Star League 7 (4 page)

‘What do you mean?' I ask. ‘You either know where he is or you don't!'

‘There are three possible places Professor Pestilence's lab might be,' says Ridley. ‘One is a village deep in the jungle. Another is a laboratory in the middle of the desert, and the third possibility is an icy mountain stronghold.' Three images flash up on screen. I peer at them, hoping by some huge stroke of luck I'll be able to spot Professor Pestilence in one of the photos, but of course he's nowhere to be seen.

‘Can you narrow it down any more than that?' asks Jay.

‘I'm afraid not,' replies Ridley. ‘The data we have received from tracking Professor Pestilence
leads to all three places. The professor has probably used all of the hideouts at some point. The only way to be sure is to check them all.' He brings up a map on screen and the three points flash in red.

‘They're all at opposite ends of the earth,' says Asuka.

Connor nods. ‘Even if we get on a supersonic jet it could take us weeks!'

‘Ben won't be able to last that long,' chirps Chu on my shoulder. I imagine Ben wasting away in a dark cell and I see red. I'm so angry, I just want to find Professor Pestilence and make him pay!

‘What if we split up?' asks Roger. ‘We could cover more ground that way.'

Roger's idea makes sense. ‘We could split into teams of two and check out one location each,' I say.

‘Statistically speaking, it affords us the greatest chance of success,' adds Sam. But straight away I can tell that Jay, Asuka and Connor think it's a bad
idea. They frown and cross their arms.

‘I don't think we should split up,' says Jay. ‘It's probably what Professor Pestilence wants.'

Connor nods. ‘He might not have come after us back at the cinema, but I'm sure he still has a grudge against us. I think he'll take whatever opportunity he can to crush us, and we're weaker when we're separated.'

‘Plus, what happens if we run into the Shadow Six again?' asks Asuka. ‘Cale was able to control my mind somehow.' She shudders, obviously remembering what happened in the theatre. ‘And who knows what the rest of them are capable of? If we split up and run into them, we won't stand a chance without all our powers combined.'

‘But how do you know we won't stand a chance?' I ask. ‘We've been able to take down Professor Pestilence's other minions in the past, so why not now?'

‘Leigh is correct,' says Sam. ‘And every minute
we waste looking for his hideout is another minute Professor Pestilence might hurt Ben.' Roger nods.

We stare each other down. Jay, Asuka and Connor stand on the opposite side of the room to Roger, Sam and I. It's three against three, and I don't know what to do. We're all desperate to find Ben, but we've never disagreed like this before, and I don't see any of us backing down any time soon.

Our stand-off is interrupted by a crackling in the air that makes my hair stand on end.

‘What is THAT?' screeches Chu in my ear. I turn to see what he's looking at and spot a ball of bright light hanging in the middle of the room. From out of it step the Shadow Six: Cale, Ursula, Zeke, Rach, Greta and Vlad.

‘What's the matter, Star League?' laughs Cale. ‘Not seeing eye to eye?'

‘What have you done with Ben?' I ask, stepping up to Cale.

Cale sneers at me. ‘Nothing … yet. But he refuses to tell us what we need to know. Maybe he needs some more convincing.'

The way Cale says ‘convincing' makes me think that they're not just going to ask Ben nicely. Before I can transform into a werewolf and teach Cale and his pals a thing or two about how we treat kidnappers, he turns to Ridley.

‘Ben Beaumont claims to know nothing, but you, on the other hand, may prove helpful. After all, you are the brains behind this secret operation, aren't you?'

Ridley peers up at Cale, his eyes widening behind his glasses.

‘Hey! Get away from him!' I race up and push Cale away from Ridley. He staggers back but doesn't fall. ‘Why don't you pick on someone your own size?' I scowl at him and make the Change into werewolf form.

At first Cale looks so angry I think he's going to explode. Then he laughs. ‘You really think you can take me on with your puny powers?'

‘Who are you calling puny?' I ask, flexing my claws as I tower over him. Then Cale's eyes turn black, and when I try to take another step I find that my feet are frozen to the ground. I try to look down, but my neck is frozen too.

‘What's the matter, Wolf-boy? Freezing up in the face of danger?'

I hear the other members of the Star League try to come to my aid, but out of the corner of my eye I see that Cale catches them in his psychic-mind freeze too. It's like we're statues. The only one who can move is Jay.

Cale's sidekicks move to form a wall between him and Jay. Jay lashes out with a string of attacks, but it's still just one against five. He doesn't stand a chance.

‘Give it up, Jay,' smirks Cale. ‘Don't waste your energy. We just came here to have a little chat with Ridley and then we'll be on our way.' He turns back to the five-year-old genius. ‘You know why we're here, don't you?' Ridley shakes his head, clearly terrified. ‘You mean to tell me that you haven't worked it out, even with your genius brain?'

‘Leave him alone, Cale!' yells Jay, but the Shadow Six leader ignores him.

