Two things happened at once. The extinguisher flew out of the lab tech's hands and clanged jarringly to the floor, while the measuring cylinder that Skelton was holding spilled forward, jettisoning green foamy liquid in a graceful arc right towards the light housing. There was a tremendous flash and a burst of firecracker pops as the oxygen-laden foam ignited.
Chaos ensued.
Several people shouted and there were screamsâmainly from Tracy Roperâas the room filled instantly with smoke.
“OUT!” yelled Skelton as he grabbed up the extinguisher. “EVERYONE OUT IN AN ORDERLY FASHION.”
There was a screech of stools being thrust back, and people began flooding out, coughing and spluttering as they jostled each other. Although the smoke wasn't dense, it did catch in the throat a bit, though from the panicked look on Tracy Roper's face it might as well have been cyanide.
“Leave your lab coats in a pile outside the door. Wait for me in the yard,” Skelton barked instructions over the noise of the belching fire extinguisher. Oz found himself in a tightly-packed crowd, right behind Niko Piotrowski and in front of Marcus Skyrme, being funnelled toward the door. Half a minute later, he was in the sunshine with Ellie and Ruff. Oz tore off his lab coat and threw it onto a growing pile to the right of the lab door, while Tracy Roper muttered loudly about how disgusting it was that Skelton was more worried about getting the lab coats dirty than anything else.
“Right,” Oz said, dabbing his eyes. “We need to talk.”
“What's the point?” Ruff said, spitting out the words. “You obviously think I'm a spy.”
“Why does everything have to be about you, all the time?” Ellie seethed, turning on Ruff.
“I haven't said anyone's a spy,” Oz countered, his voice rising. “When did I ever say that?”
Several people turned to stare.
“Right, we need to get this sorted somewhere quiet,” Oz said, but he knew curious faces were turning their way. Then it came to him. “Come on; follow me.”
“But⦔ Ruff protested. It was too late; Oz was already striding across the yard to the main block. He marched them along the quiet corridors as the distant wail of a fire engine reached their ears. They pushed through the doors to the old block and headed for fungus-infested Room 62. Oz waited until they were all in and shut the door. He took out the pebble and pressed the maker's mark. Soph appeared instantly.
“Soph, play us the Fanshaws' recording of Heeps' phone call to Meecher, please.”
Oz watched their faces. Ellie's looked troubled, unable, it seemed, to believe what she was hearing. Ruff's, however, bore the usual sour pout Oz had got used to seeing all too often lately. When Soph finished, Oz said, “You know what they did to Bendle. If he wasn't completely round the bend before, he must be now.”
“Oz, I swear I haven't told anyone,” Ellie said in a solemn voice.
There was a bitter smile on Ruff's lips. “Is there any point in me saying anything, since you've both decided it was me?”
Oz felt his face burn. He was getting really fed up with Ruff âs victim act. “Well, what are we supposed to think, for cripes sake?” he yelled, not caring if anyone heard him. “You won't speak to us. You don't want to come on the school trip. It's like you don't give a stuff about us anymore.”
“It's not like that,” Ruff said, his face turning a dusky red.
“So, what is it like? Even the Fanshaws think you've gone weird. No Death Planet Hub for days? What's going on? Has your dad taken your laptop away?”
Ruff's head jerked up. His blotched face writhed with some inner emotion Oz couldn't read. “My dad hasn't done anything, okay?” he roared, but then caught himself before shaking his head and letting out a resigned sigh. “I stopped myself, if you must know.”
“Why?” Oz asked.
Ruff was breathing hard, puffing out his exhalations like a horse after a canter. “Because I'm trying to save money, all right?” he finally blurted. Once he'd started explaining, it was like a dam bursting as the words gushed out. “My brother, Gazâhe's in Uni and it costs loads. I had no idea it cost so much. He's sharing a flat and stuff and⦔ Ruff looked down at his feet and then up again, and Oz saw a kind of desperation written on his features.
“I overheard my mum and dad talking. We usually have fish and chips on Friday night; it's a tradition. But that night, I heard them say they'd go without. Of course, they bought me some.” He shook his head and let out a mirthless laugh. “Two portions of fish and chips,” he said wonderingly. “Gaz has got no idea. He's such a git. He just wants it all.
