Читать книгу Hunt and Power - Stephen Hayes - Страница 7

Then I was back on my feet, standing in a place I didn’t recognise. I was at the end of a dimly lit corridor, stone walls to my left and right, and behind of me. It had a nothing-sort of feel to it, as though it’s only purpose was as a transition between locations, rather than a place one was meant to stand around in. Taking deep, steadying breaths, I walked forward, as there was nowhere else for me to go. Hall hadn’t given me a lot of advice, and he certainly hadn’t told me what I had to do. What was going to happen now? How do I get out of here? There was no point using magic to help me, as the Light Crystal hadn’t made the trip through the box with me. Was that Hall’s plan, to get the Light Crystal? How had he gotten his hands on a magical item like this anyway? Surely, Mr. Woodward hadn’t given it to him…

I continued forward, and eventually saw a closed door ahead of me. I hurried forward, and when I reached it, put my ear to the keyhole to listen for any sound. I couldn’t hear anything, so I checked the knob. It was unlocked, which was a relief; Hall’s plan wasn’t to lock me inside, it seemed.

The next room was considerably brighter, and I had to shield my eyes for a moment before I was able to look around. It looked like the house Marc and Amelia had used for their group on camp, except that there were no people or furniture in it, aside from a few beanbags on the floor roughly where the couches had been. It was just a big empty space, so far as I could tell. I couldn’t see anything dangerous, so I edged my way into the room and shut the door softly behind me. It was only then that I spotted, sitting on a beanbag in a corner to my left and reading a book, Natalie. At least it looked like Natalie, though I knew it couldn’t really be her—the real Natalie was probably still walking home from school, well out of reach of Hall’s madness. The not-Natalie looked up at the sound of my footsteps.

“Hi,” she said, smiling at me. I felt my stomach lurch; she had such a beautiful smile.

“Er—hi,” I said, wondering how I should go about this. “Er—who are you? Or what are you?”

She raised her eyebrows at me. “John, I’m Natalie. You know that.”

“Er—right,” I said, wondering what on earth was going on here. It just wasn’t possible; it was just my mind playing tricks on me—or rather, the box playing tricks on me. Was this one of the tests Hall spoke of? “Well, what are you doing here then?”

“Oh, just waiting for some company,” she said, putting her book aside and getting to her feet to face me. “But I don’t have to wait no more do I, now you’re here.”

“I don’t know,” I said, glancing around for another door so I could continue moving forward, and spotting it directly opposite the one I’d just come through (in real life, that door had led to the bathrooms). “I really should be going, you know—”

“What for?” she asked, sounding hurt as she moved right up in front of me. “It’s just us here, you know?”

“Well I’ve got things to do—”

“John,” she said, taking my hands in hers. I noticed how warm and soft her hands were, and gulped. “We both know how hard it’s been to get a moment like this. We’ve been waiting for it for years—”

“What?”

“Oh come on,” she said, her voice dropping a few tones, making her sound extremely sexy all of a sudden. I’d never heard Natalie talk like that before, other than in my dirty fantasies, and this further confirmed that this was … well, not her. “It’s just us here. None of the others matter right now, so come on. Let us speak openly to each other for once. I know how you feel about me. I know you know how I feel about you, thanks to Sebastian, anyway—”

“How did you know about that?” I asked, horrified. “Did he—”

“What don’t I know?” she replied. “Stella told me all I needed to know. She knew Sebastian had stolen my diary—dickhead—and she knew from reading one of the Maivises’ minds that you feel the same.”

My stomach was falling with every word she said. It all sounded so plausible, and here was me thinking I could tell her when I wanted to, on my own terms…

“So what do you want me to say?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off hers.

“Tell me how you feel,” she said. “Tell me what you think of me.”

My mouth went very dry. I was no good at this—I never had been. I’d never had any practise, but there she was, standing in front of me, holding my hands and staring into my eyes, asking me how I felt about her. She already knew, so what was the point in retreating now?

“Well, I’ve got very strong feelings for you,” I said, finding it easier to keep going now I’d started. “I always have, but… I guess… I didn’t really think I’d be in with a shot. And I didn’t wanna ruin our friendship, or Nicole’s.”

