“With six guns and only about twenty bullets between them?” said Pod. “They’re really just for show. And besides, they need to stay behind and, you know, guard the palace,” said Pod. “If anyone, like, attacked while we were all out, it’d be a total disaster.”

“Tell us about the nerds,” said Achilleus. “What’s their story?”

“All the boys you see in uniform were from the same boarding school,” said Jester. “Down in Surrey somewhere. When everything started to go wrong, David led them all up into town. We’d already set up here in the palace, but it was chaos. David sorted us all out. He was head boy before.”

“We used to play them at cricket,” said Pod. “Not me—I was a rugby player—but our school.”

“I suppose as he’d been to boarding school he knew how to organize kids,” said Jester. “Some of the boys he brought with him work in the gardens or the kitchens, but most stayed as the palace guard. I think they did army training and everything at school.”

“I still don’t think they’re as good street fighters as you guys,” said Pod. “I’m really looking forward to seeing you in action. I might pick up a few tips, yeah?”

“I’m hoping we won’t be going into action,” said Blue.

“No, of course not, not today at least,” said Pod.

“We were kind of hoping the fighting was over.”

“Come off of it,” said Jester. “You’d be bored stiff. You love fighting.”

Blue grunted. Could have been a yes or a no.

“Are we going, then?” asked Achilleus, anxious to be off.

“Guess so,” said Jester.

“Let’s move!” Blue shouted, and they tramped out through the gates.

As they passed the Victoria Memorial someone called out. “Look at that.”

The memorial had been vandalized. The Queen’s face had been sprayed yellow with two black eyes and a big smiley-face grin. And there, beautifully stenciled to the plinth below her, was a message. Two big words, multicolored and vivid. They simply said:

ARRAN LIVES

And under them the tag: FREAKY-DEAKY.

Maxie laughed when she saw it.

“How can Arran be alive, man?” said Achilleus. “I watched him burn.”

“It’s a message from Freak,” said Maxie. “Not to forget what Arran believed in.”

And there was Freak, standing at the top of the steps that led down from the statue, watching the kids troop past.

“Freak’s an idiot,” said Achilleus.

“Don’t you believe in anything, Akkie?”

“Looking out for number one.”

Maxie shook her head and broke away from the group. She ran up the steps to where Freak was waiting.

“Nice artwork.”

Freak shrugged.

“You don’t have to go, you know,” he said.

“I know. But someone needs to make sure the fighters don’t get carried away. It could easily become stupid.”

“Well, good luck, and take care.” Freak hugged her.

“You too,” she said.