He falls into a renewed fit of laughter, feeding into my own as we both cough and convulse with giggles. I desperately try to not think about how heinous I must look in this moment.
‘I’m glad this is so entertaining,’ I wheeze with watery eyes, furiously wiping at my face.
‘Sorry,’ he relents, his laughter slowing. He gets to his feet and moments later returns with a few paper towels. I scowl.
‘About time,’ I snap, my voice still hoarse.
‘Sorry,’ he repeats, before breaking into another beautiful grin. ‘Are you alright?’ His voice wobbles with mirth.
‘No, I nearly justdied,’ I moan, wiping at my eyes again.
‘Okay, hang on,’ he says, getting up again and walking towards the tent.
I heave a couple of loud coughs to relieve the hot tickle still in my throat while he’s gone, then rest my head against the back of the tree.
Two men are in the midst of a quiet conversation next to me, their heads close together. Over the sounds of the band still playing in Martha Jane’s, I catch glimpses of their conversation. Words likeset up,backstage,mic. My eyes flick down to their wristbands to see the wordCREWadorned in metallic green, rather than the typical purple wristbands readingFIRECREST.
One of the men speaking, with greying curly hair tied up in a bun, suddenly turns his gaze to me before talking again in a lower voice. I turn away guiltily when Elliot returns with a glass of water for me. I gulp it down, relishing the feeling of the water racing down my throat.
‘Thank you,’ I say with a groan of relief.
I shoot another glance over my shoulder to the two men next to us before trying to give Elliot a meaningful look. He freezes, his eyes searching my face.
I try again, widening my eyes at him and flicking my gaze back to the men before whispering, ‘They’re crew.’
He frowns and remains still. ‘What?’ he hisses.
I twitch my head one more time aggressively towards the men. ‘Crew. They’recrew.’
He shakes his head, nonplussed. ‘Okay?’
I huff with impatience. ‘They might know how to get intoRansom,’ I breathe.
‘Oh,’ he says, looking at the men properly. ‘I mean… maybe.’
‘It’s worth a try.’
‘Sure,’ he shrugs. ‘Knock yourself out, princess.’
‘Come on,’ I say, getting to my feet. ‘We’re a team, champ, we go together.’
He sighs. I motion my hands upwards before offering a hand for him to stand up. He takes it to launch himself to his feet and we make our way over to the crewmen.
‘Hi,’ I blurt at them before I can change my mind. They stop speaking and turn to look at me, their eyebrows pulled downwards under their black caps. ‘Um, I’m so sorry to bother you. I don’t know if you’re the people to ask, or if I evenshouldask – but I don’t suppose, as crew, you know how exactly we might get into Ransom?’
The men exchange a look.
‘It’s just – it’s really important we get in,’ I say, wringing my hands together. Elliot is silent next to me with his arms crossed. I give him a light jab with my elbow. ‘Isn’tit?’
‘Yeah, uh – yes, it is,’ Elliot confirms with a nod, before shooting me a look of annoyance.
‘We, um…’ one of the men start. ‘We just work in The Warren; that’s not really our area.’
The other rolls his eyes at him. ‘Johnny, I’m sure it’s fine. There’s only two of them and apparently it’s deserted this year. Try not to spread it round too much, but when you knock on the door and they need a password, you just have to tell them your favourite dessert.’
I blink at him, wondering if he’s joking.
‘They only let in a batch of people once an hour, on the hour,’ he adds.
