The Secret Society

by Hannah Hopkins

  Without speaking, they nodded at each other, communicating their shared conclusion that the thief was present in the building. Ignoring Mr. Mayhem’s demands that they enlist his help as soon as they had found evidence of the intruder, they rushed into the lift, selecting Miss Fortem’s apartment as their destination. The moment they docked on the top floor, they burst into the corridor, running down to the Headmistress’ door, the situation eerily reminiscent of the evening they had rescued Finley from Admiral Allance’s clutches.

  Pausing outside before entering, Will pressed his ear to the door, prompting Lois to copy his actions. The distinct sound of male voices could be heard coming from inside the apartment, causing the two of them to exchange a wild look of triumph and fear.

  “Contact Mr. Mayhem,” Lois whispered.

  Will pulled his Personal Device from his wrist strap, selecting Mr. Mayhem’s face from his list of contacts. He jigged from one leg to the other, his impatience growing stronger with each second that passed without an answer.

  “It’s not working!” Will hissed, his eyes wide with anxiety.

  “Try Finley,” Lois replied in a low voice. “We need to tell someone!”

  Will nodded, selecting Finley’s contact instead and pressing his Device to his ear with eagerness.

  “Finley!” he cried, as soon as the holographic version of his friend’s face appeared. “We’ve found them. They’re in Miss Fortem’s apartment.”

  “Did you hear that?” a voice called out from the other side of the door. “It sounds like someone’s outside.”

  “Well, don’t just stand there, go and check,” another voice snapped with irritation.

  Will and Lois froze, the decision to run away not registering fast enough in their minds. Before they could react, the door had flung open, revealing a man in a red cloak. Without hesitation, he grabbed the two stunned teenagers, dragging them into the apartment and flinging them down with force on Miss Fortem’s sofa. Two other men in the same attire were present, one leaning against the window, the other stood in the centre of the room, Mr. Mayhem’s stolen device clutched in his hands.

  “Well, well, well,” the man with the device said. “Lois and Will from the ‘Famous Four’. What an honour this is.”

  “Lois? Will?” the man who dragged them in said with shock, dropping his hood to reveal his identity.

  “Justin?!” Will cried, taking in the face of Finley’s elder brother with horror. “It can’t be you!”

  “And yet, it is,” the man with the device sneered. “Didn’t see that one coming, did you?”

  “Is Finley with you?” Justin asked them, his face strained with worry.

  “No, he isn’t,” Lois replied. “He’s going to be devastated when he finds out you’re in on this.”

  “Collateral damage,” the man with the device interjected. “We’ve more important things to contend with than the feelings of a stupid, little boy.”

  “Saul, that’s enough,” the third man spoke, his voice familiar. He stepped forward and into the brightness of Miss Fortem’s chandelier. Lois’ stomach plummeted as she caught sight of the man’s face, his immediately recognisable features illuminated from underneath his hood.

  “Mr. McGowan!” she gasped.

  “I’m sorry, Lois,” Mr. McGowan replied. “I know this must be difficult for you to understand, but I have my reasons for being a part of this.”

  “And what are they, exactly?” Lois demanded.

  Mr. McGowan opened his mouth to answer, but the man with the Device who Mr. McGowan had referred to as ‘Saul’ cut him off, striding across the room and dropping his hood, the pretence of having a disguise rendered pointless.

  “Save it, Jeremy,” he scathed. “There isn’t time for this. These two will have alerted the other half of their pathetic team by now, and they’ll no doubt be on the way to tell Miss Fortem and the other staff of our whereabouts.”

  “I know you!” Will shouted, as soon as Saul had revealed his face. “You’re Saul Jacobs, Madison’s brother.”

  “However did you know?!” Saul exclaimed sarcastically. “Perhaps you aren’t as stupid as I thought. Although, it has taken you a very long time to get to the bottom of all this, even with my sister’s pitiful attempt to warn you about what was going on.”

  “Madison?” Will blinked. “She tried to warn me?”

