The 13th Horseman - By Barry Hutchison Page 0,66

then they were gone, through the hole in the wall, and plunging down towards the ground far below.

Drake heard three brief distant tremors, and he knew the bullies wouldn’t be bothering him again.

Toxie, who was looking more and more like a cat by the minute, turned to Drake, sniffed lazily, and said, “Woof.”

“Good dog,” Drake said. Toxie wagged his tail happily, then sauntered out on to the windowsill and began climbing expertly down the robot’s front.

Drake was halfway to the door when the old TV set that stood on a trolley over by the whiteboard, came on with a click.

“That was a stroke of luck,” Mr Franks said. “I didn’t think they’d stop you, but I thought they’d hold you up longer than that. Still, as you’ll have noticed by now, I’m not there. I’m upstairs on the roof, and I’ve got your girlfriend with me. Look.”

The camera panned round, and Drake saw a shock of red hair. Mel was tied by the wrists and ankles to a pole that was hanging precariously over the edge of the roof. She was facing downwards, her hands behind her, her eyes open wide with terror.

Mr Franks’ face suddenly filled the screen again in extreme close-up. “I’d rather you didn’t come up, but I know you’re going to, so why waste my breath?” He winked brightly. “So, see you soon, I guess. I’ll try not to drop the redhead, but, well, I’m not going to promise anything, so if I were you – which I sort of was, when you think about it – I’d move fast.”

The sound faded.

The screen went blank.

And Drake moved fast.

DRAKE HAD PLANNED to sneak up on to the roof, but Mr Franks was sitting in a deckchair, watching the hatch expectantly. He smiled broadly when Drake’s head popped through it.

“There he is!” Mr Franks beamed. “There’s the man of the hour. Up you come, join the fun.”

He jumped up as Drake stepped out on to the top of the robot’s head. “Take a seat,” Mr Franks said, gesturing at the deckchair the way a gameshow host’s glamorous assistant might gesture at today’s star prize.

“No, thanks,” Drake said.

Mr Franks put his hands on his hips and nodded. “You’re right, you’re right. What was I thinking? Sitting down?”

With a sudden jerk he grabbed the back of the folding chair and hurled it over the edge of the roof. “Boring people sit down, and we’re not boring people, are we, Drake? Huh? Am I right?” He looked Drake up and down. “Nice outfit, by the way. Black suits you.”

“Mel, are you OK?” Drake asked. He didn’t take his eyes off Mr Franks.

“She can’t answer you,” Mr Franks said. He indicated the gag across her mouth. “She can talk, your girlfriend, can’t she? She just would not shut up. It was either gag her, or cut her tongue out.”

“It’s going to be OK. I’m here to rescue you.”

“Aww, you hear that? He’s here to rescue you.” Mr Franks wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye. “That – if you don’t mind me saying? – that’s beautiful.” He pointed at Drake and mimed shooting him with his finger. “You’re a real ladykiller.”

The teacher slipped his hands into his pockets and strolled over to a wooden table that had been bolted on to the metal beneath it. An old-fashioned-looking control deck, all knobs and dials and slider switches, hung over the edges of the table on all sides. A spaghetti of wires dangled from the back of the deck, before disappearing into a junction box beneath the table.

A large metal tube, about the circumference of a dinner plate and around half as tall as Mr Franks, rose from the floor beside the desk. A glass dome was mounted on top of the tube, like an upside-down fish bowl. Inside the glass, a living blue light pulsed and heaved.

“Like it?” Mr Franks asked. He pressed a hand against the glass and stroked it gently.

“What are you going to do with them?” Drake asked.

“With what, the souls?” Mr Franks said. He pointed at the glass. “With these souls trapped in here?”

“Yes, what are you going to do with them?”

Mr Franks jumped up and punched the air with his fist. “Then it does work!” he cried. “I couldn’t be sure because, you know, I can’t see souls any more, so I thought, ‘Who can see souls? Who can I get up here to let me know if this baby works?’ and there was only