68 Face to Face

68 Face to Face He was much shorter than she'd imagined. However, Peanut couldn't deny that, in the flesh, Mr White had quite a presence. He appeared to be made of actual light, which made him seem otherworldly. He positively shone, so much so that Rockwell and Little-Bit had to shield their eyes. Peanut couldn't see his face because of the glare, but she could just about make out the shape of the fedora hat that she'd seen on the video screen in her cell. ' Well, Miss Jones,' he said in his high tenor, 'up until an hour ago, you were just another annoying member of the Resistance that had to be... dealt with.' He looked back over his shoulder at the blades of the Big X. 'But certain... details have recently come to light that have changed things somewhat.

'And what might those be, White?' Mr M stepped out from behind Rockwell and stood next to Peanut. Several flying fish inched forward. Mr White held up his hand to halt them. 'Ah, Markmaker, aka the brains behind the entire Resistance movement, aka our most valuable prisoner. And yet here you are, free. Alan has, yet again, excelled himself with his peerless attention to security, I see.' Alan's face flushed. And not only that,' Mr White continued. ' Earlier this evening, I saw something that I never thought I would see. Something I thought was either a myth or had been lost long ago. 'Your morals?' 'Witty,' deadpanned Mr White. A veritable comedian. You, young lady, were in possession of Conté's Pencil. Pencil Number One. Little Tail. Do you deny it?'

Peanut didn't react. 'You have no idea how powerful that pencil is, do you? It is wasted on you!' He was shouting now. 'If I had Conté's pencil, you would not believe what I could achieve!' He took a deep breath to regain his composure. Anyway, that is all by the by, because, unfortunately, due to my assistant's continuing stupidity—' Alan's face was now scarlet— 'the item in question fell from the Spire.' 'That's right. It did. Well done, Alan,' Peanut said. Alan scowled back at her. 'So you've not found it then? I thought you had all of your robots searching the place. I did. In fact, the RAZERs are still scouring the area as we speak. As yet they have not been successful in locating the pencil. 'Oh well. As you said, you didn't think it even existed an hour ago. I'd just let it go if I were you.' 'The thing is,' said Mr White, 'when we returned to the Spire and discovered that you and your friends were no longer in your cells, we were, naturally, curious as to how you'd managed to escape. That's when we spotted your little chute. Quite ingenious. 'Why, thank you,' said Peanut, trying not to show that she was feeling more nervous by the second. 'The puzzling thing, however, is that we still have your contraband art materials.' He gestured to Alan, who held up

Peanut's bandolier. 'So, what I am wondering is... how did you manage to spray-paint your way out of the tower, if you didn't have anything to spray-paint with?' 'That's easy. I had this.' Peanut threw the pencil-drawn spray can so that it landed at Mr White's feet. 'You missed it when you searched me.' 'Hmmm.' He bent down to pick it up. 'It's highly unlikely that the RAZERs would have missed something of this size. He broke off the nozzle of the can and rubbed it between his fingers. 'Curiouser and curiouser,' he muttered. 'What do you mean?' said Peanut. ' Well, strangely, this can is made of graphite. Pencil graphite. A very dense, very good quality pencil graphite. In fact, it's like no pencil graphite I have ever seen before.' Peanut shifted her weight from foot to foot. Mr M and Rockwell inched closer to her. 'Do you know what I think?' Mr White smiled. 'I think that you, Miss Jones, drew this spray-paint can with Conté's Pencil. 'Impossible!' Peanut laughed. 'You saw it fly out of the window. You just said so yourself.' 'Nevertheless, I think it would be prudent for us to search you. Exocetia! Surround her!' At least a hundred of the spiky robots darted towards Peanut, but Mr M, Rockwell, Little-Bit and Doodle were

quicker. They surrounded Peanut to stop the fish from getting too close. 'Ha ha ha! You think that will stop us?' Mr White laughed. Peanut knew he was right. She took a deep breath. It was finally time to play the only hand left open to her. 'Call them off!' she shouted. 'Call them off NOW!' Mr White smiled. He could see that Peanut was holding Little Tail high above her head. It gleamed in the moonlight. And why would I do that?' Peanut looked straight at Mr White. 'Because, if you don't call them off, I will snap the pencil. Its power will be gone forever. And don't think I won't do it...' Mr White was silent for a second. 'All right,' he said calmly. 'Exocetia, retreat.' The fish moved back. 'So this is how it's going to work,' said Peanut. You are going to let me and my friends go. We are going to walk away and you are going to let us. If you don't, I will destroy this pencil. Mr White considered what she'd said. I don't believe you. I know what that pencil can do. I've read the books about Conté and I know that it can create portals and many, many other things.' Peanut looked worried. 'So... in terms of how you and your little friends arrived in Chroma: mystery solved. That pencil is your ticket home.

Not even you would be so stupid as to destroy your own escape route. And what, exactly, do I have to go home to? My dad has gone... my mum doesn't like me... I hate my school. Let's just say that I'm not feeling overly homesick! I have nothing more to lose. I made a promise to return Mr M to the Resistance and I intend to keep it, so let us go. Mr White took a step forward. 'I warned you!' said Peanut, holding the pencil as if she were about to snap it. 'ALL RIGHT! All right! Stop!' shouted Mr White. 'Just just go.' Peanut looked at Mr M. She looked at Rockwell and Little-Bit. Then, very slowly, she started walking backwards, away from Mr White, still holding the pencil in front of her. The others started to walk backwards too. Mr White flicked a hand, and the shoal of fish behind them parted. As they backed away, Peanut looked over at Mr M. He looked back at her. 'So...' he said. 'Now what?'