Free Hollow Earth by John Barrowman, Carole E. Barrowman Page A

provoking the split?’
    ‘Who else could have convinced so many to question our authority? Renard wants us to reform rules that have been sacred for centuries, ancient tenets that go back to the beginning of our time. What gives him the right?’ snapped Sir Giles. ‘Sir Charles has been more than patient with Renard.’
    ‘We must make our decision about the Calder children, irrespective of where they might currently be,’ said the elegant woman, checking her sparkling watch for the fourth time. She lifted a pencil and began to doodle on the pad in front of her. ‘And what about the reports that the Hollow Earth Society has reformed? This split in our ranks is diverting our attention from what is potentially a serious situation.’
    The other members of the Council shifted uncomfortably.
    ‘The Society was wiped out years ago, Henrietta,’ said a mousy, younger woman named Frida Adler, sitting across the table.
    ‘The Hollow Earth Society is not reforming, and is not the subject of this meeting,’ snapped Sir Giles. ‘Renard’s grandchildren are. We gave them a reprieve at their birth. It’s time we reconsidered that decision.’
    ‘If the Hollow Earth Society is indeed active once again,’ said Luigi Silvestri, a portly Guardian who had travelled from Italy for the meeting, ‘then that makes the twins all the more dangerous. Either way, they should be bound immediately.’
    ‘But Luigi,’ said Tanan, now spinning a pencil between slim fingers, ‘if you allow the rumours about the Society to affect today’s decision, you will be violating the most sacred of your ancient rules – that a child’s imagination cannot and should not be bound – for something that may not even be true. The Calder twins are only twelve, remember. Binding them would be repugnant—’
    ‘Given what they did at the National Gallery yesterday, Tanan,’ Blake interjected, ‘the twins are already more powerful than any Animare we’ve ever known. Age cannot come into it. The Council allowed them to remain with Sandie until now because she assured us she could control their development.’
    ‘A decision, I might add,’ said Henrietta, smiling at Sir Giles, ‘that Sir Charles fully supported.’
    ‘Yes, well, I’ve always thought they were dangerous,’ said Luigi angrily. ‘The Calder twins are living examples of why we must hold steadfast to our traditions and rules. Those children … they’re … they’re scherzi di natura . Freaks of nature!’
    There were murmurs of agreement around the table.
    ‘I haven’t heard anything about the Hollow Earth Society since university,’ said Frida absently.
    ‘Hollow Earth is a myth ,’ said Sir Giles, thumping his fist on the table and rattling the tea service at its centre. Frida shrank back against her chair. ‘We all know that an Animare’s drawings have a limited existence beyond the Animare’s imagination. To believe that somehow there’s a place where these …’ he waved his hand in front of the tapestry of the Grendel, ‘these beasts and other creatures have been trapped is beyond absurd.’
    Tanan strode across the room and placed his hand on Sir Giles’s shoulder, trying to calm him, but to no avail.
    ‘Despite the Society’s resurgence every few decades,’ Sir Giles ranted, ‘this Council has never found any proof that Hollow Earth is anything more than a tale told round campfires. As Luigi stated, what we should be discussing is that the Calder twins are an abomination of our kind. A dangerous hybrid of Animare and Guardian. And that’s why they should be bound!’
    The room erupted in a cacophony of shouts and accusations as the members of the Council weighed in on whether or not the Calder twins were indeed an abomination. Putting her fingers to her lips, Blake let loose an ear-piercing whistle to restore order.
    ‘Ladies and gentleman, please,’ said Tanan. Tall and immaculately dressed in a grey tailored suit, he cut a commanding presence. ‘You