CHERUB: Dark Sun - Robert Muchamore Page 0,18

it was still locked from earlier.

Greg and Andy realised the same thing at the same time: George’s mum had hidden the key so that the boys couldn’t get back into Sophie’s room. The only way Sophie could get into her room would be to ask her mum where the key was and if Sophie went into her mum’s room and found that she wouldn’t wake up she’d scream the house down.

9. PLANS

There was a lot at stake: a corrupt scientist, a centrifuge design worth millions, the chance to infiltrate the highest levels of the Dark Sun network and the opportunity to stop some crazed dictator or terrorist getting their hands on a nuclear bomb a few years down the line.

Greg and Andy hoped some scenario from their training would leap out with a solution, but all they felt was blind panic as Sophie headed drunkenly down the hallway towards her mother’s bedroom.

‘Try unlocking her door,’ Greg whispered to Andy, as he darted out into the hallway. ‘Hey Sophie. What’s up?’

Sophie put a hand on her hip and looked at Greg as if he was something nasty on the bottom of her shoe. ‘Piss off back to bed,’ she tutted.

‘I saw what you just did with the M&Ms,’ Greg warned. ‘I had one eye open the whole time.’

Sophie shrugged. ‘My mum’s never gonna believe you.’

‘She might,’ Greg said, as he stopped walking half a metre from Sophie. He didn’t have a clue what to say, so he blurted the first thing that came into his head. ‘I might forget all about it if you give us a quick snog.’

Sophie tutted incredulously. ‘In your dreams, pervert.’

‘Come on,’ Greg said. He was about the same height as Sophie and he put his hand on her shoulder. ‘Just a quick Frenchie.’

‘EUGHH!’ Sophie shuddered, before giving Greg a two-handed push. ‘Touch me again and I’ll knock your block off.’

Down the hallway, Andy turned his body so that Sophie couldn’t see what he was up to as he worked on her door with the lock gun. Sophie felt intimidated as she backed up towards the chest near the staircase: Greg was only twelve, but he looked strong and she knew that he’d seen off two Year Ten boys.

Greg sensed Sophie’s fear and took a step back. ‘I’m only messing,’ he said. ‘I’m not gonna hurt you.’

‘Ta-da!’ Andy said, from down the hallway, throwing the lock gun back into George’s room as he pushed Sophie’s door open.

‘Sorted,’ Greg smiled, as he looked down the hallway. ‘Now you don’t need to wake your mum up.’

But the booze in Sophie’s bloodstream made her paranoid and Greg’s attempt at blackmail, followed by a sudden eagerness to please, was totally creeping her out. The instant Greg turned to look back at Andy, she grabbed a vase off the cabinet at the top of the stairs.

Greg saw it move out the corner of his eye, but Sophie was fast and brought the vase down hard over the back of his head. It didn’t break over his skull, but slipped from Sophie’s grasp and shattered on the wooden acorn at the top of the stair rail.

‘Keep your hands off me, weirdo,’ Sophie screamed, as she followed up with a remarkably well-aimed Karate kick.

Even two years of the best combat training can’t protect you when you’re taken by surprise. Greg doubled over and groaned with pain as Sophie stormed down the hallway towards Andy.

‘Where’s the key?’ Sophie demanded. ‘I swear, if you guys have touched anything inside my room…’

‘There’s no key,’ Andy said. ‘I just know how to pick locks.’

‘You’re so full of it,’ Sophie screamed. She felt confident after flattening Greg and gave Andy an almighty shove.

‘Gimme my key,’ Sophie shouted, as she launched a full fledged assault by trying to knee Andy in the stomach.

Unlike Greg, Andy saw it coming. He sidestepped Sophie’s flying knee, which was a good job because she was hefty and it hit the passage wall so hard that it made a dent in the plasterboard.

As Sophie groaned and clutched her agonised knee, Andy hooked his foot around Sophie’s standing leg and swept it from under her. Andy stepped back, leaving Sophie glowering up at him from the floor.

‘I was trying to help,’ Andy said, trying to calm her down. ‘Why don’t you just go to bed, eh?’

But Sophie was having none of it and she lunged forward and tried wrapping her arms around Andy’s waist. Meantime, Greg was back on his feet. He felt an excruciating pain