Free A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan Page B

against the cold stone. He brought the flame round to his face and put his finger to his lips silencing her protest. He pointed down the stairwell. A chilling cry reached up from below. Someone was in pain, not just ordinary pain, terrifyingly painful pain.
    “I promise, I’ll get her next time Sir,” someone whimpered.
    “You better or you know where I’ll be sending you,” George Archer hissed, “There’s too many going to No Man’s Land, until Brown fixes our problem I don’t want anymore disappearing.”
    “I understand Sir, it’s just this Violet’s a hard’ne to crack. I’m doin the same that I do t’all the rest but I think she’s got too much.”
    “I don’t care how much she has, just figure it out! I WANT NO MORE DISAPPEARING!!”
    “I understand Mr. Archer Sir,” the voice trembled, “I’ll do me best.”
    “YOU’LL DO YOUR JOB!”
    Footsteps pounded across the floor below. Then, after a few moments of silence, laughter erupted.
    “I’ll do me best Mr. Archer Sir!” a different voice snorted.
    “Well what was I meant to say?”
    “I love you Mr. Archer Sir,” someone else sniggered.
    Boy whispered to Violet to stay put. Then he quenched the flame with his foot and followed the stairwell down. Violet stood in the darkness. She fought the urge to run listening to the voices squabble below. What did the Archers want her Dad to fix?
    “There’s three of them. Watchers,” Boy whispered, rejoining her side, “I think they are getting ready to sleep off their night’s work. I figure give them another little while and they’ll be out for the count. Then we can move on.”
    “What about George Archer? Is he still there?”
    “No. I didn’t see him. There’s a few passages leading off the Watchers room. I’d say he went down one of them.”
    Violet shivered as she sat on the step to wait. She couldn’t shut off her imagination, her head swam in terrifying images of what might happen. Sometimes her imagination was her worst enemy but other times it was her best asset, at least that’s what her Mam told her. She couldn’t think about her Mam. She needed to be strong, not just because she had to rescue her Dad but she had to rescue her Mam too. Boy shifted uncomfortably next to her and she sought out his hand on the cold stone floor. She slipped her fingers through his and felt safe.
    “You know,” she whispered, “my parents can be yours too.”
    There was nothing for a minute. Had she upset him again? Then he squeezed her hand.

CHAPTER 17
    Deadly Cold
     
    “Come on,” Boy whispered, after an eternity in the dark, “I think they’ve gone asleep.”
    Violet got up and, keeping her left hand against the wall, tiptoed after Boy. As they neared the bottom, light trickled up from a doorway below. Violet held her breath; any sound could wake the sleeping Watchers. Boy, a little ahead, entered the room. She followed suit though every sinew told her to run. She would show Boy she wasn’t a girly girl.
    The room was large and cold. About twenty rope hammocks dotted the cavernous space hanging from hooks in the stone ceiling. Most were empty except for three, which were occupied by sleeping Watchers oblivious to their intruders. Violet passed a heap of upturned wooden crates in the middle of the room where a card game was laid out ready to play. The place was really messy, lots of large black shirts, enormous black trousers and giant leather boots created obstacles in the middle of the floor. It was definitely a boy’s room. Violet held her nose to block out the sweaty stench and picked her way past.
    “Down here,” Boy whispered, ducking into a passageway.
    Though it was dark Boy didn’t dare light the torch still held in his grasp, so they moved quickly along keeping close to the wall. They had been travelling a while when they reached a crossroads.
    “Which way?” Violet whispered.
    “I don’t know. Does either of them give you a feeling?”
    “What do you mean a