59 Some Worrying News

59 Some Worrying News B-b-but... you don't understand, Peanut,' said Leo. it... a door... just... out of thin air. 'I know,' she replied. 'There are a lot of things that need explaining, and I promise I will do exactly that.' She swallowed hard. 'But first, tell me, is Mum home or did she go to the ballet?' 'She's not here,' replied the boy. 'She's... she's gone away.' Peanut felt the blood drain from her face. 'Gone away?' she said. 'Y-yes. 'Gone away where?' 'Er...l... erm... Italy. I think. Yes. That's right. Milan.' 'ITALY?' shouted Peanut. 'WHY ON EARTH HAS SHE

GONE TO—?' She suddenly felt a bit dizzy, and everything started to turn white. She sat down on the bed. Rockwell cleared his throat and stepped forward. 'Hi, Leo. Er, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Rockwell. We met at the National Portrait Gallery. I'm Peanut's friend.' He put his hand on Peanut's shoulder, which made her feel slightly better. 'I think what she's wondering is, erm... who has she gone to Italy with?' Leo looked at Rockwell. Then he looked at the drawing of the door. Then back at Rockwell. Abruptly, he walked over to the sketch and grabbed the handle. As soon as he touched it, it started to crumble. A few seconds later, it had turned into a pile of silvery grey powder on the floor. 'I think I need to sit down too,' he said. Five minutes later, Rockwell walked back into the room with a tray holding four steaming mugs of sweet tea. ' Right then, are we feeling any better?' he said. 'A bit,' said Peanut, taking her tea. 'Thank you.'

'Yes. Er, thanks,' said Leo. 'No probs,' said Rockwell. 'OK, Leo, why don't you tell us what happened.' 'Well,' began the boy, 'I left the National Portrait Gallery just after I saw you guys, and came straight back here. When I got home, Mum was in a right state. She was running around, grabbing clothes left, right and centre, chucking them into that little overnight suitcase, and asking me if I'd seen her passport. So, naturally, I asked her what was going on.' And what was going on?' asked Peanut. 'I thought she was just going to the ballet.' 'She was, er... She is. But she said that there had been a last-minute change of plan.' A change of plan?' 'Yes. Apparently, just after you and LB had left, her assistant from work turned up at the front door and presented her with two tickets.' 'Yes, that's right. Nerys was just arriving as we left.' 'Well, one of the tickets was for a flight to Milan, and the other one was for a performance of Swan Lake at La Scala tomorrow night.' 'What's La Scala?' said Little-Bit. 'One of the most famous ballet theatres in the world, apparently. She said that Mr Stone had managed to get his hands on some tickets at the last minute, and that they must have cost

a fortune. He got one for Nerys too, apparently. So she was going to chaperone them, which Mum seemed happy about.' Peanut started to feel dizzy again. She had a fortifying sip of her tea. 'Did you not think it was a bit weird? Her suddenly heading off to Italy with her boss and her PA?' 'Well, yes. I did say that it seemed a bit extreme to go all that way to watch a bit of dancing. But she insisted that she wanted to go, and she seemed really excited. She said that you two were away on a sleepover anyway, and that she'd ask Leighann to come and babysit tomorrow, when you were back. She said she'd see us on Monday.' 'Peanut, I think we need to stop her getting on that plane,' said Rockwell. 'Too late,' said Leo. 'It took off half an hour ago.' 'Oh no,' said Peanut, standing up. 'I've got a terrible feeling that this was Mr White's plan all along. This must be what Alan was talking about. ' What do you mean?' said Rockwell. All that stuff about magic tricks and sleight of hand. While we were in Chroma concentrating on winning the battle for the Spire, Mr White was back here persuading Mum to go with him to Italy.' 'The magician will draw your attention and make you concentrate on one hand, while subtly stealing your watch with the

other one,' said Little-Bit, reminding them what Mr White's henchman had said. 'So Mum is the watch?' 'I think she might be,' said Peanut. 'I don't know what to think! At first, I just thought he wanted to steal her from Dad. But now he knows we've got the pencil, and he'll do anything to get it back. Maybe he's going to hold her hostage and use her as leverage? He knows we'd do anything to make sure she doesn't come to any harm. What are we going to do?' 'Er, sorry to interrupt,' said Leo, 'but would someone mind telling me (a) who Alan is, (b) what the Spire is, (c) who Mr White is, and (d) why you are describing my mother as a watch?' Peanut looked over at her brother. It suddenly dawned on her just how much she needed to tell him. She made a mental note to do it as soon as she could, but right now there were more important things to think about. As I said, I promise I'll tell you everything,' she said. 'But first, we need to rescue Mum.' And that's when she noticed it again.