‘NO! You don’t understand!’ says Polly.
‘On the contrary, I understand all too well, little girls.’
Slowly Captain Skuldiss turns around and whistles at the van. The doors to the cab swing open and two men step out. They’re wearing rubber hoods, with gas masks, and rubber gloves and waterproof trousers tucked into their boots. They’re carrying guns, bigger than Polly’s. They’ve got ropes and nets slung over their shoulders, and belts dangling with tranquillizer darts.
Cullers.
Chapter 21
Polly kneels down and clutches my arm tight.
The nearest culler strides over and pulls Sidney out from under the crutch with his rubber-gloved hands. She struggles, but is too weak to resist, and the thug carts her away, off down the steps and into the van.
Polly screams, ‘Bring her back! Bring her back! Where are you taking her?’
They chuck Sidney on to the hard metal floor of the van like a sack of coal. As she crawls into a corner, Captain Skuldiss levels his crutch at us. I don’t want to know what else might come out of there.
‘And you kiddies — you are illegally present in a restricted area. Quick march, if you please!’
But Polly is already running towards the van, shouting, ‘As if I would let you take Sidney without me!’
I run down the steps after her, the cockroach safely stashed away in my pocket. Captain Skuldiss shakes his head and hops after us, as Polly and I jump in through the open side door.
‘It’s all right, Sidney, we’re here!’ Polly calls out.
At the sound of her name, Sidney stirs uneasily in the corner. *Is this how we’re getting to the city?* Her voice sounds tired and confused. *I thought you said something about a stag? I’m not ready for my final journey yet.*
*Our plans changed, I’m afraid.* I pat her softly. *Everything is going to be all right, I promise.*
Captain Skuldiss’s head appears in the van doorway. He grins. We get one last look at Wind’s Edge before he rolls the door noisily shut and we are plunged into blackness. Moments later the van starts and reverses sharply, throwing Polly and me against one another in the back. But as her small hand reaches out in the darkness and wraps itself around mine, it does make me feel that I am not alone.
The van goes fast over the bumpy ground, flinging Polly and me from side to side. It is all I can do to stop Sidney and the General being crushed between us. Polly has gone quiet. She was very brave when it was just me to face off, but now I think she’s properly frightened. My shins are stinging with pain that makes it hard to think clearly. But one thing is for sure — I wish I’d never left the stag and his wild.
A panel in the cab wall slides back, just large enough for us to see Captain Skuldiss.
‘Smile please, childrens!’ he says.
Taken by surprise, not thinking, we both turn towards the light.
There’s a blinding flash, and then another. I’m obviously not the only one taking photos of everyone I meet. He slams the panel shut.
In the darkness, circles float before my eyes. Polly clutches my hand, and then Skuldiss forces the panel open again, his white face filling the whole slot.
‘So, childrens,’ he says, ‘a VIP animals-loving childrens we have here, my phone tells me — a very special guest. What we haves here, no less, is the son of another infamous Factorium employee — the son of a certain Professor Jaynes.’
Perhaps it was the van going over another bump, but I feel like my stomach just went through the floor.
Polly looks at me in shock, dropping my hand like it’s on fire. ‘You never said your dad worked for them.’ Her voice has a new edge to it. ‘Is he like this man? Is he like Selwyn Stone?’
I shake my head in the dark. I want to explain to her — but Skuldiss carries on –
‘A most popular young boy-childrens, I am given to understand by my device here. Running away, making one hell of a — how you say? — big stink. Well, don’t worry. There is a call out for you, little one. Chop goes the kitty cat, and then back to Spectrum Hall you shall go.’ A nasty smile. ‘As for your little friend … Your dear Mom and Pops have been arrested in Mons, girl-childrens. For trying to collect some precious formula, meant only for good law-abiding city folk, not wicked outsidery types such as yourselves. Naughty Mom and Pops. So it’s off to Spectrum Hall with you as well!’
He drags the panel shut and we both throw ourselves at the dividing panel, drumming our fists on it. I am never going back to Spectrum Hall — never.
‘Where are they? You have to take me to them!’ screams Polly. But there is no reply, just the sound of the van roaring along the road.
We lean back in silence, and after a while I can feel Polly looking at me strangely. She slides away, over to the other side of the van.
I have to explain to her, tell her –
The reason I’m in just as much shock as she is.
Because Dad doesn’t work for Facto. At least — he didn’t when I left, six years ago –
My thoughts dissolve into nothing as the brakes scream, sending the van into a skid.
The force of it flings us hard against the wall –
And then against the door, which has now become the ceiling –
Then we’re bouncing around like sweets in a tin, everyone apart from me screaming and shouting –
Until finally everything stops.
There’s no noise apart from the engine hissing and whining. I feel all over to check whether anything is broken. There’s a groan beneath me — something very soft and very furry splayed out between us.
*Sidney! Are you all right?*
There’s no reply.
The poor thing feels all limp and lifeless. I hug her close to me, trying to make her warm again. Polly takes Sidney from my arms, rubbing the cat over and over, trying to get her to open her eyes, and then I hear it — a very weak and tiny voice.
*What are you waiting for?*
I clap my hands with relief.
Polly holds her tight. ‘Is she talking, Kester? Can you hear her?’
The fact she’s used my real name for the first time gives me a shock, and I almost smile. But it’s not Sidney speaking.
In the pale blue glow I can just make out the silhouettes of some antennae balancing on what was the base of the van and is now the ceiling.
*How many times do I have to give you an order, soldier? Now open the blasted door!*
Behind me, Sidney coughs like a sick baby in Polly’s arms. Looking at the light squeezing between the doors, I aim a massive kick at them. To my surprise, they swing right open and a gust of wind blows in, sweeping the General off his perch.
Polly pulls herself to her feet, holding out her hand. I grab it, and she drops out of the back of the van, dragging me and Sidney with her, nose-diving straight into a ditch full of twisted roots. There’s mud everywhere, over everything. Sidney has gone at once from being a white cat into a black cat with a few white spots. Polly and I are both spluttering, wiping the soil out of our mouths, her whole face apart from her eyes covered in what looks like war paint.
Now I know what I must have looked like when I broke into her house. No wonder she got her gun out.
Just above us, the General clings to a bumper, bruised but not down. The van hangs over the edge of the ditch on its side, brake lights still on, a spooky red glow over us all. Polly is just sat there, examining the different leaves and twigs, sniffing each one. But this is no time to behave like she’s on one of Dad’s scientific expeditions. I snap my fingers at her, signalling urgently, but she just shakes her head.