by Jon Robinson
Jes yelped and tears flooded her eyes, but she held on through gritted teeth. Emmanuel continued grasping, clutching.
‘I’ll kill you!’ she screamed. ‘If you don’t call them off, I swear I’ll kill you … I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again …’
He fell to his knees and made another attempt to grab her hair. She could feel his strength leaving him.
‘There has to be a way to stop them. If you don’t, I swear I’ll …’ She squeezed his throat tighter.
Wheezing, Emmanuel held a hand towards the building.
The street lights flickered. Jes stared at them in amazement. Then Emmanuel’s hand dropped. Each of the surrounding lamps dimmed, as did all the lights in the tower block, draping it in darkness.
She unwrapped her arms from his throat and crawled away from his unconscious body, panting and clutching her side.
36
All light disappeared suddenly from the Guild’s tower block, transforming the room into a pandemonium of tumbling shadows.
‘Don’t let them escape!’ yelled one of Emmanuel’s followers, turning back and forth and trying to locate the Guild in among the struggling shapes.
Alyn dropped to the floor and crawled to the window.
Had Emmanuel’s plan already come to pass? Below he could see Jes limping towards the doors and an unconscious Emmanuel on the ground.
He turned away from the window and heard a familiar voice under the shouting.
‘Let go of me!’ Elsa shrieked. ‘Help, someone, help! They’ve got me!’
Alyn scurried in the direction of the sound. He shut his eyes, feeling the familiar tingling sensation, snaking through his skull. Moments later, the man holding Elsa fell to the floor, unconscious.
Alyn felt for Elsa’s hand and took her, pushing through the mass of bodies.
‘Whoa, what did you do to him?’ she whispered.
‘It doesn’t matter. You OK?’
‘Yeah,’ she said and squeezed his hand. ‘I’m OK.’
‘Alyn?’ he heard Pyra say in the darkness. ‘Is that you?’
Alyn felt for Pyra’s hand and joined it with Elsa’s. ‘Take Elsa,’ he said. ‘Get the others. Get everyone out of here.’
‘Since when did you start bossing everyone around?’ Pyra snorted, but she grabbed Elsa’s bony wrist.
‘Since I became the leader of the Guild,’ Alyn answered. ‘Now go.’
37
In the moonlight from the parlour windows, Lord Blythe resembled a slumbering walrus, hauling thunderous snores. Surrounding him were several half-empty bottles of wine. A cheerful violin concerto chirped from the antique record player on the corner table.
‘That noise is savage,’ Ryan muttered, plugging his fingers inside his ears to block out the din.
‘Shh!’ Anton urged.
‘Come on – he’ll never hear us over that racket!’ Ryan walked over to Blythe’s chair. ‘Wake up.’
Blythe continued snoring.
Ryan slapped him across the face. ‘I told you to wake up.’
Blythe caught sight of the pair, gave out a terrified croak and fell backwards from his chair.
‘Help!’ he cried out, unable to climb to his feet. ‘Help!’
‘No good, mate,’ said Ryan.
‘Then take my money,’ Blythe said, flustered. ‘Take my home. Take anything. Take everything.’
‘We don’t care about your stinking money,’ Ryan said, glaring at him.
‘Then what on earth do you want?’
‘A key,’ said Anton. ‘We know each of you has one. We’re going to destroy the prison and end the project.’
‘Who – who told you about that?’ Blythe panted.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
Ryan ran up and kicked him in the stomach. Blythe wheezed and rolled back against the chair. ‘You little ruffian!’ he cried, trying to shield himself. ‘Get off me!’
‘That’s for putting us there,’ Ryan snarled. ‘And this is for –’
Anton pulled Ryan away. ‘He’ll be no good to us unconscious.’ He grabbed the fallen aristocrat by the shirt. ‘We’re ending the project, the Pledge. It all stops here, Blythe.’
‘You want the key?’ Blythe croaked, holding his stomach. ‘Tough. You’re not getting it.’
Anton stood. ‘Fine. We’ll do it your way.’ With a tremendous deal of effort, he dragged Blythe over to the fireplace. The heat of the flames created a wave of sweat across his brow.
