Maxie groaned, and before she knew what she was doing she found herself standing up next to Blue.
‘Not you too!’ she yelled. ‘You know how serious this is, Justin. Didn’t you listen to a word Einstein said?’
‘Sit down,’ said Justin angrily. ‘You’re not in charge. I’ve thought about this and I’ve changed my mind. That’s the whole point of a discussion.’
‘What?’ said Maxie. ‘To just agree with everything that slimeball David says?’
‘You’re being childish,’ said Justin, sounding horribly like a teacher. ‘Name calling. You’re better than that.’
Maxie muttered a much more obscene name under her breath and sat down.
‘We can’t risk all our fighters getting killed,’ Justin went on. ‘We’ll need them. I think we should all go back to our camps and discuss this properly among ourselves.’
‘What are fighters for?’ said Blue. ‘Fighting!’
‘Defence is always better than attack,’ said Justin, sitting down. ‘We’ll concentrate on helping Einstein find a cure.’
‘You are fools!’ came a strong, sharp voice from the back.
Maxie sank into her seat. This was all they needed. Mad Matt and one of his nutty religious outbursts.
‘The Lamb has sent us a sign. The blood moon. The blood of the Nephilim will flow. The Lamb will give us his strength. We can defeat the old ones. I have seen the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the beast and his army.’
‘Right,’ said David, laughing. ‘That kind of wraps it up for me. Are you going to listen to this nutter? Is this the voice of reason? Or are you going to listen to me? A boy who has kept his people safe and well. Come along, we’re going back to the palace.’
David got up and walked out. Soon the whole meeting had broken up, leaving Blue yelling at them to come back and calling them all idiots. At last he went over to Justin, filled with a cold, shaking fury.
‘How could you do that?’ he said. ‘How could you ruin all our work?’
‘Because I’m scared,’ said Justin. And there was no arguing with that. ‘Because if we lose the battle then it’s the end,’ he added.
‘And if we win?’ said Blue.
‘We can’t win, Blue,’ said Justin sadly. ‘It’s impossible.’
36
‘OK. It’s a type of flatworm. Its scientific name is Ribeiroia ondatrae. It’s tiny. Microscopic. And it starts out by getting inside snails.’
‘Ew. Gross,’ said Zohra. ‘Is this going to be yucky?’
‘Yes,’ said Wiki with a big grin. He had a fat scientific book open in front of him on the carpet.
The smaller kids and Wiki were all sitting on the floor of the library, crammed together in a corner. Since Yo-Yo’s death they’d been sticking in a tight group.
‘It’s gross,’ said Jibber-jabber, who also had a book open. ‘But it’s also really interesting. Me and Wiki have been studying all about parasites, yeah, and what they do, yeah, how they control other animals, like how the parasites in the sickos control them, yeah, and you two …’ He turned to Fish-Face and Skinner, who’d been spending more and more time with the smaller kids lately. ‘You might find it really interesting, I think, but we don’t mean anything mean by it – it’s just stuff we found out. It’s like, see, you know, yeah, we found out loads of stuff, like parasitic wasps that turn ladybirds into zombies, horsehair worms that can grow up to thirty centimetres long inside crickets, and, when they’re ready, they make the crickets drown themselves in pools of water so that they can emerge and swim away. That’s cool, but the flatworms in the bullfrogs, they’re the really cool ones.’
‘What bullfrogs?’ asked Froggie, obviously wondering if this had something to do with him. ‘You said snails.’
‘We’ll get to the bullfrogs in a minute,’ said Jibber-jabber. ‘First we got to tell you about the snails. Water snails that live in ponds.’
‘Yeah,’ said Wiki. ‘You see, the flatworms have three different hosts and they control all of them. They start off by getting into the snails’ reproductive organs and turning them into parasite-making machines. And then at night, when they’re ready, they come out, the flatworm larvae, thousands of them, and swim off to look for their next host.’
‘Is that the frogs?’ asked Sam. He’d been really depressed lately. Yo-Yo’s death had made him think even more about Ella and grow even more scared that he’d never see her again. Whenever he saw Zohra and Froggie, he got jealous. He knew he shouldn’t, but all he could think was how unfair it was, that they were together and he’d lost Ella. He hated himself for having these thoughts, even sometimes wishing he could swap Ella for Zohra, but he couldn’t stop having them.
