He staggered on and they caught up with the rest of his group who had stopped by the entrance to another gallery.

‘Whassup?’ he asked Jackson.

‘There’s kids fighting in the whale room,’ she said. ‘And more sickos in the corridor.’

‘Where’s my mates?’ Achilleus said. ‘Where’s Maxie?’

‘In the gallery.’

‘Get her out first,’ said Achilleus. ‘Then chase the sickos. I’ll keep a team here and guard the door.’

Jackson took a fighting party into the gallery and Achilleus looked at Paddy. He was sagging under the weight of the golf-bag stuffed with weapons.

‘Come on, Paddywhack,’ he said. ‘You can’t rest now. There’s work to be done.’ Achilleus swayed on his feet and leant against the wall. A wave of freezing sickness passed over him. His head filled with fireflies and he felt himself losing consciousness.

‘Bloody whales,’ he said, and passed out.

Chapter 6

6

Blue was coming out of the door that led back into the main part of the museum when Boggle, who was leading the way, froze.

‘Now what?’

A horde of grown-ups was stumbling by, moving as fast as they could. They’d been forced round from the whale gallery and were now crossing the café and heading for the main hall.

‘Too many of them.’ Boggle held the kids back behind the door. Blue could sense the fear in him.

‘We got to take them on,’ said Blue, trying to push past him. ‘You can’t leave them running around the place.’

‘OK, OK,’ said Boggle. ‘Let them pass and we’ll go after them. Hit them from behind, yeah?’

‘So long as we ain’t hiding back here all night.’

They waited for the last of them to pass then crept out through the door and checked there were no more grown-ups around. It seemed to be all clear.

‘We need to be careful,’ said Boggle. ‘There looked to be at least twenty of them.’

They moved slowly and cautiously through the café, trying not to make a sound, but then a long, high scream filled the night and Blue was running.

Sod that. No more being careful.

He raced between the scattered tables and chairs and back out into the main hall, glanced wildly around, looking for where the grown-ups had gone, where the scream had come from. At first the hall looked empty, but then he realized the pack had headed up the stairs towards the next floor.

And that was where the scream had come from. A kid who looked like he was dressed as Harry Potter, with glasses and everything, was being torn apart by the mob.

‘Jesus,’ Blue spat and he jumped up the stairs three at a time. There were too many grown-ups for him to get close to the boy, though. They were crowding round him where he had fallen on the steps. He didn’t seem to be moving, and wasn’t making any more noise.