Hunt and Power. Stephen Hayes

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СКАЧАТЬ to be around them long enough for them to possibly change their minds. Dad and Charlie came home as cheery as ever, as per usual on Friday afternoons, but it didn’t take long for the mood of the place to get to them too. But there was a different tension come Saturday morning. The adults seemed to have accepted the inevitable by this stage, and were becoming normal again, but the six of us were torn between excitement and extreme nerves. Whatever we said to each other, we couldn’t deny the fact that what was going to happen tonight could—at best— be a good night out. At worst, it could be fatal.

      Due to this, it was impossible to relax or settle to anything during the day. James attempted to get us doing homework, but it simply didn’t work. We therefore spent the day just talking about the party, and how we would handle ourselves if anything did go wrong. We also put some time into deciding what the hell we were going to wear that night, eventually settling on the only formal attire we had. The girls were in a better position, having more things to choose from, but they would have preferred to have had the chance (and the money) to go shopping for something suitable. They did, at least, go out to the town central in the late morning to get their hair done.

      Marc sent us another SMS around lunch, reminding us of the time of the party, and also reminding us that he wanted a meeting at 6 o’clock that evening. He said nothing about where to go or what was to be discussed, so I could only assume we were to use our phones to get there. All he said was not to eat beforehand, so either he was planning on feeding us or we’d get food at the party. James was rather uneasy about that idea.

      “What if their plan is to poison us?” he asked.

      “I might give mine to Hignat to taste test first,” said Peter grimly.

      The girls returned around half past 2 with the news that Amelia had already dropped by our house to take the Light Crystal from my top drawer, as well as put the spell on the rest of the family to make sure they went to bed early that night, which they broke to us out of earshot of any of the adults. Despite this, however, our mothers had plenty to say to us when we left the house that evening. It had been James’s idea to let them see us leaving the house, so that they wouldn’t be suspicious about how we were getting past them without their knowing.

      “Remember what we discussed last night,” Mum said, following us to the door.

      “Eleven on the dot, alone and sober,” said Peter in a bored voice. “No need to worry, Mum; we’ll make you proud of us.”

      “Not that you aren’t already,” added Jessica, earning herself a scowl from the pair of them. They obviously didn’t want to admit she was right.

      “Be careful,” said Charlie. “Don’t let your guard down. We’ll be waiting up to hear how it went.”

      “Righto,” said Nicole, containing her smirk with difficulty.

      We finally managed to get out of the house at 5:50, fighting the urge to jump with joy. In spite of whatever danger was facing us, it was still a massive achievement for us to get out of the house this late at night, and with permission. We went around the corner into Napoleon Road, where we would be out of sight of any of our parents, and waited for 6 o’clock. We all held our phones in our hands, unsure exactly what this was going to feel like, and kept glancing down at our watches as 6 o’clock ticked nearer…

      “Ten … nine … eight,” said Peter, his eye on the second hand of his watch. “Here it comes…”

      “How do we know Marc’s watch isn’t on a different—” said James, but he never had a chance to get the rest of the sentence out.

      Before he finished talking, I felt the ground vanish from beneath my feet. The sight and sounds of the others and our surroundings were replaced by silence and swirling colours, but it only lasted for a second. A moment later, my feet were back on the ground, but the air was very different. James, Peter, Nicole, Felicity and Jessica were around me in exactly the same positions they’d been in before, only now we were standing in the dim light of Marc’s hidden quarters in the midst of the rest of the Young Army. There was silence for a moment before everyone started talking at once.

      “Easy,” said Peter in my ear. “Didn’t even hurt. Brilliant idea; much easier than persuading the parents every time.”

      “Too right,” I muttered back.

      Looking around (it was hard to see past everyone in the room), I could see Marc and Lucien, apparently trying to restore some order in the place by organising people into seats. Eventually, the place cleared somewhat and we were able to see the ring of seats, pretty much as they had been on Tuesday night. We sat down and waited to see what was going to happen. I looked quickly around and couldn’t see that anyone was missing, which was a good sign.

      Now Marc was waving for quiet, and eventually the place fell silent, though Marc had barely opened his mouth before he was cut off.

      “I have a question,” said Harry. He didn’t look worried or angry, but merely curious. “Simon and I had our phones in our hands when that happened. Well, obviously it worked, ‘cause we’re here. Would it have worked the same if we’d had them in our pockets, or in a bag of some sort?”

      “Pockets, yes,” said Amelia. “Bags, I’m not so sure. Certainly the phone would come, but I’m not sure if the person would come with it.”

      “That sucks,” said Jane. “I normally have my phone in my handbag.”

      Quite a few of the girls began to voice their disapproval as well, but Amelia waved them off, frowning.

      “We can’t be too flexible with the enchantment,” she said. “If it transfers the bag, and anyone holding the bag, then it could transfer other things as well, including people we don’t want to attend. It’s just a small sacrifice we’ll have to make.”

      She stared around, waiting to see if anyone else would argue with her, but no one did. I could understand exactly where she was coming from; it had occurred to me, in the second before we were transferred, that we might leave some of our clothes behind if they weren’t directly touching our skin. Thankfully we didn’t, but then I’d also been worried that if we hadn’t been standing on something so solid as the footpath (like if I’d been sitting on my bed, maybe the bed would come with me just like my clothes), other things might have come along with us. The enchantment was clearly as balanced as we could make it without posing any security threats.

      “Does that mean,” said Sebastian, sounding as though he wanted to make sure all angles were covered, “that if someone grabbed our arm just as we get transferred, they would come with us?”

      “Exactly,” said Amelia. “That’s what I’m trying to prevent.”

      “Well that’s something,” he said, looking around at the rest of the girls in the group with a gloating expression on his face. I noticed several of the girls, including Natalie, perk up at once at this. Marc must have noticed too, because he quickly drew everyone’s attention back to himself.

      “Right, well I’m sure you’ve all had a chance to think about what’s going to happen tonight,” he said, looking around seriously at the group.

      “Yeah, but most of us are hoping you can tell us more definitely what’s going to happen,” said Sebastian, fixing Marc with a pointed stare.

      “What exactly is it you want to know?” asked Stella, and several people, including Sebastian, jumped; most СКАЧАТЬ