by Lauren Child
The element of surprise was what was needed, so he began to creep through rooms, trying to find an advantage.
Boyd Marshall was a heavy sleeper and he was unnaturally tired, but even he wasn’t going to sleep through the battle that had just broken out in the huge living room.
He stumbled to his feet and lurched into the hall … and came face to face with a scrawny-looking boy whose face was most familiar.
‘How nice of you to stop by,’ he said with a smile.
And he grabbed Clancy by the throat.
The furniture was a casualty of battle – the chairs, the coffee table, the huge TV set, all sticks and broken glass. The fighters barely noticed as the floor crunched beneath their accurate steps.
Lorelei came at Ruby, striking her hard with slicing moves. Ruby countered with a plum flower punch that knocked Lorelei back for a second, but she came forwards again in a flurry of punches, and followed by planting her hand on the floor and executing a tiger tail kick that sent Ruby sprawling backwards across the debris.
‘Ready to die, Redfort?’
‘Not yet,’ she hissed.
Ruby used her legs to propel her back to her feet. Then she ran, striking the wall with both feet, and flipped backwards, high over Lorelei’s head.
As she descended, so she kicked, but Lorelei anticipated the move and plucked her downwards, with one powerful arm and Ruby was flat on her back, the breath knocked from her.
Lorelei stood, legs firmly planted and hands on hips, a wicked look of satisfaction playing upon her face.
‘I take it you give up?’ she asked.
But Ruby had one more move yet to play.
The red band was a tiny detail on her wrist, easy to ignore, but when Ruby stretched out her arm and directed the dragon’s mouth at her foe, Lorelei von Leyden’s face fell.
The vapour engulfed her.
A blood-curdling scream as the translucent bindings formed.
And in the blink of an eye things were all tied up.
‘You’re a cheat,’ she spat.
‘Why lose when you can win?’ said Ruby.
‘You think this is the end, bubblegum girl?’ snarled Lorelei.
‘I really couldn’t say,’ said Ruby. ‘I keep hoping I’ll never see your face again, and then here you are! And by the way, those bindings get heavier by the minute, give it five and Mr Universe himself will struggle to lift you.’
‘I loathe you,’ Lorelei snarled.
‘And that’s the other thing – you’ll find your voice goes too.’
‘You’ll pay with your life,’ screamed Lorelei.
‘You’re not exactly in a great position to make threats.’
Lorelei paused. ‘Oh I wouldn’t say that,’ she said, her voice suddenly much calmer.
‘You think you’re not going back to that cosy little cell of yours?’ said Ruby.
‘Maybe, and maybe not,’ said Lorelei. She was really smiling now, and Ruby noticed how Lorelei’s gaze was not directed at her but at some point beyond.
Slowly Ruby turned so she could see what Lorelei was seeing.
Chapter 59.
All the aces
‘OH HI, BABY FACE,’ said Ruby, ‘not dead yet I see.’
Baby Face Marshall smiled his cute smile.
‘You looking for a fight?’ said Ruby. She was ready. If he was, though, he would probably kill her.
But he surprised her.
‘I’m here to offer you a deal.’
‘From where I’m standing, you don’t look like you have many cards to play.’
Boyd Marshall cocked his head. ‘Funny,’ cause I reckon I have all the aces here.’
‘Yeah?’
He nodded. ‘I think so, unless of course I judged you wrong and your head rules your heart, but somehow I don’t think that’s you. No, I think little Ruby is a soft touch.’ He was smiling again. ‘I think you’re going to let this nice lady go on her way.’
‘Are you her protector, or is it the other way around?’
‘A little of both,’ said Marshall.
‘How cosy,’ said Ruby.
‘So I think you’re going to do what I ask,’ he said.
‘Oh, and why’s that?’ said Ruby.
‘Because if you don’t then you’re never going to get the chance to say bye-bye to your little pal.’ Marshall made a sad face. ‘He’s so loyal, isn’t he?’
Ruby’s expression became puzzlement. ‘You’re bluffing.’
