There were embarrassed murmurs, and Rose shook her head in disbelief, but Galliana did not react.
‘In actual fact,’ she said, ‘the party will continue as planned. As we’re all aware, we must open up the Mount occasionally for local inspection in order not to arouse suspicion.’
Oceane let out a squeal of delight. ‘Parfait, parfait!’ she exclaimed, clapping her hands.
‘This meeting is adjourned,’ concluded Galliana. ‘The selected team will set sail at two p.m. precisely. You will travel to Venice in 1506 and liaise with Paolo Pozzo, our man in sixteenth-century Italy, at the Quay Ognissanti. That will be all.’
There was a general hubbub as everyone stood up and started making their way out of the room.
‘Jake, may I have a word with you?’ Galliana asked softly. ‘And you three’ – she nodded at Topaz, Nathan and Charlie – ‘can you wait over there? I wish to speak with you afterwards.’
They nodded obediently. ‘Group leader! I suppose we’ll never hear the end of it,’ Nathan muttered as they waited to one side.
Galliana led Jake over to one of the great windows. ‘Bearing up all right?’
Jake nodded bravely.
‘There is something I must share with you in private,’ she went on. ‘I am telling you because I do not want you to think too badly of your parents. As you now know, they retired from the service after you were born. But there was a compelling reason why they chose to come back to us three years ago …’ Galliana hesitated before continuing. ‘They hoped they might finally understand what happened to your brother, Philip, and put his memory to rest.’
Jake gasped in shock. ‘What do you mean? He died in a climbing accident.’
Galliana put a comforting hand on his shoulder. ‘At the time of his disappearance he was working for us. Your parents tried to stop him. But we cannot deny our destiny. The pull is too strong.’
Jake felt faint; he gripped the window ledge tightly. ‘So what happened?’ he asked.
‘Philip was sent to Vienna, 1689, to track down one of our oldest and greatest foes, Prince Xander Zeldt,’ Galliana replied. ‘He had uncovered a plot that involved the assassination of three European heads of state. No one knows what happened next – the plot never materialized and Zeldt was never heard of again. Unfortunately, neither was your brother. We think he lost his life in the course of duty, but no body was ever found: history, as you can imagine, is a rather gigantic place to be lost in.’
There was a long pause as Jake tried to come to terms with this piece of news.
‘So – so what are you saying exactly?’ he stammered, trembling so much he could hardly get the words out. ‘That Philip might be alive somewhere?’
‘It’s only a remote possibility,’ Galliana told him.
It was too much for Jake; his lips trembled, his breath shook, and he couldn’t prevent the hot tears from springing to his eyes. As soon as the three young agents noticed his plight, they hurried over.
Topaz put her arm round him. ‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘It’s going to be all right.’
Jake nodded. ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ he repeated through his sobs. ‘I don’t know why I’m crying – I’m not a baby any more …’ He quickly wiped away the tears.
‘You don’t need to be grown up with us,’ Topaz told him. ‘We understand why you’re upset.’
Charlie turned to Nathan and whispered, ‘I don’t have a handkerchief – do you?’
With only a hint of reluctance, the latter produced a beautifully embroidered silk square from his pocket. ‘It’s Chinese silk,’ he explained as he passed it to Jake. As Jake blew his nose on it once, twice and a third time, Nathan flinched.
‘Thank you,’ said Jake, passing it back.
‘Please, it’s yours,’ Nathan insisted. ‘Something to remember me by.’
When Jake had finally got himself under control, Galliana spoke again.
‘I’m sorry if I upset you by telling you this. The fact is, none of us know what happened. Maybe we never will. But your parents were drawn back to the service in the hope that one day they might discover the truth. Do you understand?’
Jake nodded. Galliana put a hand on his head. ‘Now, you must be exhausted. Norland will show you to your room.’ She led him to the door, where the smiling butler was waiting.
Jake was about to leave, but he paused in the doorway. ‘This Code Purple … That’s really bad, is it?’ he asked.
