Boy’s not bad – is he?
Strange things are happening in the town that used to be Perfect. Things are being stolen…then children start going missing too. And everyone is blaming Violet’s best friend, Boy.
To find out what’s going on, Violet must uncover secrets from the past and battle a gruesome zombie monster. Town is in trouble – double trouble – and it’s up to Violet to save it.
“Your heart is in your mouth and you’re knee-deep in adventure…” M.G. Leonard, author of Beetle Boy on A Place Called Perfect
Praise for Violet and Boy’s first adventure
Winner of the Crimefest Book Awards Best Crime Novel for Children (8-12)
Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Bord Gáis Irish Book Awards
“A creepy, magical tale of bravery and self-belief.” Sunday Express
“This is one of those books that you think about when you’re not reading it and can’t wait to find out what happens next.” Tom Fletcher
“A perfect choice for Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month and I will be recommending it to everyone, including adults, that I can!” Kelly Macdonald, Waterstones bookseller
“Helena Duggan builds an intriguing world and tells a gripping story…” The Scotsman
“A creepy adventure story full of twists and turns that will hook you in from the start and keep you guessing into the final pages.” Scoop magazine
To Dad, for everything
CONTENTS
ABOUT THIS BOOK
DEDICATION
A HISTORY OF PERFECT
CHAPTER 1. HOME
CHAPTER 2. TROUBLE WITH THE BRAIN
CHAPTER 3. IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
CHAPTER 4. CHILDISH TRICKS
CHAPTER 5. LIES
CHAPTER 6. NEW FRIENDS
CHAPTER 7. MORE LIES
CHAPTER 8. WHISPERINGS
CHAPTER 9. A MAGPIE FOR DETAIL
CHAPTER 10. THE CHILD SNATCHER
CHAPTER 11. ILL OMENS
CHAPTER 12. THE NIGHT VISITOR
CHAPTER 13. A LITTLE HELPER
CHAPTER 14. NURSE POWICK
CHAPTER 15. THE TUNNELLED TOMB
CHAPTER 16. THE WHITE ROOM
CHAPTER 17. FALLING FOUL
CHAPTER 18. THE RETURN
CHAPTER 19. THE PRODIGAL SON
CHAPTER 20. CLOUD NINE
CHAPTER 21. THE EMERGENCY MEETING
CHAPTER 22. GEORGE’S RELEASE
CHAPTER 23. TAKING PRISONERS
CHAPTER 24. THE WHITE-EYED BOY
CHAPTER 25. MACULA’S SECRET
CHAPTER 26. A CONCERNED CITIZEN
CHAPTER 27. UP
CHAPTER 28. EYE SPY
CHAPTER 29. POWICK’S PASSIONS
CHAPTER 30. THE DECEIT
CHAPTER 31. THE TRIBUNE’S TRIBUTE
CHAPTER 32. A GOOD PAIN
CHAPTER 33. THE WITNESS
CHAPTER 34. THE SWAP
CHAPTER 35. THE UNWANTED GUEST
CHAPTER 36. THE BEST MEDICINE
CHAPTER 37. A SIMPLE TRUTH
CHAPTER 38. BEARING WITNESS
CHAPTER 39. A MOTHER’S LOVE
CHAPTER 40. THE RAVEN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
IF YOU LIKED THE TROUBLE WITH PERFECT...
COPYRIGHT
“I feel like we’re spying on everyone, Boy,” Violet said, as she took in the masses of tiny TV screens in front of her. She was sitting inside the Brain.
The Brain was William Archer’s newest invention. Well, it wasn’t that new, it had been around since just after Perfect fell, which was nearly a year ago. It looked like a black box from the outside and was around the same size as a garden shed. The Brain had black shutters on the sides, that could be lifted up to give easy access to the cramped space inside, for repairs. Hundreds of small black and red cone-shapes covered the flat roof.
It was situated just off the steps of the Town Hall, on Edward Street. The Town Hall was the centre of Town, William said, and so this was the best place for the Brain to receive signals from all the eye-plant beds.
Since Perfect had fallen, William Archer had planted numerous beds of eye plants on the streets around Town. They acted as lookouts. “A Town security system,” William said, when he first proposed the idea. The eye plants were living eyes and sent signals of what they saw back to the Brain, which converted those signals to pictures.
