Читать книгу Feel the Fear - Lauren Child - Страница 19

IT WAS SHORTLY AFTER THE INTERVAL, just ten minutes into the second half of the show, that something seemed to go wrong.

The organiser came onto the catwalk to apologise for the hitch in proceedings, blaming it on a technical problem.

Then Ray the host came back on and made some so-so jokes suggesting it might be something to do with the Claw at the Window or the Ecto Grabber and everyone laughed good-naturedly.

The organiser returned to announce that unfortunately one of the star pieces had been mislaid but the show would go on.

Ruby and Red looked at each other.

‘Told you,’ said Red. ‘Something is back there.’

‘I’ll go check it out,’ said Ruby nonchalantly. By now her curiosity had really got a grip, and even if it meant coming face to pincers with the Scorpion Spectre she needed to know just what was going down. Happily, she didn’t believe in scorpion spectres so there wasn’t a whole lot to fear, besides, she had come through a forest fire almost unscathed, she had survived two encounters with the evil Count von Viscount, she had escaped the clutches of a sea monster. She was beginning to think she might be invincible.

Ruby slipped out of her seat and made her way backstage. She did it with such confidence that no one accosted her, at least not until she reached the area where the show director was issuing orders.

‘You can’t come back here!’ said an intimidating-looking woman in an asymmetric dress and asymmetric haircut.

‘I’m just. . .’

‘Scram,’ said the woman, slamming the door an inch in front of Ruby’s nose.

‘Darn it,’ hissed Ruby. As she turned to leave, she spotted a whole stack of fish heads, giant ones. The fish heads were made from papier-mâché. Ruby recognised them; she knew the movie they came from, she had watched it over and over again squished in next to Mrs Digby on her settee. She had been just three when she first saw The Sea of Fish Devils.

Ruby picked up one of the heads and examined it. Worth a try, I guess. She pulled it down over her head so her face was totally hidden – she could see out all right but no one could see in. It was uncomfortable but it was bearable. She checked the rack of costumes and found what she was looking for. Pulling it from its hanger she wriggled into one of the fish tails. There was no telling who she actually was now. She was just a short Fish Devil. She opened the door and this time the woman ushered her in.

‘About time! Where’s the rest of your shoal?’

Ruby shrugged.

‘No one’s a professional any more,’ said the asymmetric woman, shaking her head. She looked more closely at the fish in front of her. ‘Kinda small, aren’t you? Your fins are dragging.’

The fish shrugged but said nothing. Then it indicated that it needed to go to the bathroom, the woman rolled her eyes and said, ‘OK, but make it snappy Bubbles.’

As Ruby threaded her way between the rails of costumes and boxes full of props and accessories, she overheard one of the models talking to the host. ‘I swear, one minute they were totally there and, like, the next, you know, gone – weird, right? Only I swear I felt something – like air moving past me. A breeze, you know?’ She sighed. ‘Not that it matters, I could never have modelled them anyway.’ She looked down at her feet. ‘No chance of squeezing these size 9s into those teeny tiny shoes – that Margo Bardem must have pixie feet.’

Ruby slipped out of the side door into the labyrinth of passageways. She shed her fish ensemble and tiptoed along the various backstage corridors. She had no real idea where she was headed but she followed the voices – they were coming from high up in the pagoda. Ruby had once been told that there was a strongroom up top there, built long ago for a famously difficult actress who insisted on having a dressing room at the very top of the building and insisted that her valuables be locked safely away in the room next door while she performed on stage.

As Ruby climbed the next set of stairs, the voices became louder. Using the extendable mirror that was one of the many attachments belonging to the Escape Watch, she managed to peep round the wall. Two guards were explaining to the show organiser how they had not moved one inch from the door of the room that contained prop 53.