She smiled, and it lit up her whole face, making her more beautiful than ever. I still felt tense, but also as though a weight had come off my shoulders.

“You don’t know how good it feels to hear that,” she said, her voice dropping even lower now, so that it was the same pitch (or thereabouts) as my own. “Come on, we’ve got this moment; let’s not waste it.”

Though I’d had no practise, I knew instinctively what was to be done. She was leaning forward, so I did the same. But our lips had barely touched when there was an almighty bang and shouts filled the room. I looked around and, to my horror, saw Tommy. Not just one Tommy though; many Tommys were running around the room, blocking the door that had been my way forward. I looked back at Natalie and realised, to my further horror, that she was gone.

“How dare you!” one of the Tommys shouted at me.

“You will not get away with that,” another shouted, and they began to advance on me.

A quick glance around told me there was nothing to do for it. There were at least twenty of them, and they were going to beat the crap out of me. Even one Tommy would normally be too much for me. There was only one thing for it: I bent low and charge forward, straight at the walking wall of Tommys.

The Tommys furthest out closed in around me as I approached the line, while those directly ahead prepared for the collision. It came, but I didn’t break through them as I had intended. Two grabbed me, and a moment later I was on the floor, having my arms, legs and hair pulled and twisted, and those not doing that were punching and pummelling every bit of me they could reach. It looked bad, all right.

I struggled and kicked and flailed every bit of me I could, but achieved nothing for it, at least not until I unwittingly kicked one of the Tommys right in the nuts. A moment later, another of them had delivered a powerful blow to that same region of my own body, making all my limbs seize up, but apparently I had set off a chain reaction, because the Tommys closer to my feet—starting with the one I’d hit—were all getting in each other’s way and falling over each other; there were simply too many of them.

I got my feet on the ground, seeing my chance, and attempted to lift the rest of my body. But there were still so many Tommys holding my arms and punching the wind out of me that I achieved nothing, though the little movement I caused made a few of them fall over and let go of me. I was still very much out of breath, but I rolled over and jumped unsteadily to my feet. A few Tommys advanced on me immediately, while most of the rest were pulling themselves back to their feet, looking hungry for revenge.

With every ounce of energy I had left—which wasn’t much after the pounding I’d just copped—I ran for the door, swung it open, and hurled myself through it, shutting it behind me and locking it in the process. For a moment, I thought the door would collapse under the weight of the pounding from the Tommys on the other side, but it seemed to be holding up okay.

The last of my strength left me as I fell to my knees, and then onto my stomach. I could hardly breathe, and every part of my body was aching horribly. I couldn’t move a muscle without feeling terrible pain. I could feel blood running down my face, and knew my nose was broken. I thought perhaps a rib or too was broken too, but I wasn’t sure about that.

Now that I was safe, at least for the moment, I could think about what had taken place in the previous room. Hall had said that this game was about resisting temptations, and judging by what had just happened, I’d failed the first test miserably. It was infuriating to think that Natalie’s words could so effectively make me forget everything else going on around me. Hall had told me that I could die if I failed badly enough, so I supposed it could have been worse. Perhaps the Tommys would have had guns if they’d caught us rooting or something. As I lay there, I resolved myself of two things: I was going to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible, before anything worse happened; and that in order to do that, I would have to walk right past any further temptations that might present themselves to me.

After a few minutes, during which the door took the pounding from the army of Tommys, I sat up and, for the first time, took a look at where I was. It was just another corridor, the same as the one I’d started in, and there was nothing to see. With a groan, I pulled myself up, leaning on the wall for support, and began to move along it, grunting in pain with every step. I still couldn’t help thinking about Natalie—at least the one that had been in the other room. She’d said exactly what I wanted to hear, but I had no reason to believe anything she’d said now, and I despised myself for getting so caught up in her words that I forgot what I was supposed to be doing. All the same, it had felt good to hear her talk that way. If only those Tommys had waited three more seconds…

Within a few minutes, I reached the next door. I felt extremely fearful about going in there this time, knowing what might be awaiting me. Okay, I told myself; whoever’s waiting for you in here, tell them to get stuffed because you’re not interested. I was too sore to fight if I had to, but an almighty crash sounded behind me, meaning only one thing: the army of Tommys had broken down the door behind me and were now charging up the corridor towards me. That meant I had to move. I pulled the door open and slammed it behind me, just in time to see the Tommys come racing up the hall. They started pounding on the new door, now, and I turned away from it. Only then did I have a look at the room in which I was now standing.

