40

The Young Magicians watched in horror as Henry unveiled a broken and beaten Ernest, pulling back the sack from his head with an aggressive flourish, as if he was just some prop in a hack stage routine.

For a second all anyone could hear was Ernest gasping for air – until Jonny murmured, ‘Granddad?’

‘Jonathan …’ he sighed. ‘It’s not what you think.’

Henry suddenly rounded on him, putting the screwdriver to his neck. ‘Oh, but it is, old man! Why don’t you tell them? Why don’t you tell them everything?’

Still wheezing away, and hardly daring to look at the Queen, Ernest got to his knees. He studied the four of them sadly. ‘It all … It all started a while ago …’ he began. ‘But I never meant it to lead to this, I promise you.’

‘No, Granddad. No!’ Jonny didn’t want to believe what he was hearing. All eyes were now trained on Ernest as he started to explain.

‘Henry was expelled from the society a number of years ago. You don’t need to know why, nor do you need to know his real name, but it was a nasty affair.’

Henry smacked Ernest across the back of his head, causing Jonny to step forward involuntarily. Once again, Henry raised the screwdriver. ‘Stay where you are!’ he barked ferociously. ‘Continue, old man!’

Ernest cleared his throat before carrying on. ‘About a year ago I came up with a plan. A plan to save the Magic Circle from falling into financial ruin. You all heard what a state it’s in. And all President Pickle and his council can do is brush things under the carpet! But I couldn’t carry out my plan alone, I needed assistance. And then I remembered Henry and his talent for … misbehaviour.’

The Young Magicians looked on as the truth slowly sank in; the vast, luscious room suddenly felt overpowering and claustrophobic.

‘Council stopped listening to me years ago,’ Ernest went on. ‘It was time to do something practical to ensure the future of the society so that it could allow young magicians like yourselves to flourish. Like I flourished. Back then.’

‘And so you decided to steal?’ said Jonny, his voice breaking.

‘Yes, steal, Jonathan! But not to harm. Not for personal gain!’

‘And Henry … what? He would simply share the prize – was that it?’ Jonny’s voice was hollow with anguish.

‘Yes. At least, that was the plan. But you have to believe me when I tell you that I did it for the likes of you and your friends. To keep the society I once loved from crumbling away. But I never meant for you to be involved!’

‘Explain to the other boy how he’s been played,’ said Henry, turning to Zack. ‘I want him to see how foolish he’s been!’

‘You were trying to get me involved,’ Zack realized all of a sudden, his face blank. ‘Six months ago, when I first arrived, you were sizing me up to see if I could help you, weren’t you?’

Ernest looked up at Zack, nodding sadly. ‘I’m afraid to say we were, young lad, yes.’

‘But … why?’

‘Because of your brain, don’t you see?’ said Ernest. ‘There hasn’t been a magical brain like yours for generations! How else were we to commit these impossible crimes?’

‘What about The Thieves’ Almanac?’ said Sophie, still trying to piece everything together. The Queen looked over at her, trying to keep up.

‘It doesn’t exist,’ said Ernest flatly. ‘Or if it does, I don’t know where it is. No, we needed to look for the really bright magical minds, innocent … unguarded.’

‘Hence Henry posing as a kid at the first ever induction week,’ said Zack, shaking his head.

‘But you were getting too nosy.’ Henry fixed Zack with cold eyes and paced to and fro behind Ernest, clearly enjoying the effect his performance was having. ‘And since you weren’t willing to come on board, since you rejected my friendship …’

‘We just needed you out of the way while we put our heads together,’ continued Ernest.

‘And so you had me framed!’ Zack swallowed.

Ernest nodded again. I can’t believe this man is my granddad, thought Jonny, feeling completely disorientated.

‘And when did the rest of us become part of your plan?’ asked Sophie bitterly. She had trusted him.

‘Right from the moment you first stepped into the building,’ answered Ernest. ‘I knew I had another chance of getting to Zack on learning he was a close friend of Jonathan’s, but we had to be less obvious this time round. Now that we had everything in place. He couldn’t get a sense that he – or any of you – were being … groomed by Henry and me.’

‘You got me into magic just to get to Zack again?’ spat Jonny, running his hands through his hair.

‘Yes, but … I … I …’ Ernest trailed off. There was nothing else he could say.

‘And the Bank of England plot – what went wrong there?’ asked Sophie, grabbing Jonny’s hand.

‘Nothing. That was just … a test. To see if you would take the bait. We were always after the Crown Jewels … Not that we had the foggiest idea how to get to them,’ answered Ernest as Henry grinned behind him.

