‘Say goodbye to your little friend,’ he said as he twisted Kenton’s wrist and snatched the gun out of his hand before he really knew what was going on. A shout of protest went up from the gathered kids, but Lewis turned on them and levelled the gun, which shut them up.

In the confusion, and while everyone was distracted by Lewis, Ed made his own move. He barged past Josa’s boys and grabbed her, getting an arm round her neck. She tried to bite him, but her lack of front teeth meant she didn’t manage to do anything worse than slime his arm. Brooke chucked Ed his sword and he held it out to the side, daring any of the kids to attack him as he backed towards the car.

‘I’m sorry about this,’ Ed murmured in Josa’s ear. ‘But it was kind of your idea.’

Lewis had come to his side now and they stepped in time with each other, almost as if they’d spent days rehearsing this. Now came the tricky part, trusting Kyle to drive the car to the gates without losing control. He fired up the engine and started to trundle forward, Ed, Lewis and Josa walking in front, illuminated by the full beam of the headlights. Josa was kicking and screaming and trying to wriggle free. Ed ignored her. He’d developed enough muscle in the last year to have arms like steel.

They kept in a tight bunch so that nobody would be tempted to take a potshot at them with a crossbow, and the other kids were all too scared of Kenton’s gun to risk getting up close and personal.

Kyle was trying to keep the car steady, but Ed was nervous. They were almost in more danger of being run over by him than of being attacked by the Slough kids.

Would they really let them walk out of here, though, without putting up some sort of fight?

That’s where Ebenezer came in. It was all down to him now.

Chapter 48

48

Ebenezer was supposed to have dodged through the long grass to the fence and worked his way round the back of the building using the undergrowth as cover.

Had he done it? Ed had heard nothing yet. No shouts from the locals. That was a good thing, wasn’t it? It meant he hadn’t been spotted. Ed clung to that hope. Without Ebenezer’s help, they might not make it to the gates. It was only a matter of time before the locals got up the courage to rush them. Kenton was really mad. He was stalking alongside them, shouting insults, but hadn’t the guts to come for his gun. He’d been made to look a fool and caught off guard. He’d let his boss down.