Chapters (96)

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96

‘He could be anywhere, Max. I’ve got a bad feeling we’re going to spend the rest of our lives looking for him.’

Maxie slipped her fingers into his hand. He smiled at her.

‘OTP,’ he said.

‘OTP,’ said Maxie.

In a couple of minutes Justin returned with Wiki, who was carrying several huge bunches of keys. When Wiki saw the door he simply said, ‘Hmm,’ and then sat down cross-legged on the floor to sort through the keys, while Blue, Maxie, Justin and Skinner watched over him. Slowly a larger crowd formed. Without TV or the Internet or games consoles, this was about the only entertainment to be had right now. Watching a small boy sort keys.

At last Wiki said ‘Hmm’ again, selected a key and tried it in the lock.

It wasn’t the right one.

Blue swore under his breath, wishing he’d never mentioned the bloody door. In the end it took Wiki at least half an hour to find the right key, and when finally the lock clicked open, he said ‘Hmm’ for the last time and stepped back. He’d opened the door, but he wasn’t going through it. Blue looked around at the kids who’d gathered.

‘Wiki’s got the right idea,’ he said. ‘You lot stay back. We don’t know what’s behind there.’ Now he turned to Maxie. ‘Grab the rest of our team and we’ll take a look …’

Chapter 89

Blue was looking up a long, straight, narrow stairway, walls painted with shiny reflective paint, pipes and electric cables running along the sides. It went up and up and up and disappeared into a white-out of bright light at the top. Blue figured there must be some big windows up there.

The rotten stink was much stronger now. It hung in the still air and he swallowed hard, trying to get the taste of it out of his mouth. He wiped his forehead. Hadn’t realized he was sweating so much, even though it wasn’t that hot. They’d discovered an untidy jumble of tiny offices and storage areas immediately behind the door through from the gallery, all built into the great square tower that sat at the corner of the building. They were long ago deserted, filled with dust. It was the smell that had led Blue and Maxie and the rest of their search party to the stairs.

They would have to go up.