“With you,
there.” The zombie slumped to the ground.
“Wait.
What just happened?”
“They went
into the robot.” Lucy put down the book she'd been reading for the
past five minutes. Chemical Bonds in Compound Substances was
certainly an advanced book for a two-year old, but Harold had already
spotted she'd been holding it upside down and trying to make pictures
by connecting the atoms in a diagram. Even a child as bright as his
hadn't got past her alphabet and a few simple single-syllable words
yet. He resolved to buy her the Ladybird Book of Inorganic Chemistry
next time they went to the park. “I can pull them out again if you
like.”
“No,
that's all right, thank you darling.” Harold shot a glance at
Gillian, who seemed bored by the whole proceedings. “We'll be going
home soon.”
“But I
haven't collected the whole set yet.”
“I'm
sorry, what?”
“All the
demons. There are two more.”
“Two?”
Harold's brow furrowed as he looked to Jasfoup for assistance. “I
thought only one was missing, the one controlling Jim Hunt.”
“No,
Daddy, there are two.” Lucy went quiet for a moment. “All right.
One is in Jim Hunt and the other is in a woman called Mora
Fitzwilliam.”
“I've
never heard of her, have you?”
“No.”
“Harold?”
Gillian scooped up Lucy, her book falling to the floor. “Don't you
ever watch the news? She's the Secretary of State for Defence.”
The golem
moved suddenly, its arms flexing and its stubby fingers waggling. Its
facial features contorted.
“I think
it's trying to speak.”
“Fat
chance.” Jasfoup looked up from the laptop where he was monitoring
the progress of the troops. “It's got no lungs, no vocal cords and
no tongue.”
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