Galliana was not one to sugar the pill: ‘I’m afraid it refers to a threat of potentially cataclysmic proportions. I have known only one in my lifetime, and that did not end well.’
‘And this prince … Zeldt, or whoever he is – what exactly did he do?’
Galliana took a deep breath and started to explain. ‘It’s a long story. For the moment, suffice it to say that once there were only good keepers. Long ago, Zeldt’s family worked for this organization, but now they are the enemy.’ She paused. ‘If you choose to join us – and I can’t really recommend it: you have to give it careful thought – you would learn all these things in good time.’
Jake nodded, and Galliana continued, ‘One last thing, Jake: once it has happened, we must never try to change the past. We cannot, and do not, bring people back from the dead, or stop wars or undo catastrophes once they have existed. We cannot and should not stop the Great Fire of London or the sinking of the Titanic, no matter how we feel about those events.’ Now her tone was sombre. ‘History is sacred. The past may be littered with horrors, but remember, Jake, that those horrors could be a million times worse. Zeldt and his like desire that darker and infinitely crueller world; they wish to destroy our history.’ Now her eyes shone with fire. ‘That is why we fight them: to prevent new outrages, to protect what has gone before in our fragile past – that is why the History Keepers exist.’
She waited for Jake to soak up this information. ‘Now, you go and have a rest.’
Jake nodded to the others.
‘Make sure you come and see us off,’ said Topaz with a smile.
Jake nodded again, turned and followed Norland out of the room.
Galliana stared after them for a moment, then closed the door carefully and came back to the other three, who were waiting by the window.
‘Commander?’ Topaz asked. ‘What is it you wish to talk to us about?’
Galliana took a deep breath. ‘Regarding your mission, I have one more important instruction. It mostly concerns you, Topaz, but all of you must understand it …’
10 DESTINATION: 1506
NORLAND LED JAKE up into one of the towers. ‘As you might have noticed, there’s an awful lot of steps on this little island,’ he said cheerfully, pulling a face. ‘It certainly keeps us older ones in shape.’
‘You live here most of the time, do you?’ asked Jake politely.
‘Between here and London. Mr Cole likes me to be at hand. Make sure his head’s screwed on in the morning.’ Norland hooted with laughter and his ruddy cheeks went rosier still. Jake wasn’t sure if it was particularly funny, but he smiled all the same.
‘And do you go on missions – to other parts of history?’
‘Oh no, not me, sir. I had a few problems with my valour when I was younger, you see … The shapes in my eyes were all at sixes and sevens. But don’t get me wrong, I’m happy where I am. It’s wonderful to be part of the History Keepers, in any shape or form.’
Jake remembered something from his trip across the Channel. ‘Didn’t you say you went to Austria once? You heard Mozart playing the piano …’
‘Good gracious, you have got a good memory, sir. You’re quite right, of course, but that turned out to be my one and only mission as a secret agent. It was simply magical, though,’ he added, his eyes moistening at the recollection. ‘All the pomp and circumstance of the Habsburg court; all the dances and balls and important people in their powdered wigs …’ Norland imitated them with a flourish, then wiped the fond tears from his eyes.
‘Anyway
, here we are,’ he announced as they arrived at an oak door. ‘Always your mum and dad’s favourite room. They loved the light.’ He led Jake into a small, round room that occupied the top of one of the castle turrets. ‘You’ll be down, I expect, to see the others off. In the meantime, make yourself at home.’
Norland turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. ‘By the way, I’m sorry about the kidnapping in Greenwich. No harm was meant.’
‘That’s all right.’ Jake smiled at him. ‘It certainly wasn’t my usual Friday afternoon.’
The butler was still looking slightly anxious. ‘You forgive me then, do you? I was just following orders, you see, sir.’
‘Of course – I haven’t given it a moment’s thought,’ said Jake.
‘Really? You’re an absolute gent!’ Norland exclaimed. ‘I can see we’re going to get on just fine.’ He winked, then closed the door and made his way back down the steps.
Jake dropped his bag and looked around the room. There was just enough space for a four-poster bed, made up with new sheets and plump pillows, and an ancient painted cupboard.
