Bedlam

“No.”

“But,” Brate continued, “I think a code name might be a good idea. Like … Condor. Or Rattlesnake. Or, uh …”

“You won’t need a code name because you’re not a spy,” Valkyrie told him.

“I could wear a disguise.”

“No.”

“I’m really good with disguises. I bet if I wore a disguise you wouldn’t even recognise me. I’m not talking about sunglasses, even. I’m talking about a proper, full-on disguise. Like a moustache, or something.”

“You don’t need a disguise,” said Valkyrie, “because you’ll be chatting to people who already know you. They wouldn’t chat to you if they didn’t recognise you, would they?”

“Ah. Yeah. I guess not.”

“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” Skulduggery murmured.

“No, dude,” Brate said quickly. “I can do it. I can. I won’t mess it up. No one has ever believed in me. No one has ever trusted me with something this important. No one has ever trusted me with anything, man. But you guys do. You guys see something in me. Potential, maybe. True courage, perhaps. A steely-eyed determination, no doubt. I will not let you down. Skulduggery, Valkyrie and Temper – you’re, like, my Three Musketeers, you know? And I would be honoured to be your d’Artagnan in this time of need.”

Temper looked at Skulduggery, and Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie, and Valkyrie looked fed up.

“Fine,” she said. “You can be our d’Artagnan.”

“One for all!” Brate cheered.

“Don’t do that,” said Skulduggery.

“Sorry.”

(#ulink_a53383ba-801f-5d8c-951e-01def09e32bb)

“Empty your mind,” Miss Wicked said, and someone muttered, “That was fast.”

Omen grinned as the class chuckled. Everyone shut up quickly and Omen knew that Miss Wicked had just used one of her glares. He couldn’t see it, of course. He was too busy sitting there with his eyes closed.

He heard them all around him. The shuffling of feet. The creaking of desks. The entire class was watching Auger and him sitting opposite each other, trying to speak to each other without making a sound.

All he had to do was concentrate, Miss Wicked had said. Focus. Twins had a higher chance than most of getting this right. For once, Omen could be ahead of everyone else. If he could just manage this one simple thing.

Oh, God. He wasn’t concentrating. He was thinking too much.

He stopped thinking.

Stopped.

It wasn’t easy.

Every time he tried to stop thinking, it was like a thousand thoughts were knocking on the door of his mind, screaming to be let in.

He was doing it again. He was thinking about his thoughts. Dammit. OK. He was definitely going to stop now. Definitely.

Was Miss Wicked reading his thoughts right now? Was she checking on him? No. That could interfere with what they were trying to do. She wouldn’t do that. He hoped she wasn’t doing that. He hoped.

But what if she was?

So many thoughts about her, so many images, getting worse, filling his mind, one after the other, an unstoppable flow of images and thoughts and—

Take a breath.

She wasn’t reading his mind. Relax. Focus. Empty the mind.

Empty as a tin can. An empty tin can, not a tin can full of peas or something. Maybe it once had peas, but now it didn’t have anything. It was just—

That wasn’t working.

Not a can, then. A box. A box was better. An empty box. Obviously, an empty box. Maybe it had once been full, but now it was empty. Maybe it had been full of cans of peas.

Peas again. Why peas? Why was he thinking of—

OMEN!

Omen shrieked and fell out of his chair.

He hit the floor, eyes open, and Auger stood up, a delighted smile on his face.

“You heard that, right?” Auger asked. “You heard that?”

“I … I heard it,” said Omen.

“That was so cool,” Auger said, pulling him to his feet. “It was like there was a tunnel between us. Did you feel it?”

“Well done, gentlemen,” Miss Wicked said. “Auger, you spoke to Omen. Omen, did you answer?”

Omen hesitated.

“I think he was about to,” Auger said quickly. “I could feel him about to say something, but I think I did something wrong and I broke the link.”

“Is that so?” Miss Wicked murmured. “Omen, do you think you could re-establish that link?”

“Probably not,” he said.

“Could you try?”

“I … suppose.”

There was a knock on the door. Kase poked his head in.

“Miss Wicked, excuse me,” he said, “but could I, uh … Auger and Never are needed in the … the, um … They’re needed.”