‘Going to push me in?’ Blythe cackled. ‘You wouldn’t dare!’
Anton steered him closer to the fire. Large damp patches were forming on Blythe’s shirt. Drops of sweat rolled gently down over his brow and on to his ruddy cheeks.
‘You’ll never get the key,’ Blythe wheezed, chuckling. ‘My devotion is to the Pledge. To the greater good …’
Anton pushed him closer to the fire until Blythe was panting. ‘I want that key, or I swear I’ll do it …’
Anton’s hands moistened with sweat as he continued to drive the billionaire towards the flickering flames.
‘You’ll never get the key!’ Blythe hissed. ‘Ever towards better things! Semper ad meliora!’
Anton eventually let go and walked away, across the living room. ‘I can’t do it,’ he muttered. ‘I can’t.’
Blythe laughed, wheezing. ‘You bloody coward!’ he yelled, laughing. He rolled over, struggling to raise himself to his feet. ‘I knew you wouldn’t do it. You don’t have the guts! You’re pathetic.’
Ryan silenced the drunken billionaire with a kick to the face. ‘I’m sick of the sound of your voice.’
‘That’s that then,’ said Ryan, scratching his head as he and Anton stepped out of Blythe’s house and into the falling snow. ‘Bet Pyra would’ve got it out of him. Bet I could’ve done. You’re too much of a nice guy, that’s your trouble. If you’d have just given me five minutes alone with him … Matter of fact, I’m going back in there now.’
Before Anton could stop Ryan, the boy was already jogging back up to the front door. He was about to shove it open, when an elderly man in a tuxedo appeared.
‘Who’re you?’ said Ryan, frowning. ‘What do you want?’
‘I’m Lord Blythe’s butler,’ the old man answered. He raised his hands submissively, as though afraid he might be assaulted. ‘I was hiding beneath the table when you – when you … accosted him. I heard the whole thing.’
‘What is this?’ said Anton defensively, walking towards the pair. ‘Some kind of joke?’
‘No, no. I can confirm it isn’t a joke, sir. Not at all.’ He removed a small wooden box and handed it to Anton. ‘I believe that this is what you’re looking for.’
Anton opened the box. Inside was a key on a cushion of blue silk. He turned his eyes back to the butler. ‘Why are you helping us?’
‘Because I’ve been his servant – his slave – for far too long. He’s a cruel man. A brute.’
Anton closed the box and locked the clasp. ‘I’ll make sure you’re rewarded by our people.’ He patted Blythe’s butler on the arm.
The old man lowered his head gratefully. ‘Take the key, whatever you need it for. That buffoon deserves everything that comes to him. Now, if you’ll excuse me.’
With that, the old man gave them a parting nod and disappeared into the darkness.
38
Alyn, the other teenagers and the remaining Guild members regrouped in the park, away from their attackers. There was no sign of Jes anywhere; presumably she hadn’t wanted to risk staying around. The group watched from the darkness as amber light flickered in the windows of the tower block. Someone had started a fire.
‘Who was that man in white?’ Alyn asked, nursing a cut on his forehead from one of Emmanuel’s followers.
‘He’s my friend. His name is Saul. The Guild was keeping him prisoner!’ Elsa said accusingly, looking at Pyra.
Pyra shook her head. ‘He wasn’t our prisoner. He was one of us. We were looking after him. Making s
ure he wouldn’t hurt himself … He was –’ she paused – ‘he was sick.’
‘How did he get sick?’ Alyn asked.
Pyra and Charlie looked at one another, before Pyra turned back to the group. ‘All right, so we haven’t been completely honest with you,’ she said. ‘You guys might want to sit down for this.’
‘I’d rather stand,’ Alyn said, feeling a rising suspicion. ‘Just tell us what’s going on, Pyra.’
Pyra sighed. She scratched the back of her neck. ‘It’s caused by the Ability.’
The group were silent for some moments. The wind roared noisily between them, strumming the branches of a nearby tree.
‘You mean that’s what’s wrong with me,’ Harlan said. ‘It’s not just some bug, or …’
Pyra shook her head. ‘It’s much worse than that, Harlan.’
