Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 154

                ‘They took me from my bed twenty years ago,’ Robin continues. She stares into the space between me and Elle giving her a slightly crazed look. ‘I didn’t know what they wanted from me until they started writing instructions. They appeared out of thin air. I thought I was losing my marbles.’ Her voice cracks and then fades. She’s clearly not used to talking so much.

                ‘Do you have any paper on you?’ I ask Elle and Yates.

                They shake their heads. I rummage through my pockets and rejoice as I find a small notepad and pen. I took to carrying it round with me after communicating with Graham.

                We’ll get you out of here. I write. My name’s Easton. I’m with Elle and Yates. They took us prisoner too.

                I pass the note to the woman. She shudders at the brush of my fingertips.

                ‘Oh,’ she says, quite surprised. ‘Well I’m glad you’re here. The three of you.’

                I think for a second, then write. Do you know anything about Ghost Physics?

                She takes the note and looks towards me, or the area over my shoulder. Close enough.

                ‘This is a trick isn’t it,’ she says. ‘You’re just trying to get me to talk about that damn paper I wrote. Well I don’t know a thing more than I told you!’ She raises her voice. I panic, realising that she might draw attention to us.

                We’re not with them. I write as she begins to back away. We’re here to help. They asked us for the same thing. We just want to get out of here.

                ‘I don’t believe you!’ shouts Robin. ‘You shouldn’t have let me out of my cell!’

                She breaks into a run down the corridor.

                ‘How do we catch her?’ Elle shouts.

                She’s incredibly fast for an old woman trapped in a cell for twenty years.

                She pelts around a corner and up a stone staircase.

                We sprint after her but she disappears down another corridor. We turn into it, still hearing the echoes of her footsteps. They reverberate off the walls and bounce around us, not giving a clue as to the direction they came from.

                ‘Why did you ask her that?’ Elle says. ‘We should really put decisions like that through a committee.’

                ‘It didn’t cross my mind, sorry.’

                ‘Never mind,’ Elle says. ‘She seems like a nice lady too. I hope she gets out.’

                ‘You made a big mistake.’

                The voice comes from behind us. Windermere appears from thin air, a large man at her side. ‘You just released a terrorist.’