Hunt and Power. Stephen Hayes

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      When he said ‘Freddy’, he was referring to Mr. Woodward—or rather, his old friendship with Mr. Woodward. Just prior to the Rock Haulter camp, Mr. Woodward had taken Amelia, Stella and his mother to fix up the damage done to the world at large by Moran when he had briefly become a Sorcerer.

      I was incredibly relieved to hear Dad and Charlie talking like this. All four of them, having fought in the last war, seemed to have a better understanding of our position than our mothers would.

      “We haven’t seen a lot of her since we got back, though,” I went on. “Only seen her a couple of times. There’s nearly thirty of us involved with Marc and his crystals now, and he and his brother reckon it’d look really suss if we all hung out together. I’m not sure who she hangs out with now.”

      I paused, wondering how best to link this to the party. I couldn’t do it too quickly; I was sure there was one more step I had to take before mentioning the party, but I had no idea what that step was. Fortunately, Peter took over.

      “Do you guys think we should trust her?” he asked. I lifted my eyebrows at that; it was a stroke of genius, really, asking their opinions. If they said we should trust her, then asking to go to the party was a clear next step.

      “Guys?” said William, raising his eyebrows, and I could tell he thought the idea of a teenager speaking that way to his elders was rather disrespectful. Peter didn’t seem to pick up on the hint, though, and neither Dad nor Charlie were at all fazed by it.

      “Well, Freddy’s the smartest bloke I’ve ever known,” said Charlie. “Amazing foresight, always seems to know the right thing to do and the best time to do it. He’s also very good at working out who the traitors are. He always says not to trust entirely in his judgement, but personally I’ve never gone wrong by doing so; one of the reasons your father and I are still here today.

      “One of the first things he did when he got back in town after his world trip was call us to a meeting, because he’s found himself in a position that he’s never been in before. He really doesn’t know what to think of Stella, because he’s never met anyone quite as—er—unstable.”

      “Unstable?” repeated Peter, confused, but I thought I understood what Charlie was saying. And I didn’t like it. Now, though, I was starting to understand where James’s attitude came from. Apparently, scepticism ran in the family.

      “It’s mainly to do with the way she’s been raised,” said Dad. “Freddy said he gleamed quite a lot just from looking at her face. Her family has done something to weaken her mind so that they can always read her mind and know what she does. He believes that she’s probably a good person, but as long as she lives with her family, they can find out just about anything from her by reading her mind.”

      “What did they do to her?” I asked indignantly.

      “No idea,” said Charlie. “Perhaps she’ll know. I tell you what, this is the way I would advise you to handle her. If she needs someone to talk to, you can be the ones to listen to her if you want, but I wouldn’t go telling her much about yourselves. Arnold Hammerson knows we were alongside the Woodwards last time, and I wouldn’t put it past him to use Stella to get information about us, even without her knowledge.”

      I could understand that. It was better than what I had expected, better even than what James thought. It meant that they suspected that Stella herself wasn’t dangerous, but that because of her weak mind (whatever that was), her family could use her against us without her knowledge.

      Peter and I looked at each other now, trying to work out how to bring the conversation around to the party. I had the feeling that we were about as close as we could get, but I also had the feeling that none of them would want us actually spending an evening in the company of the Hammersons.

      “You think the Hammersons would be as interested in you as they are in Marc?” Peter finally asked incredulously. “I know we can’t be all that popular with them, but wouldn’t they have more important things to worry about?”

      “Does any of us really know what the Hammersons consider as important?” asked Carl in a low voice.

      I shot Peter a warning look because he looked ready to argue, which was not a good move. Thinking hard, I said, “Yes but why, exactly? Did you do something last time that they’d want payback for?”

      “Not particularly,” said Dad. “But we are fairly close to the Woodwards themselves, and I’m fairly sure they're aware of that.”

      “Well that’s okay,” I said. “At least, I think it’s okay. I dunno. See, Stella approached me several weeks ago, even before that stuff with Moran. She was looking for a friend, and she singled me out of everyone in that park.”

      “Did she say why?” asked Charlie, frowning and looking … what? Nervous? I thought so, but I couldn’t think why.

      “She just said that I was the only one who would trust her,” I said. “And I thought she was nuts, ‘cause I didn’t even know her.” I looked at them. “What do you think she was thinking?”

      “Looking for a friend,” Charlie repeated, thinking hard. “Well I suppose she may have been doing just that. I tell you what, if she’s most interested in a friendship with you, John, then I’d keep her on side. You may not know—in fact, Stella may not know—but the Woodwards have their own plans for her.”

      “Do they?” I said, my curiosity overwhelming me despite the fact that I’d worked myself into the perfect position to mention the party.

      “Indeed,” said Charlie. “Don’t ask, though, it’s top secret. And of course if Stella finds out then her family will too, and they won’t let it happen. But you can be sure that, eventually, it will be perfectly safe to be friendly with Stella. Unless, of course, it turns out that she’s in league with her family after all.”

      “And what are the odds of that?” asked Peter.

      “In Freddy’s mind, pretty slim,” said Dad comfortably.

      He and Charlie bit their tongues and looked closely at us, like they were waiting for us to speak. Maybe it was a parent thing, but I had the distinct impression that they knew we were about to get to the point, and they wanted to hear it. So I took a deep breath, and said it.

      “She wants us to come to her birthday party. Her family’s put it on, and they say she’s allowed to bring her real friends, since she doesn’t get on with anyone they hang with. Do you think we should go?”

      “Her family are giving her a birthday party?” said Carl. “I thought they spent their days torturing her.”

      “Sounds extremely suss,” said Dad.

      “How sincere was she when she said she wanted you there?” asked Charlie.

      “Very,” said Peter, answering the only actual question. “We’ve only seen her once since she got back, and she addressed the whole lot of us, and honestly if I didn’t know what her family does to her, I would have thought of her as a bit of a—I don’t know. She just seemed overly thankful and appreciative of our support.”

      “And she looked like she meant it,” I added. “It wasn’t as though she looked happy for some other reason. I don’t know if her family are up to something, but as far СКАЧАТЬ