  “Yes, I saw the message on her Student Planner. ‘They’re here and they’re watching you’. Always one to be dramatic,” Saul shook his head.

  “So, you’ve been watching us?” Will asked him. “Why?”

  “I was ordered to by our leader,” Saul replied. “He was worried that the ‘Famous Four’ might discover our true identities, given what you did with Allance. He needn’t have worried though. You were all blind to the truth. Even with Finley’s father trying to warn him that something was going on at the school.”

  “What?” Justin asked. “My father knows about our plan?”

  “Yes,” Saul hissed. “No doubt your incompetence gave it away. Our leader wouldn’t hear of it being your fault, but I’m convinced you betrayed us. Got cold feet, did you? Felt guilty about selling a story on your own little brother?”

  “Wait a minute,” Lois glowered with disgust. “It was you who leaked that story to the News Station about Finley? The one about him fainting in the lobby?”

  “That little act of genius served as Justin’s initiation,” Saul laughed. “It’s what got him so high up in our ranks.”

  “How could you do that?” Lois shook her head. “Finley won’t ever forgive you.”

  “I had to do it, Lois,” Justin replied. “It’s part of our cause.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lois demanded. “What cause?”

  “Look,” Mr. McGowan sighed, stepping forward to intervene. “I know this is going to be difficult for you to understand, considering it’s about your father, Lois, but we needed people to stop seeing what happened to Finley as a symbol of the Captain’s generosity and start seeing how wrong it is for him to use a young boy and his family as means to perpetuate oppression on the Mayfly.”

  “What do you mean?” Lois shook her head. “My father raised the Campbell’s status to reward Finley for his heroics.”

  “Yes, that’s what he wants you to think,” Mr. McGowan replied. “In reality, it was just a ploy to distract the Lower Floors from the truth. If they’re busy hoping they’ll be the next ones to receive the Captain’s favour, they’re less likely to rebel against the way they’re treated.”

  “You’re wrong,” Lois retorted, despite the overwhelming panic that was rising in her throat.

  “Is he?” Saul smirked. “You know, your father isn’t exactly renowned for telling the truth. It only takes a little bit of digging to uncover some of his numerous lies. Your mother for example- “

  “That’s enough, Saul,” Mr. McGowan interrupted, silencing him before he could elaborate. “Remember what our mission is here.”

  “Do you know, I’ve just had a fantastic idea,” Saul grinned, a look of deep malice spreading across his face. “Justin, go and ready the rocket. We’ll be leaving very shortly.”

  Justin did as he was told, sloping off to prepare one of Miss Fortem’s private rockets for their imminent escape. Saul advanced upon Lois, looming over her with a glint in his eye. From the depths of his robes, he produced a black bag, holding it in his hand as his grin widened.

  “Saul, I know what you’re thinking,” Mr. McGowan replied. “Our leader will never allow it.”

  “Well, our leader isn’t here, is he?” Saul reminded him, a madness appearing in his gaze that suggested it would be unwise to argue with him. Nonetheless, Mr. McGowan pressed on.

  “I really don’t think this is a good idea,” he warned him. Saul sighed and rolled his eyes, turning to face Mr. McGowan with a fury unlike anything Lois had ever seen.

  “You may have been my teacher before all of this started, ‘Mr McGowan,’” he hissed, spittin
g out each word with vehemence, “but may I remind you which one of us has more authority within the Society. One word from me and you’d be permanently banished from our ranks.”

  Mr. McGowan fell silent, his body slumping with defeat.

  “Now then,” Saul said calmly, turning back to Lois. “How do you fancy coming on a little trip back to the Mayfly?”

  He stepped forward, holding the bag in position, ready to place it over her head. She screamed, kicking her legs out in a feeble attempt to defend herself from his advances.

