Blue Dome (The Blue Dome Series)

by Gill, J. G.

  CHAPTER IX

  I hadn’t realised how steep the tunnel was until I started to run back up it. My lungs wheezed and my legs ached. It was much harder to see where I was going without a torch. I thought about reaching for one, just as I’d seen Min do earlier, but I remembered how heavy they were and figured it would probably just slow me down. Instead, I gritted my teeth, ignored my groaning muscles, and forced my legs to run even faster. My usual paranoia about stumbling over and twisting my ankle again didn’t even enter my head. There wasn’t time. All I knew was that I had to get to the end of the tunnel and escape.

  I was still concentrating on my plan when something shimmered past me. I tried to reassure myself that it was just panic making me see things. It almost worked, until I saw something glinting on the floor up ahead. I slowed down and peered through the darkness. A long, loud hiss sent a chill down my spine. There was no mistaking what the object was. To make things worse, a pair of boot heels was growing louder and louder behind me.

  Fear churned in my stomach as I turned to face the man. In the hazy yellowness of the tunnel, I could pick out a human shape emerging from the shadows. He was carrying a torch, illuminating the passage immediately ahead. I glanced back over my shoulder at the large green mamba lying coiled on the floor in front of me. Its black eyes were trained on my calves. The snake’s tongue flicked in and out of its mouth like a mechanical clock, keeping time with my every breath. I was now completely trapped between the reptile and the man that I’d heard Min call “Demarge”.

  “So, you must be Clare?” The sharply clipped syllables scarred the quietness of the tunnel. “Apologies for such an unnecessarily dramatic introduction. Your friend could have made it easier for you, but she chose not to. One should choose their friends wisely. Maybe a lesson for next time?”

  “What did you do to Min? I saw you…”

  I trailed off as I realised I wasn’t exactly sure what I had seen. I mean, people shooting bolts of light at one another? A woman suddenly disintegrating into a million tiny fragments? The whole thing was completely and utterly crazy. The man simply smiled and tilted his head, arching his right eyebrow at me quizzically.

  “You saw me…what? I didn’t quite catch what you were saying.”

  I stared at him uncertainly. There had to be a perfectly good explanation for what I’d seen, and I knew I’d figure it out eventually, but right then it was probably better not to say something that would make me look like a complete idiot.

  “Who are you?” I said.

  “Min-Isis didn’t tell you? Well, well, she must have run out of time.”

  I studied the man’s face, trying to work out how I was supposed to respond to something so cryptic. “That’s not really an answer” was weak, but it was the best I could come up with. I tried to keep my voice as steady as possible to bluff the confidence I definitely wasn’t feeling. Hearing the cracks in my voice, I knew I wasn’t fooling anyone.

  “Right now it doesn’t matter who I am,” said the man. “The main thing is that you are my guest.”

  “Where’s Min? Is she still here?” I asked.

  The man shrugged dismissively. “She’s probably around somewhere,” he said.

  Now I was really confused. “What do you mean?” I said. “Is she here or not? Can I see her?”

  “Do you ever stop asking questions?” the man replied, sighing heavily. “I’m surprised you don’t exhaust everyone you meet with this kind of interrogation.” He met my glare with a patronising smile. “Come,” he said, giving me a quick, perfunctory nod towards the tunnel. “Unless, of course, you would prefer to be fang practice for Arius?”

  I hesitated, turning back to check on the whereabouts of the snake. It was still lying across the entire width of the floor, its skin touching either side of the tunnel. I quickly calculated my chances of managing to either jump over it, or somehow sidle around it. The odds were slim to none. I grimaced, grit my teeth, and began following the man.

  “Arius,” the man called in a sing-song voice, “make sure our friend doesn’t try to escape.”

  We continued to walk back down to the bottom of the tunnel in virtual silence, with only the scraping sound of snake tail against stone to break the monotony. I had no interest in making small talk with Demarge. Nor, it seemed, did he. It wasn’t long before we were back in the Consus Room.