Boy looked at the screens too. “Maybe that’s because we are spying, Violet,” he joked.
“You know what I mean!”
“What are we really going to see in Town? Nobody ever does anything exciting around here – well, nothing they wouldn’t want us to see, anyway. Though maybe you’re right, Violet…I mean, we might see Mrs Moody putting out her washing, or what if we see Mr Bloom plucking his weeds!” Boy mocked. “Anyway, the eye plants spy on people all the time and you’re fine with that!”
“Yeah, but they’re doing it for a good reason – they’re looking out for Edward, in case he ever comes back.”
“And we’re doing this to fix the eye plants. They won’t be able to look out for Edward if they’re broken, will they?”
“What’s wrong with them anyway?”
“Well, Dad says they’re acting up a bit. He’s fixed the rods and cones on the roof, and wants to see if that has worked. The electromagnetic sig—”
“Boy, I haven’t a clue what any of that stuff means. Just say it in plain English!”
“I forgot you’re not half as intelligent as me,” he teased.
“Whatever. If it makes you feel better, you can tell yourself that,” Violet said impatiently. “So what does your dad want us to do?”
“We’ve to look at the screens and check they’re all working. Make sure none of them are blank or blinking on and off.”
Violet jumped from her chair and began to walk around. Inside the Brain were lots of tiny TV screens, all clustered in the centre of the space like a giant spider’s eyes. They were surrounded by a narrow walkway to inspect them from.
“Each screen is connected to an eye plant in one of the flower beds around Town,” Boy continued. “The number on the top corner of the screen will tell you which bed. If you see a screen blinking, write down its number.”
“They all look fine here.” Violet’s stomach churned as she watched Mr Hatchet pick his nose outside his butcher’s shop on one of the tiny TVs. “It’s a bit weird looking at people when they don’t know, isn’t it?”
“Oh, there’s a new train in Merrill’s toyshop window,” Boy said excitedly, moving closer to the screen in front of him.
“Why do boys love boring things like trains?” Violet sighed, shaking her head.
“Why do girls love boring things like…talking?” Boy smirked.
“Any problems?” William Archer asked, poking his bearded face round the main door of the Brain.
“No, Dad,” Boy replied. “Maybe the adjustments you made worked.”
“Wouldn’t that be great?” William smiled, ruffling his son’s unruly hair. “It’d get Vincent Crooked off my back, anyway.”
“Is the Committee meeting finished, then?” Violet asked.
“Yes, your dad is on the way, Violet. He was just having a word with Vincent.”
“What happened this time?” she asked.
Her dad and Mr Crooked were always “having words”, and most of the words weren’t nice, her mam said. Her dad called it “a difference of opinion”, but Violet knew that meant he just didn’t like the man. She kind of agreed with her dad, though. If Mr Crooked was anything like his son Conor, then she wouldn’t like him either.
“Nothing, Violet,” William replied. “Vincent was just questioning how secure the eye plants are, after the recent problems. Your dad was trying to persuade him that everything is fine.” He smiled.
“Right, Violet, are you ready?” Her dad stepped into the doorway, looking red-faced.
“Did you convince Vincent?” William asked.
“No,” Eugene replied, “but I had fun trying. I don’t know what it is about that man, but I just can’t warm to him. He was saying something about robberies and how if the eyes weren’t working properly, we wouldn’t be safe in Town.”
“Robberies in Town?” William laughed. “I wonder what he’ll come up with next!”
“Anyway,” Eugene said, stepping back out onto Edward Street, “it’s Sunday night, time for your bed, Violet. Your mother will be wondering where we’ve gone to.”
“But, Dad, can’t I stay a bit longer?” Violet pleaded, looking at Boy.
“No, it’s school tomorrow. Mrs Moody won’t be happy if you fall asleep in class.”
“Mrs Moody is never happy anyway, Dad!”
“Come on, Violet,” Eugene said, squeezing her shoulders affectionately.
Violet sighed and said goodbye to William and Boy, then walked with her dad through the quiet streets of Town.
On the nights her mam went to cooking classes, Violet’s dad brought her to Committee meetings. The Committee was formed after Perfect fell, as a way to rule Town. It was made up of ten people. Her dad called it a demoncrosity or demoncr-something. Anyway, it just meant all decisions in Town were voted on, so everything was fair.
