Free Hunted by Sophie McKenzie Page A

aware of something kind of means it’s already in your head.
    There’s no alarm , I thought-spoke.
    Good.
    I could feel Ed vanish from my mind. A second later they were all through the door. I followed Nico up the stairs. Ketty crept along beside me, her whole body tensed. I knew she was trying to stay focused on the near future, to sense any danger we might be about to run into, and that she was worried she might miss something.
    I kept my force field fully primed in case of attack.
    We were used to climbing stairs without making a sound. As we reached the dark landing, I turned to Ketty. So did Nico. There were three doors and it was down to Ketty to show us which one contained the box with the knife. She hesitated, then pointed to the door on the left.
    Ed appeared in my head again.
    You ready, Dylan?
    Sure. I just hope Ketty’s got all this right.
    She’s as certain as she can be. She just had another vision of Henson asleep in the same room as the box.
    Awesome. I knew Ed would pick up on the sarcasm in my thought-speech, but I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned, my life was in Ketty’s hands right now.
    And that wasn’t a very comfortable feeling.
    She’s doing her best , Ed protested.
    Get lost.
    Ed broke the connection. The house was silent as I tiptoed to the bedroom door. Nico used his telekinesis to open it. Holding my breath, I peered inside. There was enough light from the outside of the house for me to make out Roger Henson asleep in the bed. His mouth moved as he snored softly. The duvet that covered him rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Beyond the bed stood a wardrobe and – just below the window – a chest of drawers. My eyes darted round the room again. Where was the explosives box?
    I lit on an open metal container, standing on the floor a couple of metres away from the bed. From where I was standing I couldn’t see inside.
    Is he there, Dylan? Ed thought-spoke. Is the box there?
    Yes. He’s in bed like Ketty said. I stared at the metal box beside the bed. And I think the explosives box is right here, too. Can’t Nico just teleport the whole thing outside?
    No, it’s wired up, remember? It’ll blow as soon as anyone tries to move it. You have to untie the knife without disturbing anything else . . . It’s easy to spot . . . six inches long with a serrated blade.
    I took a step closer to the box. It was made of steel, glinting in the dim light that crept in under the curtains. Now I was nearer I could see a row of knives laid out just inside. A mass of wires lay in a jumble around each blade. My heart thudded. The box was going to blow as soon as I touched any of the knives. There was no way it wouldn’t.
    I took another step towards the box. Then another.
    My legs shook as the full impact of my situation hammered home. What if Henson woke up before I reached the box? What if he had a gun? And if I did get to the knife we needed, would I really be able to handle the blast? A tiny splinter would be enough to blind me if my force field wasn’t totally in place.
    You can do it, Dylan , Ed murmured inside my head.
    Go away.
    I took the final step to the box. I bent down. There was the knife with the serrated edge, right in the centre. Wires were bunched around it. I reached out my hand, checking my force field was fully engaged.
    My phone beeped. A text.
    I froze, the force field draining away from me with the shock. I must have forgotten to turn my cell phone off.
    I spun round. Henson was moving . . . waking . . . ‘Who’s there?’
    Ed was inside my head screaming at me. Run, Dylan, run!
    I stood, rooted to the spot, unable to move. Nico appeared at the doorway. I could feel him tugging at me, panicking, trying to teleport me towards him.
    I glanced over at Henson. He’d seen me and I hadn’t even touched the knife. He reached for a switch beside the bed. The box. He was going to blow up the box before I got the knife.
    I darted forward, forgetting everything except that I had to