He’d been hit by a slingshot. From this distance it wouldn’t kill him, but it sure would hurt. Maxie looked around. Ollie was already fitting another steel ball into its pouch and pulling back the rubber band. His skirmishers were with him. The next moment a hailstorm of shot was rattling up onto the balcony. David’s guards ducked down and cowered behind the parapet, Jester ran back indoors, and David was left crouching behind a pillar.

The Holloway kids laughed and jeered, and with Ollie’s missile unit watching their backs, they safely left the palace grounds.

As they regrouped on the road, one of the little kids pointed to the Victoria Memorial and shouted. “Look at that!”

Achilleus was standing there. He had added his own message to Freak’s. Big clumsy red letters spelled out two words.

FREAK LIVES.

And under them the tag—AKKIE DEAKY.

Maxie smiled and ran over to Achilleus. This time she hugged him.

“I finally figured out what Freak’s original message meant,” said Achilleus. “I was wrong about him. Blamed him for what went down with Deke and Arran. Wasn’t his fault, any more than it was mine. Should have listened to him more. He was all right. He believed in what Arran believed in. For us to be together and strong and to do the right thing. In the end, all the bad stuff that happened to us, as well as all the good stuff, we got to share.”

“I thought you’d gone over to David’s side,” said Maxie. “I thought you liked it here.”

Achilleus shrugged. “Once I found out David had locked you up, that was it. You’re one of us, Maxie. You’re our leader. And besides, it’s like I said, I wasn’t gonna sit around here counting potatoes. I go where the action is.”

“And what about Ollie?”

“You best ask him yourself. That boy is way too complex for me.”

As the kids tramped off down the road, singing a selection of TV themes, Maxie went to find Ollie.

“I thought you’d sold me out,” she said.

“It did cross my mind,” he said with a grin. “I genuinely thought David had a good setup here. I didn’t want to leave. But at the same time, I never really trusted him, and I needed to find out how far he’d take things.”

“All that stuff you gave him in the sick bay . . .”

“By then I’d found out. He’d played his hand. And the last thing I wanted was to get locked up in there with you and Blue. Someone had to tell the others what was going on.”

“You’re a devious little red-haired rat,” said Maxie. “But I love you.”

“Steady, girl,” said Ollie.

Maxie went to take her place at the front, and Ollie was left with his thoughts.