Читать книгу The Ruby Redfort Collection: 4-6: Feed the Fear; Pick Your Poison; Blink and You Die - Lauren Child - Страница 34

THE SUMMER WAS FADING FAST NOW, the wind beginning to gust through the trees, pulling at the branches in an effort to loosen the leaves. Whatever the townsfolk might be feeling, the authorities certainly weren’t sad to see the back of summer, but no one was quite expecting the season to change with such force.

Clancy and Ruby lay on beanbags facing towards the large picture window in Ruby’s top-floor loft-style bedroom.

‘Do you reckon that by the time we grow up, man will have invented a flying suit – a Superman-type of thing?’ mused Clancy.

‘Maybe,’ said Ruby, thinking of the Glider Wings. ‘It’s more than likely.’

‘It would be pretty cool – I mean, if I could have any superpower, that would be it,’ said Clancy. ‘That or invisibility.’

‘Invisibility is overrated as a superpower,’ said Ruby. ‘There’s an art to being invisible – you just have to think yourself into it.’

‘Yeah,’ said Clancy. ‘I saw that guy on TV doing it, you know, the one I was telling you about? The illusionist?’

‘Darnley Rex,’ said Ruby.

‘Yeah,’ said Clancy, ‘him. I might give it a try.’

‘Give what a try?’

‘Thinking myself invisible,’ said Clancy, ‘see if it works.’

‘You might have to lose the socks,’ said Ruby indicating Clancy’s neon yellow footwear.

‘Nancy took all of mine, I’m down to wearing Minny’s.’

‘And perhaps the hat should go too,’ added Ruby.

‘But this hat’s practical; it’s got a good brim and it’s waterproof.’

‘It’s pea green,’ said Ruby, ‘it practically glows.’

‘Not if you’re against grass,’ argued Clancy.

‘I don’t think invisibility’s a natural fit for you Clance.’

It was true enough. Clancy was the sort of boy who wanted to blend but who got noticed, and usually for all the wrong reasons. The only person who didn’t seem to see him was his father.

‘No, if I could have any superpower,’ said Ruby, ‘and I admit flying would be good, I might choose time travel. Imagine being able to teleport yourself from one time and place to another.’

‘Yeah, that would be kinda useful.’ Clancy was thinking about all those French tests he could retake once he had memorised the answers.

‘D’ya wanna grab a snack?’ said Ruby, pulling herself up.

Clancy nodded. ‘I could eat.’

They went downstairs and padded barefoot into the kitchen where Mrs Digby was sitting reading her Twinford Echo.

She didn’t look up but said, ‘If you two children think I’m about to up and fix you an ox tongue and sea pickle sandwich you are quite mistaken.’

‘I’m disappointed,’ said Ruby, ‘but actually I was thinking more along the lines of cheese and ham.’

‘Oh, well that I can do you for,’ said Mrs Digby getting to her feet. ‘I live to serve.’

Clancy wiped his brow; he wasn’t always sure when the old lady was pulling his leg. She had told him so many stories of the things she had been forced to eat as a young woman growing up during the Great Depression that he couldn’t be certain that the housekeeper wasn’t about to feed him some alarming part of a creature.

‘So what have you children been plotting – mischief no doubt,’ said Mrs Digby tutting.

‘We have been discussing superpowers,’ said Clancy. ‘What kind of super human would you be if you could be anything?’

‘I’ve got just about all the superpowers a person could have – look at the amount I have to do around here. You think you could do all this at my age?’

‘I hadn’t looked at it that way,’ said Clancy.

Mrs Digby threw Ruby a glance. ‘That Quent called again. He wants to know if you will be attending his superhero party.’

‘Darn it,’ said Ruby, ‘I was trying to forget about that.’

‘Well, I hope your father doesn’t hear you talking that way. You know how he gets about the notion of hurting another mortal’s feelings.’

Ruby sighed, she knew only too well.

‘Jeepers,’ said Clancy, ‘so you’re gonna have to go!’

‘I’ll think of something,’ said Ruby.