  “This way.” The man jerked his head towards the arches lining the far wall.

  I paused to check whether the snake was still behind me and was promptly greeted by a warning hiss. I turned back and began trailing the man across the octagonal floor, my feet skimming the slippery marble. I scanned the room for Min, but there was no sign of her. If only I could have said the same for the snake. Its body shimmied over the tiles in time with the sway of the long black coat in front of me.

  Demarge stepped into the mouth of an archway and turned towards me, his face ghostly in the dark frame.

  “Come,” he said, beckoning me with his finger.

  I stood stock still. It was frightening enough being this close to him in the daylight, let alone in the darkness. He lowered his hand and raised his right eyebrow, as if curious why I was hesitating. I could have sworn that, for the briefest of seconds, his eyes seemed to soften. No sooner had I thought that, than his expression reverted to its hard inscrutability.

  “I mean now,” he said, making me jump.

  I stepped forward through the archway into a tiny, dark antechamber, barely big enough for two people. Instantly, I felt a chill on my face and hands. A perfume lingered in the air, as if someone had just run through the room and left an imprint behind. It was the same smell of sandalwood that I’d noticed earlier. I quickly shook the memory of home from my mind, determined to keep my wits about me. It was difficult though. I was standing so close to the man that we were almost touching. I stepped backwards, only to be reminded by an angry hiss that there was still a snake behind me.

  The man smiled, presumably at my bumbling awkwardness, before stepping aside and ushering me towards the top of a spiral staircase. From where I was standing, it looked as if it had been made of silver thread, woven into a delicate cylinder that was as fragile as the fine filigree jewellery my grandmother used to wear. I glanced down, trying to find where the staircase led, but the sheer, spiralling length of it made it impossible to see more than a few steps ahead. At some point – maybe a hundred metres down or so, it was difficult to guess – the silver simply disappeared into a purply-black haze, the colour of a storm-bruised sky.

  “After you,” said the man. I looked at him as if he was insane.

  “There’s no way that’ll hold me,” I said.

  “You’d be surprised.”

  I frowned sceptically. “Honestly, I think you’d be surprised how heavy I am,” I said.

  “Clare, I could build a tower block on these stairs if I wanted to. Now, please, after you.” The tone of the man’s voice was clearly a command, rather than a polite invitation.

  I glanced down nervously at the first step, my eyes resting briefly on the snake’s shimmering green head. Its tongue was quivering just millimetres from my ankle bone and I froze with fear. The man seemed to read my mind.

  “Do as I say and Arius will leave you alone. I promise.”

  “I guess I don’t need to ask what happens if I don’t do what you say?” I said.

  The man smiled, raised his right eyebrow and, with his eyes, directed me onto the first step of the stairwell. I took a deep breath and gripped the fine, wiry banister, placing the ball of my foot gingerly on the silver plate and pressing down gently to test its strength. I fully expected it to wobble sickeningly beneath me. To my surprise though, the stair remained perfectly still. The man looked at me with an irritating ‘I told you so’ gloat.

  “Weird. I wonder what it’s made of,” I muttered quietly to myself.

  “Platinum, titanium and cobwebs,” the man said, smiling at his own joke.

  I looked at him, shocked.
How could he have possibly heard me, when I’d whispered so softly that even I’d barely heard it? As for knowing exactly what the staircase was made of, well, wasn’t that a bit weird too? I mean, wasn’t he just some bad guy that Dad had gotten himself mixed up with somehow? Then it struck me. The guy had to be some sort of expert who knew mostly about snakes, but also about other sciencey sorts of stuff as well, like metals for instance.

  “Okay, I get it,” I said. “You’re the scientist in the operation. That makes sense.”

  “Not really. I’m more the architect,” he replied.

  “Does that mean you plan jobs and then get my dad involved?” I said.

  The man looked bemused.

  “Yes…and no,” he said. “Yes, I plan. But no, my plans don’t necessarily involve your father.”

