Pick Your Poison

  The noise became shouts.

  ‘Put your hands on your head!’

  The next room, she thought.

  ‘You’ll never take me!’ A woman’s voice, angry and sharp.

  Ruby’s heart quickened, this was a volatile situation, a dangerous situation, let the SWAT team do their thing …

  ‘I repeat, put your hands on your head,’ a man ordered.

  The door was ajar and there was a flickering light. And all of a sudden – there was gunfire!

  Ruby threw herself to the ground, hardly daring to breathe … until she realised she was also hearing sirens and screeching tyres and slamming car doors …

  All coming from the room.

  She got to her feet and peered through the doorway to see a completely empty room, lit only by a TV screen. The voices of arresting officers and resisting criminals had become the soothing voice of a woman.

  ‘LET YOUR BABY KNOW JUST HOW MUCH HE MEANS TO YOU BY FEEDING HIM BABY YUM-YUMS, DELICIOUS FOOD FOR THE LITTLE GUYS IN YOUR LIFE. BABY YUM-YUMS, NO SALT, NO ADDED SUGAR, JUST THE NATURAL FLAVOUR OF PURE GOODNESS.’

  Ruby slowly pushed at the door and stepped into the room.

  The commercial playing now was for deodorant and Ruby for one was beginning to sweat.

  She could see very little so she stepped like someone trying to avoid imaginary snakes. Slowly, slowly, across the floor towards another doorway.

  And then she screamed.

  Something grabbed her ankle.

  Lorelei laughed.

  She was crouching low on the floor like she was ready to spring. ‘How nice of you to visit, bubblegum girl. I wasn’t in the least expecting you.’ Her voice became conspiratorial. ‘Did your little friend tip you off?’

  Ruby twisted her foot free and stepped back and Lorelei sank down onto the floor and laughed some more.

  She looked strange, caught as she was between two faces, half Sal, half Lorelei. The amazing mask, a work of art in its way, was only partially removed, the mouth was Sal’s, but the eyes belonged to Lorelei.

  ‘Must take a lot of work being someone else,’ said Ruby.

  ‘I’m very dedicated,’ Lorelei replied.

  ‘So how do you do it?’ asked Ruby.

  Lorelei put a finger to her lips. ‘Trade secret,’ she whispered. She stared up at Ruby. ‘You know, I enjoyed being you, but I wonder, is it a burden to be Twinford Junior High’s most loved?’ She frowned, and corrected herself: ‘Was it a burden, I should say, ’cause they all despise you now, don’t they? How fickle fans can be, they love you, they hate you. You must be wondering where it all went wrong …’

  But what Ruby was wondering was, where has Hitch got to? Where is the backup? How am I going to get out of here?

  She wasn’t going to say any of that to Lorelei though.

  ‘What I am wondering,’ said Ruby, ‘is why you are wasting your precious villain-time messing with the life of a school kid?’

  ‘’Cause it’s, like, super fun,’ said Lorelei, adopting a valley-girl voice. ‘All that stuff with Del, that was a total blast. It took a while, but now she really loathes you. Clancy, he’s a tough nut to crack, I thought the note in the homework would do it, but I was wrong.’

  ‘Clancy isn’t fooled so easily,’ said Ruby.

  Lorelei sighed. ‘But I went to so much effort.’

  ‘Yeah but your Sal character,’ said Ruby, rolling her eyes, ‘I mean, please … she’s a total phoney.’

  Lorelei’s eyes flashed fury and she sprang to her feet, her face contorted into an ugly snarl.

  ‘Oh, sorry, did I touch a nerve?’ said Ruby. ‘I just thought she was a little two-dimensional – no street-smart lower-eastside girl would wear purple Dash sneakers and no kid handing out table tennis bats could afford them.’

  Meanwhile, Clancy was wondering what was taking so long. Ruby had told him the action would be over in minutes.

  He was getting a bad feeling about this. A little voice in his head told him things were not as they should be. A little voice was telling him something was wrong … A little voice … was coming from his jacket pocket – a tiny tinny little voice.

  Cautiously he pulled his coat to his ear – yes, a voice – he peered into the pocket half expecting a pixie to jump out.

  Get a grip Clance!

  He pushed his hand deep inside and felt around until his fingers closed on something small and metal. What he pulled out was Ruby’s fly barrette.

