The Fallen (50 page)

It was going to take them ages and, no matter how careful they were, Paul could easily just keep moving around and stay one jump ahead. He had keys and they could hardly change all the locks. They could be at it for days, weeks, months. All Blue really wanted was to
sit on his arse and spend some time with Maxie, just jamming.

They’d taken a break in the middle of the day for some lunch – a thin, watery soup with tiny scraps of vegetable in it. And now, still hungry,
always
hungry, they were chilling in the minerals gallery before setting off to search the next section of the museum. Stretching the minutes out, making the most of it until Justin came in and told them it was time to get going again.

Blue was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, Maxie slumped next to him, playing with the little puppy that used to belong to Joel. Joel. He’d almost forgotten the guy. Poor little kid. He’d been killed by diseased apes that had escaped from the zoo. Too many memories. They crept up on you when you were like this, your guard down. Maybe, after all, it was better to keep busy and not leave yourself too much time to think.

‘I know it was our plan,’ he said, ‘but I don’t reckon it’s gonna work. I reckon we ought to just set some kind of trap for him. Stake the place out and wait for him to make his move.’

‘What?’ said Maxie. ‘Tie some little kid to a pole and wait for him?’

‘Yeah.’ Blue gave a humourless little laugh. ‘Something like that.’

‘Seriously, Blue, what other way is there?’ Maxie wasn’t even looking at him. Too interested in the puppy.

‘Can I talk to you?’

Blue looked up to see Skinner. He still hadn’t got used to how the guy looked, all those folds of skin. Tried to hold his eye. Act cool.

‘Whassup?’

Skinner shuffled about nervously.

‘He’s not here,’ he said after a pause.

‘Who’s not here?’

‘The one you’re looking for.’

‘Paul? How do you know? You seen him leave or something?’

‘No. No. It’s Fish-Face. She told us.’

Blue very much doubted it. In all the time since they’d left the warehouse he hadn’t heard Fish-Face make a sound, let alone speak. Not to him, nor the museum kids, not to her own friends, not to anyone.

‘She says he’s not here,’ Skinner went on, the words coming out in a muffled rush. ‘He was here when we arrived, she could hear him, but soon after that he left. He’s not here.’

‘How can she know?’

‘She knows.’

With a grunt Blue hoisted himself up.

‘Let me talk to her.’

‘Oh no. No, she wouldn’t like that …’

Skinner backed away, even more uneasy now. ‘No, she won’t talk to you. She’s shy. We all are. Being here, with all these boys and girls. We’re not used to it. They look at us, and they don’t look at us, I don’t know which is worse. Fish-Face wished she’d stayed behind, but she had to come, The Warehouse Queen told her to.’

‘If she knows something I want to speak to her.’

Skinner thought about this for a while and eventually he nodded.

‘You can try.’

The warehouse kids had made their own little camp in a room at the end of the minerals gallery. There were no doors
or windows in there, just glass cabinets with precious stones in them. There was a large door that used to slide shut like the door of a bank vault. Blue supposed these exhibits must have been pretty valuable and this had been a specially secure area. Well, they weren’t valuable any more, were they? They were just shiny stones. No use to anyone.

Fish-Face was sitting on the floor with Trinity, playing cards. Blue thought that was pretty funny. Trinity was playing as two players, with two hands of cards. Blue wondered how that worked. If they shared any thoughts.

There was a bad smell in the vault. A rotting smell. Blue wondered if it was the Twisted Kids, then told himself not to be a jerk. Why should they smell any worse than anyone else? He hadn’t noticed any kind of stink at the warehouse. He tried to put it out of his mind.

‘Skinner says you want to tell me something,’ he said to Fish-Face and she bowed her head on her long neck, embarrassed, and then looked at him sideways, out of one big eye. Like an emo peeping out from under a curtain of hair.

‘Says you know something about this kid we’re looking for.’

Fish-Face just gave a little shrug.

Maxie squatted down so that she was more on Fish-Face’s level.

‘If you know anything you should tell us,’ she said. ‘He’s dangerous. Until we’ve found him we’re all on lockdown.’

