The Little Secret (14 page)

Jane said, “I suppose I'll be going home, then.”

“Home, Jane?”

“I mean, if you and Staffa are going to see Quarley — well —”

“Oh, you're coming too, dear.”

“But — Your Majesty,” Jane said carefully, “I can't stay for a couple of months — I have to get home in a couple of weeks! We're going camping, and then I'm starting my new school.”

“Please don't worry, Jane,” said the queen. Her voice was light, but her eyes gleamed with menace. “I shall see to your education.”

A terrible coldness settled around Jane. “I think I'd better go home soon,” she said bravely. “To my world.”

“Oh, you'll have forgotten all about that other world in a few weeks. Think of it as a dream.”

“But it's not a dream!” Jane cried. “You can't keep me here! My parents will be worried about me!”

“On the contrary,” said the queen, “they'll be pleased that you're off their hands — they clearly can't afford you.”

This was a horrible thing to say. Jane held up her head proudly. “They're expecting me to come home.”

“At the end of this month,” said the queen, “your parents will hear that you have been killed in a helicopter crash.”

“
What?
”

“I did the same thing with that Norah woman,” said the queen, calmly chewing chocolate. “Except that helicopters hadn't been invented in those days — it had to be a freak carriage accident. It's the kindest way to do it. You wouldn't want your parents to waste their time searching for you, would you?”

Jane felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. She was breathless with shock and fear. The queen meant to keep her inside the box forever. Unless she escaped before the end of the month, her parents would think their only daughter was dead. But why did the coldhearted old monster of a queen want to keep her here, anyway? Jane didn't understand any of it, and didn't want to understand. This place was complicated and frightening, and all she wanted was to go home.

Captain Hooter stepped up to the queen. “Your Majesty, the entertainment is about to begin.”

“Come, Jane,” said the queen. “Let's show you off to the rabble.”

“Show me off? What do you mean?”

“My dear child,” said the queen. Her words were kind, but her voice was an icy dagger, and her eyes were flat blue discs of pure wickedness. She leaned very close to Jane. “When will you learn to stop asking these dangerous questions? Shut up and do as you're told.”

Jane was very glad to be joined by Staffa. “Where have you been?” she whispered.

“I'm sorry I couldn't take care of you, Jane,” Staffa said coldly. “I had to entertain some mayors from out of town.”

“Staffa, why are you avoiding me?”

“You're joining us in the Royal Box,” Staffa said, as if she hadn't heard. “Don't sit down until I tell you.”

“Staffa!” Jane hissed. “You have to listen to me — your mother says she won't let me go home!”

“I'm afraid I'm not allowed to discuss these matters,” Staffa said coldly.

“I thought I was supposed to be your best friend!”

Was it her imagination, or did she see a flicker of anxiety in Staffa's face? Before Jane could decide, she was cold again.

“Friendship is one thing,” Staffa said. “Politics is quite another.”

“I'm not talking about politics!” snapped Jane. “Tell me what's going on!”

Staffa's fingers suddenly grabbed Jane's wrist.

“Ow, that hurts!”

“Don't be a fool, Jane — for lawks sake, shut up!”

“Stop that whispering, you two!” called the queen. “You'll have plenty of time for girlish confidences when we're in the mountains!”

She was smiling, but the expression on her painted face was horrible. Jane saw that Staffa was pale with fear and decided to shut up. They walked together, in prickly silence, behind the looming red form of the queen.

There was a huge red-and-white–striped tent, like the big top at a circus, next to the Royal Hut. The queen led the procession. It was a short walk, but very embarrassing for Jane. Staring Eckers surrounded them all on sides. The general mood was still sad — but there were growing mutterings of anger. People were getting bold, and making loud remarks.

“Is that her? Never. She's too small.”

“She'll grow!”

“I like her hair.”

“Her neck's too short.”

“No, it ain't — they all got short necks.”

It was a great relief to reach the tent, and climb the private wooden staircase to the Royal Box.

“This will be a treat for you, Jane,” said the queen. “You're going to see Migorn.”

“Really?” For a second, Jane forgot how worried she was. It would be fascinating to see the Ecker star in person. Poor Twilly would be so jealous (and where was Twilly? It was hours since she had slipped away into the crowds).

Jane gasped aloud when she stepped into the Royal Box. The huge tent held a roughly-built theater, with rows and rows of wooden seats, right up to the striped roof. She had a feverish impression of thousands of bright eyes, glittering in a wall of curious faces.

The queen stepped to the front of the box. The band in the orchestra pit played the droning national anthem. Jane noticed that there were a lot of soldiers patroling the audience, and that many people in the audience looked angry. And so few joined in the national anthem that Captain Hooter was almost singing a solo.

The queen did not seem to care about this. She sat down. Jane and Staffa sat down on either side of her. The lights in the great tent faded into comfortable darkness. To Jane's great relief, the thousands of bright eyes turned away from her to the stage. The purple curtains opened, and the audience burst into loud cheers.

“Migorn! Migorn!”

Jane was getting used to the triangular, chinless Ecker face, and she saw at once that Migorn was very pretty. She had golden curls, big, blue mouse eyes, a little round body and long skinny legs. Her feet were enormous, and very bendy. She danced as lightly and as gracefully as a hummingbird. Migorn sang her latest hit, “His Heart Was as Big as a Beetle's Leg,” in a voice that was partly human and partly like birdsong, and very sweet to hear.