  For just a moment he looked at it blankly, wondering how it came to be there, and then it came to him – Archie Lemon.

  ‘Ruby, do you read me?’

  Clancy held the barrette to his mouth and said, ‘Hitch?’

  Silence.

  ‘It’s Clancy, are you here? Is Blacker with you? The backup? The SWAT team?’

  ‘Where’s here?’ said Hitch. ‘I see your location, but where are you?’

  ‘Lorelei’s,’ said Clancy. ‘The apartment of Lorelei von Leyden. You didn’t get the message?’

  Hitch told him to stay right where he was and that they were on their way and it would be OK and I repeat, STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! because that was an order!

  Meanwhile, Ruby and Lorelei were getting better acquainted.

  All the time they spoke, they were circling each other, round and round the room, slowly, like two tigers.

  ‘And so what brings you to Twinford?’ asked Ruby, never taking her eyes from Lorelei’s.

  ‘I felt like catching up with some old faces,’ she said, staring right back.

  ‘Would they be business acquaintances?’ asked Ruby.

  ‘Curses, no.’ Lorelei’s voice was sharp. ‘I don’t work with or for anyone, not any more, I’m not really what you would call a “team player”.’ She shot Ruby a vicious look. ‘Not like you, Miss Goody Two-shoes.’

  Ruby wasn’t feeling much like a team player either. Where was her team anyway? ‘So whose face were you looking to see?’ she asked, pacing two steps left.

  ‘Why yours, of course,’ replied Lorelei.

  ‘I’m flattered, and now you have, what do you want?’ said Ruby, her feet settling into position below her, ready for the zigzag movements of Yellow Wind-Dragon kung fu, designed to evade an opponent’s blows.

  ‘Apart from to see you dead?’ said Lorelei.

  ‘You’re going to have to join the queue,’ said Ruby.

  ‘I hate queuing,’ said Lorelei.

  ‘I hear you,’ said Ruby. ‘Who doesn’t?’ She moved two steps right.

  ‘I don’t wait in line for anyone. But in any case,’ she added, with an evil smile, ‘why see you dead when I can see you suffer?’

  ‘And how do you propose to do that?’ said Ruby.

  And then Lorelei lashed out, and Ruby zigzagged and dodged the blow.

  ‘Is that all you got because I got something else for you.’

  ‘And what’s that?’ asked Lorelei.

  ‘This!’ screamed Ruby and she threw her head backwards and flew into a somersault and kicked Lorelei off her feet and flat on her back.

  Surprised, but only for a moment, Lorelei, did not stay down long. She propelled herself up and forward, her hands clawed, tiger-style, her kung fu every bit as rehearsed as Ruby’s, the moves flowing every bit as smoothly.

  Hitch’s words rang in Clancy’s ear, but what he asked was impossible. He could not cower in a stairway while Ruby Redfort faced terror all alone.

  He crept out of his hiding place and along the hallway, and through the open door. He heard the grunts and thuds and thwacks, cries and curses of this fight of girl versus killer.

  The element of surprise was what was needed, so he began to creep through rooms, trying to find an advantage.

  Boyd Marshall was a heavy sleeper and he was unnaturally tired, but even he wasn’t going to sleep through the battle that had just broken out in the huge living room.

  He stumbled to his feet and lurched into the hall … and came face to face with a scrawny-look
ing boy whose face was most familiar.

  ‘How nice of you to stop by,’ he said with a smile.

  And he grabbed Clancy by the throat.

  The furniture was a casualty of battle – the chairs, the coffee table, the huge TV set, all sticks and broken glass. The fighters barely noticed as the floor crunched beneath their accurate steps.

  Lorelei came at Ruby, striking her hard with slicing moves. Ruby countered with a plum flower punch that knocked Lorelei back for a second, but she came forwards again in a flurry of punches, and followed by planting her hand on the floor and executing a tiger tail kick that sent Ruby sprawling backwards across the debris.

  ‘Ready to die, Redfort?’

  ‘Not yet,’ she hissed.

  Ruby used her legs to propel her back to her feet. Then she ran, striking the wall with both feet, and flipped backwards, high over Lorelei’s head.

  As she descended, so she kicked, but Lorelei anticipated the move and plucked her downwards, with one powerful arm and Ruby was flat on her back, the breath knocked from her.

