by Alesha Dixon
I closed my eyes in horror, unable to say anything. He was on that helicopter. We had just missed him, minutes behind Mr Mercury. If only I had got here sooner.
“Aurora, are you there?” Nanny Beam said in a panicked voice.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“You need to leave. Tell Aunt Lucinda and Cherry to get in that car and bring you straight home to Hertfordshire. We have to protect you. The Dalai Lama and the Pope have both been kidnapped; that means the last two guardians are you and the Queen. He’ll be after you next. I have to go but let me know when you’re on your way.”
She hung up.
“I’ve just got a hundred messages from Mummy saying I’m to take you home,” Aunt Lucinda told me, nodding towards the car where Alfred was still standing, determined to dent the offending roof. “Alfred, stop pecking at the roof, will you, darling? It’s completely bullet and explosion proof, so I imagine it can withstand ostrich beaks. You’re just tiring yourself for no reason.”
“Come on, Aurora,” Cherry said, glancing nervously up at the darkening sky. “Let’s get you home. I’ve got a bad feeling about all this.”
“We can go home but we need to make a stop on the way,” I replied.
“Oh?” Aunt Lucinda raised her eyebrows. “Why?”
“Because that’s not the first time I’ve seen a helicopter exactly like that one fly into the distance,” I explained, marching determinedly towards the car. “And this time round, I know exactly who owns it.”
11
“I hoped I would see you again soon, Aurora.”
Darek watched me carefully as I sat down opposite him.
“Have you had time to think about—”
“Tell me about the Dalai Lama,” I interrupted, leaning forward and fixing him with my most determined stare. “Where has Mr Mercury taken him and the Pope?”
Handcuffed to the table, he linked his fingers together and looked down at his lap, avoiding eye contact.
“Darek!” I snapped. “You need to tell me where they are, NOW. I know it’s you that is behind all this.”
He looked up.
“What makes you think that?”
“Because I watched the helicopter fly off with the Dalai Lama and I recognized it from the Superhero Conference last year,” I explained, narrowing my eyes at him. “It was the same helicopter that took off with the Light of the World.”
“I can’t help you, Aurora.” He sighed. “Not until you help me.”
“How are you instructing Mr Mercury from inside the prison? Who else is helping him? Is it an employee from Vermore Enterprises? You know that we’ll find them, Darek, so you might as well tell me now who it is.”
“If you get me out of prison, I’ll tell you everything.”
“You know I can’t do that!” I practically yelled, growing more and more agitated. “I would never help you after everything you did.”
“But I’m sorry about all that!” he wailed, clenching his hands. “I made a mistake!”
His tone completely took me aback. I stared at him in shocked silence as his eyes filled with tears. He looked so vulnerable.
“I told you,” he croaked, “I regret it all. Can’t you see I’ve learned my lesson? I don’t want to be here any more and the only way I’m ever getting out of prison is by bargaining with you using the information I have. If you get me out of prison, I’ll help you.”
“I’m not going to fall for this,” I said sternly, telling myself more than him, because for a moment I really did start to believe that maybe he was truly sorry. “I’m not stupid. Now, last time I was here, I saw that you had been visited by someone who had just written ‘N’ in the visitors’ logbook. Is that Mr Mercury in disguise? Is that how you’ve been telling him what to do from inside here?”
A shadow fell across Darek’s face as I mentioned the mysterious visitor. He pursed his lips tightly and shook his head, not saying a word.
“What disguise is Mr Mercury using to—”
“I am NOT working with Mr Mercury!” Darek growled, slamming his hand on the table. “That man is despicable and that he should be anywhere near those precious stones makes my blood boil. He doesn’t deserve any of it.”
“He’s not working for you? Do you know who he is working with? Or where I can find him? I know he can’t have done all this on his own. It must be you who is behind it. Who else could possibly help him with the resources and knowledge about the precious stones? It was YOUR helicopter that I saw!”
Darek’s eyes glanced up to meet mine for just a moment before returning to focus on his clenched fists.
“I’m not saying anything else,” he said. “Not until you get me out of this place.”
“This is serious,” I said in a softer tone, desperately attempting a different tactic. “He has kidnapped the Dalai Lama and the Pope. I need answers.”
“And I need you to trust that I am a changed man,” he replied, his voice breaking with the emotion. “I can help you return the Light of the World to where it needs to go.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
“The Light of the World,” he repeated. “Have you returned it yet? To maintain the proper balance of light and dark in the world, that precious stone book says you must take it back to where Dawn Beam discovered it. The safety of every person on the planet is at stake. It said so in that precious stone book. I remember reading about it in there.”
“And I will do that when I can. But, in case you haven’t noticed, a mad man has been going around the world stealing precious stones and their guardians, so I haven’t thought about it lately.”
“Really?” He raised his eyebrows at me. “I would have thought that’s exactly why you should be thinking about it. If Mr Mercury has got his grubby hands on the other precious stones, what makes you think he isn’t coming after the Light of the World?”
“It’s safe.”
“Like the others were?”
I didn’t say anything. Darek knew he had hit a nerve and leaned forward across the table, keeping his voice low even though there was no one but us in the room.