‘She says she might be wrong,’ said Skinner.

‘What do you mean, “She says”?’ Blue asked, trying not to get angry. Fish-Face hadn’t said anything. Were they playing some kind of game with him?

‘Just that,’ said Skinner. ‘She might be wrong about the boy. She doesn’t want to cause any trouble.’

‘When did she say this?’

‘Just now, you know …’

‘No, I don’t know. It was you brought me over here. I don’t know what this is all about.’

‘I didn’t bring you over,’ Skinner protested. ‘You wanted to come. I told you she’d be shy. And now you’re upsetting her.’

‘Not as much as you’re upsetting me,’ said Blue. ‘Now she either said something to you or she didn’t.’

‘Leave it, Blue,’ said Maxie. ‘You’ll frighten her.’

Blue checked himself. Wandered away. He knew he shouldn’t get wound up, and if the morning hadn’t been so frustrating maybe he’d have gone along with whatever the warehouse kids were up to. He had his back to them now, waiting to calm down, and realized that he was looking at a door that he hadn’t noticed before. It looked almost like part of the wall.

‘We should get going.’ Justin was striding along the middle of the minerals gallery, down the passageway that the kids had left between all the sleeping cubicles they’d built.

‘Where does this door go?’ Blue asked Justin when he arrived. Justin looked at it and frowned.

‘Don’t know. Not sure. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it before, to tell you the truth. Must have done, though. We don’t use it anyway.’

‘It’s a door into where you sleep,’ said Blue. ‘This is supposed to be a secure area, sanctuary, and you’re telling me there’s a door and you don’t know where it goes?’

Justin looked up at the ceiling, went over to peer out of the windows.

‘I think it must lead up into the tower,’ he said.

‘What’s up there?’

‘No idea. As I say, I don’t know anything about this door.’

‘You never been up in the tower?’

‘No.’

‘Maybe we should look.’

Justin checked the door. ‘It’s locked.’

‘Oh fine,’ said Blue sarcastically. ‘That’s OK then. It’s not like Paul has any keys or anything.’

Justin sighed. ‘All right. I’ll open it. I’ll get my keys.’ He went off muttering to himself and Blue banged on the door. It felt solid.

‘You think he might be up there?’ said Maxie, coming over to join him.

‘He could be anywhere, Max. I’ve got a bad feeling we’re going to spend the rest of our lives looking for him.’

Maxie slipped her fingers into his hand. He smiled at her.

‘OTP,’ he said.

‘OTP,’ said Maxie.

In a couple of minutes Justin returned with Wiki, who was carrying several huge bunches of keys. When Wiki saw the door he simply said, ‘Hmm,’ and then sat down cross-legged on the floor to sort through the keys, while Blue, Maxie, Justin and Skinner watched over him. Slowly a larger crowd formed. Without TV or the Internet or games consoles, this was about the only entertainment to be had right now. Watching a small boy sort keys.

At last Wiki said ‘Hmm’ again, selected a key and tried it in the lock.

It wasn’t the right one.

Blue swore under his breath, wishing he’d never mentioned the bloody door. In the end it took Wiki at least
half an hour to find the right key, and when finally the lock clicked open, he said ‘Hmm’ for the last time and stepped back. He’d opened the door, but he wasn’t going through it. Blue looked around at the kids who’d gathered.

‘Wiki’s got the right idea,’ he said. ‘You lot stay back. We don’t know what’s behind there.’ Now he turned to Maxie. ‘Grab the rest of our team and we’ll take a look …’

89

Blue was looking up a long, straight, narrow stairway, walls painted with shiny reflective paint, pipes and electric cables running along the sides. It went up and up and up and disappeared into a white-out of bright light at the top. Blue figured there must be some big windows up there.

The rotten stink was much stronger now. It hung in the still air and he swallowed hard, trying to get the taste of it out of his mouth. He wiped his forehead. Hadn’t realized he was sweating so much, even though it wasn’t that hot. They’d discovered an untidy jumble of tiny offices and storage areas immediately behind the door through from the gallery, all built into the great square tower that sat at the corner of the building. They were long ago deserted, filled with dust. It was the smell that had led Blue and Maxie and the rest of their search party to the stairs.