  Lorelei stood, legs firmly planted and hands on hips, a wicked look of satisfaction playing upon her face.

  ‘I take it you give up?’ she asked.

  But Ruby had one more move yet to play.

  The red band was a tiny detail on her wrist, easy to ignore, but when Ruby stretched out her arm and directed the dragon’s mouth at her foe, Lorelei von Leyden’s face fell.

  The vapour engulfed her.

  A blood-curdling scream as the translucent bindings formed.

  And in the blink of an eye things were all tied up.

  ‘You’re a cheat,’ she spat.

  ‘Why lose when you can win?’ said Ruby.

  ‘You think this is the end, bubblegum girl?’ snarled Lorelei.

  ‘I really couldn’t say,’ said Ruby. ‘I keep hoping I’ll never see your face again, and then here you are! And by the way, those bindings get heavier by the minute, give it five and Mr Universe himself will struggle to lift you.’

  ‘I loathe you,’ Lorelei snarled.

  ‘And that’s the other thing – you’ll find your voice goes too.’

  ‘You’ll pay with your life,’ screamed Lorelei.

  ‘You’re not exactly in a great position to make threats.’

  Lorelei paused. ‘Oh I wouldn’t say that,’ she said, her voice suddenly much calmer.

  ‘You think you’re not going back to that cosy little cell of yours?’ said Ruby.

  ‘Maybe, and maybe not,’ said Lorelei. She was really smiling now, and Ruby noticed how Lorelei’s gaze was not directed at her but at some point beyond.

  Slowly Ruby turned so she could see what Lorelei was seeing.

  ‘OH HI, BABY FACE,’ said Ruby, ‘not dead yet I see.’

  Baby Face Marshall smiled his cute smile.

  ‘You looking for a fight?’ said Ruby. She was ready. If he was, though, he would probably kill her.

  But he surprised her.

  ‘I’m here to offer you a deal.’

  ‘From where I’m standing, you don’t look like you have many cards to play.’

  Boyd Marshall cocked his head. ‘Funny, ’cause I reckon I have all the aces here.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  He nodded. ‘I think so, unless of course I judged you wrong and your head rules your heart, but somehow I don’t think that’s you. No, I think little Ruby is a soft touch.’ He was smiling again. ‘I think you’re going to let this nice lady go on her way.’

  ‘Are you her protector, or is it the other way around?’

  ‘A little of both,’ said Marshall.

  ‘How cosy,’ said Ruby.

  ‘So I think you’re going to do what I ask,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, and why’s that?’ said Ruby.

  ‘Because if you don’t then you’re never going to get the chance to say bye-bye to your little pal.’ Marshall made a sad face. ‘He’s so loyal, isn’t he?’

  Ruby’s expression became puzzlement. ‘You’re bluffing.’

  ‘Bluffing is for people who don’t hold all the cards.’ He crooked his finger and beckoned her into a room and she followed, already knowing what she would find …

  In the gloom she could see the figure of a boy, lying crumpled on the floor.

  She gasped.

  ‘How touching,’ said Baby Face.

  She could see Clancy’s arm, see two scarlet red drops, blood beading on his skin, the width of snake teeth apart.

  ‘Looks like something got him, doesn’t it?’ said Baby Face. ‘Something like some kind of snake maybe. I wonder how long he’s got?’

  LOOKING DOWN AT CLANCY’S PAINED FACE THE ANSWER SEEMED CLEAR. Not long, not long at all.

  He read her expression. ‘No, not long,’ he said. He seemed to be fading.

  Ruby felt utterly defeated.

  ‘What do you want?’ she asked Baby Face.

  ‘What would you say if I told you we had a way out of this little cul-de-sac we find ourselves in?’ said Baby Face Marshall. ‘To be or cease to be? That is the question?’ He held a little brown bottle in front of Ruby’s eyes. ‘The antivenom or no antivenom? You decide, but if you want to save a life? I’ll need something in exchange.’

  Clancy shook his head. ‘Don’t Rube, don’t.’ His voice was weak.

  Slowly, very slowly Ruby nodded her head. ‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked.

  ‘Release Lorelei from those bonds and I’ll give you this little brown bottle,’ said Baby Face.

  Ruby shook her head. ‘I’ll release Lorelei when you hand me the antivenom.’