For a split second, I thought I’d won, because I was back in Room 11. Then I realised that it was not Room 11 at all. It was, in fact, Room 12; I recognised the settings through the windows. But it couldn’t be the real Room 12, because instead of Hall taking to a detention class, I saw Mrs. Worlker apparently talking to a History class. Everyone looked around at me in surprise when I straightened up.

“There you are,” said Peter, patting the back of the seat that I usually sat in. “Come sit down. We were wondering what—blimey, John, you’re a mess.”

I had no idea what I looked like, and considering these people weren’t even real, I hardly cared.

“Sorry, Pete,” I said, dragging myself excruciatingly past his row. “Can’t stay.”

There was a door at the back of the room, which normally led into a storeroom. On this occasion, though, I knew that it was the way to keep moving forward. I headed straight for it.

“Enough of that, John,” said Mrs. Worlker angrily. “You’ve disrupted this class already, now sit down or it will be detention. What on earth is going on out there?”

“You sound just like Hall,” I muttered, and a few people laughed.

Someone suddenly grabbed my hand as I passed the last row of seats, a hand that felt very much like Natalie’s had felt, though perhaps slightly larger. I looked around and saw Serena staring at me.

“John, you’re really hurt. Do you want me to take you up to the sick bay?” she asked, concerned.

“I’ll take him, he’s my brother,” said Peter, jumping to his feet and glaring at Serena.

“That’s enough,” said Mrs. Worlker. “John, Peter, sit down, both of you. And you two sit down,” she added as Harry and Simon both rose to defend us. “And you too, Ugine.”

I looked away from Serena and realised, with a thrill of horror, that Ugine Wilwog was standing right in front of me, blocking the storeroom. He was several inches taller than me, and more muscular than anyone I knew. When he was with Ather Hignat, his job was to beat up on anyone who tried to fight back; while the much smaller Hignat was the brains of the operation, Wilwog was the brawn.

“You heard the teacher, Playman. Sit down like a good little boy, or I’ll have to make you,” he said, raising his fists. I cringed; why hadn’t I guessed it would come to this?

“You wouldn’t dare,” said Serena, jumping to her feet beside me. She twisted my hand in the process, but refused to let go.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Wilwog said, chuckling as he squinted down at her.

But she did. She delivered a fierce right hook to his face, and as he staggered backwards, clutching his nose and looking dumbfounded (even more than usual), she delivered an equally heavy blow to his nether region.

“That’s enough, all of you!” shouted Mrs. Worlker in a way that always made me cower. She could be a scary woman when she got fired up. “Detention for all of you! Serena, sit down; I’ll see you after class. Peter, Harry, Simon, get in your seats. John—”

But I wasn’t listening. I let go of Serena’s hand and staggered towards the door at the back of the room. Wilwog did not try to stop me, but just as I reached the door, Peter appeared beside me.

“I know you’re up to something,” he said quietly so that no one else could hear. “But you look so not right for it. You sure you don’t want me to come?”

“Of course I—” But I stopped, realising just in time that this was another temptation I had to fight, as much as I didn’t want to. “Sorry, mate,” I said, “but—”

The rest of my words were drowned as, looking up, I saw Hignat opening the front door to allow the army of Tommys to flood into the room. “Get him, everyone!” one of them shouted, and I was only just quick enough to get through the door before they reached me. Thankfully, the rest of the class slowed them down, at least by way of simply being in the way and not allowing them a direct route to the door. . I locked the door and, for a moment, listened to them attempting to bang it down like they had all the previous ones.

