by Jon Robinson
Jes scooped up some crumbs from inside her cardboard sandwich box and tossed them to the pigeons. They immediately charged for the crumbs, fighting each other.
‘Jes? I said –’
She shrugged, not answering the question. ‘So what are you going to do? Aren’t you going back home?’
Alyn shook his head. ‘I don’t really have one. There’s nothing for me back there.’
She touched his arm. ‘I’m sure the Guild would look out for you.’
He nodded. It was a possibility. Ever since Emmanuel’s defeat, he couldn’t shake the feeling of melancholy. Everything had gone back to the way it was, but why did it all seem so peculiar – so hollow?
‘You ever wonder what things might be like if Emmanuel had won?’
‘He didn’t win, Alyn.’ Jes touched his face and kissed his cheek. ‘We did. We won.’
He looked at her, smiled and squeezed her hand tight. Jes leant her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. Alyn stared into the distance, watching the traffic streaming past.
Epilogue
‘Mind if I sit?’ said the man in the black overcoat, gesturing to a bar stool.
The man nearby sighed, loosening his collar. ‘Be my guest.’
‘Rough day?’
‘Could say that.’ He forced a smile. ‘Don’t know how they expect anyone to cope any more. I’ve had to lay off three staff … Times are hard, you know. And the government? They just don’t care about us small businesses any more. They only care about the corporations.’
The figure opposite him nodded sympathetically. ‘Sometimes I think we’d be better off without governments altogether.’
‘You’re not the only one, pal. Lots of people are angry, you know. Seems like there’s a fuse, just waiting to be lit … Remember all the stuff that happened in London, years ago?’
The man in the black overcoat nodded. The faintest smile emerged on his lips. ‘I remember it well. I was there.’ He stopped talking for a moment, then said, ‘What if I told you I had a method of making you rich, richer than you ever thought was possible?’
‘I’d say what’s the catch?’
The man smiled. ‘No catch. In fact, we could use this method to … to change things for the better.’
‘You mean like magic?’
‘Yes. In a sense.’
‘Look, I’m not the type to believe in that kinda stuff. I’m gonna need some proof before I –’
The lights in the bar flickered briefly before suddenly extinguishing and plunging the room into darkness.
There was a moment’s silence before the man began laughing hysterically.
‘Friend,’ he replied, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘You’ve got a deal.’
Acknowledgements
Thanks so much to everyone who has helped out along the way: Claire Wilson, Lexi Hamblin and RCW; Shannon Cullen, Ben Horslen, Laura Squire, Wendy Shakespeare, Katy Finch, Matt Jones, Tania Vian-Smith, Nicola Chapman, Jessica Farrugia-Sharples and everyone else at Penguin Random House; Bella Pearson; and to anyone else who has helped on a practical, editorial or promotional level. Huge thanks to the YouTubers and bloggers who have said nice things about the books; to Shelley Lee for all of the bookings; and to all the schools and students I’ve visited over the past few years. Thanks also to my friends; mum, Christine; the Courtney family; and of course Sarah.
THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN BOOKS
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published 2015
Text copyright © Jon Robinson, 2015
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-141-34660-1
