The Fallen (54 page)

‘I guess we should turn off the next chance we get then,’ said Maeve. ‘It’s a shame. Just when we were doing so well.’

‘Yeah,’ said Robbie. ‘No sign of any settlements yet. I was hoping we’d have seen some other kids by now. There must
be
some out this way.’

‘We may still find something,’ said Maeve.

They came to a junction and turned off. Ella read the sign. Junction seven. The turn-off to somewhere called Slough. Ella made a face. She didn’t like the sound of Slough. It was a horrible name to call a town.

‘I really don’t want to spend the night in Slough,’ she said.

‘Me either,’ said Robbie, and he laughed. ‘We’ll avoid it. Find somewhere else. I want to steer clear of any towns.’

They took the slip road and looped round over the motorway. Maeve checked the map she’d brought along and directed Robbie away from Slough, going in a big circle and eventually back over the motorway again. They were quickly on narrow roads among trees and hedges. There was lots of water around, small rivers and lakes. Ella felt better now. This was what she’d been expecting.

‘Here we go,’ Maeve said. ‘This looks perfect. There’s an island in the middle of the river here, with a hotel on it. It’ll be a perfect place to hole up for the night. I can tell from the name.’

‘Why?’ asked Robbie. ‘What’s it called?’

‘Monkey Island,’ she said, and turned to share the joke with Monkey-Boy and Ella. ‘What do you think of that?’

‘Sounds great,’ said Monkey-Boy. ‘Will there be real monkeys?’

‘I doubt it.’

‘I hope not,’ said Ella, remembering the attack in Regent’s Park, the diseased chimpanzees, poor little Joel …

She fingered her new gold necklace that she had picked up on her trip to the Victoria & Albert Museum. It comforted her, knowing she had this beautiful thing round her neck.

It took them a few minutes to find the hotel, Ella and Robbie both nervously checking the petrol gauge every few seconds. When they arrived Ella saw that you could only get to the island over a footbridge that led from the car park. They parked the Range Rover and sat there taking in the silence for a while, nobody wanting to be the first to leave the safe cocoon of the car. Staring at the river that was sparkling in the early afternoon light.

‘What do you reckon?’ said Maeve eventually. ‘Shall we go check it out?’

‘Let’s do it,’ said Robbie.

They all climbed out of the car. Sniffed the sharp air. There was the smell of the river and the nearby trees and grass. It smelt good. Clean. Ella knew what grown-ups smelt like, and it wasn’t like this. It all seemed very peaceful. There were birds singing, but there was no sign of any human activity. No grown-ups. No children.

Robbie and Maeve both had swords, and Robbie had a crutch that he hopped along on. Maeve led the four of them over the metal footbridge to the island.

‘I been thinking,’ said Robbie, looking down at the
gurgling water. ‘There might be a boat here. We could go upriver on it. Be safe from any sickos that way. What river is this anyway?’

‘It’s the Thames, I think,’ said Maeve.

‘The Thames? You’re joking me. It don’t look nothing like what it does in town.’ He whooped up at the sky. ‘Everything’s better in the countryside!’

There was a wide lawn, completely overgrown, the grass up to their thighs, and past it there was a fancy old hotel, all white, with columns and arched windows. It was like something out of one of the BBC programmes that Ella’s mum used to watch, where the women wore bonnets and the men wore top hats. It didn’t look as if it had been vandalized at all, or broken into. There was still no sign of any human activity anywhere. They’d found a magic dream place. A summer island. They could live here as a family. With Maeve and Robbie as Mum and Dad and Ella and Monkey-Boy as their children.

‘Let’s go and check in,’ said Maeve, and she broke away, running through the grass. One by one the others joined in. As she ran, the grass whipping at her, Ella felt suddenly wild and free.

They’d done it. They’d escaped London. She could forget all about everything that had gone before. As if none of it had ever happened, as if all those dead people – family and friends – had never existed. They were just characters in a story she’d been reading. That’s all. And now she could close the book and start a new story.

No. Not just a story.

This was the beginning of a new life.

She was never going back.