Looking around, I saw that I was in another corridor, no different from the others, and, without wasting any time, I staggered along it. However, this time something caught my attention in the ceiling. There was an opening, and a ledge that looked as though it led to another corridor. I was curious to know what was up there, but it was too high for me to climb up the wall, and I was hurting too much anyway.

I stared at it for a full minute, trying to will myself to move on, and I eventually did, knowing that I had only resisted that temptation because I had no other choice. But just as I thought it, I saw a ladder leaning against the wall up ahead. I was on the verge of grabbing it and going back when I remembered that it was a temptation, and I had to resist it. So I continued to walk on, congratulating myself for having learned my lesson.

Eventually I stopped in front of yet another door and put my ear to it. I couldn’t hear anything, apart from the banging on the door at the other end of the corridor. I hesitated; I knew that there had to be something in there, and I really didn’t want to have to deal with more people trying to convince me that they were real, because I was worried that if Natalie reappeared, I would have exactly the same problem as I’d had the first time. And I certainly didn’t need another army of Tommys after me.

I was still hesitating when an ear-splitting crash behind me announced the arrival of the Tommys. I pulled the door open, bolted in, and looked over my shoulder. I could see only Tommys charging towards me; Hignat, Wilwog and everyone else from the classroom had evidently stayed where they were. It looked as though I had passed that test, at least. I slammed the door on the Tommys before turning to observe the next room.

I recognised this place too, though it made my heart sink horribly. The room was larger than the first two, and contained an in-ground swimming pool in the centre. I’d been here numerous times in the past, before I was big enough and a good enough swimmer to use the Jade River. This room was Natalie’s; it was actually part of her house. Her family were the richest people around Chopville; yet another reason why I thought I was out of her league. They were the only people around rich enough to have an actual pool in the house.

As the hammering on the door behind me began once again, I looked carefully around for Natalie, sure that I would have to confront her again, seeing as this was her house. But I couldn’t see her anywhere. I listened carefully for any sound, but it was no use hoping to hear anything over the racket those Tommys were making. Perhaps this temptation was simply to avoid going for a swim? I doubted it, but I somehow knew to stay away from the water all the same.

There was a door straight ahead of me which, in real life, housed nothing more than a cupboard of mops. But now I knew that would be the way on from here. I started around the pool, my footsteps hardly making a sound over what the Tommys were drumming up. But then, just as I was halfway around the pool, a voice spoke from within the water; a girl’s voice, but it wasn’t Natalie.

“John?”

I looked around and saw who it was. It wasn’t Natalie, or her sister, but it might as well have been because this temptation was going to be just as difficult to resist. It was Lena, gliding towards the side of the pool so she was a close as possible to where I was standing. She looked even sexier than usual in her bikini, which I couldn’t remember seeing on her before. We’d all been swimming at one point the previous week, but I could only assume that I was concentrating on other things when Lena was in the pool. That had been before she’d started bugging me.

“Hello, Lena,” I said, taking a step forward, away from her, but still unable to take my eyes off her.

She reached the side of the pool, looked up at me and said, licking her lips, “Wanna come for a swim?”

I’d been expecting that and had my answer ready. “No thanks, I’m in a hurry.”

“Aw, come on, why not?” she asked, pulling herself up on the edge of the pool and straightening up to face me.

I backed away from her, ever closer to the door, but found it even harder to take my eyes off her than before. Now she was standing right in front of me, clearly model material, and watching me with amusement.

“No,” I said firmly, noticing a change in the banging sounds the Tommys were making; it was sounding more and more splintered all the time, which could only mean that the door was losing the battle.

“Oh, that’s not the answer I was looking for,” she said, reaching out and taking hold of my arm.

I attempted to wrench it away, but she tightened her grip. “Come swim with me. You know you want to.”

I didn’t want to, and even in real life I probably wouldn’t have, but I had to admit that while I knew it had no bearing on reality, I was hard put to say no. At the same time, I noted how difficult it was to give in to this temptation while Lena was clearly ready to drag me, kicking and screaming, into the pool. I’d never liked being pushed around. I suddenly wished it really was Natalie again; she wasn’t as strong as Lena, and was usually less persistent. Both characteristics were looking pretty good at the moment.

