The Case of the Wayward Professor (18 page)

‘Prime Minister, touch the screen!' said Vainclaw firmly.

Ducking an aerial assault from Tilia, Dirk succeeded in knocking the Prime Minister's hand away again, but this time Betula and Buxus came at him from behind and sunk their teeth into his tail and legs, dragging him to the floor.

‘Prime Minister, are you all right?' shouted Holly's dad, clutching his wife protectively. ‘What are these things?'

‘They're d … dragons,' stammered his wife.

‘Impossible,' said Principal Palmer. ‘Dragons don't exist.'

‘What would you call them? Kittens?' replied Petal's mum hysterically.

‘Strush up, manumans,' snapped Acer. ‘Or I'll flame-grill your faces.'

‘Leave them, alone,' screamed Holly.

‘Holly? Is that you?' barked her dad, unable to get past Salix and Tilia, who were now penning all four of them in.

‘Stop wriggling,' spat Callum, his sweaty hands holding Holly down.

‘Don't you understand, they want to kill us all,' she said desperately.

‘They're in my head,' said Callum. ‘They do what I say.'

‘Petal was right in the first place. You are crazy,' said Holly, wrestling an arm free and sending her elbow hard into his face, pushing him off. Grabbing the silver case, she twisted it round so that the Prime Minister's hand hit the back of the lid.

Holly placed her palm on the screen.

‘You stupid little girl,' snarled Vainclaw, swiping at her angrily and catching her leg with his razor-sharp claw.

Holly fell to the floor, screaming, clutching her leg, blood oozing through the gaps in her fingers.

‘Holly,' yelled Dirk, but he was silenced by Betula's claw digging into his jaw.

‘You filthy beast, that's my daughter,' shouted Holly's dad.

‘Leave her alone,' screamed his wife, but Salix snapped wildly, preventing them from moving.

The lid began to close automatically.

‘No!' shouted Callum, trying to stop it and receiving an electric shock.

Holly crawled over to Dirk, her leg throbbing in agony with every movement. Buxus and Betula stood on top of him, their claws and teeth digging into his skin. ‘Get off him, you vile creatures,' she said.

‘Do you know this girl?' demanded Vainclaw.

Callum wiped his bloody nose with his sleeve and smoothed down his dishevelled hair. ‘Yes,
Mr Grandin, sir,' he said. ‘The girl said she knew about those monsters …'

‘We're Tree Dragons, manuman. Don't forget it,' growled Acer, approaching Callum threateningly.

‘Leave him alone,' snapped Vainclaw. ‘Don't worry, boy, they won't harm you while I'm here.'

‘But how could she know? The monsters are in my head, not hers.'

‘That's right, Callum,' purred Vainclaw. ‘It's all in your head. Now, what's wrong with this machine?'

‘The details I read in Father's folder said it takes an hour to reset if the wrong hand touches the screen.'

‘Then we will wait,' announced Vainclaw. ‘Your father is still in the trance.'

Callum turned to his father, who still had that distant look in his eyes, his right palm raised.

‘Not so important now, are you, Father?' he spat, walking around him. ‘Not too busy to ignore Callum.'

He turned to Vainclaw and said, ‘Make him bow.'

‘Bow down to your son, Prime Minister Thackley,' said Vainclaw. ‘Kneel before your new master.'

Unquestioningly, the Prime Minister got down on to one knee.

‘Callum Thackley, what are you doing?' demanded the principal.

‘What have you done to my daughter?' shouted Holly's dad.

Petal's mother cried out, ‘Please don't touch my precious Petal!'

‘Your precious what?' snarled Vainclaw.

‘This one,' said Callum, pointing at Petal.

‘Well, that's one way to pass the time while we're waiting,' said Vainclaw, ‘killing humans.'

‘Let me do it,' said Acer.

‘No, she's only a little girl,' screamed Petal's mother.

‘Stay where you are, Acer,' ordered Vainclaw. He turned to address Petal's mother. ‘I could kill your daughter the same way you could squash a fly.'

‘Do it,' urged Callum. ‘Kill her.'

‘No,' shouted Holly, staggering up and limping between Vainclaw and Petal, feeling weak and dizzy from the loss of blood.

