But the Guardian lifts Ursa away by the back of her coat, depositing her between Dr Seymour and Atlas as she sobs.
‘I’ll give you the code,’ I say breathlessly. ‘Just please don’t hurt her.’
‘See, gentlemen?’ Wyvernmire says with a cold smile. ‘There was no need to make things so messy. Love is the finest form of torture.’
I glance at Ursa, hot tears streaming down my face, the air quiet except for the sound of her hysterical hiccups. Slowly, Atlas reaches out and takes her hand.
‘Lock those three in the basement,’ Wyvernmire says. ‘And find the other recruits. I’ll nip this miniature rebellion in the bud right now.’
Any energy I have left in me disappears. My chest aches as the realisation sinks in. We’ve been caught, and now, with Ursa here, Wyvernmire can make me do whatever she wants. Ihaveto give her the code. I think of Ralph’s face as he pressed the knife to my arm and swallow another wave of nausea. The thought of him anywhere near Ursa is unthinkable. The rebelshaven’t attacked yet and, in a few hours, I’ll have signed the fate of the dragons and the Third Class over to Wyvernmire.
‘There are reports of unidentified dragons in the skies,’ Wyvernmire tells me. ‘You must find out their exact location.’
‘I’ll need to go to the glasshouse, then,’ I say. ‘To use the remaining loquisonus machine.’
Wyvernmire nods. ‘Guardian 707 will take you. Once you have identified the dragons, you will write out everything you know about the code on paper for him.’ She looks at her nephew. ‘See that it is delivered to me before daybreak.’
Ralph grabs me by the arm.
‘Let me take my sister with me,’ I say quickly. ‘I’ll work faster if I know she’s safe.’
Wyvernmire purses her lips. ‘You’ll work faster if you know she’s not.’
I swallow a sob. ‘I’ll come back for you,’ I tell Ursa, feeling my jaw tremble. ‘I won’t leave you again. Do you understand?’
She wipes her tears away with her free hand and nods bravely. Suddenly Atlas breaks free, lunging towards me and grabbing me by the shoulders. He kisses me, his lips like fire on mine.
‘Don’t give it to her,’ he whispers as he’s pulled away.
‘On second thoughts,’ Wyvernmire says, surveying the scene with amused interest, ‘take the boy up to the roof. He can have a last look at the dragons he failed to recreate before you push him off.’
‘No!’ I scream.
Ralph pushes me from the room, his hand on the back of my neck, and Ursa’s cries fill the air again.
‘Don’t do it, Viv!’ I hear Atlas shout.
But he doesn’t understand. There’s nothing else I can possibly do. Blood drips down my arm as we stumble through the dark into the forest. I twist my body round to search for any sign of Atlas on the roof, but I see nothing up there except the shape of a patrol dragon flying above. Is it Muirgen or Rhydderch? Or have they abandoned us?
‘I should have known you were a rebel,’ Ralph says as we reach the glasshouse. ‘I should have broken your other arm when I had the chance.’
I want to make a quick, cut-throat reply, or turn round and spit in his face, but I don’t dare. Not after the threat Wyvernmire made to Ursa. Not now I know the feeling of a knife on my skin, ten times worse than the sting of the switch. We push the door open and Ralph dismisses the Guardian guarding the loquisonus machine. I tread carefully through the broken remnants of its sister and place it on the table as Ralph shines a light. He pulls out a chair for me.
‘Get to work, then, dragon whisperer,’ he says with a sneer.
I put the headphones on and twist the dial, willing my hands to stop shaking. The crackling sound fills my ears as I search for the right frequency and strain to hear the familiar clicks and trills of the Koinamens. Ralph sits across the table from me, his stare fixed on my face. I ignore him and close my eyes to listen.
There they are. A string of social calls. Whatever dragons are in the area have something to say. I listen closer. Are they talking about … landing?
‘Explain this to me,’ Ralph says loudly. He’s looking atwhat’s left of the logbook, the pages we didn’t manage to soak. ‘How do you know what the different sequences mean?’
I hold up my palm to tell him to shut up and feel a tiny stab of satisfaction at the look of shock on his face. My mind is spinning faster and faster, panicking as I realise I barely recognise a single call. A chill runs through me. What if these are Bulgarian dragons? What if Wyvernmire has already confirmed the alliance? We need the rebelsnow.
‘I was able to understand echolocation by interacting with passing dragons, but without them knowing it was me,’ I lie. ‘I played snippets of echolocation recordings within the Bletchley perimeter, alerting them, for example, to an unidentified human, and listened to how they responded.’
Thank God Marquis and Sophie moved the blockers before we got caught. Without it, the crazy idea forming in my head wouldn’t work. Where is Atlas now? Have they taken him to the roof yet? My stomach fills with dread.
‘I’m going to need to use those,’ I tell Ralph, pointing to the reperisonus machines.
