me in exactly the same positions they’d been in before, only now we were standing in the dim light of Marc’s hidden quarters in the midst of the rest of the Young Army. There was silence for a moment before everyone started talking at once.
“Easy,” said Peter in my ear. “Didn’t even hurt. Brilliant idea; much easier than persuading the parents every time.”
“Too right,” I muttered back.
Looking around (it was hard to see past everyone in the room), I could see Marc and Lucien, apparently trying to restore some order in the place by organising people into seats. Eventually, the place cleared somewhat and we were able to see the ring of seats, pretty much as they had been on Tuesday night. We sat down and waited to see what was going to happen. I looked quickly around and couldn’t see that anyone was missing, which was a good sign.
Now Marc was waving for quiet, and eventually the place fell silent, though Marc had barely opened his mouth before he was cut off.
“I have a question,” said Harry. He didn’t look worried or angry, but merely curious. “Simon and I had our phones in our hands when that happened. Well, obviously it worked, ‘cause we’re here. Would it have worked the same if we’d had them in our pockets, or in a bag of some sort?”
“Pockets, yes,” said Amelia. “Bags, I’m not so sure. Certainly the phone would come, but I’m not sure if the person would come with it.”
“That sucks,” said Jane. “I normally have my phone in my handbag.”
Quite a few of the girls began to voice their disapproval as well, but Amelia waved them off, frowning.
“We can’t be too flexible with the enchantment,” she said. “If it transfers the bag, and anyone holding the bag, then it could transfer other things as well, including people we don’t want to attend. It’s just a small sacrifice we’ll have to make.”
She stared around, waiting to see if anyone else would argue with her, but no one did. I could understand exactly where she was coming from; it had occurred to me, in the second before we were transferred, that we might leave some of our clothes behind if they weren’t directly touching our skin. Thankfully we didn’t, but then I’d also been worried that if we hadn’t been standing on something so solid as the footpath (like if I’d been sitting on my bed, maybe the bed would come with me just like my clothes), other things might have come along with us. The enchantment was clearly as balanced as we could make it without posing any security threats.
“Does that mean,” said Sebastian, sounding as though he wanted to make sure all angles were covered, “that if someone grabbed our arm just as we get transferred, they would come with us?”
“Exactly,” said Amelia. “That’s what I’m trying to prevent.”
“Well that’s something,” he said, looking around at the rest of the girls in the group with a gloating expression on his face. I noticed several of the girls, including Natalie, perk up at once at this. Marc must have noticed too, because he quickly drew everyone’s attention back to himself.
“Right, well I’m sure you’ve all had a chance to think about what’s going to happen tonight,” he said, looking around seriously at the group.
“Yeah, but most of us are hoping you can tell us more definitely what’s going to happen,” said Sebastian, fixing Marc with a pointed stare.
“What exactly is it you want to know?” asked Stella, and several people, including Sebastian, jumped; most had been expecting Marc to fire something back. “If you’re worried about how my family’s going to behave, then my guess is as good as anyone’s.”
“Well what do you know is going to happen?” asked Craig. “Like where do we go after this?”
“And how come we weren’t allowed to have dinner before coming?” added Sophie.
“Well,” said Marc before Stella could respond. He suddenly picked up a bag which had been lying—unnoticed—at his feet the whole time. “The reason we had to meet before going is because they have security preventing unauthorised access. It’s not so much a guest list they go by, but more validation. Anyone with these gets in.”
He took an item from the bag, then passed the bag to Amelia. She took one and passed it on. I couldn’t see exactly what the things were, and even when the bag came around to me and I picked one out, I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. I held in my hand a small, metallic cube, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, with nothing on it but a small magnetic strip, which I assumed was meant for some sort of scanning.
“It’s an enchanted place, where we’re going,” said Stella. “The same enchantments that protect my family’s headquarters protect this place. The entrance is in Hamster’s Stretch Reserve, but the actual party room is underground. You’ll need these to get in.”
“And what’s the order of events once we get in there?” asked Nicole nervously.
“I’m not sure there’s much of an order at all, really,” said Stella, shrugging. “I mean, I know there’s dinner, that’s first, but after that it just becomes like any other party. There’s a bar and a dance floor, so it’s clearly supposed to be a fun evening.”
“So they’re enticing us to relax,” suggested Lisa.
“Pretty much,” said Stella. “And I suppose you can, a bit, but not enough to let your guard down. There are still a lot of untrustworthy people in there.”
My stomach had lurched with dread at the confirmation that there really was going to be dancing. I could now see Lena trying to catch my eye, and I stared so hard at Stella that my eyes were on the point of watering. That didn’t work any better though, because she caught my eye too and blushed. At that point, I was forced to stare at Marc instead. Blimey—there were simply too many women going on …
“How do we know they won’t try to poison us at dinner?” suggested Peter. “They wouldn’t need magic to do that.”
Several people gasped and turned wildly to Stella, who actually sniggered. “Can’t see them pulling that off,” she said. “Actually, they probably haven’t even thought of it. It’s all serve for yourself, so they can’t possibly get you without getting everyone else as well.”
“How do we know they wouldn’t be prepared to sacrifice all the people in there to take the Seventh Sorcerer out of the equation?” asked Lucien.
Stella blanched. “I can’t say that’s not something they’d think of doing, but I don’t think they’d throw caution to the wind like that. They know that even that way, there’s only a remote chance that Marc will actually eat something. Particularly if people are dropping dead around him. I don’t think they would try doing that tonight.”
“What if the effects aren’t instantaneous?” asked Sebastian.
Stella shook her head. “You don’t have to eat it if you don’t trust them,” she said. “I don’t think anyone will make you, but I don’t think there’s anything to fear from the food. If they’ve got plans, they’ll no doubt set them into motion a little later on, when people are having fun.”
Most people didn’t like the sound of that. I didn’t find Stella’s words very encouraging either; she didn’t sound entirely sure of herself. I had the impression that Peter may have hit the mark with something here, and if he hadn’t, then Lucien and/or Sebastian probably had. But I also thought that Stella knew how her family thought, and I had to agree that after everything they’d done, poisoning was a bit tame by their standards. But that didn’t necessarily mean that they wouldn’t stoop a bit, since they couldn’t use magic. I decided that I would wait until I got to the place before making any more tough decisions. This was going to be a long night …
Stella didn’t stay much longer, claiming she would be missed and had to get to the party. The rest of us hung around