  “Leave her alone!” Will yelled, jumping to his feet and shoving Saul as hard as he could, knocking him off balance. Saul roared, spittle flying from his mouth as he staggered back to his feet and ran at Will, wrestling him violently to the floor. In a fit of rage, he shoved the bag over Will’s head, securing it with a piece of rope from his inner pocket. Taking advantage of Will’s blindness, Saul kicked him hard in the stomach, causing him to scrunch his body up in pain as the wind was forcibly knocked out of him.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Saul ordered Mr. McGowan, grabbing Lois painfully by the arm and dragging her from the room, her will to fight back doused out by Saul’s harrowing display of aggression. She walked beside him numbly, wincing as he tightened his grasp around her upon their approach to Miss Fortem’s Launch Bay.

  “Start the engine,” Saul snapped at Justin as they entered the hangar, marching over to the small, red rocket he was standing in. When he saw Saul’s possession of Lois, Justin froze, shock rendering him temporarily incapable of movement.

  “Do it!” Saul shouted, and Justin sprang back into action, pressing a button that caused the rocket’s engine to hum into life.

  Mr. McGowan climbed aboard, helping Lois inside the rocket, an apologetic look on his face as he gestured for her to sit beside him. Knowing Saul’s approach to Lois’ containment would be far more torturous than Mr. McGowan’s gentle guidance, she did as he urged her, collapsing numbly into the backseat of the spacecraft as she awaited their take-off, her blood running cold with fear.

  They were just about to launch when Lois heard the sound of Miss Fortem’s apartment door banging open with such force it nearly burst from its hinges. A loud ruckus ensued, during which she heard the voices of Finley, Emily and Mr. Mayhem, shouting and panting as they entered the living room.

  “Will?” Emily called out.

  “Down here!” came his muffled response.

  “Oh, my!” Mr. Mayhem cried out. “Let’s get that off your head.”

  “I’m so sorry we took so long” Lois heard Emily say. “We were on the other side of the grounds. What happened? Did you find the thief?”

  “More importantly,” Finley interrupted, “where’s Lois?”

  “They’ve taken her,” Will replied, his voice much clearer now that the bag had been removed from his head.

  “WHAT?!” Finley bellowed. “How could you let that happen?”

  “I tried to stop them!” Will defended himself.

  “Well, you didn’t try hard enough!” Finley yelled.

  “Where did they go?” Mr. Mayhem demanded, attempting to take control of the situation.

  “To Miss Fortem’s Launch Bay,” Will answered.

  “Well come on then!” Finley cried. “They might still be there!”

  “Wait, Finley, I need to tell you something!” Will called after him, but Finley wasn’t listening. The sound of thundering footsteps carried through the corridor, Lois inhaling sharply as she silently prayed she would be rescued in time, her desire to call out to Finley squashed by her fear of Saul.

  “Justin, what’s taking so long!” Saul yelled maniacally. “Go! Now!”

  “Sorry,” Justin said, jumping to set the rocket into motion.

  Within seconds, they had pulled away from the Launch Bay, heading straight through the tunnel that led into Space, as they zoomed towards the Mayfly. Just before they disappeared from view, Lois turned and looked out of the rocket, gazing into the school through its protective dome and watching helplessly through the glass as Finley burst into the Launch Bay, his arms outstretched in a futile attempt to reach out for her. For one brief moment, their eyes met, communicating the depths of their mutual despair, Finley’s face twisted with pain as the rocket faded from sight. Lois continued to stare, her eyes fixed firmly on the school as it grew smaller and smaller in her vision, a solitary tear rolling down her cheek as she wondered with misery whether or not she would live to see her friends again…

  17.

  Men At War

  “Go, now!” Saul yelled, ordering Justin to pull the rocket out of its dock and through the tunnel, hurtling them into Space at breakneck speed. Jeremy pressed the button that triggered the emergency seal just in time, causing the concealed roof to pop over their heads and stop them from suffocating. His old soldering instincts kicking in, he began to search the compartment desperately, seeking breathing equipment that would protect them once the fifteen minutes of oxygen ran out. To his relief, he found a pile of spacesuits stuffed under the rocket’s backseat, and he pulled them out, handing out helmets to everyone on board. Jeremy frowned at Saul behind his back, wondering what he would have done had there been no means to breathe aboard the spacecraft. It was typical of him to act so rashly without thinking of the consequences, and Jeremy had seen many men die for making the same mistakes back during the Wars on Earth.

