Free The Demon Curse by Simon Nicholson Page B

but that was all. His whole body shook; sweat gathered in his clothes. He watched the gazes of the two men move steadily toward him. The hook in Daggerbeard’s hand, he noticed, was lifting…
    â€œCome with me, gentlemen! I have need of further equipment; I will show you what to bring.”
    Daggerbeard and Yelloweyes spun around. Dr. Mincing’s voice could be heard, and footsteps too, pounding nearer. The hook vanished back up Daggerbeard’s sleeve, and the two men were racing back into the mayor’s bedroom. Harry started struggling to free himself of the pulley, but he could still see into the next room. Daggerbeard was snatching up his chisel; Yelloweyes prized at the floorboard, trying to push the sack through the gap, but it wouldn’t fit. The footsteps were even closer now, and with a growl of frustration, Daggerbeard stamped down on the board and pulled Yelloweyes after him. They thundered back through the paper-strewn office and were gone, their hunched shapes vanishing through the door at the end of the room. Back in the mayor’s bedroom, Dr. Mincing could be heard bursting back in.
    â€œQuickly, gentlemen! Follow me!”
    Harry finally unsnagged himself and scrambled downward, his boots and hands finding holds. Cement crumbled around him, but there was no danger of being discovered now, and he doubled his speed. Once again, he stared at the brickwork of the shaft and thought about the smoothly plastered rooms and corridors on the other side, and about how, somewhere among those rooms and corridors, two men would be racing along, making their escape with their stolen keys and mysterious sack. Find them. Peering down, he made out the faint glow of the next hatch, and he scrambled even faster until he reached it and swung straight out. Collapsing onto the rug, he bounced immediately up, brushed cement, dust, and some bits of rubble from his clothes, and then ran down staircases and corridors until he reached the front lobby. Skidding across the marble floor, he slammed straight out through the front doors and onto the steps. He ran straight down them, past Oscar Dupont and his chanting mob, and headed across the square to where Billie and Arthur were waiting for him.
    â€œNice of you to join us.” Billie tutted as he stumbled up. “Just like you, running off without saying what you’re doing and—”
    â€œDid you see them come out?”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œThem! The men!” Harry struggled for breath. “A beard like a dagger…two yellow eyes…I saw them before… They—”
    â€œHarry, are you all right?” Arthur clutched his arm.
    â€œWe need to follow them. You go around and watch the front, Artie. I’ll check around the side and see if there are any other doors there…” He tried to keep talking but had to suck in more air. “Billie, you run around the other way and—”
    â€œA beard like a dagger? Two yellowed eyes? I don’t suppose that’s them, right there?”
    â€œQuick! Follow me!” cried Harry.
    The two mysterious men were hurrying down a nearby street. Harry raced after them, Billie and Arthur running along beside him. He ran across the street, swerving past a cart, but the men were too far ahead, disappearing among the crowds.
    â€œLet Billie do this!” Arthur spluttered. “She’s the one who knows her way around New Orleans, doesn’t she?”
    Billie had already swerved off, darting down an alleyway. She leaped over a garbage can and ran around a corner. When Harry caught up to her at the alley’s end, he looked out to see Daggerbeard and Yelloweyes hurrying down a different street, but much closer than before.
    â€œNice shortcut, Billie!”
    She was already running up a fire escape. Harry climbed after her, Arthur following too, and a minute later, they were stalking along the flat roofs of the street’s buildings, keeping their eyes on