His heart was as big as a beetle's leg

And as brave as a fighting bee!

He was curly

And burly

And I was his girly — he promised to marry me!

But his mam was as fat as a beetle's bum

And as mean as a wasp with a grudge!

She said “No!

“She's too low!

“I want her to go — and you'll never get me to budge!”

After the song, there was a sort of musical play. Migorn was a simple snail maid who fell in love with a prince. But the prince was under a terrible spell. His mother was a dragon, who kept him tied to her with invisible chains. He couldn't marry the snail maid until the chains were broken.

It was very entertaining, but Jane was uneasy. The audience was starting to get rowdy. When the hideous dragon mother appeared onstage, there were roars of laughter and many blew raspberries.

Migorn sang a song called “Let's Kill Your Mother and Get Married,” and the cheers were so loud that she had to sing it three times. The last time, everyone in the audience joined the rousing chorus. Some of them stood up.

Let's kill your mother and get married!

Let's not beat about the bush!

Just get her to the top of the stairs,

And give her a great big push!

She's a mad old fart who's had her day,

She's breaking all the furniture and getting in the way!

We can't do a thing till the old dragon's dead,

So let's kill your mother and get wed!

It was only too obvious that they were angry with the queen. It could not have been more obvious if the queen herself had appeared on the stage as the dragon, and the actor who played the prince had been dressed to look like Quarley. Amazingly, however, the queen did not seem to have noticed — she even joined in the song.

“That was catchy!” she declared when the song was over.

Suddenly, the door of the Royal Box crashed open and then everything happened very fast — Jane had a nightmare impression of several figures, all shrouded in black from head to foot. All that could be seen of them was their gleaming eyes, and the steely glint of their guns.

The queen let out a blood-curdling scream, but the audience was still cheering Migorn, and no one heard. Captain Hooter was knocked unconscious by one of the figures in black.

Someone grabbed Jane roughly. A man's voice growled in her ear, “Don't struggle and don't make a noise!”

Jane was too frightened to make any kind of noise. The man in black worked very quickly. She felt her hands being tied behind her back. A gag was put around her mouth and a blindfold around her eyes. It was terrifying to feel herself so helpless.

“Hooter!” shrieked the queen's voice, mad with fury. “Get up at once! Have everyone arrested and killed! You there — take your filthy hands off the human! She's MINE, do you hear? Oh, I know who you are — I'll hunt you down and feed you to the gulls!”

Jane felt herself being heaved up over someone's shoulder. She felt herself jolting, and she heard pounding footsteps, as she was carried out of the Royal Box and down the wooden stairs.

The screams of the queen fell away behind her. She felt fresh air on her face, then her body slammed down on a wooden floor, so hard that tears sprang to her eyes.

“Shut up and keep still,” said the man's voice. “You've been captured by the Norahs!”

THE NORAHS

She was in some kind of closed cart or van, jolting quickly and painfully over a very rough road. Her thoughts were a mix of confusion and terror. Who were these Norahs, and where were they taking her? What did they want with her? Was she about to be killed? Would she ever see her parents again?

Jane did not often cry, but she cried now — and it was very uncomfortable, because the tears made her blindfold damp, and she couldn't wipe her nose. After what felt like a lifetime, but was about an hour, she fell into a miserable doze.

She woke to the sound of gunfire, and screamed behind her gag. There were noises of angry voices and running feet. The van lumbered on, twisting and turning, and Jane guessed that they must be among the narrow city streets she had seen on her way to the Races. They came to a sudden stop. Jane heard the door being opened and felt cool air on her face.

A strong hand grabbed her ankle. She was pulled out of the van. There was a horrible smell in the air — like the hamburgers the twins had once left in the garage and then forgotten. Feeling light-headed and a little sick, Jane listened to the sound of the van moving away across cobblestones.

A hand took Jane's, and she felt herself being led into a room.

“Please don't be scared,” a quiet, indoor voice said. “We had to grab you quickly — it was an emergency.”

Someone untied Jane's hands and took off her gag. The blindfold was whisked off her eyes — and she was face-to-face with the last person in the world that she had expected to see.

She gasped. “Staffa!”

“Are you all right?”

“I don't understand,” Jane said. “I thought I'd been kidnapped by the Norahs!”

Staffa smiled. “You have.”

“What? Staffa, what's going on?”

“I'm one of the Norahs,” Staffa said. “Sorry I couldn't tell you.”

“But —” Jane said. She shook her head, trying to clear it. “But doesn't that mean you're trying to overthrow the queen?”

“Certainly,” Staffa said coolly.

“She's your mother!”

Staffa's childish face was pale and stern. “She's gone too far this time, Jane. Wouldn't you want to overthrow your mother if she killed your father and sent your brother to prison?”

“Who's in prison?” Jane was struggling to keep up. “The queen said Quarley had gone to the hunting lodge.”

“It's not a hunting lodge,” Staffa said. “She makes me sick when she tells lies about it. It's a prison fortress in the mountains, and very few people come out alive.” She took Jane's hand. “And now, as you heard, she's decided to send you there.”

“A prison?” Jane was bewildered. “Why does she want to send me to prison? Does she think I've done something bad?”

“I'll explain it all later,” Staffa said. “You're safe now, that's the important thing.”

“You might have warned me about all this,” Jane said crossly. “I didn't think I'd spend my vacation being kidnapped and hiding from the police.”