as you. Why is the boat in here?”
She shrugged. “Not a clue.”
Fizz held his snout in the air.
“It smells of sulphur.”
Nat sniffed. There was a faint odour of bad eggs. It was like being back in Wen’s granny’s flat in Hong Kong.
A cracking sound, like a bullet ripping through the air, went off behind them. She jumped in fright. One of the cobbles had blown up into the night sky. Hissing steam was shooting out of the gap left in the ground.
The cobbles beneath Nat’s feet began to vibrate. A deep rumbling like a waking giant was followed by more cracking and popping explosions. Cobbles were firing up into the air from all around. Steam whistled and hissed.
Nat took off, running like the wind across the square. Fizz leapt up and hooked himself around her neck. She grabbed the canoe in her hand, dropping the empty book to the ground as she ran.
“You’re strangling me!” she shouted, jumping over the erupting steam vents.
“Sorry!” he said, loosening his grip.
She was close to the square’s edge now. A high stone wall surrounded it. There was no gate or door anywhere in sight. A sudden flash of light behind her, followed by an intense blast of white-hot desert heat, brought her to a halt.
“Ai yah! It’s a volcano!” she shouted, seeing a plume of molten lava come spewing out of the centre of the square.
It came splattering down on
to the cobbles. She turned to the stone wall. There had to be some way out…
“That corner, there’s a stairwell,” said Fizz, pointing a claw towards the far left of the square.
She took him at his word and sprinted towards it, dodging exploding cobbles and lava rain.
Another plume of lava came shooting up like a fire hose in her path. She screamed. This was too real, too terrifying. The lava started to fall and the foul sulphur smell was choking her.
She tried to dodge to her right, out of the way, but she tripped on her long skirt and fell.
But just as she was about to hit the ground, Fizz’s dragon body curled and grew around her, forming a ball, wrapping her up inside, protecting her in darkness.
He rolled over and over across the square, through pools of bubbling lava. It was like being inside a tumble-dryer.
Fizz bounced down the stairwell into a brick wall, where he uncurled and released her. They were inside a tunnel. A fast-flowing river was funnelling through. Cool air raced with it. Nat took a deep breath, filling her lungs with its sweet taste.
“Zoinks! You saved me,” she said, turning to Fizz.
But he was no longer a miniature dragon; he was a giant one now, towering over her. A sudden roar came from above ground, drowning out the rushing river.
Out of the corner of her eye Nat spied a red river of molten lava begin to pour down the stairwell.
“What do we do?” she said, leaping to her feet.
Fizz dipped a talon into the river.
“We swim.”
“Can dragons swim?” she shouted.
The lava was dripping off the bottom step. Fizz took hold of Nat’s hand with his talon.
“We’ll soon find out!” he shouted, pulling her towards the edge.
She glanced back. Red-hot lava versus black water. They jumped.
Nat’s dress swelled with the raging river, dragging her under its surface. She could feel Fizz’s claw clasped around her hand, trying to pull her upwards. The water was ice cold. She desperately needed air. What if this was where the game ended? Would she actually die?