‘All the stuff you’ve been teaching us to do sends us mental, doesn’t it?’ Elsa challenged.
‘Good job I haven’t wasted my time then …’ said Julian.
‘Ever since the project started, the fabric of reality has been damaged,’ said Charlie. ‘And that damages us. Each one of us.’
‘I think I’ll take that seat now,’ Harlan said, sinking back against a tree. He covered his face with his hands.
‘Think of it like a whirlpool,’ Charlie went on. ‘The more you use the Ability, the more it pulls you towards it –’
‘And once it’s got you …’ Pyra shook her head. ‘It doesn’t even matter if you stop using the Ability. It’s too late. As long as the project at Nowhere is still going … and those kids are screwing with reality on such a scale, we’re all gonna get sucked in eventually. We’ll all get sick.’
Alyn felt like he’d just been punched in the stomach. He turned to the others, who were silent and solemn with the weight of Pyra’s words. ‘So even if we stop the project we’re still too late?’ he asked. ‘Is that what you’re saying?’
Pyra shrugged. ‘We don’t know. But Henry thinks it’s like a wound. We think that if reality has a chance to heal we’ll be OK. We hope,’ she corrected herself.
Pyra’s words stayed with Alyn. He turned, walking away from the group and locked his fingers behind his head.
The only sound was Elsa, crying with fear, and the furious wind. Out of the corner of his eye, Alyn saw something blow on to the grass: a plastic snake mask that must have belonged to one of Emmanuel’s followers. He scooped it up, then turned back to the group. ‘I dropped Felix’s key in the warehouse. I’m sure Emmanuel has it.’
‘But we still need Nover’s,’ said Pyra. ‘And we don’t even know if Anton and Ryan had any luck getting Blythe’s. I haven’t heard a thing from Anton all evening.’
‘If Emmanuel’s already got his army on the march, we don’t have long. It’s going to be a matter of hours, not days …’ Alyn slipped the mask inside his hoodie. ‘His followers are gathered in a park, a few miles south of here.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I’ve been in his base. I’ve seen maps, photos. Anyway, that’s where I need to go, as soon as I’ve found Jes.’
Pyra stepped towards Alyn. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Back at base you said you were the new leader of the Guild. You want us to take you seriously, you’d better start backing up that claim.’
Alyn glared at her and left before she could say anything else.
‘So, where are you taking us again?’ said Elsa, hurrying beside Pyra as they walked down the busy street, snowflakes blowing into her face. Her hair was a tangled mess, flapping frenziedly. It seemed like they’d been walking forever.
‘A safe house in Mayfair,’ Pyra answered, not looking back at her.
‘And, um, how safe is it?’
‘No one else knows it exists,’ Pyra replied. ‘It’s an abandoned underground station.’
‘Oh of course it is,’ Julian muttered. ‘When you mentioned Mayfair, I thought swanky hotel … but, alas, it seems you people are against doing anything normal …’
‘What’s the fun in normal, Julian?’ Pyra quipped. ‘Try and keep up. We’re still twenty minutes away.’
Elsa hugged herself to try to soften the vicious winds. ‘How come you lot know about this place anyway?’
‘The city is full of secrets, for anyone who cares enough to look,’ said Charlie. He gave her an encouraging smile.
Elsa exhaled and looked over her shoulder at Harlan, shuffling some way behind. He was clutching his head.
‘You OK back there?’ she called to him.
Harlan looked up blankly and nodded. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Not far,’ Pyra said, stopping momentarily to gather her bearings. Elsa noticed a bruise on her cheekbone and several cuts on her face. ‘Luthan will meet us here as soon as he sees the base.’
‘Ah. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but Luthan won’t be coming back,’ Julian said.
Elsa turned to face him. ‘What?’
‘We detained him,’ Julian said. ‘We were going to tell you earlier, but we thought you wouldn’t take it well. And then there was the part where we almost got massacred by a gang of bloodthirsty maniacs, so …’
Pyra grabbed Julian’s shirt, pulling him towards her. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘He was going to exchange one of us and give us to Stephen!’ Julian spluttered. ‘When I say “one of us”, I mean “me”, but I –’
‘You’re out of your mind. Why the hell would he do that?’