Hoping that perhaps rational tactics might help, I said, “I can’t swim, I haven’t brought any bathers or anything.”

“That’s okay,” she said at once. “We can skinny dip.”

And without warning, she wrenched my trousers down below my knees, ripping them in the process. Horrified, I struggled with every ounce of strength I could muster, feeling the aches and pains from the beating returning and knowing that I was almost out of time. Lena squashed every hope I had of escaping by pinning me to her side and pulling the rest of my clothes off. My face was burning with humiliation, and I wondered how this could get any worse.

It did a moment later, when she proceeded to take off her bikini, so that we were both starkers. She then tightened an arm around me and dragged me to the side of the pool, aided by the slippery floor, where she allowed herself to simply fall sideways into the water, dragging me in with her. Stuck under the water, I struggled with her, eventually managing to get my head above the surface, but a moment later Lena’s head appeared beside me and I felt her wrap her arms around me and, gasping in pain and coughing up water, I was again left to wonder how things could get any worse.

And for the second time, my question was answered within moments. The texture of the water suddenly changed; it was now thick and slimy, and I could hardly move a muscle against it. A moment later, I noticed that both Lena and I were sinking into it.

“The life I always wanted,” she said, and her eyes were suddenly blazing, mad. “Now we can spend the rest of eternity together.”

This is it, I thought; I’m a goner. I couldn’t move a muscle against the swamp surrounding me, let alone the tight restraint of Lena, who was determined to do us both in. But of course she wouldn’t do herself in, because this wasn’t the real Lena, I reminded myself. I was the only one who was going to die. This was the end. If this had been Hall’s plan, he was about to win.

Then, as if to make the situation even worse again, the door crashed inward and the army of Tommys flooded in.

“He’s getting away!” one shouted. “She’s going to save him!”

“Get them!” several shouted, but I hardly cared. There wasn’t a lot they could do to make it worse for me now.

They all piled around the edge of the pool close to where Lena and I were sinking; I was up to my lower lip in it now.

“This stuff’s thick,” one said, feeling it. “Well you guys stick in there, we’ll take this side.”

I had no idea what they were planning, until I felt several hands grab me around the shoulders and attempt to hoist me up. Lena tightened her hold, attempting to weigh us both down.

“She’s dragging him in!” one shouted. “You guys get on this side and see if you can reach her.”

And to my surprise, they did. They got a hold of her and started pulling her up as well, though she fought desperately against them. After a moment, the fifteen-or-so Tommys pulled the two of us free of the swamp and onto the concrete. The Tommys had succeeded, although several of them had fallen in during the process and were now sinking hopelessly into its depths. I scrambled away from the pool, thinking myself lucky, only to be seized by a pack of Tommys. Behind me, I heard several shouts as a few more Tommys were knocked into the swamp during the struggle with Lena.

“No one ruins my destiny and gets away with it!” she screamed, and with a huge push, she threw her arms in the air, sending two more Tommys straight up and down into the swamp. I groaned; no way could she be that strong in real life. There were clearly no limits to the horror inside the box.

Lena rounded on the Tommys restraining me. There were now only a handful of them left. Between the two of us, they seemed to decide that Lena was the greater threat, probably because she was about half a head taller than me. Given that I was real and she wasn’t, this was the first piece of good luck I’d had since entering the box; perhaps that was my reward for not taking further advantage of a naked Lena while I’d had the chance.

Having made their decision, the Tommys released me and restrained her with extreme difficulty; she was putting up a great fight. I hurried to my pile of clothes and got into them as quickly as possible. My body was covered in horrible slime, and I hoped that it wouldn’t come back with me when I got back to the real world. Assuming I did get back.

“No!” Lena shrieked, and several more Tommys were hurled into the pool; I was amazed at how strong she was. There were now only half a dozen Tommys left.

