‘I believe it, gyal.’

‘So, do you want it? Do you want to feel the full force of Hurricane Brooke?’

‘Yeah, why not?’ DogNut grinned. ‘I miss the old you.’

Brooke took hold of DogNut’s hand. ‘It was sweet of you to come find me, Donut.’

‘Sweet? It nearly killed me.’

‘Why’d you do it?’

‘You know why. I thought maybe I was still in with a chance.’

‘Still?’ Brooke raised her eyebrows. ‘Where did “still” come from? You wasn’t ever in with a chance, boy.’

‘Was I never?’

‘No not ever. I mean, I always liked you …’

‘Is all right,’ said DogNut. ‘I knew it was Ed you was hot for. Dumb of me to think I could make that go away.’

‘I blew it with Ed,’ said Brooke. ‘I couldn’t handle the fact that he wasn’t a hunk any more. You believe I could have been so shallow …? I don’t have any fantasy that Ed might want to see me,’ said Brooke. ‘Like you told me, he never came with you on this journey. I’m not going to the Tower to fall at his feet and beg him to be my boyfriend.’

‘So, why are you coming?’

‘I don’t know, to say sorry, I guess. When you told me he was still alive, I felt something inside, like a kind of jolt. Not good, not bad, just a pain. Unfinished business. Life is short, Donut, and we don’t want to go through it carrying no regrets. Things unsaid. Apologies left cold. There’s a lot of bad things in the world, Donut. I’ve seen terrible things happen to people. The least I can do is say to poor Ed that it don’t matter what he looks like.’

‘Hold up!’ said DogNut, letting go of Brooke’s hand. ‘Why’ve they stopped?’

The two of them had been so wrapped up in their conversation they hadn’t been paying attention to what was going on around them.

Robbie’s group was standing in a line, looking at something.

‘What’s happening?’ Brooke asked no one in particular, and then froze, her mouth hanging open, unable to make sense of what she was seeing.

A cloud of pure white was moving across the road, silent and gleaming in the sun. It was such an unexpected sight that it was a moment before she realized that it was a flock of birds. Swans. About thirty of them, calmly wandering from one side to the other, their heads held high on long necks. As she stood there, goldfishing, warmth spread through her. It was such a beautiful thing, so peaceful and quiet and innocent.

She started to smile. She couldn’t stop herself. She looked around and saw that the other kids were smiling too, like a bunch of toddlers at a petting zoo. Nobody made any stupid comments, or suggested throwing something at the swans; nobody wanted to break the spell in any way.

Life was returning to the capital. Animals that would have been kept away before by noise and pollution, by cars and people and the clamour of city life, were starting to colonize the place and make it their own. Now the kids started to cheer. The swans turned to look at them, a bit snooty, but didn’t walk any faster or try to fly away. They just waddled casually on, until the last of them had gone into Green Park and the street was empty.

Brooke blinked. Had it been a mirage? A dream?

‘Come on.’ Courtney shouldered past her. ‘Let’s keep moving.’

Brooke held DogNut back for a moment then linked arms with him and they followed Courtney. She was silent for a while then leant closer to him.

‘Enough about Ed. What about Courtney?’ she asked, her voice lowered.

‘Courtney? She’s all right, I talked to her. She’s cool.’

‘Don’t hurt that girl.’

‘I never would. I told you, I talked to her.’

Brooke shoved DogNut roughly away, and he stumbled in the road, surprised.

‘Brooke. Don’t be like that –’

‘Shut up, DogNut. I saw something.’

‘Shit …’

DogNut glanced wildly about, and then he saw it too, four sickos skulking in the shadows to their right behind a row of arches.

‘Hang about!’ he shouted, and the advance party stopped. Robbie, Jackson, Felix and Marco looked round, then trotted back to join DogNut and Brooke. Courtney stayed where she was, standing alone. Robbie’s three other boys hurried to catch up with them from the rear.

‘Bloody sickos!’ DogNut hissed, drawing his sword.

‘We can handle them,’ said Felix.

‘Unless there’s more.’ DogNut quickly took in where they were, checking for any cover. He’d been stupid, distracted by the swans and his conversation with Brooke. This wasn’t a stroll in the park. The world was still dangerous.

They’d come down a long straight stretch of road, wide enough for four lanes of traffic, and had entered the top of Piccadilly. Now, instead of open greenery on one side, there was a tall building whose front was built out over the pavement, forming an arcade that ran the length of the block. DogNut saw a sign announcing that it was the Ritz Hotel. It was here that the sickos waited.

On the other side of the road there was a run of airline offices and a Boots chemist.

‘Should we leg it?’ said Brooke, who was less used to being out in the open.

‘We can handle them,’ Felix repeated. ‘Take them down and we don’t have to worry about them no more.’

DogNut hesitated, unsure of what to do. In his confusion he wasn’t acting quickly enough. He was in danger of panicking. He looked to Robbie who was similarly unsure.

‘Cut them down,’ said Courtney. She needed to take her anger out on something. Watching DogNut and Brooke saunter along hand in hand had made her feel sick to her stomach. Before anyone could stop her, she gripped her spear with both hands and advanced towards the four sickos.

‘Come on then!’ she shouted. ‘I’m all yours!’

The others had no choice but to follow her. DogNut felt a flutter of panic. They shouldn’t be fighting unless they absolutely had to. He looked up at the sky and cursed.

When were they ever going to be given a break?

60

The four sickos sidled away. Hanging back in the shadows. Almost as if they were waiting for the kids to get to them.

Don’t be stupid.

DogNut swore under his breath. The sickos didn’t have a plan. They weren’t clever enough for that.

As he got closer to them, he swore again.

He recognized them.

‘Gym bunnies!’ he said.

‘You what?’ Brooke looked frightened.

‘The ones we saw the other day, on the way to the palace. I told you about them. There was a whole load of them.’

‘A whole load of them?’ Brooke looked even more worried.

‘That was two days ago. Ryan and his hunters have been on their ass. Maybe there’s only these four left?’

‘Let’s finish them off,’ said Felix.

‘No, wait,’ said DogNut, and there was such anxiety in his voice that all the kids froze. Including Courtney.

Nothing happened.

‘You’ve lost it, DogNut,’ said Felix. ‘The old days we’d have merked these creeps without even thinking.’

Only one thought went through DogNut’s mind. I don’t want to be in charge. I don’t want to muck it all up again.

Felix and Marco hurried to catch up with Courtney who was now stalking the cowering sickos as they edged towards the end of the arcade. Robbie’s group ran to cut them off, but as they drew near they realized that the sickos weren’t alone. A larger group of gym bunnies had been hiding round the corner in a side-street and they suddenly emerged, moving fast towards Robbie’s group.

Staying in a tight pack.

Organized.

And these weren’t sickness-ravaged weaklings – they looked worryingly fit and muscular and ready for a fight. Some were nearly naked, showing skin that was disfigured with boils and wounds that wouldn’t heal, but, rather than make them look weaker, these blemishes simply made them appear more frightening.

‘All right,’ said Felix, staggering to a halt in the road. ‘Now I suppose we’d better run.’

But it was too late. A third, smaller, group of sickos now appeared from the opposite side of the road. The kids had fallen into a trap. Distracted by the four lone sickos, they’d let themselves get surrounded. There must have been at least twenty-five sickos ringing the group of ten kids. More than two against one. Not the worst odds, particularly as the sickos weren’t armed, but the chances of getting out of this fight unhurt were slim.