He looked around at his friends. They had nothing to worry about. Zohra had Froggie; Fish-Face had Skinner; Wiki had Jibber-jabber and their little dog, Godzilla. What did Sam have?
He had The Kid. That was the one thing that made him happy. He knew The Kid would never let him down. The Kid looked out for him.
The Kid had made him come along to the library today. Sam didn’t want to join in anything, but The Kid had insisted, and now, Sam had to admit, he was interested despite himself, even if he could see what Wiki and Jibber-jabber were doing. They were trying to distract the other children. Stop them from thinking about Yo-Yo. Sam hoped it would work with The Kid, but even he had been depressed since that morning when Shadowman came back to the museum with bad news and a violin with no one to play it. Now The Kid, who was usually one of the chattiest boys, was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chin, staring at the carpet. Sam made up his mind that he would work much harder keeping The Kid happy, just as The Kid worked hard to keep him happy.
‘Not quite frogs yet, Sam,’ said Wiki. ‘Just tadpoles. The larvae burrow into them and make their way to where their arms and legs are starting to grow.’
‘This is getting worse and worse,’ said Zohra, though Sam could see she was really enjoying it.
‘Yeah,’ said Wiki. ‘What they do is create cysts that turn the frogs into mutants.’
‘Mutants?’ said Skinner, his voice muffled by the folds of skin around his face.
Wiki looked a little embarrassed.
‘I didn’t mean to be rude,’ he said. ‘I don’t mean to say that you and Fish-Face are mutants.’
‘Well, we are,’ said Skinner, his skin forming into something like a smile. ‘We’re proud mutants, like the ones in X-Men.’
Fish-Face giggled, and then put her hand to her mouth to hide it. Shy.
‘So what sort of mutants do the frogs turn into?’ Skinner asked.
‘The cysts affect the growth of their legs,’ said Wiki. ‘They sprout extra ones, three or four sometimes, growing in all directions, or not enough legs, or deformed legs.’
Wiki showed them a picture of a frog with weird extra sort of half-legs coming out in clusters from its back end.
‘That is too much,’ said Zohra and she laughed.
‘But how does that help the flatworms?’ Sam asked.
‘The frogs can’t move properly,’ said Wiki. ‘They can’t hop away from danger. So, even if they see a bird coming, they can’t avoid it.’
‘So they get eaten?’ asked Froggie, who was taking this personally.
‘Yeah,’ said Jibber-jabber and he made a pecking motion with his hand at Froggie, who scuttled away from him.
‘Big birds like herons come down and gobble up the mutant bullfrogs,’ said Wiki, ‘and all the parasites inside them. Then the parasites grow again and mate, inside the birds, until the birds poo them out into the water and they can get into more snails, then more frogs, then more birds, round and round and round, yeah, all controlled by these tiny parasites.’
The children all wanted to look at more pictures, even though they found them disgusting. All except The Kid, who got up and walked down to the other end of the library. Sam followed him.
‘Hey,’ he said, when they were out o
f earshot. ‘Are you OK?’
The Kid turned round. He didn’t look OK. Sam had never seen him sad like this. The Kid shrugged.
‘I don’t want to spoil their joy,’ he said. ‘Their parasite fun and games.’
‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Sam asked. ‘You usually like to talk. Sometimes talking makes things better.’
The Kid gave a big sigh. Slumped down on to the floor.
‘I don’t have the words,’ he said. ‘Not the right ones. Words, words, words. I’m full of words. So many they sometimes poison me. But I don’t have the words for this. I can say I’m sad, but that doesn’t even half describe how I feel. I can say I’m heartbroken, but that sounds like I’m someone in an old book with people wearing wigs. Distraught, cut up, devastated: they all just sound like what they are, just words. Words, they mean nothing to me now. I’m broken inside. Full of dust. We were going to get married, me and Yo-Yo, and have thirty-seven children. I counted them and we had names for every one. As well as cats. Yo-Yo liked cats. Eighty-three cats. Even though I’m not what you call a cat person. But I’d have done anything for that wee girl. And we were going to live in a house on a hill with a view of the sky. Oh boy. I’m sad, Sam. I’m very sad. But I don’t have the words and I don’t have any more tears. They were all squeezed out of me. I am made of sorrow, beg steal and borrow, will you still love me tomorrow? I will love her for always and all time, and time beyond time. And I know she’s gone to a safe place, a place beyond the stars where no one can hurt you. But still I’m sad. You know about sorrow, Sam. I don’t need to tell you. Your sister’s gone. We all know sorrow. We’ve all lost them, the old ones, my granddad. He was the best. Looked after me. Your sister. Everybody’s mum and dad. I sometimes wonder how we carry on.’
