He sometimes felt almost as if he’d died somewhere along the way, and only came alive when he had his mortuary sword in his hand. Was that why he was pursuing this mad quest? To show he still had a heart?

Eventually they got around to what had happened to DogNut and Courtney, and Brooke told Ed the details of the awful battle by Green Park tube station for the first time. Ed felt an acid burning in his guts, wished he could have been there to smash those sickos to pieces.

Brooke was crying, remembering DogNut and Courtney. Ed put his arm round her, but stayed dry-eyed. He didn’t think he’d cried since Jack had died.

That was a bad day. The worst.

Losing Jack and Bam, his best friends.

He still remembered the sicko who’d done it. Would never forget him. Greg the butcher, who’d been driving the bus that had rescued them in Rowhurst and driven them to London. The bus where he’d first met Brooke. Greg had claimed he couldn’t get sick, and had then killed his own boy before …

Bastard.

Ed would give anything to see Greg again. To cut him into bits. He knew he never would. That had all been a year back, far away. Chances were Greg had died a long time ago …

A massive thump on the side of the car snapped Ed back into the here and now. He looked round to see a dirty splotch on the window and Kyle and Ebenezer both laughing. One of them must have thrown the ball at the car.

Children.

Ed was going to say something boring and fatherly about being careful not to break the windows when he realized that Kyle had been trying to get his attention. He looked over to where the big hench was pointing.

A group of kids was coming in through the gates. This must be Josa returning from the hunt. There were about twenty of them and they were dragging along what appeared to be a group of four or five sickos. The sickos’ hands were tied behind their backs and there were chains round their necks.

Ed got out of the car, feeling stiff and cranky. He looked up at the sky. The sun was far over in the west. It was late in the day. The moon was showing in the sky. Blood-red, like the circle on the Japanese flag. He kicked a wheel in frustration. He hated being dicked about like this.