“I know where the Light of the World needs to be returned to: under the Aurora Borealis. That’s the only place it will be safe and restore the balance of light and dark.”
“How could you possibly know where Dawn Beam originally found it?” I asked.
“Because I know everything about that stone. Even more than its guardian.” He paused, giving me a gentle smile. “I’ve dedicated my life to it, as you know. Without me, you wouldn’t have even known you were the guardian in the first place.”
His eyes flickered to where my hands were resting on the table. I turned over my left hand to face my palm upwards so that the swirled scar was visible.
“It really is amazing,” he said softly, staring at the scar. “You have no idea just how powerful you are, Aurora.”
“Mr Mercury wouldn’t dare come after the Light of the World,” I said, shoving my hands under the table and bringing the conversation back into focus. “He knows how well guarded it is.”
Darek shook his head. “The only place it is really safe is underneath the Aurora Borealis, where it belongs. Your role as guardian is to protect it. If you don’t take it back there, that precious stone will go missing along with all the others. Mr Mercury will have won and then…” He looked pained, his whole face scrunching up as his sentence fizzled out.
“Aurora,” he said, snapping his head back up, “break me out of prison and I can take you.”
“Break you out of prison? Have you lost your mind?”
“That’s the only way!”
“You must think I’m stupid,” I said, pushing my chair back and standing up. “I came here for answers, thinking that there might be just one tiny bit of goodness left in you, but I was wrong. You’re going to be stuck in here for ever.”
“I meant it when I said I had learned my lesson!” he cried, his pleading tone stopping me from walking right out of there. �
�You think I want Mr Mercury to have that kind of power?”
He let out a loud “HA!” and buried his head in his hands. I stood in silence for a moment, not quite sure what to do, but then he lifted his head and spoke again.
“I don’t want the power for me,” he said, his eyes locking with mine. “I want to help my family. I made a terrible mistake and I am sorry for it. I am telling you the truth.”
“If you mean that, you’d tell me where the Dalai Lama and the Pope are. You’d help me to recover the precious stones Mr Mercury already has.”
“Please, just think about it,” he said solemnly. “Get me out of here and I’ll take you to return the Light of the World to where it belongs. That’s the only place it will be safe and that’s the only way of bringing all of this to an end.”
I walked over to the door and left the room before he could say anything else. The prison officer waiting just outside gave me a strange look.
“Everything all right, Lightning Girl?”
I nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”
But I was lying. Everything was not all right. As Aunt Lucinda drove Cherry and me away from the prison towards home, I couldn’t shake a horribly unsettling feeling.
The feeling that Darek Vermore may just have been making sense.
12
I was so bored.
Mum kept telling me that lying low was for my own safety, but it felt a little bit like I was under house arrest, especially since Nanny Beam had posted a load of agents around our house to keep watch. On the third day of not being allowed to go to school, I mentioned my take on the situation to Dad as he started cooking dinner.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Aurora, you are not under house arrest,” Dad said and chuckled. “We’re just taking a few precautions, that’s all. Nanny Beam pointed out that Mr Mercury knows your school very well, having been in disguise there for a while. We don’t want to take any risks.”
Kimmy barked loudly in agreement from her bed nearby. She’d spent the last three days following me from room to room, thrilled that I was now at home during the day so she could keep an eye on me all the time. I’d told Nanny Beam that she didn’t need to make her agents stand out in the cold all day protecting the house when we had Kimmy to do that, but she hadn’t listened.
“And,” Dad continued, his eyes twinkling, “at least you have plenty of company. Cherry, Aunt Lucinda, Alfred…”
He trailed off as we heard a loud crash from upstairs. Aunt Lucinda had mentioned to us a few minutes ago that Alfred was going to use Mum and Dad’s bedroom for his online Zumba class.
“Oh dear,” Dad sighed, raising his eyes to the ceiling and grimacing at the loud bass coming through from Alfred’s speakers. “That sounds like a few broken photo frames. Anyway, what was I saying? Ah, yes, that you’ve got some great company to join you in putting… uh” – he paused and then waggled his finger at my face – “whatever that is on your face.”
“It’s a home-made oatmeal and coconut milk face mask,” I explained, leaning back against the counter and picking up a spoon to look at my reflection. “Aunt Lucinda made it for us.”
“Hey, Aurora, I think you have some messages,” Cherry said, wandering in from the sitting room, her face also slathered in an oatmeal face mask. “Your phone vibrated a couple of times.”
She passed me my phone, which I’d left with her on the sofa, and I saw that the messages were from the Bright Sparks, asking how I was feeling. Like everyone else at school, they thought I’d been struck down with terrible flu and so was stuck in bed for the week. I’d told them that it was super contagious so not to come to the house. My heart sank as I read their get-better-soon messages and I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.
I WISHED I could tell them everything. Lying to the Bright Sparks was so weird and I hated doing it, but I also knew that it was too complicated to let them in on all this. I couldn’t even tell Aunt Lucinda and Cherry exactly what had happened in the Vatican and India, and they had been there in person. Nanny Beam had explained to them that Mr Mercury was up to something and kidnapping prominent public figures appeared to be part of his plan. At least I could talk to Mum about it, but it was difficult to speak without the risk of being overheard, considering how many people were crowded into the house.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell them the truth?” I had asked Nanny Beam when she’d popped over to the house to speak to Aunt Lucinda and Cherry, before instructing Mum and Dad not to let me out of their sight.