  I waited for him to elaborate but he was now nodding impatiently at the staircase. I took a further step down and to my relief the structure still refused to flinch. The man smiled smugly.

  “Arius, come,” he said gently, bending down and extending his arm to the reptile. The snake slithered towards the man’s elbow and coiled itself around his arm in thick green bangles, resting its head in the small crook of his wrist-bone. The man then stepped down after me.

  I inched my hand along the banister, determined not to look down. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s heights. To this day, I still have horrible memories of the time that Bede convinced me it would be a good idea for us to climb the old tree outside our house. He’d wanted to see how high we could get which, as it turned out, had been very high. I’d been feeling pretty smug about it too, until it had come time to climb down. I remember watching the ground wobble and swim beneath me. I’d felt utterly paralysed, although Bede (of course) had been fine. After half an hour of him standing at the bottom, trying to coax me down with handy tips such as, “close your eyes Clare!”, he’d finally realised that help was needed. Eventually the fire brigade had had to be called and Arlene was furious with us.

  But that was when we were kids, I tried to tell myself. I’m older now, so maybe it’s not so bad. Even so, I didn’t want to risk looking down, just in case.

  I was still concentrating on looking straight ahead when I suddenly noticed something move quickly over the top of my hand. I was so surprised that I gave an embarrassing girly squeal and almost trod on the man behind me.

  “What was that?” I said.

  I glanced down at the place my hand had been just seconds before, to see a long, fine insect leg emerge from the silvery wires. It was soon followed by a small silver head, with two tiny black pinpricks for eyes, and a bulbous silver body. I was now looking at a large spider, almost the size of my hand.

  “Whoa!” I said, quickly pulling my hand away from the banister. Unlike snakes, I’m not normally frightened of spiders, but this was definitely the biggest I’d ever seen. I bent down to get a closer look, amazed at the way it was pulling sticky, silvery silk from the tip of its abdomen and sticking it to the wiry webbing. It was then that I realised the man hadn’t been joking at all. The staircase really was made partly from cobwebs.

  “It’s so beautiful,” I said, before I could stop myself.

  The man gave me a snide look. “Deadly too,” he said. “One bite, and you have three minutes and thirty-seven seconds to live. Not quite so beautiful now, is it?”

  I paused before answering him. “I’m not sure it makes any difference,” I said. “Surely poisonous things can still be beautiful?”

  The man shot me a fleeting glance that almost looked like a genuine smile. It was hard to tell.

  “Just don’t touch it,” he said.

  We continued in silence. By now it seemed like we’d been on the staircase for a long time – at least an hour, maybe more. I was about to ask how much further it was when I was distracted by the sound of eerie, high-pitched squeals. Squinting in the darkness I could just make out the outlines of an animal swooping and diving in the distance. At first I thought it was a bird, but the more looked I realised that its shape was all wrong. As I watched, I saw more of the same creature joining the first.

  “What are they?” I said.

  “Bats,” the man replied.

  “So far underground?”

  “Are you a bat expert now?”

  I ignored his sarcasm. “What do they live on?” I said.

  “Blood,” said the man.

  I could almost feel him smiling behind my back. That was it, I was determined not to give him any more opportunities to freak me out. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. We soon rounded the last spiral and came face to face with a huge wooden door, heavily fortified with thick iron straps and huge padlocks. I glanced questioningly at the man.

  “The guest wing.” He held out his wrists, twisted them slightly, and there was a loud clicking and clacking as the locks snapped open. The door swung inwards, revealing a room that was almost completely devoid of light. “Please, step this way.”

  I frowned. “Did you seriously open that door just by twisting your wrists?” I said.

  “Seriously,” said the man.

  I was still trying to figure out how he’d done it as I peered inside. The darkness made it impossible to see anything. I glanced at the man uncertainly.

  “I can’t go in there,” I said.

  “Don’t tell me, afraid of the dark?” he sneered.

  “No,” I lied.

  I quickly scanned the sides of the staircase to see if there was any way I could skim past him and escape. It was impossible. He was completely blocking the way. The only opening was the one directly in front of me, leading straight into the dark room.

