Looking for Lucy Jo (16 page)

Declan nodded. ‘Arabella and Patrick?’

‘Through there,’ she pointed. ‘The others, too.’

Suddenly, the sound of splashing water could be heard, following by intense coughing and then silence. Declan rushed past Aria, pushing the others out of the way.

Patrick stood in the water, soaked from head to foot. In his arms was an unconscious Sthenelaus, wearing nothing but a big pair of Y-fronts.

‘Lovely,’ Lana said, screwing her face up in disgust. ‘That’s a picture I’m not going to be able to get out of my head. Gross.’

‘This was way too easy,’ Declan said as he helped pull Sthenelaus out.

‘He was in the water, unconscious,’ Patrick said, wiping his brow and climbing out.

‘Do you think it’s a trap?’ asked Emma as they just stood and watched the other Mentors handcuff him and carry him out of the building.

‘I don’t know. I don’t think so… I mean, he was unconscious,’ he whispered, looking around. ‘I honestly think he thought he was safe. If it wasn’t for Aria, we’d never have known about him coming to this place.’

‘But why was he unconscious? He might have drowned in there.’ Emma pointed. ‘Not like that would have been a bad thing.’

Declan shook his head. ‘Honestly? I haven’t a clue.’

Aria had been standing in the shadows, not keen at that point to reveal herself to her ‘husband’ until he’d been taken away.

‘Aria?’ asked Lana. ‘Are you okay?’

Nodding, she turned. ‘Did you find Madge, too?’

Patrick shook his head. ‘He was alone in the water.’

‘Then she must be close by,’ Aria gulped nervously.

‘Let’s split up,’ Declan suggested as they formed groups and headed off to look for his other wife, but after an hour of searching every part of the building, Madge was still nowhere to be found.

Regrouping outside of the Seville Thermal Bath House, they decided to leave her behind and take Sthenelaus back to Praxos in London, where he would eventually stand trial for his crimes.

Climbing back into the vehicles, the convoy set off, but as they did, Emma could have sworn she heard the sounds of a woman screaming out. It sounded like she was shouting ‘Sthenelaus!’ It made her shiver.

‘You okay?’ asked Diarmuid.

‘Did you hear that?’

‘What?’

‘Never mind, maybe it was just my imagination,’ Emma said, leaning her head against the cold window.

‘That was totally weird, like totally surreal.’ Lana said what everyone was thinking.

‘It was, wasn’t it?’ Barber replied, patting her knee gently.

‘I mean, he’s meant to be a leader of the Skulls, yet he was so weak, he had no powers and we found him just like that… I don’t get it. What’s going on?’

‘I don’t know, but at least we have him now. He can’t do any more harm. Not anymore. We’ll see to that,’ Declan said. ‘Now, why don’t you all try and get some sleep? We’ll be travelling another few hours before we get back to Monchique.’

One Week Later

‘I can’t believe we’re back at the Academy. It doesn’t seem like we had a proper Christmas holiday at all,’ moaned Lana as they climbed the stairs out of the building to meet Declan for their first class of the year.

‘That’s because we didn’t. Not really,’ Emma said, adjusting her warm winter coat and hat against the bitter wind.

‘Where are we going, anyway? We don’t usually get to go out during class.’

Before Emma could answer her sister, they were joined by the rest of their classmates as they approached Declan, who stood at the gate.

‘Morning, guys. I hope you’re all appropriately suited and booted for today’s class. The first class of the year with me, Declan Alexander, and my able assistant…’ he said flourishing his hands for added effect before someone stepped out from behind him. ‘Aria Sophokles.’

Aria grinned and then smacked him on his arm. ‘Don’t call me that,’ she almost shouted.

‘Well, that’s your name, isn’t it?’ He laughed as everybody giggled at them before welcoming Aria to London.

‘What are you doing here?’ asked Lana.

‘I work here now—at least for a little while, anyway,’ she smiled.

Declan cleared his throat. ‘As I was saying, today we’re going on a field trip. We’ll be doing a fair bit of walking in the cold, so if you’re not wearing the appropriate footwear…’ He stopped and glanced at Lana.

‘What?’ she cried. ‘These are okay, aren’t they?’ she said, looking down at her knee high boots with kitten heels.

‘Lana Beth Morgan, go and change your shoes,’ Declan sighed.

The others all chuckled under their breath as she reluctantly turned and stomped away, almost slipping on the ice beneath her feet in the process.

‘Typical girl.’ Rupert grinned when Emma glared at him. ‘I only speak the truth.’

‘Yeah, yeah, I know,’ she laughed.

Some fifteen minutes later the group had arrived at their destination. Camden Town.

‘Camden? Why are we in Camden?’ asked Emma. ‘This is my favourite shopping street in all of London,’ she said, trying hard to keep her eyes from straying towards the multitude of weird and wonderful gothic, steampunk and alternative shop windows.