He absent-mindedly bounced on the bed, then lay back and looked at the whitewashed ceiling. Galliana had suggested he should rest, but his mind was too full. He heard noises from outside: Nathan bellowing commands. Jake got up again, opened the window and looked out. The quayside was directly below his bedroom. The Escape was no longer there – presumably it had been taken into the secret harbour; but in its place was another, smaller vessel: the Campana, one of the ships that Topaz had pointed out. It was a distinctive yellow ochre colour, with a steep prow and square sails. Nathan, his voice sounding more American when giving orders, was overseeing a group of sailors as they loaded it up.
Jake left the window open and looked in the cupboard. The blood drained from his face. He had been expecting to find it empty, but it contained an item he recognized immediately: a red suitcase.
It was the suitcase his parents had brought to the bathroom shop when he last saw them. Jake seized it, put it on the bed and unzipped it, instantly recognizing his parents’ clothes. As he rifled through the contents, hurriedly packed for a trip to a bathroom convention in Birmingham, he was once again engulfed in panic. He opened the front pocket of the case and received another appalling shock: inside were his parents’ passports.
Jake took them out and opened them. The familiar pictures of his mum and dad posing self-consciously in the photo booth at Greenwich station stared back at him. He remembered the day perfectly. They had been laughing so much it had taken five attempts. A stern ticking-off from a sour-faced commuter had only made matters worse.
As Jake looked from one picture to the other, it hit him more acutely than ever before …
His parents were truly lost.
Not just lost in Europe somewhere, but lost in history. Of course, Jake knew they wouldn’t need their passports in sixteenth-century Italy, but the fact that the documents were here in his hand emphasized their plight: what if they were imprisoned? What if they had been separated? What if they were already …? Jake ran over to the window, desperate for air. Down below, the sailors were still loading up the Campana, although Nathan was no longer to be seen.
Jake suddenly yearned to sail on that ship – to join the others on their expedition and help to find his parents.
I’ll go back and talk to Galliana,’ he told himself. ‘She’ll understand how important this is. I’ve already lost my brother – how can they expect me to lose my parents as well?
He shook his head as he remembered the em barrassed looks when he had suggested he should go too. He understood those looks: he knew absolutely nothing about the History Keepers and what they did. And yet he longed to go – perhaps even his brother might still be alive.
Then a notion took shape in Jake’s head: ‘I could stow away,’ he whispered to himself. ‘I just have to hide until we’re far out to sea. They won’t waste time bringing me back. I could persuade them to give me atomium and take me along.’
Jake hated the idea of tricking people, but the alternative was worse. He hurriedly put his parents’ passports in the inside pocket of his blazer. At the doorway he stopped to pick up his school bag. He put it on the bed and took out one of his books: the volume of history that Jupitus had sneered at. Jake flicked through its pages, its illustrations of moments in history. He had always wondered what it would be like to live in the world of those illustrations. He threw the book down and ran, leaving his bag on the bed.
He navigated his way down the labyrinth of corridors and staircases, occasionally doubling back on himself when he went wrong, until at last he came to the armoury. He hurried across the room and down the main staircase. Once again, the inscrutable eyes of Sejanus Poppoloe, the History Keepers’ long-dead founder, watched him as he passed. He opened the huge studded doors and stepped out onto the quayside.
Luckily, there was not a soul in sight: the Campana was now deserted. His heart beat at a rapid speed as he tiptoed towards it. He was about to step onto the gangplank when he heard a booming voice from above.
‘Settling in all right?’ Nathan asked as he emerged on deck, doing up the buttons of his tunic.
Jake did a double take: Nathan was now dressed in an entirely different outfit. He wore a tightly fitting jacket of dark navy suede, matching breeches and a pair of beautifully soft, worn boots. A glinting sword hung at his hip and a scarf was tied pirate-like around his head.
‘Settling in fine,’ Jake replied. ‘That’s what you’re wearing for the voyage?’
