The Turncoats (The Thirteenth Series #2) (23 page)

“What happened there?” Sam asked as Flo struggled.

“I don’t know.” Zac’s expression matched his confusion. He really had no idea.

“How did you find me, you imbecile?” Flo screeched at Zac.

“That’s none of your business. Tell me why you didn’t teleport.”

“Because, idiot, a hunter can’t teleport a human corpse. God! Do they teach you nothing nowadays?” Flo spat at him.

“We need to get you to Alchany, now. How do we do it?” He roared, shaking her.

“You can’t. I’m never going back to that prison.”

“Zac, what are we going to do?” Sam was feeling the strain of restraining her.

“I don’t know. We need her. Without her they won’t let us have Val back.”

“Then we need to find a way.” Sam shoved Flo back down onto the chair she had been sitting on. “You may be dead, but I’m betting there is something you can do to help us, because if there isn’t, I will make sure you wish you were alive.” Sam’s patience was also running very thin. He pulled out his sword from his back pocket and flicked it open.

“Look I’m really sorry about your guard, but I really can’t go back to Alchany, unless one of you has a guard’s bracelet, which you don’t.” She grinned smugly.

“Big mistake!” Zac pulled his guard’s bracelet out of his pocket. Sam held her down while he shoved it onto her wrist.

Val wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting in her cell when the guard who had locked her up returned. He tapped on her glass. “The Warden will deal with you soon.” Val just stared at him. They weren’t going to break her that easily. Then the Collector arrived. Val felt her heart skip, she was so glad to see a friendly face. Standing up, she pushed herself at the glass and knocked trying to get her attention.

The Collector flashed Val an evil glance. “Good evening,” she greeted the guard. “So what’s happening to the reject? What a disappointing batch of DNA she came from. First Excariot, then her.” She shook her head. He nodded in agreement.

“How dare you, you evil, short, bossy, mean...” Val hissed. She would have continued but the Collector was taking no notice so she knew she was wasting precious energy. She sat back on her hard bench. At this point the guard left and the Collector was left starring at Val.

She came close to the door. “I will forget the things you just said as I know you’re frightened.” She reached out and touched the glass, her face softening. “How can I protect you as I promised your father, if you keep breaking the rules?” Val could see her eyes misting up.

“What do you mean?” Val reached out and touched the other side of the door.

“I have been a Collector for a very long time and I have always been responsible for the twenty-three line. I lost your father and Excariot in one blow; it was the worst thing to happen, but I carried on, as we all do when we lose our guards. Then they told me about you, and I knew it would be hard, that you would mess up. I just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. You have to prove to the Warden that you really didn’t know that you were doing anything wrong, and I have to leave you.”

“Please don’t go.” Val begged. “Please, I promise I’ll be good. I’ll try harder and do everything you tell me. Please don’t go.” Her body was now pressed against the glass, and tears were streaming down her face.

“I have to. Be brave. Your father was one of the greatest guards I have ever had the pleasure of looking after, and I know somehow you will get through this.” She removed her hand and walked away to the sound of Val pleading her to stay. Her heart sank. What chance did she have?

Val sat digesting this new information. Her Collector had been her father’s Collector, and Excariot’s. She found it so hard to imagine them ever having worked together. Family almost. Uncle Excariot. She let out a laugh. It almost felt right in this moment of madness to have a little bit of humour. If she was going to be extracted at least her real parents would never know she existed. That was some consolation. She reached down into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone. “No signal.” She searched the numbers and found her mum’s. This might be her last message. How long would it take to get to Earth from this distant galaxy? She hoped never. She started to type.

Hi Mum and Dad. Well, you’ll never guess what I’ve been up to! No really you won’t
but I miss you. I want to come home. I never realised how much you meant to me, yet I thought I made it clear every day. If I could come back I would listen when you talked, I would take the time to be more understanding. It’s not easy being a grown up and you don’t have all the answers. So I just wanted to let you know, I love you both to the stars. xxx

She pressed send, closed her mobile, put it back into her pocket and sat waiting for her fate to play out.

Sam arrived first, his knees smashing into the bed as he fell backwards onto the bedroom floor. Not exactly the entrance he was hoping for, but at least he didn’t feel quite as sick as before. Zac followed, arriving perfectly poised and Sam now understood why Val got so annoyed. It was like being the clumsy kid in the playground.

“Let’s go.” Zac said as Sam got to his feet, rubbing his sore knees.

“Where’s Flo?” They asked in perfect unison

“Evil, little, Sliyig!” Zac hissed. “We have been tricked and now she has the bracelet.” Zac kicked the bed. Throwing his arms over his head he crouched down on the floor, ranting in a language Sam couldn’t understand, which was just as well considering what Zac was calling Flo.

“Look, she’s not here, so we will track her again.”

“And do what Sam? Tell her she’s a naughty little girl?” Zac looked at him, sarcasm spread all over his face.

“Tell me what we need to do, Zac. Val is still through that door and I want her here as much as you do. So what do we do?”

“I don’t know.” Zac pushed his head further between his knees.

“Get up!” A woman’s voice suddenly snapped at Zac. “You’re not the prisoner, Val is. Get yourself together. Didn’t the last time you lost a guard teach you anything?”

Zac jerked upright to find the Collector glaring at him. He stood instantly to attention and said, “Sam, this is the Collector.”

Sam held out his hand and she reciprocated by shaking his.

“Help me, what can I do?” Zac pleaded.

“Don’t give up. You are trained to look for things. Try and work out why Val did what she did. You warned her, I warned her and yet, for some reason, she still felt the need to teleport.”