95

‘We should lock this new sicko in the lorry,’ said Einstein. ‘Where we kept the other ones.’

‘No,’ said Brooke. ‘Ed says this one’s different. We can’t treat him like an animal.’

‘We’ll see.’

They’d been arguing ever since Ed had left to go and pick up the rest of his party and Brooke had announced that he was going to be bringing back some sort of grown-up with him.

There was a tense atmosphere in the central hall at the museum. Nobody knew quite what to expect. Most of the kids had been told to stay in the minerals gallery for their own safety, but waiting downstairs was a small welcome party – Brooke, Einstein, Boggle and Justin from the museum. Blue, Maxie, Achilleus and Paddy from the new arrivals, along with the three warehouse kids, Fish-Face, Skinner and Trinity. Justin had wanted to keep them out of the way as well, but they’d insisted on being there. They seemed agitated and excited. Kept mumbling among themselves. Fish-Face, in particular, was on edge, making little birdlike movements, holding her head as if listening, her long neck bent, her wide-set eyes staring into the distance.

Brooke wasn’t sure about the Twisted Kids. They scared
her. Since finding out that they claimed to be able to communicate with each other without actually talking she was even more unsure of them. She wondered if they could read her mind and had to be careful to keep them out of her thoughts, in case they saw how she felt about them. She tried to think only about Ed … and the sicko he was bringing with him.

‘How’s he different?’ said Achilleus, who had missed the first part of the argument.

‘He’s clever apparently,’ said Brooke. ‘He can talk.’

‘Yeah,’ said Achilleus. ‘Just like Seamus and his dumb-arse losers out at the warehouse. Ollie had the right idea about them.’ He spun his new spear in his hands. ‘I’m keeping the Gay Bulge handy. You know what they say? The only good grown-up is a dead grown-up.’

Brooke didn’t like Achilleus. Since she’d been attacked she’d lost her confidence when it came to boys. Before she could make them do whatever she wanted. Now … She was a freak like the Twisted Kids. And Achilleus, well, he was a bit of a mystery to her. She felt that even before he would have been somehow shielded from her powers. She wasn’t going to let him get the upper hand, though.

‘This grown-up’s bare important,’ she protested. ‘He can help us.’

‘How?’

‘I don’t know how. I don’t know anything about him, do I? This is all new to me. But if Ed says he’s important, and we mustn’t hurt him, then …’

‘Oh, Ed says this, Ed says that, Ed says kiss my arse,’ said Achilleus dismissively. ‘Who’s this Ed anyway?’

‘I know Ed,’ said Justin. ‘Ed’s all right. If he says this one’s important then …’

‘Yeah, well, whatever
Ed
says,’ Achilleus interrupted. ‘If I have any doubts about this douche then the Gay Bulge is going to finish the argument, OK?’ He lifted the spear to his face and kissed the blade.

‘What you gonna do to him, Akkie?’ said Paddy.

‘What do you think, Paddywhack? I’m gonna rip his diseased belly open and wear his arse as a hat.’

‘Yes, thank you, Sir Lancelot,’ said Einstein sarcastically. ‘I’m sure we all feel a lot safer knowing you’re watching over us.’

Achilleus sneered at him, but said nothing.

‘We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt,’ said Maxie, who seemed to be on Brooke’s side. She and Blue had helped Brooke to make a bedroom of sorts for the sicko in the insect gallery, which was reasonably small and could be safely locked. They’d hauled in a bed and found a bucket and some food and water for him.

They had no idea what to expect, though. All Brooke knew was that she trusted Ed.

Ollie was standing on the balcony near the minerals gallery, looking down at the doors. Just like everyone else he was unsure about all this. And, as ever, he was ready for anything. His sling was stuck on his belt and he was crunching three steel balls against each other in his left hand, moving them around so that they rolled over his curled fingers. The cut on his face where the mother had scratched him was itching slightly and he resisted the urge to touch it. It was healing, thank God, and hadn’t become infected.