‘And so you see,’ said Henry, almost salivating at his success, ‘while you were confiding all your brilliant solutions to Ernest, you were simply showing us the way, doing our job for us! Of course, we had to put you on the right track every now and again, let you know that you were on the right lines without being too obvious, make Zack think it would all lead to him clearing his name so to speak …’

‘The bookmark in the restricted section,’ whispered Zack. ‘The page from The Thieves’ Almanac …’

‘We could have suffocated inside that safe!’ screamed Jonny, tears streaming down his face, trying to lash out at his granddad as Sophie held him back.

‘But, Jonathan, that’s why I gave you the pick. I didn’t know that Henry was going to disable Alex like that, I swear. Henry was out of control. I wanted out, I promise you! I wanted to tell you when you came to visit me, but he was behind the door. I never meant it to come to this!’

Henry glared over at Alex, causing the boy to squirm and shake once more. ‘To think how guilty you all felt believing the thieves had got to “Henry”!’ He threw his head back, touching the eye that had once appeared horribly bruised, but had clearly just been more make-up and theatrics. ‘And now you know everything,’ he said smugly. ‘Apart from how I never planned to accept a mere portion of the prize, even at the beginning – just the prize itself! The greatest theft in all of history! The theft of the Crown Jewels!’

‘I should never have trusted him!’ said Ernest pleadingly, his body now contorted towards the four youngsters, his back arched, like he was physically begging – bent double – for their forgiveness. The room fell quiet as Ernest hung his head in shame, sobbing.

‘Pathetic old man.’ Henry sneered down at him. ‘You should have seen him on the zip-line – he almost wet himself!’

Zack bit his lip. The two men had certainly pulled off an elaborate scam, but then … Hmm. What if …? No, surely they would never buy it. But then again, you never knew – just maybe …?

‘There’s just one little thing to add,’ he said, meeting Henry’s gaze.

Sophie and Alex glanced at each other, puzzled. What was Zack up to now?

‘And what’s that, Brains?’ spat Henry. ‘Worried I might blame all this on you again? Don’t worry, that’s already covered. It’s all very straightforward: “Young magician fails Magic Circle induction again and so turns to crime!” ’

‘Nope, not that,’ said Zack casually. ‘I’m just wondering why you didn’t suspect the bluff?’

Henry’s eyes suddenly narrowed, like he needed to be on guard. Had he been too complacent? ‘What bluff?’

‘Well, it goes without saying – why just settle for a bluff when there’s the double bluff? What better way to protect the Crown Jewels than to pretend they’re somewhere they’re not … But for that to be pretend too!’

Jonny looked up. Was his friend being serious?

‘You mean …?’ began Sophie.

‘Yes. Sorry to drag you along for nothing,’ Zack went on, ‘but it was the only way to get the thieves – or whoever – as far away from the Crown Jewels as possible. Didn’t you think I knew I was being played, Henry – or whatever your name is? I’m just so pleased you and Ernest took the bait!’

Jonny, Sophie and Alex stared at each other, agog. Was Zack telling the truth or was this more invention?

‘No!’ shouted Henry angrily. ‘You’re bluffing! They must be here!’

‘Why?’ said Zack, goading him. ‘Because some children said they were? What if I’d said they were stored on the moon – would we be standing there now?’

Henry was boiling with rage, his screwdriver pointed at Zack. Instinctively, Alex, Jonny and Sophie moved in to protect their friend.

The Queen suddenly stepped forward.

‘I’ll be honest, right. I ain’t really followed much o’ this, which is why I ain’t spoken much, but the kid’s right – they’re not ’ere. And even if they were, you wouldn’t be able to find ’em, ’cos they don’t even exist! They never ’ave done!’

WHAT?!

Now it was Zack’s turn to gasp. Could this be true? The Young Magicians turned to face the Queen as the veins in Henry’s neck began to pulse and bulge.

All of a sudden Ernest began to laugh. A deep, hearty laugh that ran up from his bowels and exploded out of his mouth. Henry glowered at him. Had the old man deliberately led him astray or was he as shocked by this revelation as the rest of them? It was impossible to tell who was bluffing any more, and the room – like Henry’s head – was beginning to spin. Was everyone here taking him for a ride? Didn’t they know what he was capable of? Didn’t anyone know? Ah, but he still had the screwdriver.

As Ernest continued to guffaw, Henry slowly raised the screwdriver high above his head.

The others all looked at Ernest, then up at Henry … and then just to the left of Henry as someone began to approach rapidly from behind with a frankly remarkable choice of weapon: the garden hoe.