Demon Storm Read Free Page A

go,’ he said. ‘And so can you,’ he told Jaz.
    ‘Why are you keeping them here?’ Ben demanded. His voice was shaking, but he had to know what was going to happen to Sam.
    The man turned away without answering. Mr Magill patted Ben on the shoulder.
    ‘Come on. Time to go. Sam will be OK. It’s nothing to worry about. Just a quick test. And I know how much you hate tests. Both of you,’ he added, leading Ben and Jaz to the door. ‘It’s nearly time to go up for bed. You’ll see Sam in the morning and she can tell you all about it then. OK?’
    ‘OK,’ Ben agreed sulkily. But it wasn’t OK. And he wasn’t going to bed until he knew what was happening.
    *
    The bolt had already been drawn back. Maybe someone had left the door unbolted by accident. Or maybe, Ben realised, someone was already up on the gallery, watching what was happening in the main hall.
    He couldn’t think who it might be – unless Jaz or one of the other kids was as curious as he was about what was going on. Just in case, Ben took the steps carefully and slowly. He kept close to the wall, knowing from experience that thismeant the old wooden stairs were less likely to creak.
    He paused almost at the top and peered round the corner, across the dimly lit gallery.
    A dark shape stood at the other end – stick-thin arms outstretched as she held the gallery rail. Her nose was a distinctive blade of shadow. Miss Haining.
    For a moment, Ben wondered if he should creep back down the stairs. But only for a moment.
    There was a table along the gallery. A long, narrow table used by the decorators who had finished and left months ago. They’d also left rolls of lining paper and a pot of dried-up paint with a brush stuck into it. You could pick up the whole pot by the brush handle.
    The table cast an even darker shadow across the gloom. Ben waited until he was sure that Miss Haining’s attention was entirely fixed on the hall below, then darted out and into the shadow. He crouched down, hidden by the table, and looked out between the balustrades. He held his breath, alert to the silhouette of Miss Haining and ready to run if she came his way.
    But she too was watching events below. The half-dozen children who had been kept behindwere sitting on the bench beside one of the dining tables. Ben could see Sam beside Big Jim at the end of the bench.
    The man in the suit was standing by the other table. His voice carried easily to where Ben was hiding.
    ‘I want you all to look at something. That’s all. Nothing difficult.’
    The girl – he had called her Gemma – was sitting beside the box, her attention fixed on the children opposite. The man took a large black key from his jacket pocket and unlocked the box.
    He spoke quietly – so quietly that Ben couldn’t hear what he said. Then he leaned across the table and opened the lid of the box. Keeping his eyes on the watching children, he slowly began to tilt the box so they could see inside.
    From where he was, Ben could see nothing. Miss Haining was also leaning out, trying to see into the box, but with no more success than Ben.
    In the hall below, the children on the bench leaned forward too. Charlie Kleb stood up for a better view. The box tipped further. Further. Until they could all see inside it.
    And Sam screamed. One hand to her mouth, eyes wide in terror. Everyone else turned to look at heras she stared transfixed at the box. And screamed and screamed and screamed, like Ben had never heard her scream before.

3
    B EN COULDN’T MOVE OR BREATHE. MISS HAINING hurried past him, thumping down the stairs. Sam was screaming, and Mr Magill and the man in the suit were trying to calm her.
    The box was still open on the table, but Ben couldn’t see inside it. What was inside it? What had Sam seen?
    The girl, Gemma, closed the lid of the box. The man pointed at the box and said something that Ben didn’t hear. Because Sam was still screaming. Miss Haining hurried in through the door below the gallery,