They would have to go up.

Blue was armed with a short club and had a knife in his belt for backup. Maxie had her katana, but it wouldn’t be much use on the stairs, which were only wide enough for them to go up one at a time. It would be too dangerous to try to use it if they were attacked; she’d be more of a risk to her friends than to Paul. She held it down and to the side. Blue could feel her pressing him from behind to get moving.

He hesitated.

‘After you,’ said Maxie, trying to lighten the heavy mood. ‘In your own time.’

‘DBAP,’ said Blue.

‘DBAP?’

‘Don’t be a pain.’

‘TOTKO,’ said Maxie and Blue waited for an explanation.

‘Takes one to know one,’ she said. ‘Now get moving, fat ass.’

Still Blue hesitated. ‘If he comes at us – down these stairs,’ he said, ‘we ain’t in a good position. We’ll be crushed in and he’ll be on top of us.’

‘Who says he’s up there?’ Maxie asked.

‘Well, there’s something up there,’ said Blue, ‘and it stinks real bad.’

‘Then we better go and check it out.’

‘As far as you know he’s only got a knife?’ said Blue.

‘Yes,’ said Maxie impatiently. ‘But you heard what Fish-Face said – he’s gone.’

‘I didn’t hear nothing,’ said Blue. ‘She never even moved her lips. And anyway, do you believe them?’

‘Blue,’ said Maxie. ‘Just go.’

‘I’m going. I’m going. Don’t hassle me. You want to go first?’

‘I’m only a girl, you’re a big, strong man.’

‘Sexist,’ said Blue and he felt her pinch his behind.

‘Sex-y,’ she said. Blue turned and Maxie made a face that said ‘What? What?’ Behind her the rest of the pack waited, even less keen than Blue to explore this unknown part of the museum.

Blue tutted, shook his head, turned round and started
up the stairs. They led right up inside the tower, and made a turn to the left at the top, disappearing into the white-out. Blue plodded on. Knew he had to act cool in front of the others and not show his fear in case it spread. It was amazing how quickly his boredom had switched back to nervousness. His eyes adjusted to the light as he climbed, so that details emerged from the brightness. Undisturbed dust on the stairs. A dead rat, dried up and leathery. Some broken glass. Nothing to show that Paul might have been up here, though. No footprints.

Yeah, he was a real Sherlock Holmes.

Where the stairs turned at the top they opened out into a large, square space with bare brick walls, exposed pipework and piles of discarded junk. A second, iron, staircase led on up to the next level. This part of the museum was nowhere near as grand as the public areas. It reminded Blue of the loft in his mum’s flat. Where she’d piled everything out of the way.

His heart was pounding, but whether that was from climbing the long flight of stairs or from his nerves he didn’t know. He paused to get his breath and let the rest of the group catch up. It was stupid, after all he’d been through, the horrors he’d had to face, to be this scared of a boy. But from what everyone had told him he needed to be scared. The guy had flipped out. Was running around cutting people up. Blue didn’t want to finish this looking like Achilleus, his face rearranged, or Brooke … He hated to think what she was like under that bandage.

Stop it, man. Stop trying to freak yourself out.

Christ, there were six of them! Six against one. That
had
to be good odds.

Maxie came and stood next to him. She’d stopped
making jokes. Her eyes moved constantly, looking for any clues, her sword still down at her side, hand gripping it tightly. She grunted and put her other hand to her mouth. The smell was overpowering here. Something had definitely died.

‘What do you think?’ Blue asked. ‘Could it be him?’

‘What?’ said Maxie, talking in a whisper, although if anyone
was
up there they’d have heard them all stomping up the stairs like a herd of elephants.

‘
Paul
,’ he said. ‘Do you think that smell could be him? Maybe he died. Maybe that’s what Fish-Face meant when she said he’d gone away.’

‘Let’s hope,’ said Maxie. ‘I’m not looking forward to having to deal with him.’