  “Oh come now,” said the man, getting impatient. “Do I really need to wake Arius from his sleep? He won’t be at all pleased.”

  I glanced from the room, to the man, then back to the room again. There was nothing I could do. I’d have to let myself be imprisoned, then try to find a way to escape once I was in there.

  I walked slowly through the doorway, the heavy wooden planks closing almost immediately behind me. My stomach felt like I’d just swallowed a lead sandwich, as I listened to the bolts being driven back into their shafts. I was now in total darkness. Surely there was still a slim chance that someone, somewhere might hear me? I began battering on the door with my fists, and screaming as loudly as I could. It was only once I’d completely exhausted myself that I slumped in a heap against the wall and bawled my eyes out.

  CHAPTER X

  It was amazing how fast a school day could go by when there was a good rumour flying around. Someone had seen Vince talking to Thomas in an almost friendly way, causing tongues to wag among the cool and the uncool alike. It was fine for either group to hang with those in the middle – the semi-cool (or semi-uncool, depending on how you looked at it) – but no one felt comfortable when the mix was more extreme than that. It upset the natural order of things. Which might explain why one of the BBTs had scrawled an urgent note to Vince in the middle of last period: What’s this about you and Thomas being friends now?!! Vince hadn’t reacted. He knew it would all make sense to the girls once they saw how much cash he had.

  Thomas arrived late for his meeting with Vince.

  “Sorry. Got held up in English,” he said, half wondering if he was about to get punched.

  “Yeah, no problem,” said Vince. “Just glad you decided to make it.”

  Thomas breathed a sigh of relief, although he still flinched instinctively as Vince gave him a friendly cuff on the shoulder.

  “Hey, no need to be so jumpy!” Vince laughed.

  “Sorry,” said Thomas quickly.

  “C’mon, it’s this way.”

  Vince took the lead, striding down the willow-lined street that ran alongside the school. The remaining daylight filtered through the leaves of the trees, casting patchy shadows on the asphalt. They arrived at the corner just as the bus was pulling up.

  “Good timing,” said Vince, swinging himself up the stairs. Thomas
followed, treading carefully on each step to avoid tripping. They made their way down the aisle to the back seat. Vince slung his bag down.

  “It’s good to be rid of that,” he said.

  “So where exactly is your boss’s place?” said Thomas uneasily.

  “Not far from the Old Town Square,” said Vince. “We’ll be there in no time.”

  There was an awkward silence, as Thomas gazed anxiously out the window. After about twenty minutes, Vince began pointing to a street lined with shabby, old warehouses.

  “See, there it is, told you it was close.”

  “That’s it?” said Thomas, catching a glimpse of the street as the bus rolled past. The warehouses weren’t exactly the kind of offices he’d imagined a businessman using.

  Vince shrugged. “Cheap rent I guess,” he said.

  They got off at the next stop and walked back. After several blocks they were standing outside the oldest and most derelict of the warehouses. It was also the most deserted. The few buildings that were left standing around it were all boarded up. They’d clearly been abandoned for years. Outside on the street, a couple of burned-out cars had been jacked up on blocks, their wheels long since stolen. In the distance, a couple of cats exchanged pre-fight screams.

  Thomas glanced around nervously. He had suddenly started to feel very cold, even through his thick coat. Vince noticed he was shivering.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be inside in a minute,” he said, lifting the large, brass door knocker. Stanley answered.

  “Hey kid, the boss is expecting you.” He shifted his gaze to Thomas, looking him up and down. “Both of you, come with me.”

  Thomas and Vince followed Stanley to a metal staircase and began climbing the narrow flights of stairs. By the time they’d reached the fifth flight, Stanley was sweating profusely. Even Vince had asked to stop so he could take his coat off. For some reason though, rather than feeling warmer, Thomas was now freezing cold. He was beginning to wonder if this had been one of his better ideas. Before he could change his mind, they had arrived at the final landing.