On our way to Science, I managed at last to tell Freya about Jacob.

“What do you mean he’s missing?”

“He ran away,” I explained. “Last night. His mum is at my house and the police are looking for him.”

“Oh, no,” Freya said. “Poor, poor Jacob.”

*

Jacob was still missing when Freya and I got home. Things weren’t looking good. Mum had called a doctor for Janice, who was asleep in our spare bedroom.

“The doctor gave her something,” Mum said. “To help her sleep. I’m dealing with the police for her –”

“What have they said?” Freya asked.

“Nothing, really,” Mum said. “They might do an appeal for information on tonight’s local news.”

“On the telly?” I asked.

“Er, yes. Where else?” Mum said. “They need to find him. He’s young and vulnerable. Plus, the forecast is for snow. Imagine if he’s on the streets somewhere.”

That was when I realised. I had been so stupid. I looked at Freya and moved my eyes up to the ceiling.

“What?” she said.

“Books.”

“What books?” she asked, confused.

“The ones we need for the project about rivers.”

“Pardon?”

“Badgers build dens by rivers, remember?”

At last, her eyes lit up.

“Oh,” she fibbed. “For that project …”

We dashed up to my room, and I shut the door.

“Of course!” Freya said, and she jumped up and down.

“SSSH!” I told her.

“How dim are we?” Freya said. “He’s gone to his secret den. We should tell your parents!”

I shook my head. I knew I was taking a huge risk.

“Look,” I said. “We promised Jacob we’d never tell.”

“Yes,” Freya said, “but this is serious. It’s not some silly game where we spit into our hands.”

“Jacob feels like he’s been betrayed all his life,” I replied. “If we break our pact, he’ll never forgive us!”

“But he’s missing –”

“No,” I said. “Not if we know where he is. We’ll find him and bring him back.”

“But we don’t know where his hideout is,” Freya said. Her eyes were big and shocked.

“We can find it,” I told her. “Come on! Are you with me?”

Freya thought for a moment.

“OK,” she said. “Batman and Jessica Jones to the rescue. I’ll have to tag along, just to keep you out of trouble.”

A plan formed in my head – a massive gamble. If it worked, we’d all be fine. If it didn’t, Freya and I would be in big trouble. But I didn’t care about trouble right now. Jacob needed us, and we’d made a pact.

All that mattered was saving Jacob before he fell too hard.

14

Club of Heroes

When we told Mum we were going to the cinema, she thought it was a great idea.

“It’ll take your mind off things,” she said.

“Yeah,” I said. I felt sick with guilt. I’d never lied to Mum on purpose before. “We’re going to the multi-screen in town.”

We stopped by Freya’s so she could change into warmer clothes and dump her school bag. Fifteen minutes later, we were outside the cinema.