Deciding that my best bet would be to let my enemies attempt to kill each other off, I staggered as fast as I could toward the door. Before I got there, several more yells behind me made me look around. Lena had won the fight; all the Tommys were in the swamp, a few of them nothing more than gurgling bubbles on the surface as they clearly struggled to breathe. I really hoped that this wouldn’t affect Tommy in real life. Then I wondered how I could ever be friends with him after what had gone on in here.

“John! Come back!” Lena called desperately, hurrying towards me. I hurled myself through the door and locked it behind me before she could get to me, desperate to get away. I heard Lena struggling to unlock it from the other side to no avail, and, feeling relieved, I turned away from her and hurried up the corridor, desperate to end this thing and get back to real life.

But when I saw the next door broken in, I realised with a thrill of horror that I had taken the wrong door; the door into the swamp room must have repaired itself somehow, after the Tommys went crashing through it. I’d taken it, instead of taking the new door. I also recognised the whole in the roof that I had passed under earlier, which meant I’d definitely taken a wrong turn somewhere. I turned around, not wanting to retrace my steps, and hurried back towards the swamp room, just as the door swung open, revealing Lena, who was back in her bikini. She had a steely glint in her eyes, as though nothing was going to stop her doing what she wanted. I guessed that she’d used a pin from her long, blonde hair to unlock the door. It had apparently proved a much more effective method than force, judging by how quickly she got out.

“The water’s back,” she said, and looking past her, I saw that she was quite right. The swamp had disappeared, replaced by the calm water that should have been in Natalie’s pool. “So, you want to go for that swim now? No more Tommy to worry about no more. I’ve dealt with them just for you—”

She was striding towards me the whole time she spoke, but I needed to get back into the room with the pool. I could see only one thing to do to get past her: lead her back to the classroom, let her chase me around in there, and then run through the door. At least she would be behind me rather than in front then, always assuming that none of the others back in the classroom got in the way.

I turned, but didn’t even have time to take a step before Lena grabbed me by the arm. I suddenly changed my mind and decided that I would have to get past her here; there was no other way. Her grip was extremely strong and I couldn’t break it, and not having had a chance to recover from the pounding from the Tommys didn’t help.

“John, please,” she said, seemingly desperate. “What are you so worried about?”

“Perhaps I’m worried that you’re going to try to kill me again!” I snarled, losing my temper and stamping on her foot—something I wouldn’t have done to the real Lena under any circumstances.

She screamed and released me, but was still blocking my progress. I attempted to push past her, but she seized me around the waist and threw me into the air, demonstrating the same strength she had used to attack all those Tommys. I soared higher than I would have believed possible, but when I thought I should have hit the ceiling, I kept going up. She had thrown me up into the hole in the roof, it seemed, and I landed on my hands and knees on the ledge a moment later, now coughing up blood, the beating I’d taken from the Tommys earlier beginning to take its toll. Instead of leaving me there, though, Lena jumped and grabbed the edge of the ledge, pulling herself up onto it and smiling at me.

“Just us now, no interruptions, and you can’t get away without jumping down,” she murmured.

I looked past her and realised that she was quite right; there was nothing up here but a dead-end, and I would have to jump to get back to the floor. In my current state, there was no way I could do that without really hurting myself. And Lena was blocking the edge of the ledge in any case. I would have to push her over if I hoped to get down myself—something else I wouldn’t have dared do to the real Lena. Given the way she was behaving, it was easier to tell myself that this wasn’t real than it had been with Natalie, Peter, Serena, or any of the others I had faced since entering the box. I glanced at her, wondering just how much force it would take.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said, crawling towards me and smiling as she pinned me against the wall. “You won’t push me down. You’re too nice to do that to me.”

“God, I’m supposed to be resisting you!” I snapped, struggling against her hold. “And you’re not making it possible.”

“But why resist?” she asked. “When I can give you pleasure such as you’ve never had—”

“Don’t give me that crap!” I snapped, managing to push her away from me, but still not over the edge. I staggered to my feet and looked around for a solution. I couldn’t see any way out without hurting her, and the instinctive, illogical part of me still felt uncomfortable doing that to a girl. Then I spotted something lying in a dark corner. It looked like a controller of some sort. Completely forgetting that I was supposed to resist temptations, I lunged at it and picked it up. It had two buttons—one large one in the centre and a smaller one in the centre of the larger button, so that the two of them looked a bit like a doughnut. It also had a silver knob, which looked like some sort of laser.