They were just about to settle into some solid TV time, when Mrs Digby called from the kitchen.

‘Child, did you put this piece of bread in the toaster?’

Silence.

‘I just made you a snack for jeepers’ sake,’ continued Mrs Digby. ‘It’ll be dinner not so long from now and you’re making yourself toast. You suffering from worms or something?’

‘Ah, no Mrs Digby, that’s Clance’s toast.’

‘What?’ hissed Clancy.

‘Yeah, you see, he’s looking to put on a little weight so he’s eating double.’

‘Darnedest thing,’ said Mrs Digby, ‘almost looks like there’s words on this toast.’

Ruby raced into the kitchen and took the plate from the puzzled housekeeper.

‘Must be your cataracts Mrs Digby, I don’t see a thing.’

The message read:

REPORT TO HQ IMMEDIATELY.

A half-hour later, Ruby was standing in the Spectrum lab looking at the evidence: a small card in a little plastic zip-lock bag.

‘This is it?’

‘Uh huh,’ said SJ. ‘We are just conducting one more test before it’s all yours.’

‘What are you testing for?’ asked Ruby.

‘Toxic substances,’ said SJ.

‘What? You think it’s poisoned or something?’ said Ruby.

‘I doubt it but you never know.’

‘I guess you don’t,’ said Ruby. ‘Mind if I take a look at the card before you run your tests?’

‘Sure,’ said SJ.

Ruby took the card out of the zip-lock bag. One side was entirely blank. On the other side was some kind of touch code made up of dots, some were punched into the card, and some were punched out.

‘Any thoughts?’ said SJ when Ruby handed the card back.

‘Not yet,’ said Ruby. The dots meant something, but without more code and ideally something to give context, there was no way to crack them.

‘OK,’ said SJ. She put the card back in the bag. ‘I’ll see what I can find.’

‘I might go grab a drink while you do your thing,’ said Ruby. ‘I could use something sugary.’

‘You know, some people consider sugar to be a toxin?’ said the young technician.

‘Yeah, my mom for one,’ said Ruby, ‘but it sure does taste sorta good.’

Ruby was a little weary and was thinking a pep-up soda might be just what she needed. Unfortunately, however, she ran straight into Froghorn by the drinks machine and got into a little altercation with him.

‘This machine doesn’t dispense bottled milk,’ he said.

‘Strange,’ said Ruby, ‘because it seems to attract babies.’

‘You are so childish,’ said Froghorn.

‘You started it,’ said Ruby.

‘I started it? Me? You lowered the maturity level the second you stepped into Spectrum back in March.’

‘Wow, I managed to get it below your level, who knew that was possible.’

‘Don’t you miss the other crèche kids?’ asked Froghorn.

The sound of fingernails tapping on metal caused Ruby and Froghorn to stop their bickering and turn around. What they saw was LB standing right behind them, her fingers drumming on the side of the fridge. They hadn’t heard her arrive due to her bare feet and almost silent footsteps.

‘I seem to have stepped into some dreadful version of kindergarten,’ she said, her nose wrinkled. ‘I found preschool unbearable the first time around, do not make me suffer it again.’ This was both a demand and a warning.

Froghorn’s cheeks coloured pink; he did not like getting caught out, especially not by LB, the very person he so hoped to impress. Without another word the Spectrum 8 boss turned and continued her silent way along the corridor.

By the time Ruby made it back to the lab she was feeling flustered. She had wasted a whole twenty minutes on nothing at all and now she was about to examine a piece of evidence that also offered little in the way of help.

The lab technician had gone, but the little white card had been placed on the counter top underneath a bright Anglepoise lamp. A powerful magnifier was sitting next to it so she could examine the card more closely, but as it turned out she didn’t need to. It was perfectly plain to see that the card was no longer blank. What had been a small area of plain white was now dissected by thin black lines forming a sort of grid.

Ruby picked up the phone and dialled.

‘Blacker,’ came the voice down the line.

‘It’s me, get yourself down to the lab, something just came to light.’