‘But we do carry on,’ said Sam. ‘She’s still alive – Ella – I know she is. I’ll see her again, and when I do everything will be all right.’
‘Maybe I’ll see Yo-Yo again,’ said The Kid with a sort of smile. ‘Shadowman didn’t see her die.’
‘You will,’ said Sam, although he didn’t believe it. In the same way that he didn’t really believe he’d see Ella again.
‘Oh, the way she plucked her strings,’ said The Kid. ‘And the way she sawed her bow and made the catgut sing. She was an angel, bringing sweet music to the world. The food of love, play on. She’s playing on somewhere, I know it. With a band made of whistles and flutes and toots and banging drums and cymbals, celestas, cellos, cellophane and sell-by dates. I don’t know what any of the words mean any more, Sam, not sure I ever did, to be honest. Samwise, Samwich, Sam I am, green eggs and ham …’
The Kid fell silent and Sam put his arms round him. Held him tight. The Kid’s tears might have dried up, but Sam was crying. For all that they had lost. And then someone else was there, licking and snuffling, and the boys laughed. It was Bright Eyes. And there was Paddy, who’d been out with Achilleus learning his spear skills, running over to fetch her back.
‘Leave them, Bright Eyes,’ he said, fussing around her. ‘Bad girl.’
Paddy got hold of her collar and pulled her away, but Sam and The Kid were still laughing. And Sam wasn’t embarrassed now that it looked like he had dog slobber on his cheeks and not childish tears.
He jumped up and rubbed Bright Eyes’ ears.
‘Yo there.’
Sam looked round to see Jordan Hordern coming in, and the whole atmosphere in the library changed.
37
Jordan had Blu-Tack Bill with him and a couple of older boys who Sam found slightly scary. Not as scary as Jordan, though. He was the worst. Bill was muttering something. He was probably counting. That’s what he did. Sam knew him well enough that whenever he went up or down stairs he always counted the steps, and did weird, complicated mathematical calculations in his head.
Jordan was looking at Paddy. Well, sort of half looking. Jordan hardly ever looked at you directly, and when he did …
‘We come to ask you something, boy,’ he said.
‘Yeah?’
Sam could see that Paddy was just as nervous as he was, even though he was trying to hide it. Paddy wasn’t as tough as he wanted everyone else to think.
‘Whassup?’ he said, as casual-sounding as he could manage, and then held his hand up for one of those complicated handshakes that Sam could never learn properly. Jordan ignored him. Sam had seen how he didn’t like to be touched.
‘Your dog,’ said Jordan.
‘What about her?’
‘Bright Eyes, yeah? That’s her name?’
‘Yeah. She’s a clever dog. A seeing-eye dog.’
Jordan nodded slowly. ‘Thing is – I need a dog.’
‘Yeah? There’s some around. Ryan and his hunters have loads. They might swap you one.’
‘I need this dog.’
‘But she’s my dog.’
‘I know. So I’m asking you a favour … Paddy. Yeah? That your name?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well, Paddy. I’m asking if you’ll give me your dog.’
‘OK. I get you. But the thing is, she’s my dog and I don’t want to give her away. She’s spoils of war.’
‘I know that.’ Jordan was staying patient, but there was a coldness in his voice. ‘But I’m asking a favour of you. Give me your dog.’
For the first time Jordan looked directly at Paddy, through his thick, broken glasses, and the look was scary as anything. Paddy couldn’t hold it for more than a couple of seconds, and then he was staring down at his shoes.
‘It’s my dog,’ he mumbled. ‘Bright Eyes.’
Jordan squatted down and held the dog’s head, whispered something into her ear. When he stood up, the dog went to his side and sat to heel. Calm and placid. Like it was nothing.