‘I’m afraid we’re not here to shop, Emma. You’ll have to wait for the weekend for that.’

She frowned, but chuckled as Declan led them away from the shop fronts and down beneath a secluded bridge.

‘I want you in pairs, please,’ Aria announced, and the couples each stood apart when they had finally decided. Naturally, Lana and Emma had wanted to be together, leaving Diarmuid to partner with one of the boys. He was used to it; he didn’t mind.

Declan began handing out flyers.

Looking down, Emma laughed. ‘This is a class? But this is fun?’ she said as Lana pulled the piece of paper from her hand and read the instructions.

‘We’re doing a treasure hunt? How cool is that?’ she guffawed.

‘Well, we figured you didn’t get much of a Christmas holiday, so we decided to have some fun during your first week back,’ Declan grinned.

‘We have a whole week of fun?’ asked Emma.

Both Declan and Aria nodded.

‘Cool.’ Emma grinned.

‘So now you’re in your teams, here are the clues. Go have fun. We’ll be around whenever you need us. If you get lost or lose us, just give us a buzz. You’ve all got mobile phones. Now, no cheating. Enjoy!’ he yelled as everyone scrambled away from the two adults, all laughing and whooping as they ran under the bridge and across the other side before finally stopping and realising they needed to read the paper to find out their first clue.

Declan and Aria laughed as they watched the teenagers all scatter in different directions.

‘I think this might take a while,’ he smiled, ‘considering they’re all looking for the same thing.’

Aria laughed as she leaned on the wall and looked down.

‘So how are you doing?’ He asked her.

‘Okay, I guess.’

‘C’mon, spill it.’

She sighed and stood upright again, turning so her back leaned against the bridge. ‘It’s been over a week now and we still haven’t managed to get any information out of him. Not even with Penny’s ability to make people speak the truth.’

‘He’s not just anybody, Aria. He’s Sthenelaus, one of the most powerful Skulls around.’

‘Do you really think that?’

He shrugged and rubbed his hands together for warmth. ‘Honestly?’

She nodded. ‘Of course.’

He shook his head. ‘Not anymore. I don’t know what happened, but he’s like a shadow of his former self. Although he’s obviously still capable of resisting our powers, he’s just a guy with an illness. An illness that appears to have taken all his own powers. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I can’t get my head around it.’

‘I know, that’s exactly how I feel now. But I don’t quite understand how quickly he deteriorated. He wasn’t like that a few days before.’

‘No?’

‘No. He was quite strong. Yes, he kept having the coughing fits, but then he’d be fine after a day or two in the Turkish baths.’

‘I wish I knew what was happening, and I wish I could find out the truth for you. It can’t be easy, not knowing.’

Aria sighed. ‘It’s been years, I guess I’m getting used to it.’

Declan patted her on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, mate. We’ll get to the bottom of this.’

‘I hope so. Come on, let’s get a coffee while they work this one out.’

Declan grinned. ‘Good idea.’

oOo

Down below in Camden Town

a hospital is what you’ll find

But once where horses soothed

Now belongs to the shopping kind

Find a locket with hair so pale

and a lady with eyes of night

There you’ll find your next clue

And a prize for the first of delight

‘Come on, Emma, we’ve got to find this clue. Stop looking at all this weird stuff. We’re not here to shop. I can’t believe I just said that.’

Emma raised an eyebrow and grinned. ‘It’s usually me that’s saying that to you.’

Lana linked arms with her sister as they read the clue again. ‘Do you think we’re in the right place?’ she asked.

Emma nodded. ‘Definitely, this place was an old horse hospital back in Victorian times,’ she said as they looked around them, realising none of their classmates were anywhere to be seen.

‘How do you know that?’

‘Are you kidding me? Like I said before, this is one of my favourite places in London.’

‘If you’re so smart, then where’s the next clue?’ Lana asked, smiling and pulling her sister towards the old tunnels.

‘I’m not sure, although I do recollect seeing a woman who likes to wear way out contact lenses. Maybe it’s her?’

‘Where? Come on, show me.’

Emma let go of her sister and ran in the opposite direction. ‘This way, I think.’

Walking quickly past a multitude of weird stallholders and shoppers, Emma stopped suddenly at the entrance to a small boutique. Inside sat a woman making jewellery. She looked up when they stepped inside, and smiled.

Lana gasped and then giggled.

The woman was clearly wearing contacts, but they had nothing to do with night – instead, her eyes looked rather like a lizard’s.’

‘Can I help you luvelies?’ she asked, in a broad London accent.

‘Erm, no thanks. Just browsing.’ Lana smiled shyly as they backed out. ‘Any other ideas?’