‘Italian fashion of the early 1500s is a very complicated animal’ – Nathan fitted a tiny diamond stud into his ear – ‘but I think I’ve hit the right balance, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Very authentic,’ Jake agreed – though he hadn’t the faintest idea what balance Nathan was talking about. ‘And this is the ship you’re taking to Venice?’ he asked quickly to prevent the other boy from asking what he was doing here.
‘She may not look like much, but this one’s a survivor.’ Nathan slapped the mast heartily. ‘Rumour has it that Christopher Columbus taught himself how to sail on this very vessel.’ He leaped down onto the quay. ‘I have to collect the rest of my wardrobe. The secret of always looking great is simple: have options!’ And he strode back into the castle.
Once he was out of sight, Jake took a deep breath and, pretending he was merely inspecting the ship, ascended the gangplank and stepped down onto the deck. In case anyone was watching, he made a show of examining the sails, the mast and the steering wheel, before taking one last furtive look around and disappearing down the steep, crooked staircase that led below.
Once out of sight, he immediately started searching for a hiding place. There was a tiny galley; the dining area had two doors – one leading to a neat cabin in the bows, where Topaz’s single suitcase had been installed; the other to a messy cabin in the stern, containing a bunk bed and a huge mountain of Nathan’s trunks.
Up on deck Jake heard a thud – more luggage was being loaded; then Nathan’s voice: ‘That’s the last of it. Leave it all in the cabin. I’ll unpack it myself. Careful – that tunic belonged to Charlemagne!’ The voice receded again. A moment later there was the clatter of footsteps down the stairs, then a cry as one of the sailors dropped a piece of luggage, followed by a mutter: ‘Lucky his majesty wasn’t here to see that.’
Jake quickly hid behind the door as they lugged the last of Nathan’s heavy cases into the cabin.
‘What does he need all this for?’ one of them asked. ‘He’s all of twelve.’
They went back upstairs and Jake heard them disembark.
‘This is ridiculous, I can’t do it,’ he said out loud as he emerged from Nathan’s cabin. He went back up the stairs, then stopped, turned and came down again. He took his parents’ passports out of his pocket and studied their pictures.
‘What if they don’t care enough about saving my family …?’ he said to himself – and once again his mind w
as made up. Just then, he noticed the hatch set into the floor. He opened it and saw a ladder leading down into the dark hull of the ship.
Like the Escape, this one had been converted to steam: an engine resembling a large Aga range was discernible in the gloom. Amongst the piles of wood and crates of food there were shadowy places to hide, and Jake carefully descended the ladder and closed the hatch behind him. He felt his way through the blackness to the bow and settled down amongst a pile of boxes.
He realized he was still wearing his ‘charmless’ school uniform, and couldn’t help feeling a twinge of regret at missing his appointment with Signor Gondolfino. He longed more than ever to belong to this more magical and elegant time.
Within a few minutes Jake heard the muffled voices of people assembling on the quay. Then the ship rocked as the crew climbed aboard. Nathan was giving some kind of impromptu speech, using phrases like ‘for glory’ and ‘for the good of mankind’. Then Topaz issued the order to set sail, a cry went up and the ship lurched as she was untied from her mooring.
Jake was suddenly gripped with panic: he must make his presence known.
But he didn’t move.
Even though it was pitch-black, he closed his eyes and thought of his parents, trapped in a dungeon, starving, awaiting their torturer. He thought of his brother, Philip – how he would ruffle Jake’s hair when he was feeling down. On a wet camping holiday in the New Forest, Philip had once stayed up all night to protect Jake from the killer his little brother imagined lurking in the woods. Older brothers weren’t usually so kind, but Philip wasn’t like anyone else’s older brother.
As the ship moved away from the pier, Jake felt his stomach turn over, and he was sure he heard his aunt say, ‘Where on earth is Jake? I suppose he must have dropped off …’
An hour later Jake was feeling very cramped and more than a little seasick. In the dining area upstairs he could hear the muffled voices of Nathan, Topaz and Charlie Chieverley. Someone was cooking, and tempting smells were wafting down, making Jake’s stomach rumble.
History Keepers 1: The Storm Begins Page 8