“What’s that supposed to be?” asked Henry.
I didn’t know either. For a moment I thought of the demon, but at the same time I felt sure that a demon would never go around wearing a cloak and a slouch hat, if only for fear of looking ridiculous. Or was I right? The figure in the slouch hat—judging by its outline and the depth of its voice, it was a man—laughed again, this time really rumbling laughter, and the echo was thrown back and forth from wall to wall of the corridor.
I was torn both ways. I was curious to find out who this character was and what he wanted. After all, I was still dreaming, and furthermore, Henry was standing right beside me. So what could go really wrong? On the other hand, a little voice inside me whispered that it would be a good idea to make for the wide blue yonder.
However, it wasn’t until the man was only a few doors away and began to speak—“Who are you who venture to roam in the haunts of Senator Tod Nord?”—that I decided to listen to the little inner voice. Tod, which in German means “death,” didn’t sound good.
“Senator Tod Nord?” repeated Henry as I seized his arm and tried to haul him away. The figure wasn’t far from our doors now.
“Did he say Nord? As in north?” Henry was still looking back behind us. “Is that some kind of zip code or what?”
“Could you put off finding out to another time?” I cried.
“Wait! What do you make of this?” Unfortunately Senator Tod decided to follow us, while declaiming something that made no sense at all. “Rodents at rondo!”
For some reason, that seemed to interest Henry enormously. “Rondo?” He was reluctant to let me lead him on. “What do you mean?”
I couldn’t believe it! Now he was stopping to have a conversation with this character! Didn’t he know that the best way to deal with lunatics is to ignore them? I wouldn’t be surprised if the man behind us produced a scythe from under his cloak any moment now, to suit his first name.
Once again he laughed his deranged laugh. And this time it really scared me.
“Don’t just stand there!” I hissed at Henry, who was slowing down no matter how I tried to hurry him.
There! Grayson’s door was ahead of us. It looked the same as ever, a perfect copy of our front door at home, painted white, with plant containers outside it and the chubby stone statue known as Frightful Freddy barring our way. A place to take refuge! “Wait—stranded on root!” cried Senator Tod, or at least that was all I could seem to make out in the confusion of the moment. Not for the world was I going to do as he said and wait, that was for sure.
I just hoped Grayson, like me, hadn’t changed his safety precautions. If he had, then Senator Tod Nord was going to grab us. I bent down to Freddy and whispered, “Ydderf, Ydderf, Ydderf” into his ear (he had the head of an eagle, so it wasn’t easy to make out just where his ear was supposed to be, but I didn’t have time for such details now). “And hurry up about it! There’s someone after us!”
“You may come in,” squeaked Freddy, sounding slightly insulted, as I flung the door open, pushed Henry through it, and let it slam before the character in the slouch hat could catch up.
“That was a close thing!” I gasped.
Henry didn’t reply. My hand went out to him and met empty air.
“Henry? This isn’t funny!” Horrified, I looked around. But there wasn’t a sign of Henry anywhere.
7
“EXPLAIN AEROBIC ADB production in human cells with regard to a gross equation with the balance of ADB contained in them.”
At first I thought Senator Tod had slipped into Grayson’s dream, confused ravings and all, but the speaker had been Grayson’s biology teacher, Mr. Bridgewater. We were in a classroom in Frognal Academy, where Grayson was sitting at a table on his own, in front of four teachers, looking rather pale. Obviously this was some kind of exam.
“Aerobic ATP production, do you mean?” asked Grayson, casting me a glance of annoyance.
“ADB,” Mr. Bridgewater corrected him, and Grayson turned even paler.
There were a few chairs for onlookers by the wall, and I tiptoed over and sat down beside Emily, carefully coiling my jaguar tail up beside me.
I didn’t know whether to be worried about Henry or cross with him, but mainly I felt cross. Maybe he had simply turned into a breath of air. He could do that sort of thing. Or maybe he had woken. Whichever it was, I didn’t much care for being left here on my own. Especially as I thought he really ought to have taken that guy in the slouch hat more seriously.
“How’s Grayson doing?” I whispered to Emily.
Emily put a finger to her lips. “Shh. Other people are trying to learn something!” My jaguar tail twitched with annoyance. Even in Grayson’s dreams, Emily was a terrible spoilsport.