Читать книгу Hunt and Power - Stephen Hayes - Страница 3

Aside from school, this was probably one of the largest gatherings of teenagers our little country town had ever had. Chopville had never been much of a site for raucous parties that spilt out into the streets at 3 in the morning, after all. There were twenty-eight of us sitting in a neat circle around the room, unnaturally quiet and orderly for a group of teenagers our size. Fittingly, within our circle, we had begun to call ourselves the 'Young Army'. Anyone introduced to the group could be forgiven for struggling to memorise names and match them with faces—especially as there were a few of us who looked nearly alike. But due to the fact that I’d known some of them all my life, while the others had entered in dribs and drabs, I could tell them all apart quite easily.

I was sitting with my brother Peter and James Thomas, who was as good as a brother (he had lived next door to us all our lives), along with my sister Nicole and James’s sisters, Felicity and Jessica. Harry and Simon Maivis, a couple more of my best mates, were sitting with their girlfriends, Katie Knight and Sophie Crow, who were also joined by their friends—Serena Forgrey, Kylie Cunkourd and Erica Tyanon. With me so far? Well, past Jessica sat two of her friends, Natalie Fletcher and Lisa Pont. Then there were a couple of people who had more recently become a part of the group by way of being forced to camp with us during the week: year-nine boys Craig Hardy, David Rockson, Daniel Dasher and Liam Stammerus; and year-tens Sebastian Williams, Lena Tuck, Darcy Bolter and Jane Hammer. Then, most importantly, grouped around the entrance to the room sat the nucleus of the Young Army: Marc and Lucien Moran, Tommy Blue, Amelia Woodward and Stella Hammerson.

It was Marc and Lucien who had called on us for this meeting, for the purpose of discussing our plans for the coming weeks. These plans revolved around the Magic Crystals we had acquired; the Hero Crystal, which belonged to Marc (he was the Seventh Sorcerer, and was therefore the only person who could use their magic), the Light Crystal, which was currently in my possession, and the Sien-Leoard Crystal, reputed to be the most powerful of them all. The two most important things were to keep them away from the Hammersons (Stella’s family) and to keep Marc and Tommy safe, for we had learnt recently that the Hammersons had agendas for them both.

The Hammersons were Sorcerers, with links to the Sorcerous Crystals by way of magical chips inside their bodies. Amelia’s family were the other line of Sorcerers, but unlike the Hammersons, they had never contemplated world domination. The war of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s had almost destroyed the world; the Woodwards had won, as far as anyone can be said to win a war, but they had not destroyed their enemies entirely. The Hammersons had since been plotting to take back what they saw as rightfully theirs, constructing an underground network of bases and tunnels; recruiting an army of loyal soldiers; and arming them with agonators—small devices that could cause unendurable pain for anyone toward whom they were pointed.

Incredibly, given how dangerous the crystals had already been, and how much more dangerous they could yet become, all twenty-eight members of the Young Army had agreed to help out in whatever way they could in these plans of ours. Marc was to keep the Sien-Leoard Crystal, but not use it, and protect it by using magic from the Hero Crystal if necessary. Amelia, a Sorcerer in her own right, had offered to protect the Light Crystal, but I told her I didn’t mind the risk of hanging onto it. Marc also wanted protection for Tommy, as we had been made aware of rumours that the Hammersons sought him, but none of us could think of anything to do for him, so it was put to Marc to check in with him every day.

It was put to the rest of the Young Army to covertly keep an eye on anyone at school whom we thought might be in league with the Hammersons. We year-nines knew to keep an eye on Ather Hignat and Ugine Wilwog, both of whom we knew for a fact worked for the Hammersons. The only other task was put to Amelia and Stella, and that simply involved spying on their families. It was both more important and more difficult for Stella, since it was her family we were plotting against; and Amelia might learn something useful from her father or grandmother, since they had both been in the thick of the action during the last war.

“I’ll tell you one thing I know, though,” Amelia told us. “When I told my dad what happened to you, Lisa, William and Carl, he was—well I dunno. He looked disturbed—scared, even. He said it was just because he’d never heard of anything like that happening, but I don’t know; he might have been lying, because it looked like more than that to me.”

Sorcerers could read minds (I wasn’t sure exactly how the trick worked, but it was always enough to tell them when they were being lied to). The only way to block it, as I, James, Peter, Tommy and Amelia herself had all learned, was to be placed under the domination charm, and then fight it off. I could only assume Frederic Woodward’s mind had been protected at some point or other in the past, if Amelia couldn’t be sure if he was telling the truth. The event she was referring to now was the death and resurrection of Lisa, along with the resurrections of William Playman (my grandfather on my father's side) and Carl Thomas (James’s grandfather on his father’s side), who had both been killed during the war—nearly thirty years ago now.

We then got to discussing how we would call future meetings, as there would undoubtedly be more. Amelia had come up with a way to communicate the date, time and location of meetings; each person had had their mobile phone enchanted (or had been given one if they didn’t already have one) so that whenever there was to be a meeting, Marc (who was elected leader, with Lucien, Amelia and Stella as advisors) would use his own phone to broadcast an SMS to all enchanted phones. The phone would vibrate without ringing (even if it was turned off) with the date, time and location of the meeting showing on the screen. The phone would continue to vibrate until the person cancelled it. This way, as long as each person was careful, nobody could find out what we were up to, apart from the fact that we would all keep disappearing together. For that, Marc’s house was most convenient, because he and Lucien lived alone. That was where we were now; inside the Hidden Quarters, a password-protected circular room underground.

Once that was settled, we were sent on our way, with Lucien’s words of caution ringing in our ears: “Don’t be complacent. A few days of calm must not be enough for us to forget about our enemies. They will always be there, and after thirty years of seething, they don’t mind biding their time. We can be sure they’ll make their intentions clear soon enough. We must be ready for them when they do.”