But I⦔ He let out another deep sigh. “So, I decided that if my mum and dad can't even have fish and chips, I'd stop going online and stuff, only use my laptop for school work for a month. And I'm not going on the school trip either, for the same reason. It would have been okay if we'd won the science prize. Wouldn't have cost anything then, right? But now⦔ He shook his head. “Weâ¦
I
just can't afford it.”
Oz stared at him, totally dumbstruck.
“Why didn't you just tell us?” Ellie asked, her expression still hard.
“Yeah, Ruff. Honestly, you're such a gonk,” Oz echoed, but there was no heat in the way he said it.
Ruff pushed both his hands through his hair and squeezed his eyes shut. “I was going to. I justâ¦I couldn't, okay?” His face was still red, still glowing with bitter frustration and a dull anger. “So, there's your reason for me âspilling the beans,' all right?” He spat out the words. “Heeps is paying me to spy on you and Ellie so I can buy my mum and dad fish and chips. There, that's what you wanted to hear, isn't it?”
There was a quite long and slightly unpleasant silence while Oz and Ellie stared at Ruff. Finally, Ellie said, “Except that's not true, is it?”
Ruff glared at her, until he slid his gaze away and mumbled, “No, it isn't.”
“So, we're back to square one,” Oz said.
“Can't Soph sort this out?” Ellie asked desperately.
“Yeah, 'course she can.” Oz nodded. Pulse thrumming, he gulped and then added, “We just give her our phones and she goes through all our reâ¦.”
Silver flashed in Soph's eyes. “That will not be necessary, Oz. I am now able to answer your question regarding which of you told Dr Heeps about Mr Bendle without examining your phones.”
They all turned to stare at her with identical quizzical expressions. It was Ellie who managed to ask the question on everyone's lips. “You know?”
“I have been in possession of that information for 5.38 minutes, Ellie.”
“What?” Oz asked, his voice weak.
“All three of you are responsible for leaking the information.”
Oz tried to speak, but all that came out were a few staccato vowels.
Soph continued. “You asked that I do whatever I needed to do in order to obtain the information. Therefore, I performed a radio-wave scan on the three of you when you were in the science laboratory. I detected a strong transmission signal, which was being received 6.8 miles away to the northeast. My calculation places the receiver in the offices of JG Telecom.”
No one said anything; their jaws were so slack, not one of them was working.
“I also arranged an ultrasonic pulse to the lighting unit. I am sorry if the smoke was irritating,” Soph went on.
“Hang on a minute,” Ruff said. “Are you saying that you caused the light bulb to explode and the foam to ignite and stuff?”
“I initiated the ignition. Mr Skelton provided the pyrotechnics, Ruff.”
“Buzzard,” Ruff said, grinning and sounding suddenly a lot more like his old self.
“But why?” Oz demanded, finding his voice at last.
“To stop further leaks.”
“So, the lab is bugged, is that it?” Ellie asked.
“No,” Oz said, “it's not the lab.” He was smiling mirthlessly and shaking his head as the truth hit home. “Think about it. What do we always do in the lab?”
“Wear Gerber's lab coats,” Ruff said, holding out both hands in a gesture of frustrated realization. “All that fancy silver piping⦔
“â¦would make a great aerial,” Ellie said, shaking her head.
“We should have guessed he was up to something,” Ruff added darkly.
Oz looked from Ellie to Ruff, his mind churning as he struggled to remember what they'd talked about when they'd been wearing the coats. The answer, of course, was everything. During the long, and sometimes boring, practical lessons, they often chatted about what they'd planned, or what they'd just done. Oz suddenly felt like he'd been slapped in the face with a sodden flannel. He could see from the others that they were all thinking exactly the same thing
“Oh, my God,” Ellie said. “We all dropped Bendle in it.”
“Right in it up to his neck,” Ruff said, and the heavy distaste in his voice made them all think of that awful image of Bendle and the manure.
“Suppose we'd better get back,” Ellie said eventually.
Oz knew it was now or never. He couldn't just let them drift back into the sour misery of the last few days. He blew out hard and turned to Ruff. “Okay, Ellie's right, we need to get back, but I have to say this. If you'd told us about yourâ¦situation, maybe we could have sorted something out.”