‘Get out of the way,' said Callum. ‘It's the way things work. Superior animals kill inferior ones. Just like Petal killed your mouse, my dragon will kill her, if I tell him to.'

‘She doesn't deserve it.' Holly collapsed to the floor.

‘Kill them both,' said Callum.

‘The great Vainclaw Grandin takes orders from a human, does he?' muttered Dirk through his teeth,
feeling Betula's claws dig further into his face.

‘I follow no one's orders,' growled Vainclaw, whacking Callum over his head with his long serpentine tail. ‘Never tell me what to do again, boy.'

Callum giggled nervously and smoothed down his ruffled hair.

Vainclaw looked at Dirk. ‘I suppose you're the detective that the Scavengers told me of? Dirk Dilly, I believe? You do seem to like sticking your nose in other people's business.'

‘I thought it was his nephew,' said Salix.

‘Strush up,' replied Betula.

‘As long your business involves trying to kill innocent humans, I'll be there to stop you,' said Dirk, Betula's claw piercing his skin with every syllable.

‘Or at least here to watch me. The machine will be working again in one hour.'

‘Where are you planning to attack this time, Vainclaw? London, again? New York? You'd better choose carefully. As soon as the machine is used, they'll shut it down. You'll only have one shot and it will take more than one earthquake to destroy mankind.'

‘Destroy mankind?' Vainclaw said mockingly. ‘What an outdated notion. I did used to believe that we should destroy mankind, but not now. Humans have
proved themselves far too useful.' Vainclaw stroked the silver case and received an electric shock. He pulled his claw away quickly. ‘Every human that survives the war will be put to work in weapons factories, gold mines and farms, to work for their masters. I'm not going to destroy mankind. I'm going to enslave it.'

‘And what's your role in this, Callum?' said Holly, crawling across the floor to Dirk, leaving a trail of blood behind her.

‘Humans will be slaves and Callum will be the slave master,' said Callum. ‘Callum will be more important than Dad or Principal Palmer or Petal or you or anyone. It's all in my head. I control it.'

‘No, it's not, Callum. This is real and you're helping them kill.'

‘Enough,' said Vainclaw. ‘Enough of this futile chitchat.'

‘Holly Bigsby! Callum Thackley! I demand to know what's going on?' shouted Principal Palmer from across the hall.

‘Silence,' shouted Vainclaw. ‘Everyone waits in silence until I say so. Bark-backs, watch the humans and the detective. Don't worry about the girl. She'll be dead soon.'

‘Holly, are you OK?' called her father.

‘No, Dad, I'm not.' She tried to shout but the words came out as a breathless whisper.

‘Can't we schmunch one of them while we're waiting? Just a little one?' begged Acer.

‘After we have activated the weapon you can have your fun, Acer,' replied Vainclaw, ‘when you burn this building to the ground and everyone in it.'

Holly, close your eyes and sleep
.

The words appeared in Holly's head. She felt tired and confused, but she knew by looking into his big yellow eyes that they came from Dirk.

Sleep, Holly, close your eyes and sleep
.

For Principal Palmer, Petal's mother, Holly's dad and his wife, it had been like waking from a wonderful dream to find themselves trapped in a terrible nightmare. They sat huddled together, in the middle of the hall, holding hands in a circle, while the Tree Dragons watched them, their sharp teeth snapping every time they spoke or sobbed or tried to move.

For Principal Palmer, it was some consolation that one of the hands gripping his so tightly belonged to Petal Moses' extremely famous American mother.

‘I thought your last album was very good,' he whispered.

‘I hardly think this is the time, Palmer,' said Mr Bigsby.

‘Strush up, manumans,' said Acer. ‘Not a noisound, not a whelper, or I'll scrunch all of you.'

‘Ow,' yelped Callum on the other side of the hall, withdrawing his hand from the silver case.

‘Be patient, boy,' said Vainclaw. ‘The hour is almost up.'

‘Callum is tired of waiting,' replied Callum.

‘Don't you think your fellow Kinghorns deserve to know who they'll be murdering with this human weapon?' muttered Dirk.

Vainclaw lowered his head and peered into his eyes. ‘They know that they are furthering the Kinghorn cause. That's enough for my loyal followers.'

‘Yes,' said Betula. ‘We are not traitors to our species, like you.'