The Turncoats (The Thirteenth Series #2) (12 page)

“No, I think I will teleport thanks,” Val replied, trying to sound confident. ‘Come on, disappear,’ she thought. As the seconds ticked by the situation was becoming more and more awkward. Val felt crosser than ever. She had heard Excariot sending the Bendicks out, and that girl was going to be in danger: a situation that she was supposed to be getting her out of. Oh, and then there would be Zac with, ‘trying to teleport on your own, we need to work on your landings, blah, blah, blah’. Well, she may as well give up because the only thing she could do was electrocute people and fall flat on her face.

Fran broke the silence. “Thinking of going anytime soon or should I put the kettle on?”

Val was really mad now; she was making a fool of herself. It was entirely her real parents’ fault. If they hadn’t met... She looked down at her father’s bracelet. That was the answer! She reached out and held it, just as Excariot had when he had come back to the future from sixteen forty- five. A blue spark appeared and she was off.

She let the feeling of the journey wash over her. Success! Zac would be so proud of her, she thought as she hit the wall face first, before falling backwards and landing flat on her bottom behind a pile of boxes. “Ok, must keep that one to myself,” she whispered.

She knelt up, looking over the top of the brown cardboard wall into a very empty warehouse. Why would a high priestess be seen dead in a dump like this? It had to be trap. That Flo was going to get it next time Val found her.

She froze when she heard a grating sound coming from the corner of the warehouse. She peered into the shadows and then a crack of light appeared as a door opened. A young woman entered, looked warily around her and pulled the metal door shut. Making her way to the centre of the building she crouched down and started to write something in the thick layer of dust that had settled on the floor. Val stood up; this would be easier than she had thought. She would get the girl and teleport her back to the shop, and Zac would give her a brownie point.

“Hey, you,” Val called.

The woman looked up, startled at the voice and the presence of another person.

“Hi, I’m Val. I know who you are and I’m here to help you.” Gosh, it was starting to feel like the old days. She clambered over the cardboard and took a step towards the girl. She wasn’t sure how, but the next thing she knew she was on her knees in the dirt, wondering why her back hurt.

The woman looked panicked by Val’s new position and ran for the door. She screamed when a man materialised in midair, blocking her way. He grabbed her arms and held on to her.

“What did I tell you? They can cloak,” came a voice from behind her.” Zac had arrived just in time to watch Val failing. “Get up,” he ordered, pulling her to her feet. “The others are safe at the bookshop, but you need to get her back.” He shoved Val towards the struggling woman.

“Pleased to see you,” Val grunted, pulling out her sword. Almost immediately she was struck again, from the side this time - no warning, not even heavy breath -and she was on the floor again.

“Please try and sense them,” Zac begged, watching anxiously.

“I will try, but I’m not the sensing one.” She pulled herself up again. In the time it took her to stand up they had struck her again and down she went. Zac was waving his arms and Val’s ears were actually starting to ring. While she sprawled on the floor waiting for the world to stop spinning, the three Bendicks who had been cloaked appeared. She was surrounded. They were all identically dressed and had clearly been working on a building site nearby.

“We don’t need to cloak ourselves with this little girl,” one of the men laughed derisively.

Another tapped Val with his boot.

Val pulled herself onto her knees, anger that they were laughing at her starting to overcome the pain.

“Stop right there!” A new voice echoed across the empty warehouse. Val looked up with a start. It was Sam, and behind him were Jason, Shane and Wendy. Three of the Bendicks instantly cloaked themselves again; the one holding the priestess dragged her into the corner.

Jason, Shane and Wendy looked bewildered. “If we can’t see them how do we fight them?” Jason asked.

“Sensei here says we need to sense them,” Val shrugged pulling herself onto her feet.

“I note mistrust in your voice, Val,” Zac looked insulted.

“Nothing personal, but you choose the worst times to teach me a lesson,” she said extending her sword again and circling. “Have you got the spell, Wendy,” Val asked as she jabbed into the nothingness. Wendy waved a small pouch in the air. The men were still surrounding her.

