5

Alex clutched the sides of his head as the sound of squabbling grew louder – not just because Cynthia and Pickle were getting angrier but because …

‘Oh, you’re kidding! Don’t tell me they’re heading this way as well!’ said Jonny.

This really wasn’t great, thought Zack. For him at least. The others might get away with saying they were lost, but Zack would probably face immediate expulsion. And no more second chances this time. No more dreams of becoming president of the Magic Circle.

But what if he jeopardized the others’ chances of membership too? Well, that was it; they couldn’t get caught – not yet, at least! He owed it to his new friends.

Sophie edged towards the top of the staircase, looking at the others as she gripped the banister.

‘We’re going to have to …’ she said calmly.

The boys moved next to her quickly. Cynthia and President Pickle were almost upon them, the sound of their argument starting to peak.

‘Yes, but not the stairs,’ whispered Jonny, placing his hand over Sophie’s. ‘We’ll be heard.’

For a second she didn’t know what he was getting at, and then – as if this wasn’t what a spiral staircase was ultimately designed for – she knew. ‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding, mate!’

Jonny swung his leg round so that he was straddling the rickety banister rail, looking at the others. ‘We’re going to have to … mate!’ he said, mimicking Sophie’s northern accent, his eyes shining – and then, with a faint swish, shot down into the depths turning and turning, vanishing into the void.

Sophie looked at Zack and Alex, impressed but conscious of time.

Zack understood that this was the only way they could get away quickly enough, but he felt bad for Alex, who was evidently terrified at the prospect of descending the ageing staircase banister-style!

‘Why don’t you go between us?’ whispered Sophie, helping Alex up and placing him facing backwards on the banister, so quickly that he didn’t have time to object – a bit like when a doctor asks if you’re ready for a needle injection but the needle’s already halfway into your arm.

Sophie clambered on behind Alex so that she faced his back; Zack followed suit in front, so the smaller boy was squished between the two of them – oddly close for people who’d only just met, but then this was a pretty odd situation!

‘Now!’ whispered Sophie as she saw the door handle begin to turn.

Zack pushed off with all his might. Not that he needed to; the staircase dropped so steeply that plain old gravity was more than enough.

Sophie’s mind quickly turned to how this spiral-bound journey might end. The wood of the staircase, the rusting nails, the cold stone walls – none of these spoke of a soft landing. And, she thought, Alex would be falling on top of her (not too bad, she concluded) – though there was Zack on top of that, of course! Hmm, yes, this was going to be a problem, wasn’t it?

Zack was thinking the same thing. He thought about calling out to Sophie, but, on glancing up, could now see that Cynthia and President Pickle were about to descend the staircase (on foot, thank the Lord!) and feared that any noise might give the game away.

Alex too was in his own particular pickle – the pickle sandwiched between Zack and Sophie! He counted himself lucky not to be in Sophie’s position, but he didn’t like the idea of being the buffer between her and Zack – like a little airbag. He’d pop!

Of course, Sophie thought as the world spun around faster and faster, there was the slim chance that Jonny was already lying on the floor waiting … in which case, yes, there would be some cushioning – if you counted skin and bones as cushioning.

Oh, why had she agreed to this?

Zack tried to slow down, but they were travelling at such speed now; the friction made his palms burn – and there was no way he wanted his palms to end up like Ernest Haigh’s on the front cover of that old programme!

Down and down they went, into the depths of the Magic Circle. He had never ventured down here before.

Surely they were nearing the bottom now, thought Sophie, almost instinctively turning her wrist to look at her watch.

No, too dangerous!

She steadied herself, trying to keep her balance, but …

Could it be that …?

No, surely not.

Could it be … that they were slowing down?

Alex could feel it on his windswept cheeks too, something less dramatic about their angle of descent. Either that or he was so dizzy he’d completely lost all his senses.

Sophie turned, half expecting to see solid ground come crashing up towards her, but instead saw Jonny’s grinning face as she slowly approached.

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief as they came to a satisfying stop in front of Jonny, who stood there like he was the official finishing post.

‘What took you so long?’ he whispered.

They clambered off the banister on to the dimly lit landing area, their legs feeling like they belonged to someone else (someone who’d spent at least a year on an EXTREME fairground ride).

‘Lucky we didn’t keep going!’ said Zack as he peered over the edge, spotting a second staircase winding further down into the depths just ahead of where they’d stopped.

‘What … now?’ exhaled Alex, aware that – despite their rather breathtaking speed of descent – Cynthia and President Pickle were still only a few minutes behind them.

‘A door – look!’ Jonny spied a stout cupboard built into the stone wall, half camouflaged against the grime. He prised open the door and the four peered inside. Save for a few rotting silk handkerchiefs, some feathers, old copies of the society magazine, swords, a dozen top hats, rabbit bones and a billion woodlice, it was completely empty.

Oh, perfect! thought Alex.

They squeezed inside, trying not to touch the sides, which, on inspection, seemed to be teeming with spiders’ eggs, freshly hatched baby spiders and several spider mums and dads prepared to do anything to protect their young.

Jonny’s long arms reached out for the doors, closing them just as President Pickle and Cynthia emerged from the staircase, still arguing – typically, thankfully, blissfully unaware of everything that had just happened.

The cupboard darkened inside as Alex wondered whether being unable to see the spiders was in fact a good thing or whether it actually made things even more TERRIFYING.

‘As soon as it’s clear, we’ll head straight back upstairs,’ whispered Zack, chiding himself once again for leading them all into this – he could feel Alex trembling beside him. But then again, wasn’t this everything Zack had wanted? A group of friends to join him on his adventures in the dark, forbidden recesses of the Magic Circle? If Cynthia and President Pickle would just walk on by, perhaps they’d be OK …

Sophie let her eyes adjust to the light, surprised that she could still make out a fair bit, albeit slightly obscured by Jonny’s huge, though now substantially squashed, frame.

She felt something move across her back and shuddered, trying not to panic – for if there was one thing worse than someone panicking, it was someone panicking inside a confined space. Almost immediately she felt it again. Slowly turning round, Sophie was surprised to see a small shaft of light coming from the back of the cupboard. She reached towards it, her hand now feeling the cool current of air that had rippled the back of her T-shirt. Why was there a light coming from the back of a cupboard? she wondered, edging over towards it.

All of a sudden she heard President Pickle’s booming voice! But not from where she’d feared …

And then it dawned on her … A bit like a fake playing card, this cupboard was double-sided and had two openings – the one they’d come through, and the one she was now peeping through at the back. Sophie studied the ominous cave-like room, squirming with greying adults who were all beginning to sit round a large creaking and cracked wooden table.

It had to be, thought Sophie: the council chamber. The last place four kiddie-winkles should be hiding!

And worse still – the Council was now in full session.