* * *
After that the morning was extremely dull; Science and French passed without any incident, apart from perhaps Mrs. Lynch giving the French class a good talking to for not completing the work she’d set for us in her absence (although I personally couldn’t remember Hall handing it out). Home group was mildly amusing, for when Harry asked Hall why he’d shortened the number of students for that afternoon’s detention, the teacher replied that he didn’t think (as Simon had suggested) that he would be capable of handling so many trouble makers in one place at one time.
We all met up at recess again; we Playmans, Thomases, Harry, Simon, Natalie, Lisa, Marc and Tommy, anyway. Thankfully none of the others joined us, although Erica had followed James into the locker bay and was whispering something to him. James was listening with an unreadable expression on his face, which was a change from the way he had been ignoring her completely a week ago. When she walked away, Peter and I stared pointedly at him, but he passed no hint of what she had said. We didn’t have time to think about it though, because a moment later Amelia had turned up, looking extremely anxious.
“Er—Marc, can we have a word?” she asked nervously. All us boys glanced around at each other, smirking; Amelia had the hots for Marc. Nicole, who also had a spot for him, scowled at Amelia.
“Er — I guess,” said Marc awkwardly, clearly thinking the same as the rest of us.
“We’ll meet you at the toilet block, bro,” Tommy called after him as the two of them disappeared into the mass of students.
“She can’t be serious,” I heard Nicole whispering furiously to Natalie as we walked towards the toilet block, our proffered recess and lunch hang-out spot, five minutes later. “With the amount of danger he’s in right now and she wants to go and get him all side-tracked? Why didn’t I just…”
“Maybe it’s not what it looks like,” said Natalie, but the tone of her voice told me that she didn’t really believe what she was saying.
As it happened, Marc returned well into recess. We’d all finished eating by that stage, and he hadn’t even started. My mind was racing, trying to imagine what he and Amelia had been doing all this time.
“So, how’d it go?” Harry asked in a voice that would have made me want to hit him if I’d been in Marc’s shoes.
“Interesting,” he said uneasily. “Something rather unusual is going on.”
“Nah, nothing unusual about it, mate,” said Simon, grinning broadly.
“Would you like me to explain what I’m talking about, then?” Marc asked the twins. They both fell back, clearly wondering how grossed out they were about to be, but Marc was grinning. “Well, I was talking to Amelia and Stella,” he went on, and my heart fell; it was about the Crystals. It must be. “And Stella was telling us about something that happened with her family last night.”
“Oh fantastic,” said Peter. “They don’t know about us—about the army—do they?”
“Don’t say that around here,” hissed Marc, staring around wildly for eavesdroppers. “If anyone hears that name, they’ll certainly be onto us. That’s for our ears only.”
“Sorry,” said Peter, abashed. “But do they?”
“No idea,” said Marc. “They probably do. I mean, they know I’ve got two Crystals, so I’d say so. Anyway, Stella’s birthday’s on Sunday, right, and her family—”
“Is it really?” asked Harry buoyantly. “Why didn’t you say so? We’ll have to get her a present, Simon. Any suggestions?”
“Never mind that now,” said James impatiently. “What’s with her family, Marc?”
“They want to celebrate it,” he said shortly.
The group went quiet, staring at one another. Stella’s family celebrate her birthday, after everything they had done to her? After all the torture and humiliation they had inflicted upon her—after I had watched them use an agonator on her in front of hundreds of people—they would suddenly turn around and do this? I doubted they’d ever celebrated her birthday before now, so what was going on? Why now? Finally Peter voiced what I was thinking.
“That is extremely dodgy.”
“Isn’t it though,” said Marc, nodding. “And they’re determined to make it something big for her.”
“What’s in it for them?” asked Peter.
“That’s what we don’t know,” said Marc. “My guess is that they want to gain her trust and use her against the Woodwards, but I can’t help wondering if there’s more to it than that. Anyway, she made them seal a pact making it safe for us all to attend.”
“No way, man,” said Tommy. “You know they want me—”
“What do you mean, ‘seal a pact’?” Nicole asked nervously.
“It’s a magical promise that they cannot break,” said Lisa promptly before Marc could open his mouth.
“And if they do?” asked Felicity.
“They get bad luck—the worst luck—”
“I’m not superstitious enough to believe that,” said James. “They’re up to something, though; that, I'll believe.”
“Exactly what did the pact say?” I asked Marc. My insides had chilled because although I’d never heard anyone speak about a pact before, Marc’s words sounded horribly familiar.
“That they will not use their magic, or a device they’ve created with magic at the party,” Marc recited.
“Does that include their followers using those devices?” asked James at once.
Marc froze, thinking. Finally he said, “I suppose not. I’ll have to ask Stella. Anyway she was thinking about it herself. She didn’t want us anywhere near them at first, but she’s thinking that if they can’t use magic at the party then it should be safe.”
“Not if Hignat gets his hands on an agonator,” said Harry darkly.
“I don’t trust her either,” said James flatly.
“We know,” I interrupted, but he ignored me and kept going.
“She wants us in the company of her family, and the only hint of security for us is her word that they won’t use magic. She’s got rocks in her head if she thinks we’ll fall for that.”
He looked around at the group, daring someone to argue with him, but most of the group seemed to be on his side.
“Don’t go thinking Stella’s trying to set us up,” Peter said hotly. “You’ve been wrong about that several—”
“I think,” said Marc, without raising his voice. We all fell silent instantly. “That she wants us there for moral support, nothing more or less. That would mean much to her now that she’s got us—more than she’s ever had in her life—and since she’s never been allowed to have any kind of party, or had any friends to invite to such a party, she just wants our support. But that doesn’t mean her family doesn’t have plans for us; that’s what I’m worried about.”
“So we’ve got to choose between supporting Stella or staying alive,” said James, smirking in spite of himself. “Wow, I’ll be pondering that for ages to come.”
“Don’t be facetious,” said Jessica, punching her brother in the shoulder.
“Let me talk to her,” said Marc finally. “We’ve got double German this afternoon and we’re in the same class in that subject; Amelia’s in there too. I could convince her to make another pact with her family, to protect us.”
“They wouldn’t