Val was suddenly stuck across the face but this time she was half expecting it and managed to only fall to her knees.

“That’s enough!” Her anger flared and the frustration in her voice shook through the air. Her stomach was in knots. She needed to stop this before these Bendicks made her look any worse in front of everyone. She took a deep breath and she pulled the energy from her stomach. It bolted down her arms, slamming her hands, palms down, flat onto the floor with such power that it shook the ground. It took a moment for her friends, who were struggling to stand on the trembling ground, to realise what she had done. A thick cloud of dust had rose and through it they could clearly see the Bendicks’ silhouettes.

“Now,” Sam called running forward, pulling out, to Val’s surprise, a sword like hers. Shane was already face to face with one dusty man and felled him with one expert blow. Sam had another cornered; with his sword to help him, he too was winning. Val jumped to her feet and ran at the priestess, but the Bendicks that had her and had been in plain sight, now disappeared. Val span around, her sword ready and her free hand facing palm out in front of her, set to release whatever may come. She felt more confident now. And then, without realising how, she sensed him. He was to their left. She could feel his breath on her neck. She pivoted and landed a jab straight into the centre of his face before he had a chance to move, and he was down.

She grabbed the priestess by the hand and ran towards Wendy and Jason who had been left on guard. “Give her the potion,” Val ordered.

“What once was seen, be now forgotten.” Wendy tipped what looked like a handful of ash on the woman’s head and the battle was over. Sam and Shane who were still in mid-fight were astonished when the Bendicks came to an abrupt halt.

Val looked around her; they had gone from brawl to nothing in just a few seconds. The stillness was quite eerie.

“Why have they stopped?” Jason asked.

“Well, my guess would be that they don’t know who they are looking for any more; Wendy’s little spell has worked,” Val responded. Sam prodded one of the Bendicks with the tip of his sword, moving him with small shocks towards the others who were suffering from various injuries. “What now, Zac?” Val turned to look for her hunter and was shocked to see him just staring blankly at her. “Are you ok?”

“Get them tied up and let’s go.” Zac pushed past Val and started to wander around the perimeter of the interior staring at his watch. Val did as she was told, which was quite easy as the men were now being restrained in a corner by Sam.

“Zac says I need to tie them up. How glad am I to see you.” She patted him on the arm.

“You were lucky. Wendy and I came together from the Magic Box; and Jason and Shane came on his bike. Zac wasn’t at all happy that you had travelled alone.”

“Well, he will have to deal with it. What can we tie them up with?” Val watched as Sam pulled some plastic cord out of his pocket and started to bind the men together. “Oh, question. Where did your sword come from? I thought that was my thing?” Sam roughly jerked two more hands together. “Ok, what on earth makes you think I’m going to come into a situation like this unarmed?” Sam looked at her, tutted and then passed her the four Bendicks, all neatly tied together.

“Well, I thought mine was special.” Val touched his arm.

“Come on, Wendy, let’s get you home.” Sam walked away.

“If that’s it, me and Jason will get off. We left Fran on her own so we need to get back to the bookshop. See you when you teleport back.” Shane pulled Jason in close as they headed out.

They all left as quickly as they had arrived, leaving her alone with Zac and the Bendicks.

“I’ll see you there,” she called.

“We must leave now,” Zac came over, grabbed Val, and in an instant they were back in the flat, outside the portal. Luckily for Val, the Bendicks were good at landing and because she was holding the arm of one, she arrived in the upright position for a change. She hoped Zac would notice, but he already had his hand through the portal. The Collector arrived to find them all standing waiting as if for a bus.

“Good job! Four Bendicks if I’m correct.” The Collector looked them up and down. “The Warden will be pleased. How did you get them?” She looked genuinely interested for a change. Val was pleased, but Zac was grumpy and impatient, looking at his watch as if the Collector was wasting his time.

“Val created a dust cloud to make them visible then the humans, Sam and Shane, fought alongside her. The witch, Wendy, cast a spell to hide the priestess while Jason protected her, and that was it,” Zac said.