Remembering that this Lena wasn’t real, I turned on her and pushed the smaller button, pointing it at her. An orange laser beam did indeed shoot from it, hitting Lena squarely in the chest. She froze, her whole body shining orange, but a split second later the beam was gone, and Lena was taking deep, steadying breaths, clearly wondering what had just happened. I pushed the button again and held it down, and this time Lena was completely frozen by the orange beam, unable to move a muscle.

I took the chance and moved around her, looking down at the drop. If I hung on the ledge and lowered myself down, I would only have to drop a few feet. It was worth a try. I replaced the controller in my pocket and began to lower myself, but just as I was about to let go, Lena grabbed my wrists.

“No,” she hissed. “Whatever that was, it won’t work on me again. Wherever you go, I’m coming with you.”

But the laser had apparently weakened her, because my wrists slipped from under hers and I dropped to the ground, landing on my feet and staggering only slightly. Lena swore from above me and immediately jumped down, landing catlike behind me. I shot at her again with the laser, but this time I pushed the button hard enough to push in the larger button as well. I could see no difference in what the laser did to her, but as I went to lower it into my pocket, the beam had shot upwards, and this time Lena was lifted high into the air, still immobile. Curiously, I moved the beam around and realised that I was moving her body with the beam, while keeping her stunned. I directed her body back onto the ledge above and then, releasing the larger button but not the smaller one, I hurried away.

I darted back down the corridor, through the room containing Natalie’s swimming pool, and into the next corridor. I ran as best I could the whole way, not knowing how long Lena was likely to stay frozen in place. When I reached the next door I put my ear to it, but once again heard nothing. Deciding that I was far enough in front of Lena to stay away from her, I released the button and put the stunner away in my pocket. Then I pulled the door open and edged inside, quickly shutting the door behind me.

When I looked around, I blinked. There was nothing in here but total, impenetrable darkness, although I could hear scuffling sounds somewhere to my right. I opened my eyes to their fullest extent, trying to see what the temptation in here would be. The only time I had ever experienced darkness as solid as this was in the room that had contained the Sien-Leoard Crystal. Suddenly lights flickered on, so bright that I was forced to cover my eyes with my arm. Then I heard a familiar voice.

“John! Thank God, I didn’t know what to do for the best.”

I squinted towards the voice and spotted Marc, standing near a door that was clearly the exit. I blinked and realised that I was indeed back in the room that had contained the Sien-Leoard Crystal. The conveyer belt at the back of the room was up and turning slowly.

“What are you talking—”

“He’s got my Hero Crystal,” said Marc. “I can’t do anything.”

“Ah, how much more perfect can this get?” asked another familiar voice, this time coming from the right, where I had heard the scuffling before.

I looked around and saw Marc’s father, a Hammerson henchman, who had given us so much trouble over the last couple of weeks. The last time I had seen him was in this very room the previous week, and on that occasion he had cut off his hand in order to follow us. Now, however, both his hands were whole and undamaged, as they had been the first time I met him. As in our previous meeting, Moran was flanked by three ghosts: Hal and Pol Maivis, relatives of Harry and Simon’s who had been Hammerson supporters, and a young woman ghost who I didn’t know. Seeing her reminded me of how I had felt about her the first time – an odd kind of sadness. I remembered how she had seemed to recognise me, though now I came to think of it, that was probably just because I was the only one other than Fewul (the Beast of Magic) who could see her. Still, though, there was something odd about her, this time was no different.

I panicked. Moran and his ghosts had magic, I was sure; how was I supposed to get past them? The door near Marc, which last week had required a special key to open, was now identical to every other door in the place. I made toward it.

“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Moran, starting forward, and holding what I recognised immediately as an agonator out toward me. “I haven’t finished with you, Playman.”

“Come on, John,” said Marc, grabbing my arm. “I can’t do this alone, but I reckon together we can get that crystal back off him.”