‘Bluffing is for people who don’t hold all the cards.’ He crooked his finger and beckoned her into a room and she followed, already knowing what she would find …
In the gloom she could see the figure of a boy, lying crumpled on the floor.
She gasped.
‘How touching,’ said Baby Face.
She could see Clancy’s arm, see two scarlet red drops, blood beading on his skin, the width of snake teeth apart.
‘Looks like something got him, doesn’t it?’ said Baby Face. ‘Something like some kind of snake maybe. I wonder how long he’s got?’
Chapter 60.
Australian trouble
LOOKING DOWN AT CLANCY’S PAINED FACE THE ANSWER SEEMED CLEAR. Not long, not long at all.
He read her expression. ‘No, not long,’ he said. He seemed to be fading.
Ruby felt utterly defeated.
‘What do you want?’ she asked Baby Face.
‘What would you say if I told you we had a way out of this little cul-de-sac we find ourselves in?’ said Baby Face Marshall. ‘To be or cease to be? That is the question?’ He held a little brown bottle in front of Ruby’s eyes. ‘The antivenom or no antivenom? You decide, but if you want to save a life? I’ll need something in exchange.’
Clancy shook his head. ‘Don’t Rube, don’t.’ His voice was weak.
Slowly, very slowly Ruby nodded her head. ‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked.
‘Release Lorelei from those bonds and I’ll give you this little brown bottle,’ said Baby Face.
Ruby shook her head. ‘I’ll release Lorelei when you hand me the antivenom.’
‘OK, I see you have trust issues, so let’s compromise,’ he said, placing the small brown bottle on the table. ‘I’ll leave this here while you do what you need to do.’ He paused. ‘Wait a minute, what’s this?’ And he smiled as he drew out another bottle, and another, from his pocket until there were three. Three identical little brown bottles.
‘I can’t for the life of me remember which is which.’ He smiled the cutest smile. ‘Choices choices, but you’re a smart girl, you figure it out.’
She moved towards the table, but Boyd Marshall put out an arm. ‘Release Lorelei or I’ll snap your neck in two.’
There was no time to fight it out and, even if there had been, she had little fight left in her, so she did as he ordered and walked to the room where Lorelei lay trussed in leaden ropes. As she passed the huge window, she glanced out, hoping to goodness she might see Hitch and his faithful SWAT team – but no.
Instead what she saw was a whole lot more trouble for all of them. For not so far away, walking purposefully along Constanza, was the woman she feared even more than Lorelei.
‘Looks like you’ve got trouble of your own sweetie,’ said Ruby. ‘Australian trouble.’
Marshall followed her gaze and his face turned grey. ‘Step it up!’ he screamed. ‘Or you and your friend die now!’
Ruby, who also had no desire to bump into this cold-blooded killer, did just that. She ran over to Lorelei whose expression had morphed from one of rage to one of terror. It was clear Ms von Leyden wanted to get out of there as fast as anyone. Ruby released her with the reverse vapour action, spraying the strange mist over her until the bonds had dissolved.
‘Her limbs will take a while to regain feeling, so looks like you’ll be carrying her out,’ said Ruby, ‘though on the upside, she’ll be mute for a lot longer.’
But Boyd Marshall wasn’t listening – he already had Lore
lei’s slight body slumped in his arms and he was losing no time in making his exit.
Ruby ran to the room where Clancy lay.
Chapter 61.
Give me a break
‘HOW ARE YOU DOING, CLANCY?’
‘Ah, you know Rube, I’m not gonna make it to swim club.’
‘Big deal,’ said Ruby, ‘you were never gonna go anyway.’
‘No fooling you huh?’
‘You know me Clance, I’m foolproof. Tell me you saw the snake that bit you?’
Clancy slowly shook his head.
All the while she was talking, she was checking his breathing, looking into his eyes, examining his arm, pulling his jacket from him, trying to see what could be done.
She looked at the bottles, picked up the first and turned it in her hand. Then the second. Then the third. Though the bottles were identical, each bottle’s label was patterned like snakeskin, and each pattern was different. Ruby knew them all.
