‘I’ll meet you at the front gate,’ Max called.

Kensy slammed her locker door and stalked down the corridor, her face a storm cloud.

‘Yikes. Is she okay?’ Carlos asked.

Max checked which books he needed to take home for the weekend and arranged them neatly in his bag. ‘I haven’t talked to her since she had her meeting with Mrs VB, but I’m sure she’ll be fine. There’s just been a lot going on. See you tomorrow?’

‘Yep, and maybe we can go to the Natural History Museum afterwards,’ Carlos said excitedly, hitching his backpack higher on one shoulder. ‘I hear they have a new “Life in the Dark” exhibit with all these cool biolumine-scent sea creatures and nocturnal beasts – it might help with our Science project.’

Max relished having a friend who shared his love of facts. He’d never had that before. ‘Sounds good,’ he said, grinning. ‘See you then.’ Max hurried out of the school and looked around, but Kensy was nowhere to be seen. It was only when he crossed the street that he saw her perched on the low brick wall in front of a block of flats.

‘Hey,’ he said, making sure to keep his distance.

Kensy jumped to the ground. ‘Hey yourself.’

‘That bad, huh?’

Kensy shrugged. ‘At least Mrs Vanden Boom didn’t attempt to kill me like somebody else is clearly trying to do.’

‘You still think someone’s out to get us?’ Max asked.

‘Yes … no … oh, I don’t know.’ Kensy kicked at a pebble on the ground. ‘I just wish things would go back to the way they were before, but then I don’t really want that at all because we wouldn’t know Granny and Uncle Rupert and Song and everyone else.’

Max gave her a reassuring smile. ‘I suppose being part of the world’s most powerful spy agency has to come with a certain amount of risk attached. Kens, try not to worry so much. We couldn’t be in safer hands.’

‘Don’t be so sure, Max. Plus, aside from the whole life-threatening situation, I don’t want to fail my first review – what would Granny and Fitz think? It’d be mortifying. How could I show my face at school again? It was almost easier before we spoke to Mum and Dad.’ Kensy stopped and looked at him. Max was struck by the emotion on her face. ‘Does that make me a bad person?’

‘Of course not,’ Max said gently. ‘At least we now know for sure that they’re alive and why they disappeared. Imagine if they find Mum’s parents. How incredible would that be after all this time, after everything our family has been through?’

The twins resumed walking down the street, their schoolbag zippers jingling in the silence.

‘Do you ever think about what they’re like?’ Kensy asked after a while. ‘Or what we’d call them? They’re French, so probably grand-mère and grand-père, right?’

‘I guess,’ Max said. ‘Remember those pictures of them in the newspaper we saw in the family crypt? I have that photograph of them imprinted on my mind – except, of course, they’ll be older now.’

The pair turned the corner and were surprised to see the shutters were up on Mrs Grigsby’s newsagency. The place had been boarded up as tight as Fort Knox ever since Wanda Grigsby and her son, Derek – along with two other elderly ladies, Esme Brightside and Ivy Daggett – had been arrested for stealing the Graff Peacock brooch, estimated to be worth eighty million pounds, from the Tate Gallery. Kensy and Max had been instrumental in the gang’s apprehension, but it was MI6 who took the credit. The sting had also led to the capture of the women’s husbands, who had pulled off the largest diamond heist in British history a year before and were in hiding overseas.

‘They couldn’t be out of prison already, could they?’ Max said.

‘No way, it’s been less than two months,’ Kensy said. ‘Someone else must have bought the shop. That’s good. We can get lollies on the way home again. I’ve got five pounds – what do you want?’

Kensy dumped her bag at the front door and Max followed her in. The place looked exactly the same but for a thick layer of dust and cobwebs spun into the corners. There was an acrid tang in the air too. The twins headed straight for the confectionary aisle. Max chose a chocolate-and-nut bar while Kensy grabbed a bag of red frogs for Song and a small bag of mixed sweets for herself. They walked to the counter, which was presently unattended. Kensy tapped the little bell.

‘Comin’!’ a familiar voice rang out from the back room.

The twins looked at one another. ‘Derek?’ they whispered in unison, and turned to find the fellow ambling towards them. He was wearing a grey beanie, Rolling Stones T-shirt and jeans that were riding lower than ever. His ‘jenius’ tattoo was on full display on his left forearm.

‘Hiya kids,’ he said, a broad grin sweeping across his face. His gold tooth glinted under the fluorescent lights. ‘I can’t tell you how good it is to see you two.’

‘We thought you were on holiday in the Caribbean,’ Max said, finding his voice.

‘Oh.’ Derek frowned. ‘Yeah, that didn’t quite work out.’

‘Did your mum go?’ Kensy asked, glancing around the shop. There was no sign of the wretched woman and she couldn’t hear any noises coming from the flat upstairs.

‘You kids don’t read the papers, do you?’ Derek said, resting his elbows on the counter-top and leaning in towards them.

‘Not much,’ Max mumbled, which wasn’t true at all. He read the Beacon from cover to cover each morning before school. He’d always kept up with current affairs, but he particularly made an effort now that he was a Pharos agent-in-training and especially because one of the agency’s primary methods of communication across the globe was through meticulously plotted advertisements, notices, puzzles and stories that were planted in the paper.

‘That’s good. It’s just a load of old rubbish most of the time.’ Derek unwrapped a chocolate bar from the front counter and bit into it. ‘Me mum won’t be back for ages. I’m gonna run the shop while she’s away.’

Kensy suppressed the smirk that was tickling her lips and offered him the five-pound note from her uniform pocket.

‘Ay, maybe Song could drop by with some of those dumplin’s of ’is sometime,’ Derek said, passing her the change. ‘I’m not very good at cookin’ for meself. It’s been baked beans on toast for the past few days.’

That explained the shop’s fuggy smell, Max thought. ‘Sure, we’ll let him know when we get home,’ he said. ‘Bye, Derek, and, er, welcome back.’

The twins hurried out of the shop and into the crisp evening. Kensy snatched up her bag and charged down the footpath. ‘Well, that was a surprise,’ she said, whipping off a glove to open the bag of lollies. She shook the packet and picked out a green one. ‘I wonder why Derek was released. Do you think he made a deal to testify against the others? Or maybe he didn’t know much about what was going on. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s got a kind heart.’

‘Song’ll know,’ Max said as the pair pulled their coats around their necks and hurried along the chilly street towards 13 Ponsonby Terrace.