I looked at the desperation in his eyes, and back at Moran and his gang of ghosts. This was just another temptation; the first was my feelings for Natalie, then my friends, and then—I supposed—my teenage lust. This was surely my need to do good and stand up to people like Moran, but that didn’t change the fact that it was just another temptation. Decided, I grabbed the door handle, but I didn’t have a chance to pull it open before I was lifted off my feet and slammed into the wall. I hadn’t felt anything touched me, so I could only assume it had been telekinesis performed by one of the ghosts—they had done that a bit on camp. I raised myself onto my elbows and looked up at Moran, who was standing over me, sneering.

“I have plans for you two boys,” said Moran. “But first I should introduce you to my friends here. This is Hal, and Pol, and this young lady—”

“We know who they are,” snapped Marc, but I felt annoyed as I staggered to my feet. Moran had been about to tell us who that woman was, and I desperately wanted to know.

Moran opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when the entrance door burst open and Lena bounded inside. My stomach sank; what on earth did I have to do to get rid of her?

“You get away from him,” she snapped at Moran, taking him completely by surprise. “He’s mine.”

“Lena?” asked Marc, goggling at her. “You’re not wearing anything.”

I could tell that he was having as much trouble taking his eyes off her as I had. In truth, she wasn’t completely naked; she was still in her bikini, but I knew what Marc meant.

“I’ve been swimming,” she said, placing her hands around Moran’s throat and proceeding to strangle him.

He gagged, and the ghosts sprang into action. Lena was lifted into the air and slammed against the wall, and I could tell it was the woman ghost that had done it this time. The Hero Crystal, which in real life belonged to Marc, went rolling across the floor, now split into six smaller crystals, and Marc lunged at it but Hal and Pol headed him off.

I took advantage of the distraction to get back to the exit door. I opened it, and a blinding white light filled the room. I covered my eyes and stepped forward, knowing that I had to get through this, but my feet had left the floor, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in Room 11 with a desk in front of me, and Hall still standing behind me. I was back! Back in the real world at last. It was the first time ever—and would no doubt be the only time—that I found myself happy to see Hall.

I checked my watch, and noticed that it was still only just before half past 3… No time had passed at all.

“Well done,” said Hall. “You managed to get through okay.”

I could hear the disappointment in his voice; he had clearly hoped I would die in there.

“What was it?” I asked. “Was it all in my head?”

“In a sense,” he said. “It’s enchanted to extract as many thoughts, hopes and feelings from your mind that it can, and turn them against you.”

“And that it did,” I said darkly.

“I suggest you go away and think about what took place in there,” he went on bitterly. “It may prove useful. Seeing your own thoughts, hopes and feelings in front of you can make them easier to understand in the real world.”

I thought about that and realised that he probably had a point, though I would have to go over it all in my head before I could understand anything.

“Very well,” said Hall, snapping me out of my musings. “That’s enough of a task for today, and this is your last detention too. At least until you earn some more. I hope you don’t.”

“So do I,” I said, but I wasn’t going to leave without one question answered first. “Where did that thing come from anyway? How did you get hold of it?”

Hall looked surprised, and not altogether happy that I had asked. “It came from the Sorcerers, Playman, obviously. It was given to the school as a task for year-twelve students preparing for their exams to test their discipline. I was able to convince the principal to let me use it this afternoon. That is really all there is to it.”

“Right, thanks,” I said, and left the room and walked away without looking back. That was not all there was to it, I knew, for two reasons. Firstly, Hall had neglected to mention which family of Sorcerers had provided that particular piece of magic; and secondly, he hadn’t quite been able to meet my eyes as he spoke of the year-twelve exam preparation crap. I supposed there was a chance he was telling the truth-the story sounded plausible enough—but I had my doubts.

As I walked, I felt in my pocket, and my hand found the Light Crystal. My relief that Hall really hadn’t been trying to take it was enormous. Then I also noticed that all the aches and pains I’d had when I stepped into that white light were gone too. I assumed that meant that it had operated the same as the Transgators, in the sense that my actual body had never gone in there. That was a huge relief.