“Right, well done.” The Collector didn’t even have to touch them. They did as her tiny hand commanded and were gone.

“I will see you later.” Without further explanation, Zac walked past Val and disappeared through the portal, just seconds behind the Collector.

Val stood there, unsure of what had just transpired. Zac had never been so visibly distracted. He had left and she had no idea when he would return. Clearly something was upsetting him. But what? She needed to find out; he was her hunter after all. She stepped closer to the portal. She hadn’t travelled to Alchany since her first visit and wasn’t sure if this would hurt, or even if she would arrive in one piece.

She placed her hand onto the mirror-like image the portal reflected into the room, and her hand slipped through. “It’s now or never...” She pushed forward and was off. It felt faster than her normal teleporting. She could feel her body coming apart. Just as she was starting to worry, she was thrown out on the other side. It was like shooting out of one of those rapids she had ridden on at a water park as a little girl. She didn’t know whether to whoop or cry.

Unfortunately she landed on top of five very small people. She jumped quickly to her feet. “Er, sorry about that.” She started to pick them up. She felt like a giant. They were very annoyed and brushed themselves and each other down, grumbling and rubbing at imaginary bruises. At that moment it dawned on Val exactly what they were. “You’re Collectors,” she announced, pointed at them, waving her hands about like a tourist.

“And you are the reject,” one of the men replied venomously.

“Thanks,” she grinned as they all stormed off in different directions.

This wasn’t exactly going to plan. She needed to find Zac. She looked around spotting a mixture of characters: more Collectors, and some strange creatures of various shapes, sizes and origins. She would have been completely freaked out if she hadn’t already seen the pictures in the dellatrax. The Collectors seemed to have them under their control. This was clearly the next step in the process and must be where the Collector came before taking the prisoners for extraction. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Zac going through a door on the other side of what she could only describe as an open space with more little people in it. She followed, trying her hardest not to step on too many of them. She reached the place Zac had excited, but the door had gone. She placed her hand on the wall looking for some kind of edge that might indicate a concealed door, but there was nothing.

“Bracelet, reject,” a Collector sneered, waving her arm at Val. “Thanks,” she called politely. She hadn’t wanted to thank her; ‘reject’ was still an insult, but she had been brought up to have good manners.

She placed her hand with the bracelet onto the wall and, as if by magic, a door opened. She went through it: into chaos. There were what she could only imagine to be guards and hunters everywhere. The only thing that distinguished the two was the fact that she recognised Zac’s style of clothing. She spotted him on the other side, having what looked like a heated debate with a man who looked like the hunters, but was wearing a different uniform, its red top making him really stand out in the crowd. She started to wade through the guards and hunters towards them.

Zac stopped in front of the man he knew as his Mechanic. “We need to talk, now!” he said in a very agitated tone.

“Good...” he looked down at his chart, “…evening, I believe on Earth.”

“I want answers and I want them fast,” Zac’s voice was getting louder.

“Alright if we can’t be civil, what’s the problem?” He looked back down at his board.

“I was out with my guard when I saw this signal.” Zac held his watch out to the Mechanic.

He looked at it half-heartedly. “That’s not possible; it must be faulty.” He pushed Zac’s hand away.

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Are those the eyes the ones that the Warden has on a warning, and got you sent to Earth to baby-sit the freak?”

Zac ignored his feeble attempt to goad him. “Look at it, it’s not faulty. You are looking at exactly what I just witnessed on Earth in some dirty warehouse.” He pushed it back again under the Mechanic’s nose. “I want answers. How is it possible that I received a signal for a Judge on Earth?” Zac shouted, twitching with agitation. He stopped when he realised that silence had fallen around him.

The Mechanic was now looking past him to something of even more interest than a Judge on Earth.

Zac turned to see Val standing a few feet away with guards and hunters just staring at her. “This had better be good,” he hissed. “This is not over. I want an answer,” Zac said, turning back to the Mechanic before heading towards Val. “What are you doing here?”

“Wow! Two rejects together, what a joke.” One of the guards laughed openly at them.