One was a king cobra. One was a black mamba. And the other was a Russell’s viper.
So which one had bitten Clancy? She thought quickly, pulling up the symptoms of each snake’s bite in her mind, running through the different types of venom and their different effects: neurotoxins, haemotoxins, crototoxins, cardiotoxins …
‘Are you feeling dizzy?’ she asked.
‘What?’
‘Are you feeling dizzy?’
‘What do you think?’ whispered Clancy. ‘I’ve just been bitten by a reptile.’
She put her fingers on his wrist, felt his heart rate. Steady. So it wasn’t a cardiotoxin, which meant she could rule out the black mamba. No real surprise, since if Clancy had had the misfortune to be bitten by a black mamba, he would most probably be dead already.
Focus Ruby, focus.
‘OK Clance, I need to check you for swelling.’ She felt his ankles, his wrists, his arms, examined his skin, looking for bruising. ‘Are you paralysed anywhere?’ If it was a Russell’s viper that had bitten Clancy, then his system would be full of hemotoxin, making his blood clot, cutting off circulation to his extremities.
‘I don’t know! How would I know?’
‘So move your hands and your feet.’
He did; no problem there.
‘You’re drooling,’ she said.
‘I’m dying here Rube, give me a break, would you?’
‘No, I mean you’re drooling, as opposed to puking, which means the venom in your bloodstream is most likely a neurotoxin, causing numbness and paralysis, and of the three snakes depicted on the bottles, only the king cobra fits your symptoms. It blocks receptors in your brain, that’s why you’re dribbling all over the place.’
‘Sorry,’ said Clancy.
She took the stopper from the bottle, filled the syringe with king cobra antivenom and lost not a second injecting it into Clancy’s arm.
‘I hope I’m right about this,’ she said.
‘You’re not the only one,’ said Clancy.
There was a pause.
Then: ‘Clance, don’t hate me,’ said Ruby.
‘Why would I hate you?’ whispered Clancy.
‘Because you have to stand up.’
‘I hate you,’ moaned Clancy.
‘It’s just I think we gotta get out of here.’
‘I like lying down,’ said Clancy, ‘and I like this floor.’
‘I know,’ said Ruby, ‘but if I told you that the Australian woman is walking towards the building what would you say?’
‘I’d say let’s take the stairs.’
Ruby grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him up over her shoulder, much like a firefighter might carry a person from a burning building, and began tottering towards the door.
‘Have you … been eating … spinach or something?’ croaked Clancy.
‘I told you, it’s the kung fu.’
They had not got far before they heard a shout.
‘Ruby, you in there?’
It was Hitch, and following hot on his heels a SWAT team, all trampling down the stairs from the roof, weapons at the ready.
Hitch looked relieved when he heard her call out to him, but less so when he saw Clancy’s frail body.
She explained about the antivenom and Hitch explained that, fearing the worst (although he was expecting the worst to be an injured Ruby as opposed to a poisoned Clancy), he had a paramedic team waiting outside.
Soon they were on the sidewalk and Clancy was in an ambulance. There was no sign of the Australian woman, nor of Lorelei or Baby Face. It was as if they had melted into the night.
In the blink of an eye and a flash of blue and red lights, Clancy was driven at great speed to the St Angelina Hospital.
Ruby made a call to Mr and Mrs Crew to let them know that their son would be OK and that he was doing just fine but that he had stepped on a nest of vipers while walking across some wasteland. ‘There’s a lot of it going around,’ she said.
Hitch had Ruby checked out too for good measure, but apart from an unpleasant bruise round the eye and a cut to her arm she was just fine.
‘What took you so long anyway?’ demanded Ruby.
‘What do you mean, what took me? I arrived in ten minutes flat, which considering the traffic is pretty remarkable.’
‘You didn’t have any traffic,’ said Ruby, angrily, ‘you came by helicopter, and by the way I radioed for assistance more than forty minutes back.’
‘Well, that seems unlikely since we got no call.’ They were almost shouting at each other now.