He became aware of a movement and felt something touch his other hand where it rested on the stone top of the balustrade. He turned. It was Lettis, her face pale, dark
rings round her eyes, which were wide and glistening. Her expression was serious, unchanging, and he wondered if she would ever smile again. He wondered if she would ever
speak
again as well. All she did was spend hours hunched over her journal, though she would never let anyone see what she was writing. Not even Chris Marker in the library.

She looked deep into Ollie’s face and he held her hand tight. It felt small and dry and cold.

‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘We’ll be all right. I won’t let you down again. There’s no need to be scared any more.’

And then more kids appeared, a group of the smaller ones. He recognized them all – Blu-Tack Bill, Zohra and Froggie, Wiki, Jibber-jabber; the only ones missing were Ella and Monkey-Boy. They formed a ring round Lettis, as if they might protect her, though they were nearly all younger and smaller than her.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be waiting in the gallery?’ he said.

‘We wanted to see,’ said Wiki.

Ollie was about to say that it might not be safe when he remembered what he’d just told Lettis.

‘Well, keep still and keep quiet,’ he said. ‘I guess I’m responsible for all of you now.’

‘We can look after ourselves,’ said Jibber-jabber and Ollie smiled. Maybe they could. He felt Lettis squeeze his hand tighter and saw that she was staring intently at the doors.

They were opening and someone was coming in from outside.

‘He’s here,’ said Skinner, who was pacing about nervously.

‘Freak of the week,’ Achilleus sang, just loudly enough for the rest of them to hear, and Paddy giggled.

But it was only Jackson who appeared in the doorway.

‘They’re coming through the gates now,’ she said.

‘What’s he look like?’ said Brooke.

‘Can’t see. He’s under a blanket.’

‘This is crazy,’ said Achilleus. ‘I tell you I’m gonna merk him.’

‘You’ll do nothing,’ snapped Einstein. ‘If this father is all that Ed claims he is, he might be a big help with our research.’

‘
A big help with our research
.’ Achilleus impersonated Einstein, making him sound lispy and wet, and then he spat on the floor. ‘Stupid nerd.’

And then Ed walked in with Kyle, who was carrying an axe. Brooke felt a stab of longing for Ed. Her emotions had been so shredded she was a wreck; her moods had been pinging about all over the place like a kid who’d drunk too much Coke.

She heard Trinity say something that she didn’t understand. Wondered if it was aimed at her.

‘Two scarred faces. Rule of three. There’ll be a third. You’ll see.’

Behind Ed came a hunched figure, with Ed’s friends from earlier walking on either side of him. He was shrouded in a blanket. She could see his skinny legs sticking out underneath. At first Brooke thought he was wearing green trousers, and then, with a little jolt, she realized that his legs were bare and his skin was covered in green mould.

Behind them came a little girl carrying a violin case and two small boys, one with fair hair, the other with a mad shock of dark hair. He was wearing what looked like a dress with a sleeveless leather jacket over it.

‘Jesus Christ,’ said Achilleus. ‘Here come the clowns. The circus is in town.’

They came through and waited on the black and white tiled floor, looking round at the massive dinosaur fossils. Brooke went over to them. Smiled at Ed.

‘We’ve got somewhere ready for him,’ she said. ‘But not everyone likes the idea. You have to promise he’s not gonna be dangerous.’

‘I can’t promise anything.’ Ed wasn’t smiling back. ‘But he’s my problem. I’ll watch him.’

The little fair-haired boy came over to her. He looked like he’d been crying. This must be Sam. Small Sam, Ella had called him, and Brooke could see why. She felt desperately sorry for him.

‘Is it true that my sister was here?’ he asked. ‘She’s called Ella.’

‘Yeah,’ said Brooke. ‘I know. She
was
here, darling. She’s all right. Don’t worry about her. She’s gone, though. She wanted to get out of London.’

‘I told you, Sam.’ Ed sounded tired.

Sam looked suddenly cross. He swiped at Ed’s arm.

‘We should have come last night,’ he shouted. ‘I wanted to come.’

‘We couldn’t, Sam, you know we couldn’t. It was too dangerous and we were all too shattered. If I’d known we were going to miss her, of course I’d have tried to get here, but we didn’t know. How could we have known? It’s just bad timing. Bad luck.’