  Thinking of the time sent his mind spiralling backwards, and suddenly he found himself lost in intense memories of his days as a soldier. Space disappeared from around him, the stars going out one by one as he was plunged into the black of night. The rocket vanished from beneath his feet, giving way to muddy fields splattered with blood. The sound of the engine cut and was replaced by shouting and gunfire, the ground shaking with the force of the explosions that were booming deafeningly every few minutes.

  No longer a man of thirty-five, Jeremy transformed back into his eighteen-year-old self, lying face down in the dirt, his hands covering his head protectively. It had been his dream to come to War and to follow in the footsteps of his father and brothers, who had become heroes during their time of service for their country. He had been all too eager to join the army, ignoring his mother’s pleas that he wait until he was twenty-one before he signed up to fight. He had looked at her pitifully, seeing her emotion as a weakness and ignoring her warnings. She wanted to keep at least one child home with her, he told himself, and she’d say anything to try and stop him. As it turned out, his mother’s horrific tales of War had all been true and Jeremy had found himself trapped in a nightmare, forced to remain there until he had completed at least three years of service. His father and brothers were far higher in the ranks than he was, leaving him without access to any source of comfort or protection. He lay in the mud alone, tears streaming from his eyes as he waited for his death, praying that his demise would, at the very least, be quick and painless.

  “Jeremy!” somebody called from above him. “Jeremy! What are you doing! Get up! We’ve got to move! They’re coming!”

  Trauma and exhaustion clouded Jeremy’s brain as he attempted to make sense of what he was hearing. He had been in many battles by now, each one the same as the last, and the devastation of what he had seen around him had left him incapable of remembering who they were fighting. There had been so many different enemies by this point, each one desperately vying for the dwindling resources that remained on Earth, and he was hardly able to discern one from the other. He had forgotten what the purpose of the fight was, forgotten everything except perhaps his own name and the thought of his home, which he longed to return to.

  He felt a hand grasp him tightly as he was pulled to his feet, hanging limply like a ragdoll in the arms of the stranger who had rescued him. Unable to stand, he felt the ground moving beneath his feet, as though he was floating across the battlefield and out to safety. For a moment, he wondered if he were already dead and that the man who had spoken to him was a peculiar sort of angel, sent dow
n to bring him into the afterlife. The thought was oddly reassuring, and allowed Jeremy to happily fall unconscious, a lucid smile spreading across his face as everything turned to black.

  When he awoke, he found that he was not, in fact, dead, but had been brought back to base camp, where he now lay in the Recovery Ward, his head and arms bandaged from injuries he wasn’t even aware he had sustained. Upon his return to consciousness, the first thing Jeremy sought was water, which thankfully had been left for him in a large, pewter jug at his bedside. He lifted the heavy ornament to his mouth, his hands shaking with the effort of holding its weight, and drank deeply, quenching his insatiable thirst. The water cascaded down his front as he struggled to keep hold of the jug, wetting the front of his blood-stained vest as he continued to lap up the remaining dregs of liquid. Once he had his fill, he lay down on the uncomfortable, metal bed he had been left in, his head splintering in agony as the pain from his wounds caught up with him. He didn’t know how long he’d been lying there, his hands clasped tightly over his eyes to block out the insufferably bright lights, but it must have been a long time, for when he finally plucked up the courage to look around again, it was dark, an entire day having passed without his knowledge.

  “Hi, Jeremy,” a voice spoke from the end of his bed, causing him to jump out of his skin. He turned towards the source of the noise to see a young, kind-looking man standing over him, a friendly smile plastered across his juvenile face.

  “Sorry,” he apologised. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up all day. I must be a bit over-eager.”

  “Who are you?” Jeremy asked the man, stunned to see someone who had enough humanity left in him to smile, his eyes not yet haunted by the atrocities Jeremy and most of the other men had witnessed.

  “I’m Jarvis,” the man replied. “Jarvis Holt. Although, I suppose you should call me your hero.”