‘How do you feel now?’ asked Chloe. Theo was leaning, red-faced and weak, on the gate at the back of the Condemned Cemetery.
‘Sick, but better,’ panted Theo. The trip through the network had been as quick as only Chloe’s expert knowledge could make it, but the air down there had been clogged with the dirty vapour that was now spreading throughout every nook and cranny of the city.
‘What does it mean,’ Theo asked, ‘Sir Peregrine having access to the network?’ His face was resuming its usual pale hue, his dark hair was matted and curled by sweat and dirty fog.
‘That your theory is right!’ Chloe replied. ‘He must be the Dodo. But he was a weird villain from the Victorian days. How can he still be alive?’ Chloe looked exasperated.
‘I’ve no idea,’ Theo replied. ‘But I’ve seen an old picture of him – it’s not the sort of thing you forget!’
‘The trouble is,’ Chloe said, ‘Mr Norrowmore always tried to keep me in the dark about the old days, the old characters. He wanted me to be Modern Vigilance – an up-to-date agent only interested in how to stop the Society of Good Works here and now.’ Chloe glanced back, anxious.
‘Speaking of the here and now,’ she added, ‘we’d better move on!’ Chloe shoved open the rusty gate and plunged into the woods that surrounded the sprawling graveyard.
‘Where are we going?’ panted Theo.
‘Can’t you guess?’ Chloe called back.
Theo hurried to keep her in sight through the gathering dusk. After a gloomy trek through the trees, Chloe stopped by a crumbling tomb carved to represent an immense sleeping lion. She motioned for Theo to remain there while she scouted ahead. She scuttled through the smog, the holly and the gravestones. Suddenly she straightened up, relaxed and beckoned Theo. ‘It’s clear,’ she said.
The cemetery keeper’s cottage had been trashed, taken apart by curious and destructive hands. Even items that couldn’t possibly be important had been scattered and smashed, like the glasses Theo and Sam had so recently used in celebration.
‘I should have known,’ said Chloe dismally. ‘There would have been a light on if they were here.’
‘What do you think it means?’ Theo asked.
Chloe looked anxious. ‘That someone knew the Society of Unrelenting Vigilance had a house here. That they looked for clues. Then they wrecked the place to upset and frighten anyone who should return here.’
‘So you think Sam and Magnus weren’t home when it happened?’
‘I’m pretty sure of that. No signs of a proper struggle. This looks like an act of frustration, because they didn’t find what they were hoping for.’
‘But how would they know where to come? This was all secret, wasn’t it?’
‘There are ways. Maybe they just followed a trail – your scent – I don’t know.’
Theo needed a rest. With his thick gauntlets he brushed some glass off the sofa he had slept on only the night before, and sank into it gratefully.
‘That’s bad tradecraft.’ Chloe scowled, wagging a finger. ‘If Dr Saint and his evil gang come back, they’ll say, “Oh look, someone’s brushed the glass off here,” and they’ll keep watching the cottage in case we return!’
‘Well, we won’t be here,’ objected Theo. It still upset him to hear Chloe refer to his guardian as evil.
‘No, but Magnus might,’ Chloe retorted. ‘He’ll be trying to think of a way of finding us again …’ She stood, chewing her lower lip and staring at nothing in particular. Theo could tell her mind was racing.
‘I’m anxious,’ she admitted, ‘because it’s really quite a bad thing that we haven’t found Magnus here. It’s also not good – and when I say not good, I mean very, very bad – that our enemies found this cottage, and the Watch Tower.’
Chloe pondered for a while. Eventually she sighed, tipped some glass off a wooden chair and sat down too, looking glum.
‘I’ve been doing all this by the book,’ she said at last, ‘following Vigilance orders. But now Norrowmore is dead and Magnus isn’t here. I think the rules have changed a bit.’
Theo thought he heard a rustling outside, but was too concentrated on Chloe to pay it any mind.
‘What do you think happened to Sir Peregrine when he touched you?’ Chloe asked suddenly.
I have to trust her, Theo told himself. I would be a prisoner again if not for Chloe. I might even be dead.
‘You wrote it – didn’t you?’ he asked. ‘My name on the birthday present. The silver lettering?’
‘Yes,’ said Chloe. ‘Mr Norrowmore provided the snow globe. He knew it would intrigue you – enchant you – prepare you for our approach. It was a clue, if you needed one, to show you your life was under a dark shadow.’
‘It wasn’t the shadow that intrigued me,’ said Theo. ‘It was the beautiful handwriting. Seeing my name like that was magical. It made me think that I – that life could be better.’
‘It can be,’ Chloe replied quietly. ‘It will be. But it’s going to get worse first.’
It was now or never, Theo thought. He had to tell Chloe about his power – warn her that he might be dangerous.
‘I think Sir Peregrine was right,’ Theo began, ‘when he said that I didn’t have a rare skin disease. But I – I do have something inside me,’ he continued, his eyes lowered. ‘A kind of energy. It can affect people – make things happen.’
Chloe nodded. ‘When we were in the network, the first time, and those Foundlings faced you – you glowed,’ Chloe said. ‘I swear you glowed, like a human candle.’
‘Like a candle man,’ Theo said quietly.
‘Uh-huh,’ Chloe said, looking away from him.
‘Chloe – I think you know more than you’re telling me!’ he blurted out. ‘How can you know about the Dodo but not know about the Candle Man?’
Chloe put a finger to her lips. ‘Let’s keep our voices down,’ she said. ‘We should probably move on.’ But she didn’t go anywhere.
‘All right,’ she confessed. ‘I lied to you earlier when I said I didn’t know anything.’
‘I knew it!’
‘When I was a little girl, Mr Norrowmore told me the myth one day. He said the Candle Man was a great hero. He had fought against the Society of Good Works in the olden days. It was a nice legend of good conquering evil.’
‘Except it’s more than a legend. It was real,’ interrupted Theo eagerly. ‘Dr Saint has a secret room all about him. I saw a picture of him there – and he looked just like me!’ He stopped, looking faintly apologetic. ‘That’s about all I know,’ he added.
‘When I was older,’ Chloe said, ‘I was told never to mention the Candle Man. Apparently the enemy could bump you off just for knowing about him. That terrified me – so I buried the whole thing in my mind.’
Theo was watching Chloe’s face. For a moment there, talking about her past, in the gloomy, wrecked little parlour, he felt he had caught a glimpse of her as she was when she was a child – and he felt sorry for her.
‘Recently, it came up again,’ Chloe continued. ‘I was working on the “prisoner” mission. That was you, of course. When he sent me in to spy on Empire Hall, Mr Norrowmore said it was possible that you were the modern-day descendant of the original Candle Man. I thought it was just a crazy dream he had. But after what’s been happening – well, I’m prepared to believe anything.’
‘Why did you lie to me?’
Chloe scowled. ‘I was ordered not to discuss it with you. Norrowmore said it could only be done at a full Council – if we could get you there alive.’
Theo gulped. It was terrible not knowing about the Candle Man – yet dreadful to open up the subject.
‘We need to know more about you – about him,’ Chloe said. ‘The enemy seem to have all the advantage – but there’s one thing they don’t have: you.’
‘Or you.’ Theo grinned. Despite the dire situation, he couldn’t help feeling that with Chloe by his side they could do almost anything.
Suddenly he heard another rustle outside. Then a soft thump. He whirled around and saw a huge black rat on the windowsill – and it was staring straight at him.