her hands into fists. âIâm not doing anything to help
you
.â She marched towards the exit, her face burning. It was that idiotâs fault that Seb had been arrested in the first place â and he had the audacity to ask for her help!
When she got to the opening, she came to a halt. The passageway outside was shadowy and quiet. She wondered which way the underguard station was, or if it was even down there at all. She remembered Sebâs wide eyes, searching for her as he was taken away. She clenched her teeth and turned back. âWhatâs the favour?â
The boy grinned. âI need you to fetch me something from another cave down here. It shouldnât be difficult.â
âIf itâs not difficult,â Ivy said, âwhy donât you do it yourself?â
He put his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels. âI wish I could, but you see . . . my nameâs Valian Kaye.â
Ivy snorted. It made sense now.
Valian Kaye
â the third suspect on the underguardâs list.
And a thief
, she recalled. Thatâs why heâd been in the back of the underguardâs coach. He must have been arrested.
âTheyâre looking for you too,â Valian reminded her. âBut your face isnât as well-known as mine and you have one other advantage: youâre a mucker, and that means they canât track you.â He peeled off his gloves and stuffed them in his jeans pocket, flexing his fingers. âThat should slow them down a bit.â
Ivyâs head felt woozy. âA mucker? Wait. Slow down . . .â She could feel a sharp pain behind her eyes â the kind you get when youâve been staring at something for too long. She wondered if the effects of the bike crash were catching up with her, or if her brain was just suffering from information overload. She reached for a nearby stack of leather trunks to steady herself. The hairs on the back of her hand stood on end as heat shot through her fingers.
Not that again . . .
She shivered and stepped away. Of course she needed to save Seb, but she also had to find out what was going on. âIf I go and fetch whatever it is you want,â she said sharply, âthen you have to tell me how to get my brother back,
and
explain about everything else â about the underguard, about âmuckersâ, about where this cave is, about why that suitcase was able to bring us down here. Do we have a deal?â
Valian tapped his foot. âIf I tell you all that, Iâll be breaking the law.â
Ivyâs thoughts returned to the underguardâs
Notice to Arrest
message. âI doubt thatâs a problem for you,â she remarked. âAnd anyway, do you have a choice?â
He stared at her for a long moment without breaking eye contact. Eventually he said, âFine. Follow me.â
Apart from Ivyâs footsteps, the narrow passageway leading off from the cave was unnervingly quiet. It was lit by the same glass discs and smelled faintly of incense. Ivy dragged her fingers over the grainy walls as she walked behind Valian, looking for signs of wires or plugs, but there didnât appear to be any. With a shiver, she wondered what was powering everything if it wasnât electricity.
Valian looked over his shoulder and noticed her examining the walls. âThey call this an arrivals tunnel,â he said. âThereâs a whole network of them down here. Weâre under Blackheath, in London.â
Ivy froze. âLondon?!â She tried to process that. Bletchy Scrubb was six hoursâ drive from London, so how had they come all that way in a . . .
âThe suitcase,â she asked. âHow does it work?â
Valianâs shoulders tensed. âI canât tell you here. There might be an Ug waiting round the next corner. Follow me.â
They continued in silence for another ten minutes, snaking through a labyrinth of â as far