Bill stood back from the others. Nothing to do with him. Leave him out of it. Fiddling with the piece of Blu-tack he always had with him, shaping it quickly between his fingers – little figures, men and women, animals, numbers, shapes, cubes and pyramids … and a dog, which he immediately crushed.
‘You can’t take her,’ said Paddy, his voice shaking, still staring at the floor. ‘Not like that. You can’t just take her.’
‘I’m taking her,’ said Jordan. ‘OK? That’s how it is. I need her. We’ll find you another dog. Don’t worry.’
‘I don’t want another dog,’ said Paddy. ‘I want Bright Eyes. She’s a good dog.’
‘She’s a very good dog.’ Jordan snapped a lead on the dog’s collar. ‘Which is why I want her. You’ll get over it.’
Paddy lifted his head. His face was shiny from crying, which made Sam feel not so bad for crying earlier. Paddy tried one last time to argue, but Jordan stared him down and Paddy went quiet. Jordan turned round and walked away with his guys. Taking the dog.
‘I won’t forget this,’ he said as he went out. The kids with Wiki and Jibber-jabber were looking hard at their books, pretending not to notice what was happening. Bill hesitated for a second, looked at his old friends, and then, without saying anything, he followed Jordan out.
38
‘The four-eyed speccy jerk. The cold, dead-staring creep. The bitch!’ Achilleus had gone ballistic. He was striding up and down the main hall, past the diplodocus skeleton, waving his spear around, threatening anyone who got close. Maxie was doing her best. She’d tried to calm him down, but that had been an epic fail. Achilleus was just getting worse and worse, and upsetting everyone around him. Paddy was slumped on a bench, looking sad and angry and scared. Scared of what Achilleus might do. And Achilleus’s rage had set Paddy off crying again. Maxie knew how much Paddy hated people to see him show any weakness, but the boy was much softer than he acted.
‘That was my dog,’ Achilleus ranted. ‘My dog to do with what I wanted. I gave it to Paddy. It’s not Jordan’s to take away. He can’t march in here like a roadman, thinking he owns the place, and just do what he likes. It’s not right. I’m not having it. No way, man.’
‘Let’s talk abo
ut it,’ said Maxie, not wanting to give up.
‘Nothing to talk about,’ said Achilleus. ‘Is done. Over. He thinks I’m gonna fight for his poxy army, does he? Well, guess what? I ain’t. You get me? You all hear this? I WILL NOT FIGHT FOR THAT JERK!’
‘Achilleus.’ Maxie was trying not to sound whiny, but that’s what she felt like. ‘You can’t say that.’
‘I can. This is me done. Is not my fight any more. Mister Jordan bloody special-needs Hordern can find himself another officer.’
‘Come on, Akkie,’ said Maxie, avoiding his waving spear. ‘This is bigger than one stupid dog.’
‘She weren’t no stupid dog, though. That’s just it. She’s clever. That’s why this is what it is. Paddy loved that dog. I gave it him. It was mine to give. Not Jordan’s to take.’
‘Let me try and talk to him.’
‘Too late. Jordan hasn’t shown me no respect. Nobody appreciates me.’
‘We all appreciate you. You know we do.’
‘None of you’d be alive if it weren’t for me. Well, I’m gonna prove that. Is your fight now. See how you do without me.’
‘No, Achilleus. Listen to me. We do respect you. We need you now more than ever. We can’t do this without you.’
‘If Jordan’s so good he’ll save you all.’
‘We’ll have a meeting,’ said Maxie. ‘Call Jordan in. We’ll sort it.’
‘No more meetings. No more talk. Forget it.’
‘At least put the spear down. You’re scaring people.’
Achilleus’s spear was lethal. God knows how many people he’d killed with it. The point was sharp as a needle.
‘This is all I ever was,’ said Achilleus, shaking the spear above his head. ‘A weapon.’
He broke away and walked quickly to the back of the hall, scattering kids as he went. Then he was bounding up the stairs, three at a time, past the white marble statue of Charles Darwin. Maxie followed hard on his heels, pleading with him all the way, scared of what he was going to do. She’d never seen him like this before. He’d been arrogant and pig-headed, he’d been full of himself and mean and disruptive, but she’d never really seen him angry.