Emma shrugged. ‘It’s quite difficult, considering everyone here is very, erm…’

‘Unique?’ Lana suggested, linking arms again.

‘Oh, I just had an idea,’ Emma said. ‘I bought a locket once from somewhere. Maybe…’

‘Yeah, let’s go. Which way?’

They walked quickly again, still noting that they were the first of their classmates to figure out that they should be in the Stables shopping area.

‘Hello again,’ said a young man dressed entirely in Steampunk clothes.

‘Hi.’ Emma blushed. ‘You remember me?’

‘I remember everyone,’ he replied. ‘Looking for another locket?’

Emma nodded.

‘Yes, one with hair so pale,’ Lana quizzed.

The man frowned for a second, but it was clear he was hiding a smile.

‘It’s here, Em. It’s here somewhere.’

The man stepped back to reveal an older lady sitting in the corner, she looked up with a toothy grin and revealed black eyes. Emma gasped and clapped her hands, moving closer.

‘Wow,’ said Lana. ‘That’s amazing.’

They both stood watching the woman whose eyes looked like twinkling stars in a dark night.

‘They are the most amazing contacts I’ve ever seen,’ Emma whispered.

‘Can I buy some?’ asked Lana, temporarily forgetting why they were there.

‘I’m afraid these aren’t for sale, love,’ she said, laughing. ‘These ain’t contact lenses,’ she winked.

‘Oh, you’re a super…’ Emma nudged Lana and shook her head. Her sister stopped talking.

‘The locket,’ Emma said. ‘We need to find the locket.’

Suddenly Lana started laughing. Following her gaze, Emma chuckled too. In the woman’s lap was a large white cat, around whose neck was an unusual locket.

‘I think we found the clue,’ Emma said.

‘May I?’ she asked the woman, who was grinning.

‘You may, my love. Don’t worry, she’s a gentle one.’

Leaning forward, Emma gently stroked the cat’s back before opening the locket. Inside was a picture of the young man they’d spoken to moments before.

‘Oh,’ Emma exclaimed. Turning to him, she smiled. ‘Do you have our next clue?’

The man nodded and bowed, revealing a number of envelopes hidden in the very top of his hat.

Lana grinned and took one. ‘Why thank you, kind sir.’

‘My pleasure. Your prize,’ he said, turning away from them for a moment. When he turned back, he held out his hands and nodded to them both.

Lana and Emma each held out their hands, cringing with expectation.

But when he released his own hands, they felt a tickle before a beautiful white dove appeared in both girls’ hands. They sat for a moment before flying up and away.

Both girls squealed with delight as they watched the doves fly through the stalls and out into the daylight.

The man tipped his head and walked away.

‘That was awesome,’ Emma grinned as they opened their envelope to reveal their next clue.

‘Are we the first, then?’ Lana asked.

‘Of course. We got the prize of delight, remember.’

‘Oh yeah. Cool. What’s next then?’

A journey down under

With the warmth on your skin and

the wind on your face

Look for a place of worship

Down by the water

You’ll find your next clue

In the hands of someone’s daughter

‘What the heck does that mean? This is so hard, Em,’ Lana said, pushing her hair behind her ear.

‘We can figure it out. Right, so we need to travel somewhere. By bus?’

‘You don’t really get warm skin and wind on your face on the bus though, do you. Oh, it’s the underground, it’s the underground,’ she answered. ‘Come on, let’s go to the nearest station.’

Both of them squealed like little girls before running up out of the Stables and down the road. They passed Liam and Ava, who were looking a little lost.

‘So long, suckers,’ Lana shouted from across the road.

‘Aw, c’mon, give us a clue!’ he shouted back.

‘You’re almost in the right place,’ Emma yelled back.

He gave them the thumbs up as they continued running until they came to Camden tube station. Getting their passes out of their handbags, they went through the barriers and stood facing a large map.

‘Okay, where do we need to go?’ Lana said, more to herself then Emma.

‘Hmmm, we’re looking for a place of worship. There must be tonnes in London. St. Paul’s?’

‘No, it needs to be near the water,’ Emma replied, her finger in her mouth as she concentrated.

‘It might not be a regular church though, sis. It might be where Muslims go to pray and stuff. What are they called? Erm, mosques? Are there any mosques around?’

‘I wouldn’t know what to look for. Do you think it would really be a mosque? Surely it would be something a little easier to find, don’t you think?’

‘Yeah, I guess. Erm… I can’t see anything, can you?’

‘Oh, oh I’ve got it!’ Lana squealed as she placed her finger on the map.

‘Temple? Oh Lana you’re a genius!’

‘I know,’ she said rubbing her fingers on her coat. ‘Let’s go! I think we might win this thing.’

‘Don’t talk too soon, sis. We’ve only been at it for what, less than an hour?’