“How?” Ruff said with snort. “Rob a bank?” He still sounded bitter, but there was a lot less hot anger now.
“For cripes sake, you forget who we have to help us.” Oz turned to Soph. “Let's say we need to find £100 by Monday and make certain Ruff gets a hundred percent in the last science exam, could we find a way?”
Soph spoke. “A sublimsert would help Ruff in the examination. Finding £100 in a town the size of Seabourne, with a population of almost half a million, would not prove too difficult.”
“Legally?” Oz asked.
“Of course,” Soph said.
Ruff looked from Ellie to Oz and then at Soph, his mouth opening and shutting silently. Something changed in him in that moment, as if the icy crust, which had frozen his features into the brittle version that was so difficult to like, fell away. He was still the same Ruff as a moment before, but without the sullenness, the self-pity, and the misery.
“
If
you still want to come with us, that is,” Ellie said, eyes flashing.
“'Course I do,” Ruff said to the floor, before looking up into the others' eyes.
“Right, then. That's settled.” Oz held out his hand, and Ruff shook it.
“Sorry,” Ruff mumbled.
“It's fine,” Oz said.
Ellie had her arms crossed over her chest, eyes blazing. “Don't you ever do that to us again, Ruff Adams. We're supposed to be in this together. A team is a team, no matter what.”
“Okay, I said I was sorry. Who are you, my mum?” Ruff said.
“I might as well be. I've got more than enough on my plate to worry about without you and your moods.” Ellie strode out of the room, leaving Ruff looking like he'd just been slapped. She, it seemed, was less ready to forgive than Oz was.
Soph, as usual, stood watching them as the boys prepared to leave.
“You must think we're all bonkers,” Ruff said to her.
“Do you wish me to answer that truthfully, Ruff?”
“No,” Oz said quickly. “Definitely not.”
Chapter 14
The Cuckoo And The Loon
Now that Oz knew what had been bugging Ruff, he was determined to do something about it. Mrs Chambers had given him the okay for a stay-over on Saturday night, and both Ellie and Ruff were free. On Saturday morning, he decided meeting inside the Café Ballista, with its aroma of cookies and hot chocolate, was too much of a temptation (especially for Ruff). The last thing he wanted was to make Ruff feel any worse about the situation than he already did. So, Oz suggested they meet outside Danton's instead.
“Right,” Ellie said in her usual matter-of-fact way when they were finally together in front of the big department store. “What's the plan?”
“Soph wants us to head for the market,” Oz explained.
“The market?” Ruff snorted in a way that made it clear his doubts had not been entirely dispelled by Soph's reassurances. “They giving money away today, then, are they?”
“No,” Oz said carefully. “This is all Soph's idea. She says I just need to keep the pebble in my hand at all times, and she'll do the rest.”
“Great,” Ruff sneered. “For a minute there, I thought we didn't have any sort of plan at all.”
“Just give Soph a chance.” Elle tutted at him and shook her head.
“Ready?” Oz asked, deciding that now would be as good a time as any to start.
The others nodded, and Oz removed the pebble from his pocket and slipped it inside a thick woollen glove on his right hand. The pebble slid between his palm and the material of the glove, nestling flush against his skin. Immediately, he felt a familiar tingle in the very middle of his head. The morning fog had lifted, and though it was sunny, a chill wind whistled through the streets. Other people were muffled and gloved up too, much to Oz's relief.
“Here goes,” he said. Instantly, the street around him shimmered and flickered out of focus before settling down again. Only now, Oz was seeing another street on top of the one they stood on. This one was ghostly green with blurry edges, and as Oz looked around, this view seemed to follow his gaze on a half-second delay. It was a wobbly feeling, and for a moment, Oz felt a little woozy, but it passed quickly, and a second later, Soph's voice popped into his head.
“It will take a moment to adjust, Oz.”
“Yeah, no probs,” Oz said, swallowing hard.
Ruff and Ellie both said, “What?” at the same time behind him. Oz swivelled and held up his hands in apology. “Sorry. Talking to Soph.”
“Why don't you just think it?” Ellie said tapping her head. “I mean, if she's already inside there.”