‘To use the project to save Henry … his boyfriend …’
‘Hey, if this is another one of your stupid jokes, Julian …’ Elsa said, trying to stop Pyra from hurting him.
Julian held his hands up. ‘It’s fine. He’s safe. But, if this Emmanuel character has his army on the move, I – I just thought you should probably know …’
Pyra tightened her grip on Julian. ‘You’re going to take me to Luthan so we can bring him back.’
‘How? You don’t have a car. Otherwise we’d be in it now, rather than trudging on foot through this arctic weather …’
Pyra grabbed Julian’s coat. ‘For your sake you’d better remember the way, Julian.’
She turned down a vacant side street, scooped up a brick, then walked over to a parked car. She slammed the brick through the window and reached inside, unlocking the door. ‘Charlie, take Harlan to the safe house. I’ll meet you there as soon as I’ve got Luthan.’
‘Sure thing,’ he said, and put an arm round Harlan, leading him away.
‘Wait, I’m coming with you two,’ Elsa said to Julian and Pyra. She gave a sheepish Julian a disappointed look before following after them.
39
Emmanuel massaged his throat with his fingertips. It was still sore from where the girl had grabbed him less than an hour ago. Surrounding him were several hundred of his followers, all still masked. Scattered fires burned in bins around the vast expanse of snow-covered fields. Only the lights from the distant buildings gave any indication that they were near civilization at all.
‘Sir,’ said his assistant, clambering towards him. ‘I’m so glad to see you, I got separated –’
Emmanuel looked down at him. ‘My orders were for you to stay with me. Where were you?’
‘I’d gone up with the others, sir. I didn’t know you wanted me to –’
‘He was hiding,’ said a voice from the crowd.
‘Hiding? Hiding? No, sir, that’s not true, I swear I –’
‘We saw him, sir,’ said another masked man.
‘I saw him too,’ another agreed. ‘He’s a coward …’
‘I gave you the privilege of being my right-hand man,’ Emmanuel said. ‘And you have failed me. Tell me the truth and you might be forgiven. Continue to lie to me, however …’
The nervous man looked at the surrounding crowd. He turned, attempting to push through them, but was caught and pulled back into the centre.
Emmanuel advanced with a piece of rope. ‘Hold him down.’
The assistant was
taken down to the ground, kicking and struggling. Emmanuel grabbed his foot in mid-air and tied the rope round it. He threw the other end of the rope to a man sitting on a motorcycle.
‘Sir!’ the man begged. ‘Please, I swear I’ll –’
Before he could finish, the motorcycle engine roared and he was dragged across the cold snow and slivers of hard ice in the grass, flapping and flailing his arms. The group watched in silence as the motorcycle tore to the left and on to the unforgiving tarmac path.
Once the screams had faded into the distance, Emmanuel turned back to his followers.
‘I expect nothing but your full devotion. Your commitment. Give me this and I promise you’ll be well rewarded.’
‘You want us to start looking for that girl who attacked you, sir?’
Emmanuel nodded. ‘At once.’
‘And what do you want us to do?’
‘Don’t let her take her own life.’ He scowled. The ferocity in his voice was cruel and simmering with hatred. He tossed a branch on to the fire that was burning near his feet, causing a sudden flash of flame. ‘When the girl realizes what I have in store for her, she’ll have no other choice. I want her to suffer.’
40
After he had left Pyra and the others, Alyn set off to find Jes. He walked through a quiet council estate, looking left and right, and calling out her name.
In the distance a noose of smoke frothed around the Guild’s tower block as a wail of fire engines pierced the silence.
‘Jes?’ Alyn called out again. ‘Jes, it’s me.’
Moments later, Jes stepped out from behind a wheelie bin and flashed him a relieved smile.
Alyn jogged towards her. ‘You OK?’ He brushed his fingers through her damp, tangled hair and against her cold cheek.
She nodded. ‘Yeah. I’m fine. But Emmanuel’s gone.’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘I need to get Felix’s key from him. I just wanted to find you first. The others have gone to some abandoned station; it’s some kind of back-up base …’
