regularly, into my mind. Like Ketty, I did my best to stay out of trouble.
It wasn’t hard. As Tommy had said, the camp was very strict but, once you knew the rules, it was easy enough to follow them. Nico, of course, pushed things – he even sneaked out after lights out to visit Ketty on the second night, though he came back within five minutes, declaring Fernandez was on the prowl. Dylan seemed to have annoyed everyone. Cindy particularly seemed to hate her, giving her demerits at the drop of a hat.
Apart from at mealtimes – when he sat apart from the rest of us – and when he came to switch lights out at the end of the day, we hardly ever saw Senor Fernandez. And then, at the end of the third day, Nico came up to me just before lights out. The dorm was fairly quiet. Mat and Mig were doing another jigsaw. A piece was missing and both of them were convinced Tommy had taken it. Tommy, meanwhile, was arguing, loudly, that he hadn’t.
‘We can’t stay here, man,’ Nico muttered. ‘This dorm’s like a frigging youth club and Fergus would go ballistic if he knew what Fernandez was making us do – all that hard labour in the field.’
It was always strange hearing Nico talk about Mr Fox in such a familiar way. Sometimes I forgot Fergus Fox was his stepfather, as well as our head teacher. I wondered if Nico missed him as much as I missed my dad and stepmum.
I sighed. ‘Mr Fox doesn’t have a choice about us being here. Geri’s the only one who can get us out and I don’t think she’s going to be all that bothered about us having to dig ditches – she’ll think it’s good discipline. I mean, Fernandez is hardly in the same league as . . .’ I paused, remembering the names of the bad guys we’d been up against, ‘. . . as, say, Blake Carson . . .’
‘I know, but —’ Nico started
‘Anyway, what can we do? There’s desert everywhere you look. We wouldn’t last five minutes if we ran away – and even if we could drive, we don’t know where the keys to Fernandez’s car are.’
‘There’s a phone in his office,’ Nico whispered. ‘I’m going to sneak into the main building and use it tonight. Call Geri on that emergency number she gave us.’
I stared at him. ‘But she’ll phone here at the end of the week anyway.’
‘I’m not waiting for her to call and then have Fernandez listening in to the conversation, ready to tell her we’re exaggerating everything. Jesus,’ Nico hissed. ‘I’ll tell her we’re being beaten up by the staff on a daily basis if it’ll get us out of here. I need you to keep lookout. Will you help?’
‘But . . .’ I stared at him. ‘What if we’re caught?’
‘Then we’ll get ten frigging demerits.’ Nico sighed. ‘It’s worth a try, isn’t it?’
I stared at him. Fernandez’s office didn’t just contain a phone. There must be files and papers in there. Maybe one of them would explain where Luz had been taken. Meeting her felt like a dream, now, but I hadn’t forgotten my promise to help her. If I could tell Geri where she was, Medusa HQ could at least check she was okay.
‘Okay,’ I said to him. ‘Yes, let’s do it.’
4: Escondite
Nico and I went to bed – and to sleep – at the same time as the others. We were both knackered from three full-on days of hard work and knew we’d have to wait until the middle of the night before attempting to break into the main building and use the phone in Fernandez’ office.
As our mobiles had been taken away before we left Fox Academy, the only way we had of setting an alarm was my watch. I left it on my pillow, timed to go off at 2 a.m. I was deeply asleep when it beeped beside me, so it took me a couple of seconds to stop the thing. I sat up, looking round in the pitch dark.
‘What was that?’ Tommy croaked sleepily from his bed.
‘Just my watch going off,’ I whispered. ‘Sorry, go back to sleep.’
Tommy snuffled into his pillow as Nico crept over.
‘Give it ten minutes,’ he
It wasn’t hard. As Tommy had said, the camp was very strict but, once you knew the rules, it was easy enough to follow them. Nico, of course, pushed things – he even sneaked out after lights out to visit Ketty on the second night, though he came back within five minutes, declaring Fernandez was on the prowl. Dylan seemed to have annoyed everyone. Cindy particularly seemed to hate her, giving her demerits at the drop of a hat.
Apart from at mealtimes – when he sat apart from the rest of us – and when he came to switch lights out at the end of the day, we hardly ever saw Senor Fernandez. And then, at the end of the third day, Nico came up to me just before lights out. The dorm was fairly quiet. Mat and Mig were doing another jigsaw. A piece was missing and both of them were convinced Tommy had taken it. Tommy, meanwhile, was arguing, loudly, that he hadn’t.
‘We can’t stay here, man,’ Nico muttered. ‘This dorm’s like a frigging youth club and Fergus would go ballistic if he knew what Fernandez was making us do – all that hard labour in the field.’
It was always strange hearing Nico talk about Mr Fox in such a familiar way. Sometimes I forgot Fergus Fox was his stepfather, as well as our head teacher. I wondered if Nico missed him as much as I missed my dad and stepmum.
I sighed. ‘Mr Fox doesn’t have a choice about us being here. Geri’s the only one who can get us out and I don’t think she’s going to be all that bothered about us having to dig ditches – she’ll think it’s good discipline. I mean, Fernandez is hardly in the same league as . . .’ I paused, remembering the names of the bad guys we’d been up against, ‘. . . as, say, Blake Carson . . .’
‘I know, but —’ Nico started
‘Anyway, what can we do? There’s desert everywhere you look. We wouldn’t last five minutes if we ran away – and even if we could drive, we don’t know where the keys to Fernandez’s car are.’
‘There’s a phone in his office,’ Nico whispered. ‘I’m going to sneak into the main building and use it tonight. Call Geri on that emergency number she gave us.’
I stared at him. ‘But she’ll phone here at the end of the week anyway.’
‘I’m not waiting for her to call and then have Fernandez listening in to the conversation, ready to tell her we’re exaggerating everything. Jesus,’ Nico hissed. ‘I’ll tell her we’re being beaten up by the staff on a daily basis if it’ll get us out of here. I need you to keep lookout. Will you help?’
‘But . . .’ I stared at him. ‘What if we’re caught?’
‘Then we’ll get ten frigging demerits.’ Nico sighed. ‘It’s worth a try, isn’t it?’
I stared at him. Fernandez’s office didn’t just contain a phone. There must be files and papers in there. Maybe one of them would explain where Luz had been taken. Meeting her felt like a dream, now, but I hadn’t forgotten my promise to help her. If I could tell Geri where she was, Medusa HQ could at least check she was okay.
‘Okay,’ I said to him. ‘Yes, let’s do it.’
4: Escondite
Nico and I went to bed – and to sleep – at the same time as the others. We were both knackered from three full-on days of hard work and knew we’d have to wait until the middle of the night before attempting to break into the main building and use the phone in Fernandez’ office.
As our mobiles had been taken away before we left Fox Academy, the only way we had of setting an alarm was my watch. I left it on my pillow, timed to go off at 2 a.m. I was deeply asleep when it beeped beside me, so it took me a couple of seconds to stop the thing. I sat up, looking round in the pitch dark.
‘What was that?’ Tommy croaked sleepily from his bed.
‘Just my watch going off,’ I whispered. ‘Sorry, go back to sleep.’
Tommy snuffled into his pillow as Nico crept over.
‘Give it ten minutes,’ he
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