12

'WELCOME TO THE WOOD GREEN EMPIRE!' The amplified voice echoed from the trees, from the side of the house: as if the trees and boards themselves were speaking. 'WE PRESENT AN EVENING OF SPECTACLE AND THRILLS UNPARALLELED ON ANY STAGE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. THE FINAL PERFORMANCE, THE FINAL PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE OF THE BELOVED HERBIE BUTTER. IS HE ONE OR IS HE MANY? DECIDE FOR YOURSELVES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. THESE FEATS OF CONJURY AND PRESTIDIGITATION ARE FAR BEYOND THE POWERS OF ANY OTHER LIVING MAGICIAN.

'FOR YOUR OWNPROTECTION, DO NOT ATTEMPT AT ANY TIME TO LEAVE THE THEATER.'

Del was crying again, his wet face illuminated by the brilliant flashes of fireworks.

'PRESENTING… MR. HERBIE BUTTER!'

The explosions in the sky doubled: a roll of snare drums from the loudspeakers. Whole areas of the sky blasted into white, fitting themselves together like a puzzle around eyeholes and an open, grinning mouth. Ka-whamp! Glowing red lay atop the giant face, and Herbie Butter stretched across the sky, grinning down at them. It was like a cartoon face, sharply etched and two-dimensional.

'THE AMAZING MECHANICAL MAGICIAN AND ACROBAT! THE KING OF THE CATS!'

Collins seemed too powerful to Tom, too tricky and experienced. He watched the enormous cartoon sift down through the air, seeking them out. Then he looked back at the house. All those blazing windows: he remembered his first full day at Shadowland, Collins a figure with the face of a wolf, pointing across a gulf and showing him that he could have anything he wanted… then he felt as though Collins were nailing him to the air behind him, pounding a spike through his chest. Rose Armstrong was looking down at him from the window where he had seen her that day. It was his bedroom. Even on that first day, they had been taking part in the magician's repeat performance.

It has to be like this. This is not an easy school.

Rose looked down with a stricken face. She motioned for him to stay where he was: that she would come down. Stupidly, he shook his head. Rose turned away from the window. He looked up again: Herbie Butter still sifted down toward them.

Tom saw the gun, a black lump in dark green. He could not imagine how he had lifted it. Very little fresh blood came from his wounds, but both hands had swollen. They felt like gloves.

'Rose is coming,' he said to Del. Fear had stolen the color from his friend's face.

'Oh, no,' Del wailed.

'may we have two volunteers from the audience, please?'

'I think her part is done,' Tom said. His heart was as numb as his hands.

'step up, step up smartly - we require the assistance OF YOU BRAVE YOUNG PEOPLE.'

Rose burst out of the living room onto the patio and started running toward them. The green dress shone in the light. Whiteness flickered in her right hand - she was carrying white rags.

'Leave us alone!' Del screamed at her, and she stepped on the grass. She looked fearfully at the two bodies. 'Go back inside, you Judas!'

'I had to do it,' she said. 'I didn't know what he'd… I thought it was just part of his show… Tom, I'm so sorry … ' She held out her arms. 'He would have killed me otherwise, but I wish he had… I brought some handkerchiefs for your hands, they're all I could find, please let me tie them on for you. Please, Tom.'

'Who was in the car?' Tom asked.

Del screamed, 'Don't let her touch you!'

'Elena,' Rose answered. 'She ran off. She saw the blood… she left him. I want to help you, Tom. Please. I have to.'

'Because he told her to!' Del screamed. 'Get away!'

'He wanted me to wait in his room,' Rose said. 'You weren't supposed to see me anymore. But I thought it was just going to be a performance, Tom. If I'd known… we could have hidden in the woods… I wouldn't have brought you back.'

'You liar!' Del shouted.

'No, it's the truth,' Tom said. 'She didn't know. She was tricked too.'

'Can I help your hands?'

'Come on,' he said.

She stumbled forward.

'and we pause to remember our heroine of the crimean… the angel of the battlefield… florence nightingale!'

Ka-whamp! Rockets sailed up, making red tracers in the sky w&-whamp! - exploded into the British flag.

'He's going to get us,' Del said. He wiped more of the blood from his face with his sleeve. 'There's no way… '

'Get it as tight as you can,' Tom said.

Rose was folding the first handkerchief over his hand and twisting the ends together to knot them. 'Who's left, Rose? Who's left in the house?'

'Just Mr. Peet. They were both upstairs when we heard the shots. At first they thought they were rockets. Then they went downstairs.' She began to fold the second handkerchief around Tom's right hand. 'And he said something about the ladder.'

'What happened to the ladder?' Del asked. 'The ladder's gone!' He was slipping into panic again. 'We can't get down!' He turned his head toward the house and went quiet. Coleman Collins stood at every window they could see, far enough from the glass for the light to show him clearly.

Six, seven…? It didn't matter how many, because it could be any number. Identical Coleman Collinses, caressing their identical upper lips with identical index fingers.

'We have to go in there,' Del said, a little awe showing through his voice.

'That's what he said about the ladder.' Rose tied the ends together. Red circles had already appeared in the centers of the two handkerchiefs. 'That you'd have to go in. And he said you'd want to go in.'

'But that's just a trick,' Del pleaded. 'There's only two of them, really - and Mr. Feet will run like those men.'

'Maybe not,' Tom said, trying to move his fingers. 'But there's someone else. He wanted two volunteers, remember? He had the other one all along.'

The images of the magician vanished from the windows.

'I'm on your side, Tom,' Rose said. Her voice was desperate. 'I told you I didn't know what he was going to do - you know I'm telling you the truth. I left him.'

'I didn't mean you,' Tom said with more calm than he felt. 'He still has Skeleton.'

'have we another volunteer?' the speakers boomed. 'have we? have we? ah! the handsome GENTLEMAN IN THE BLACK SUIT!'