‘Yeah,’ she said.

‘I can’t stand it.’ Ella was crying. She hadn’t wanted to, but she was. ‘I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it. I don’t want anyone else I love to get hurt, or killed. I can’t stand it.’

‘Hey.’ Go wiped Ella’s face. ‘It’s all right. If it bothers you so much I won’t go in for it.’

But it wasn’t Go that Ella was thinking of.

Chapter 58

58

‘So this Isaac kid saw her?’

‘It’s weird.’ Ed was shaking his head. Still trying to make sense of it all. ‘He says she was living with a sicko on a farm.’

‘That’s more than weird,’ said Brooke. ‘That’s like …’ She thought about it. Gave up. ‘I don’t think there’s even a word for that.’

It was the afternoon and the spectators had all moved round to the back of the grandstand to what Arno called the Colosseum: a large, oval-shaped arena with banks of seating all around it.

There had already been one event, Smackdown, where kids armed with lengths of wood wrapped in foam rubber had beaten the hell out of each other, like some sort of gladiatorial combat. Ed and Kyle had played for Ascot and, as a result, the white team was now in second place, just behind Windsor. Something unheard of in previous race meetings.

This was the first chance Ed had had to speak properly with Brooke. He’d had to join in Smackdown to keep Ascot near the top of the table. Isaac’s news had changed everything again, and not for the better. Ed had hoped to kill two birds with one stone here – find Ella and recruit an army. He was glad Ella was still alive, but if she was out there in the countryside somewhere, hiding, it was going to be that much harder to find her.

‘Isaac left her the morning after the night of the blood moon, when the wave of sickos went through.’

‘What about the others?’ Brooke asked, a note of desperation in her voice. ‘What about Robbie?’

Ed kept forgetting that Robbie was a friend of Brooke’s. He’d been head of security at the museum and she’d been living there with him for the past year.

‘Nothing.’ Ed wished he had better news for her. ‘He only saw Ella. Not Maeve or Robbie or Monkey-Boy. He’s offered to take us back there to look for her after the races, but …’ Ed trailed off.

Brooke squeezed his arm.

‘It’s never-ending, eh?’

‘We have to get back to London, Brooke. We’re needed there.’

They were interrupted by the band parping out a slightly stumbling version of the Star Wars theme.

The spectators were settling down all around them, ready for the next event.

‘What happens now?’ Brooke asked.