  ‘OK, I see you have trust issues, so let’s compromise,’ he said, placing the small brown bottle on the table. ‘I’ll leave this here while you do what you need to do.’ He paused. ‘Wait a minute, what’s this?’ And he smiled as he drew out another bottle, and another, from his pocket until there were three. Three identical little brown bottles.

  ‘I can’t for the life of me remember which is which.’ He smiled the cutest smile. ‘Choices choices, but you’re a smart girl, you figure it out.’

  She moved towards the table, but Boyd Marshall put out an arm. ‘Release Lorelei or I’ll snap your neck in two.’

  There was no time to fight it out and, even if there had been, she had little fight left in her, so she did as he ordered and walked to the room where Lorelei lay trussed in leaden ropes. As she passed the huge window, she glanced out, hoping to goodness she might see Hitch and his faithful SWAT team – but no.

  Instead what she saw was a whole lot more trouble for all of them. For not so far away, walking purposefully along Constanza, was the woman she feared even more than Lorelei.

  ‘Looks like you’ve got trouble of your own sweetie,’ said Ruby. ‘Australian trouble.’

  Marshall followed her gaze and his face turned grey. ‘Step it up!’ he screamed. ‘Or you and your friend die now!’

  Ruby, who also had no desire to bump into this cold-blooded killer, did just that. She ran over to Lorelei whose expression had morphed from one of rage to one of terror. It was clear Ms von Leyden wanted to get out of there as fast as anyone. Ruby released her with the reverse vapour action, spraying the strange mist over her until the bonds had dissolved.

  ‘Her limbs will take a while to regain feeling, so looks like you’ll be carrying her out,’ said Ruby, ‘though on the upside, she’ll be mute for a lot longer.’

  But Boyd Marshall wasn’t listening – he already had Lorelei’s slight body slumped in his arms and he was losing no time in making his exit.

  Ruby ran to the room where Clancy lay.

  ‘HOW ARE YOU DOING, CLANCY?’

  ‘Ah, you know Rube, I’m not gonna make it to swim club.’

  ‘Big deal,’ said Ruby, ‘you were never gonna go anyway.’

  ‘No fooling you huh?’

  ‘You know me Clance, I’m foolproof. Tell me you saw the snake that bit you?’

  Clancy slowly shook his head.
br />   All the while she was talking, she was checking his breathing, looking into his eyes, examining his arm, pulling his jacket from him, trying to see what could be done.

  She looked at the bottles, picked up the first and turned it in her hand. Then the second. Then the third. Though the bottles were identical, each bottle’s label was patterned like snakeskin, and each pattern was different. Ruby knew them all.

  One was a king cobra. One was a black mamba. And the other was a Russell’s viper.

  So which one had bitten Clancy? She thought quickly, pulling up the symptoms of each snake’s bite in her mind, running through the different types of venom and their different effects: neurotoxins, haemotoxins, crototoxins, cardiotoxins …

  ‘Are you feeling dizzy?’ she asked.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Are you feeling dizzy?’

  ‘What do you think?’ whispered Clancy. ‘I’ve just been bitten by a reptile.’

  She put her fingers on his wrist, felt his heart rate. Steady. So it wasn’t a cardiotoxin, which meant she could rule out the black mamba. No real surprise, since if Clancy had had the misfortune to be bitten by a black mamba, he would most probably be dead already.

  Focus Ruby, focus.

  ‘OK Clance, I need to check you for swelling.’ She felt his ankles, his wrists, his arms, examined his skin, looking for bruising. ‘Are you paralysed anywhere?’ If it was a Russell’s viper that had bitten Clancy, then his system would be full of hemotoxin, making his blood clot, cutting off circulation to his extremities.

  ‘I don’t know! How would I know?’

  ‘So move your hands and your feet.’

  He did; no problem there.

  ‘You’re drooling,’ she said.

  ‘I’m dying here Rube, give me a break, would you?’

  ‘No, I mean you’re drooling, as opposed to puking, which means the venom in your bloodstream is most likely a neurotoxin, causing numbness and paralysis, and of the three snakes depicted on the bottles, only the king cobra fits your symptoms. It blocks receptors in your brain, that’s why you’re dribbling all over the place.’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Clancy.

  She took the stopper from the bottle, filled the syringe with king cobra antivenom and lost not a second injecting it into Clancy’s arm.