She had put a hand on my shoulder and given me a sad smile.
“This isn’t about doing what’s easy,” she’d said. “It’s about protecting the precious stones and their powers.”
I knew that she was right but lying to the Bright Sparks wasn’t something that came to me naturally.
“Suzie won another gymnastics competition,” I announced to Dad and Cherry, reading through their school updates. “And apparently Fred has detention. Again.”
“What did he do this time?” Dad asked, putting on the oven timer.
“He meant to throw a water balloon at Suzie, missed and hit a school inspector square in the face,” I read out loud, causing Cherry and Dad to burst out laughing. “I wish I could have seen that.”
Kimmy suddenly got up from her bed and ran to the front door, wagging her tail and barking in excitement, something she only does when it’s a family member coming home. Dad checked his watch.
“Right on time. Mum’s home.”
I glanced at the time on my phone and looked back at Dad in confusion.
“I thought she was going straight from her meeting with MI5 to pick up Alexis and Clara from school. But school hasn’t finished yet.”
Dad grinned. “Why don’t you two go get the door for her?”
Cherry shrugged, looking as baffled as I did. We made our way down the hall and could hear Mum’s voice as she spoke to the agents stationed outside the door and then another muffled voice speaking to them, too.
“Who is that?” Cherry asked.
I pulled Kimmy, who was by now bounding up and down in excitement, out of the way, and opened the front door to see Mum on the doorstep searching for the keys in her bag.
“Hey, Aurora,” she said, beaming. “I just swung by the airport and guess who I happened to find there?”
She stepped aside to reveal the person standing right behind her.
“JJ!” I cried, lunging at him to give him a hug. “What are you doing here?”
“You thought I was going to let you and Cherry have an adventure on your own?” He laughed as he was ushered into the hallway by Mum, offering Cherry a high-five. “When Cherry told me that Nanny Beam had asked her to get to India because of a sighting of Mr Mercury there or whatever, I told my parents that Lightning Girl needed my help and they agreed to let me fly here as long as your parents were happy with it.”
Mum smiled and put her arm round my shoulders. “I thought you could do with some cheering up. JJ and I decided it would be a good surprise.”
“Thanks, Mum. You’re the best,” I said, as she kissed the top of my head.
Cherry nodded. “Nicely done, Mrs Beam.”
“You can call me Kiyana,” Mum corrected.
“The agents around your house are kind of scary,” JJ noted. “They searched me and everything. I asked if I could try on the guy’s sunglasses, but he was very serious.”
“You can’t just ask an MI5 agent to try on his sunglasses,” Cherry said, rolling her eyes.
“Whatever, they would have looked good on me. I also tried challenging him to an arm wrestle, but Mrs Beam wouldn’t let me.”
“Kiyana,” Mum corrected again. “And I felt that it might be a little unfair, what with you having super strength. The last thing we need is for the agents sent here to protect us losing confidence in their abilities after losing arm wrestles.”
“Anyway, the most important question I have for you right now is” – JJ inhaled deeply for a dramatic pause – �
��can someone tell me why you both have weird-looking slime all over your faces?”
“It’s actually a very relaxing and soothing home-made face mask,” Aunt Lucinda said, breezing into the hall from the sitting room, carrying a bowl of the mixture. “Would you like some?”
“Are you kidding?” A wide grin spread across his face. “I’ve just been on a flight from Nigeria to London and then searched by MI5 agents. Pass me the slime.”
That night, I was woken up by Cherry mumbling in her sleep. Mum had set up a mattress in my room for her to sleep on and JJ was on the sofa downstairs, while Aunt Lucinda and Alfred were both in the spare room. It may have been a little squished in the house, but even my parents had to admit it was a lot of fun with everyone staying there.
“Cherry? Are you awake?” I whispered.
She didn’t reply, but instead continued to talk nonsense in her sleep. I smiled to myself and rolled over, nestling back into my pillow. But her voice got louder and then there was a moment’s silence before she said a name so clearly that a shiver ran down my spine.
“Mercury.”
Jolting in her sleep, Cherry began crying out. I pulled my duvet off and knelt to shake her awake, but she swatted me off.
My bedroom door swung open and JJ, Mum and Dad came rushing into the room.
“What’s going on?” Mum asked, switching on the light. “Is everything all right?”
“I think Cherry is having a really bad nightmare. I can’t wake her up!”
Cherry woke with a start and sat bolt upright. She blinked at me and then everyone standing in the doorway, her eyebrows knitted in confusion.
“Are you OK? You were having a nightmare,” I explained, as she slowed her breathing and then wiped her forehead.
“Yes, sorry, just a bad dream,” she said, realizing what was going on and looking up at my parents apologetically. “I’m so sorry that I woke you.”
“Not at all,” Dad said, yawning.
“Are you OK, Cherry? Would you like a glass of water?” Mum asked.