just as I thought it, I saw a ladder leaning against the wall up ahead. I was on the verge of grabbing it and going back when I remembered that it was a temptation, and I had to resist it. So I continued to walk on, congratulating myself for having learned my lesson.
Eventually I stopped in front of yet another door and put my ear to it. I couldn’t hear anything, apart from the banging on the door at the other end of the corridor. I hesitated; I knew that there had to be something in there, and I really didn’t want to have to deal with more people trying to convince me that they were real, because I was worried that if Natalie reappeared, I would have exactly the same problem as I’d had the first time. And I certainly didn’t need another army of Tommys after me.
I was still hesitating when an ear-splitting crash behind me announced the arrival of the Tommys. I pulled the door open, bolted in, and looked over my shoulder. I could see only Tommys charging towards me; Hignat, Wilwog and everyone else from the classroom had evidently stayed where they were. It looked as though I had passed that test, at least. I slammed the door on the Tommys before turning to observe the next room.
I recognised this place too, though it made my heart sink horribly. The room was larger than the first two, and contained an in-ground swimming pool in the centre. I’d been here numerous times in the past, before I was big enough and a good enough swimmer to use the Jade River. This room was Natalie’s; it was actually part of her house. Her family were the richest people around Chopville; yet another reason why I thought I was out of her league. They were the only people around rich enough to have an actual pool in the house.
As the hammering on the door behind me began once again, I looked carefully around for Natalie, sure that I would have to confront her again, seeing as this was her house. But I couldn’t see her anywhere. I listened carefully for any sound, but it was no use hoping to hear anything over the racket those Tommys were making. Perhaps this temptation was simply to avoid going for a swim? I doubted it, but I somehow knew to stay away from the water all the same.
There was a door straight ahead of me which, in real life, housed nothing more than a cupboard of mops. But now I knew that would be the way on from here. I started around the pool, my footsteps hardly making a sound over what the Tommys were drumming up. But then, just as I was halfway around the pool, a voice spoke from within the water; a girl’s voice, but it wasn’t Natalie.
“John?”
I looked around and saw who it was. It wasn’t Natalie, or her sister, but it might as well have been because this temptation was going to be just as difficult to resist. It was Lena, gliding towards the side of the pool so she was a close as possible to where I was standing. She looked even sexier than usual in her bikini, which I couldn’t remember seeing on her before. We’d all been swimming at one point the previous week, but I could only assume that I was concentrating on other things when Lena was in the pool. That had been before she’d started bugging me.
“Hello, Lena,” I said, taking a step forward, away from her, but still unable to take my eyes off her.
She reached the side of the pool, looked up at me and said, licking her lips, “Wanna come for a swim?”
I’d been expecting that and had my answer ready. “No thanks, I’m in a hurry.”
“Aw, come on, why not?” she asked, pulling herself up on the edge of the pool and straightening up to face me.
I backed away from her, ever closer to the door, but found it even harder to take my eyes off her than before. Now she was standing right in front of me, clearly model material, and watching me with amusement.
“No,” I said firmly, noticing a change in the banging sounds the Tommys were making; it was sounding more and more splintered all the time, which could only mean that the door was losing the battle.
“Oh, that’s not the answer I was looking for,” she said, reaching out and taking hold of my arm.
I attempted to wrench it away, but she tightened her grip. “Come swim with me. You know you want to.”
I didn’t want to, and even in real life I probably wouldn’t have, but I had to admit that while I knew it had no bearing on reality, I was hard put to say no. At the same time, I noted how difficult it was to give in to this temptation while Lena was clearly ready to drag me, kicking and screaming, into the pool. I’d never liked being pushed around. I suddenly wished it really was Natalie again; she wasn’t as strong as Lena, and was usually less persistent. Both characteristics were looking pretty good at the moment.
Hoping that perhaps rational tactics might help, I said, “I can’t swim, I haven’t brought any bathers or anything.”
“That’s okay,” she said at once. “We can skinny dip.”
And without warning, she wrenched my trousers down below my knees, ripping them in the process. Horrified, I struggled with every ounce of strength I could muster, feeling the aches and pains from the beating returning and knowing that I was almost out of time. Lena squashed every hope I had of escaping by pinning me to her side and pulling the rest of my clothes off. My face was burning with humiliation, and I wondered how this could get any worse.
It did a moment later, when she proceeded to take off her bikini, so that we were both starkers. She then tightened an arm around me and dragged me to the side of the pool, aided by the slippery floor, where she allowed herself to simply fall sideways into the water, dragging me in with her. Stuck under the water, I struggled with her, eventually managing to get my head above the surface, but a moment later Lena’s head appeared beside me and I felt her wrap her arms around me and, gasping in pain and coughing up water, I was again left to wonder how things could get any worse.
And for the second time, my question was answered within moments. The texture of the water suddenly changed; it was now thick and slimy, and I could hardly move a muscle against it. A moment later, I noticed that both Lena and I were sinking into it.
“The life I always wanted,” she said, and her eyes were suddenly blazing, mad. “Now we can spend the rest of eternity together.”
This is it, I thought; I’m a goner. I couldn’t move a muscle against the swamp surrounding me, let alone the tight restraint of Lena, who was determined to do us both in. But of course she wouldn’t do herself in, because this wasn’t the real Lena, I reminded myself. I was the only one who was going to die. This was the end. If this had been Hall’s plan, he was about to win.
Then, as if to make the situation even worse again, the door crashed inward and the army of Tommys flooded in.
“He’s getting away!” one shouted. “She’s going to save him!”
“Get them!” several shouted, but I hardly cared. There wasn’t a lot they could do to make it worse for me now.
They all piled around the edge of the pool close to where Lena and I were sinking; I was up to my lower lip in it now.
“This stuff’s thick,” one said, feeling it. “Well you guys stick in there, we’ll take this side.”
I had no idea what they were planning, until I felt several hands grab me around the shoulders and attempt to hoist me up. Lena tightened her hold, attempting to weigh us both down.
“She’s dragging him in!” one shouted. “You guys get on this side and see if you can reach her.”
And to my surprise, they did. They got a hold of her and started pulling her up as well, though she fought desperately against them. After a moment, the fifteen-or-so Tommys pulled the two of us free of the swamp and onto the concrete. The Tommys had succeeded, although several of them had fallen in during the process and were now sinking hopelessly into its depths. I scrambled away from the pool, thinking myself lucky, only to be seized by a pack of Tommys. Behind me, I heard several shouts as a few more Tommys were knocked into the swamp during the struggle with Lena.
“No one ruins my destiny and gets away with it!” she screamed, and with a huge push, she threw her arms in the air, sending two more