‘Professor Pestilence is looking to reunite the Shadow Stone so he can rule the world. As you know, it was shattered into seven shards. We have recovered six of those shards, but the seventh is missing. We think you know where it is.'

‘I have no idea where it is, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you,' says Ridley.

‘Huh. That's exactly what Ben Beaumont said. Maybe we should take you back to Professor Pestilence's lair so you two can talk things over?'

Cale holds up the Shadow Shard in his ring and a blinding light starts to flow from it, swirling faster and faster until it becomes a glowing portal. He grabs Ridley roughly by the arm and starts to shove him through.

‘No!' yells Jay. He breaks through the Shadow Six and pushes Cale to the ground. ‘Run, Ridley!' Ridley doesn't need to be told twice. He disappears into another room and slams the door shut behind him.

‘That was stupid.' Cale brushes himself off as he gets to his feet. ‘Now I'm going to have to use your friends as target practice.'

If I were free I'd make Cale pay for trying to terrorise a little kid, even if that little kid happens to be the genius leader of a secret organisation. I clench my fists, and I'm surprised to find I can
move again. I glance around and see the others are breaking free as well.

‘No!' screams Cale, but it's too late – we're free! We all line up and face the Shadow Six.

‘If you were looking for answers, you should've asked nicely,' I growl. ‘Unfortunately for you, it's a little late for that!'

Connor lunges at the Shadow Six and chaos breaks out.

At first Cale tries to freeze us with his psychic powers again, but it seems like his last attempt drained his energy. Ursula flicks back her purple hair and raises her wand to cast a spell, but before she can I pull my hand off my wrist and throw it. My hand grabs onto the wand and pulls it out of her grip.

‘Ugh, gross!' screeches Ursula. ‘Give me back my Shadow Wand!'

‘It sure is a fancy stick!' I say. ‘I wonder if Connor wants to play fetch? Hey, Connor!'

Ursula's face twists in anger. ‘It's not a stick!' She lunges for her wand and kicks my hand away.
I catch it and reattach it just in time to see her aim a spell right at my head.

‘Arkazeus kalius!'

A huge ball of fire shoots out the end of her wand and I only just manage to dive out of the way. She's about to aim another spell at me when Connor appears out of nowhere. He knocks her wand clean out of her hands and sends it flying across the room. Ursula grunts in frustration and chases after it.

‘Thanks, Connor. See what happens when we stick together?'

Connor groans. ‘Ugh, sometimes your jokes are so –'

Before he can finish, something stinky and green lunges at him. Connor gets to his feet and turns to face the troll girl.

Greta sneers at Connor and then lets out an enormous burp. Normally I'd be pretty impressed by how loud it is, but this doesn't seem like an
ordinary burp. A cloud of gas comes out of her mouth, and I think it's safe to say that the curling green wisps reaching towards Connor are probably toxic.

‘Poisonous gas detected. Look out, Connor!' cries Sam. His hands retract into his wrists and out pop two large fans. The spinning blades blow away the clouds of gas.

‘Nice try, robot, but how well will you work when your circuits are fried?' sneers Zeke. He clenches his fists and from out of nowhere a jolt of electricity shoots towards Sam. Just as I think he's done for, a black blur flies through the air and knocks Sam safely out of the way. It's Asuka! I look back at the spot where Sam just was and it's nothing but a smoking hole.

‘You might be fast, Asuka, but I don't think you can outrun me,' gloats Vlad. The vampire disappears in a cloud of smoke and reappears beside Asuka. He lunges at her, his fangs bared,
and Asuka freezes. I fumble in my pouch for a particular potion, which I pull out and toss at Vlad. It smashes and a strong smell oozes out.

‘Garlic potion!' I say triumphantly. ‘A vampire's worst enemy!' He hisses and scrambles away.

I'm so busy gloating that I don't notice Rach sneaking up behind me until it's too late. When I finally spot her I notice that Connor isn't the only one who can transform. The lower half of Rach's body is gone, replaced by the thorax and abdomen of an enormous spider. I shudder and feel like I'm going to be sick. Anything but bugs!

She holds out her hands and swarms of spiders pour out of the walls. Luckily, Leigh is on our side! She steps between Rach and me, and the spiders freeze as she uses her animancer powers to control them.

‘Somebody stop her!' screams Rach.

Cale stalks towards Leigh. She tries to avoid his black stare, but eventually he catches her eye.

‘Let the spiders do their work, Leigh,' says Cale. Leigh nods and the spiders start to swarm towards us again.

But Cale hasn't noticed Jay coming up behind him. With one well-placed blow, Jay knocks Cale to the ground and his control on Leigh is broken. She comes to her senses and reins in the spiders just as they're about to reach me.

‘Thanks, Leigh!' I gulp. ‘I was starting to feel like a big juicy fly!'

Cale's face turns a furious shade of red that matches his hair. He glares at Jay but his mind control gaze has no effect on him. The psychic jumps to his feet and for a moment I think he's going to try attacking again, but then he gives his next command.

‘Shadow Six, retreat!'