27 The Room with the Doors

Chapter 27 The Room with the Doors They hey emerged into a dimly lit, circular room with a very high ceiling that rose in a tall, thin cone shape to a central peak fifteen metres above their heads. Are we in a giant wigwam?' said Rockwell. 'If we are, it's a very high-tech one,' said Peanut, walking over to the massive console opposite the door they'd come through. The three-metre-wide desk resembled the ones she'd seen in photographs of famous rock stars in their recording studios. It was Jam-packed with switches, levers, dials, sliders, flashing diodes, small LCD displays and illuminated buttons. And the vast majority of the buttons were glowing

green, casting an eerie light across the faces of the children. ' Ooh, it's like the flight deck of the Millennium Falcon,' said Rockwell, smiling. 'I've always wanted to be a starpilot. He then proceeded to press as many of the green buttons as he could, delighting in the fact that they turned red as he did so. 'Careful, flyboy,' said Peanut. 'We don't want to get captured by Darth Vader. So, what's with the screens?' On the wall behind the console was a grid of video monitors, each one displaying grainy, black-and-white security- camera footage of streets, fields, buildings and bridges. Each one had letters printed just above it. ' Hmmm. ND, IL), S, LD, VF, DB, W...' said Little-Bit as she read. 'Ah, got it! They're the districts of Chroma! North Draw, Ink District, Strip, Light District, Vincent Fields, Die Brücke, Warholia... 'Of course!' said Peanut. 'We must be back in the Illustrated City. And this must be some sort of... observation room?' 'Wait a second,' said Little-Bit, looking up at the high, pointed ceiling. 'You don't think we're in a room right at the top of— 'The Spire!' shouted Peanut. ' Yes! I think we might be. ' Well, it would certainly make sense for Mr White to draw a portal that would lead straight back to his headquarters,' replied Little-Bit.

'So what are those, then?' said Rockwell, looking at the wall behind them. Surrounding the open portal that they'd just stepped through were eleven other doors, crudely drawn in pencil and, again, with different initials written above each one. 'I would guess they are other portals that he's drawn,'

said Peanut. 'Maybe he always draws a new one to travel home through. And they all lead back here.' 'His own private collection of gateways between the worlds, that nobody else knows about...' whispered Little-Bit. Rockwell, who had walked around the console and was standing a few metres to the girls' left, was looking down

at the floor. 'What's this trapdoor?' Sure enough, there was a large, wooden hatch, set into the middle of one of the concrete flagstones. 'Only one way to find out,' said Peanut, running to join him. 'Let's open it.' The two of them pulled the iron handle as hard as they could and lifted one of the doors. 'Is that... a swimming pool?' said Peanut, looking inside. 'Yes,' replied Rockwell. And it looks as if it's full of rainbow-coloured water. She nodded. 'It does. White must have been stealing water from the Rainbow Lake! What on earth is he up to?' 'Er, Peanut. You might want to come over here.' Little-Bit was now on the far side of the room, staring at a collection of large objects propped up against the curved wall. 'Is that

'The Mona Lisa,' said Little-Bit. ' Yes. And look, there's a painting that looks like the sky in Vincent Fields. And here's a really expensive-looking golden trophy of some sort.' 'Er, that's the Jinou Yonggu Cup! I drew a picture of it when I was at Melody High. It's the priceless work of art from China that disintegrated a few weeks ago! And these are the other "missing" pieces from the galleries around the world!' cried Peanut. 'The ones that supposedly turned to dust. That's the Dali self-portrait, that sculpture is the Henry Moore, and unless I'm mistaken, this one—' she folded back the end of a large roll of canvas, at least three and a half metres tall, that was propped up against the wall—'is Guernica by Picasso. The one that disappeared this morning!' 'So we have proof!' said Little-Bit. ' Mr White is stealing them and replacing them with fakes!' Guys. Forget about priceless works of art, said Rockwell. 'I've just found something much more valuable.' The two girls rushed back to the console. And there, sitting snugly in a small groove at the far end of the desk, was an old yellow pencil.