‘Well perhaps you should blame this dumb spy watch Spectrum is so proud of,’ said Ruby, pulling it from her wrist, ‘BECAUSE IT DOESN’T WORK!’ she slapped it in his hand.
He didn’t look too happy about it.
‘What is this?’ he said holding it by its strap. He was referring to the drool that was dribbling out of the watch.
Ruby fell silent.
‘In your own time,’ said Hitch.
‘That’s dribble,’ she said. ‘It’s from a baby.’
Hitch raised an eyebrow.
‘I was babysitting Archie Lemon. He … likes to suck on the watch.’
‘You let a baby suck a piece of highly sophisticated Spectrum equipment?’
‘Talking of which,’ said Ruby, ‘we really need to go fetch the Lemon, I promised to have him home by seven.’
Chapter 62.
Beep
VAPONA WAS SURPRISED WHEN SHE OPENED THE DOOR to see a battered-looking Ruby, her clothes a little torn, her left cheek and eye swollen and her hair a tangled mess.
‘Boy, Redfort, what happened to you during the past couple of hours?’
‘We were skateboarding,’ said Ruby.
‘You’re obviously not doing it right,’ said Vapona.
‘Also, we got into a fight with some snakes.’
Vapona looked impressed.
‘Cool,’ she said.
The skateboard was swapped for the baby, and Hitch and Ruby drove back to Cedarwood Drive.
Ruby zipped her parker hood tight to prevent Mrs Lemon from seeing the state of her face – a freaked out Elaine Lemon was more than she could handle right now. Then she deposited the Lemon and returned home.
Mrs Digby was in the kitchen and when Ruby walked in she simply shook her head and said, ‘I won’t even ask.’
‘Just as well,’ said Ruby, ‘because it’s a long story and I could use a bath.’
‘You won’t get any argument from me,’ said the housekeeper.
Ruby climbed the stairs to her room and while she waited for the tub to fill she began easing off her battered sneakers and tattered clothing.
The light on her answerphone was blinking like crazy.
Every single message was from Del and every single one started the same way.
‘Rube, it’s Del, I made a mistake, a huge mistake, I’m super sorry, I got things all up the wrong way and I guess you hate me now but please don’t because I know you’re one in a million.’
Beep.
‘Ruby, I figured it out, the person who set you up was Dakota Lyme, she’s mean enough to do it, plus she kinda looks like you, only not cool and she’s super unattractive – I can’t prove it, of course, but I told the principal how it wasn’t you, so you’re off the hook.
Beep.
‘Rube, I even confessed to the whole homework scandal, I told Levine that I had written the note because I was mad at you, he believed me right off the bat, means a lot of detentions but I don’t mind about that.’
Beep.
‘Rube, I 100% admit I was a total duh, look I’ll let you have my new sneakers, you can have my bike too if you want.’
Beep.
‘Look Rube, I got a big mouth and a short temper and sometimes I wonder if I even have a brain.’
Beep.
The messages got shorter and shorter as they went, until finally:
‘Rube, I’m sorry, please call, even if you hate me.’
Beep beep beep.
She would have liked to have called Del there and then so she could tell her not to sweat it, but at this exact instant all she wanted to do was climb into a nice warm tub and stay there a while.
Chapter 63.
It's cryptic
RUBY WAS ON HER WAY UP TO CLANCY’S HOSPITAL ROOM. She had slept long and late, and by the time she woke, the day was already the afternoon.
Flustered, she had quickly pulled on her clothes – no time to eat breakfast; she had promised to be with him just as soon as she could. She’d cast around for some kind of get-well gift, had grabbed a carton of banana milk, which she’d tied to a bouquet of peach-coloured roses (roses she had taken from her mother’s dressing table, but she guessed her mom would understand). The note attached said:
Crew wake up and smell the banana milk.
Then she had run all the way to the Greenstreet subway.
Having finally arrived at St Angelina’s, she stepped into the large hospital elevator to join an assortment of other people on their way to wish loved ones well. The doors closed and the elevator began travelling upwards. Ruby’s finger hovered over the buttons … she couldn’t remember which floor, was it fourth or fifth?