“She came to see me,” Sam told her. “To be honest it was very odd. She told me that everyone was with someone and she was alone. She told me I had loved her in sixteen forty-five and that I had saved her life. But it wasn’t that that struck me as odd, she seemed drunk and I don’t think she drinks; I’ve never seen her drink.”

“Where were you Zac?” The Collector looked confused.

“I was having a first meeting with my Ranswar.”

She shook her head thoughtfully. “I don’t remember anyone telling me you would be off duty or that there was any such meeting.”

A moment of silence fell over them all as reality started to dawn.

Eventually the Collector spoke, “Zac, I think you need to come with me. Sam, it was a pleasure meeting you and I hope to see you again.” She headed quickly towards the portal with Zac hot on her heels.

Sam was left alone in the flat.

A knock came at her prison door. Val jumped. She must have fallen asleep momentarily. She checked for drool. She wasn’t going to her extraction looking a mess. This time it wasn’t a guard, but a very serious looking man. Maybe he was the extractor.

“Time to go.” He passed his bracelet over her door. It slid open smoothly and Val stood, her heart beating so hard that it was aching. Were these her final moments? Her head swam with fear. She started to walk out but her legs had turned to jelly and she found herself falling onto this strange man. He held her steady until she was able to stand.

“Sorry,” she mumbled through a mouth dry with terror. But she was
not
going to give them the satisfaction of seeing how terrified she was. She straightened her back and tilted her chin up. “We must leave now.”

They headed down the huge corridors towards whatever her future held. The prisoners’ souls, mere wispy lights in the walls, were a stark reminder of where she might find herself in the very near future. It dawned on her that they were on show as a warning. It was a little late for her.

“Wait here.” The man passed through a door, leaving her standing in the corridor. She could run, but where? She could hide. But how could you hide if you didn’t know where you were in the first place? Maybe he had left her alone so she could drive herself insane before she even got to see the Warden.

“Come in.” A face appeared around the edge of the door. Val followed, slowly, nervously, feeling sick, but still holding her head high. Her heart was now pounding so fast that she actually expected to have a heart attack.

“Twenty- three thirteen, is that correct?” a woman in a black suit looked over the top of her screen at Val.

“Yes, but you can call me Val if you like.”

“Just a simple yes or no.”

“Yes.”

“Daughter to Twenty-three eleven, is this correct.”

“Yes, and...”

The woman looked sternly at Val.

“Yes.”

“Do you admit to teleporting unlawfully for personal reasons on three separate occasions?”

“Well, I’m not sure it was three, if you count the Valangar it may have been less.” She realised what she was doing. “Sorry, yes.”

“Do you admit to partaking in a conversation with one of the old ones and not reporting it to your designated Collector on two separate occasions?”

Flo! So, she was the prisoner that they said she was protecting. “Yes.”

“Then we will proceed.” The woman stood up, moved over to a wall and another door opened. She signalled to Val to follow her. This was it. Her soul was going to be pulled out through her ear. To her surprise the Warden was on the other side, sitting at his desk.

“You may leave,” he said to the woman.

“Hello,” Val said in a timid voice, quaking with fear.

“You have admitted to both charges, Val. What should I do with you?”

“Ground me for a week with no pocket money.” She looked for a glimmer of hope in his expression, but there was none.

“I had high hopes for you, but I was wrong. I will sentence you to...”

“Let us in!” A voice shouted from the other room.

The Warden rose from his chair, looking confused. “What’s going on?” he demanded. A door flew open and there stood Zac, the Collector and the woman who had come to take Zac to his Ranswar. “What is the meaning of this?” the Warden demanded. “You are already in my bad books,” he pointed at Zac.

“We understand that things haven’t gone smoothly, Warden, but I implore you to listen to what we have to say,” the Collector stood forward and spoke boldly.

“I have known you for too long not to listen, but it had better be good or you will all be dealt with.” He slowly lowered himself back down onto his chair.

“This Ranswar has been working against us.” Zac pushed the girl forwards. “At the time of Val’s unnecessary teleporting it has become apparent that we were being lured into a trap. It seems that I was never meant to meet any Ranswar. I was brought here under false pretences by
her
, to make sure I could not help Val. Val and I were subjected to the oaken berry scent. If you know of this then you will understand that Val wasn’t herself when she teleported.”

The Warden looked enraged. “Speak girl,” he pointed at the Ranswar.

“I would rather die than tell you anything.” She stood very still, brave and proud. “Guard.” the Warden said, his voice was so low that Val wondered how anyone would possibly hear that summons, but seconds later a door opened and a guard entered. “Take her away; we will deal with her later.”

The girl turned to look at Val. “She’s coming for you and you can’t stop her.” She laughed as the guard dragged her off.

“Why me, why can’t she be coming for you?” Val asked Zac. “I’m the needy one.” She pulled up her sleeve to reveal her tattoo. “Warden, this tattoo is for children who don’t know where they’re going, yet you allow this woman to come to Earth and abuse me and Zac. So much for control.”

“Be silent!” The Collector snapped at Val, frightened that she would condemn them all with her rash words.

“I’m sorry.” Val lowered her head.

“No, this should never have happened, but it doesn’t change the fact that you have been mixing with one of the oldest.”

“About that,” Zac stepped forward. “Val met this child and was taken in by the offer of help, but I, as her hunter with far more experience than her, should have put a stop to this from the start, but I also lived in hope of some support. The situation on Earth is far more complicated than we could have ever imagined. Val is fighting constantly armed only with the knowledge of a fledgling.” He looked at her and his expression softened. “She doesn’t question what I tell her to do and she fights a battle that isn’t hers. She will catch Excariot, of that I have no doubt, but surely, trying to use an offer of help isn’t a mistake. And it worked until tonight, when myself and another Earth person called Sam were tricked and betrayed.“