The meetings were boring and – unlike tonight when she helped with the Brain – normally Violet would have to sit through two hours of adults talking. The walk home with her dad always made up for it, though.
The skies in Town were usually clear, and Eugene Brown would point to the stars and ask her to name them. They’d done it so many times now that Violet knew them all by heart. Sometimes she forgot one on purpose, because Mam said her dad loved to show off all the stuff he knew about science.
“There’s the Plough,” Eugene said, pointing, as they neared their house.
She was following his finger, when all of a sudden something flew out of the bushes in front of her. Violet jumped, almost landing on her father’s foot.
“It’s okay, pet,” he soothed, looking skywards. “It’s only a bird. Strange it’s out at this time of night.”
Violet steadied her breath as they walked up their gravel drive.
“Do you think Town would be safe if the eye plants really stopped working, Dad?”
“Pet, Town is one of the safest places I’ve ever been. Perhaps one of the safest places in the world. We don’t need the eyes, but they’re William’s indulgence. I think he wants to turn something bad into something good.”
“But what about Edward Archer? What if he comes back and tries to steal everyone’s imaginations again?”
“He’s not coming back, pet. That man’s long gone from here.”
Eugene Brown opened the front door, flooding the yard with light as he walked into their house. Violet stopped on the steps for a moment, looking out at the clear dark night.
She used to hate this place, when it was called Perfect and everyone was controlled by the Archer brothers. But now, Town really did feel like home.
Violet’s heart was beating loudly. She was following Edward Archer, the shorter, stocky twin, as he staggered up the hill, past the lamp post.
Her vision was foggy, as though a mist clouded the edges of her eyes.
She pushed open the turnstile to the graveyard, and shivered as the iron gate screeched.
Headstones lined the path that divided the cemetery. She couldn’t see Edward in the thick, black night and ducked down behind a standing stone for cover.
“I know you’re in here, Edward Archer!” she shouted.
His laughter echoed round her. Sweat pimpled Violet’s brow.
Suddenly, a figure darted out from behind a grave. She tried to give chase but stumbled to the ground, bloodying her palms.
A sound like scraping stone filled the air, and her breath caught.
Violet rose and raced to where she’d seen the figure moments before. He’d vanished.
Where had he gone? She couldn’t let Edward Archer get away.
She was standing by a tombstone, and rubbed moss from its surface, trying to read the engravings. Then a big black bird swooped down from the skies, its claws open, grasping.
Violet cowered, covering her face. Her screams pierced the night as the bird’s wings beat the air above her.
“Violet, Violet, Violet,” a voice called out in the distance.
Violet opened her eyes, her chest pounding. Where was she? Relief flooded her body as she took in the ceiling light in her bedroom.
She’d had that dream again. The one where Edward disappeared. Only this time it was slightly different. She’d been attacked by a bird.
“Violet, Violet…”
Somebody was calling her name. She bolted up. Something rattled against the glass in her bedroom window. Cautiously, she crawled out of bed and over to her curtains, pulling them open just a little.
The large silver moon lit the night.
In the gravel yard below was a figure, his legs straddling a bike. Boy. What was he doing here now?
The bike was new, given to Boy by his parents, William and Macula Archer, as an early birthday present – though Boy’s parents didn’t need an excuse. Since they’d found their long-lost son, the Archers – including Iris, his granny – were always giving him gifts. Violet sometimes wished she’d grown up in an orphanage and then found her parents, at least that way she might get more than fleecy pyjamas and pink slippers for her birthday.
“Why are you standing in my yard this late? I only saw you a few hours ago,” she whispered, after sliding open the window.
“You’re such a moaner, Violet! It’s not late,” he replied, his breath sending small white puffs into the air. “It’s early, nearly sunrise!”
“That’s the same thing, Boy. I’m trying to sleep! Are you ever going to get used to proper hours, not the ones you kept in No-Man’s-Land? Normal people sleep at night.”
“Normal is boring. Now come on, get up. Dad needs us!”
“Again? For what? Can’t it wait?”
“Too many questions… Come on!”
Violet huffed as she dressed. Then, as quietly as possible, she slipped out of her room and down the stairs. In a matter of moments, she’d opened the front door and was standing on the steps of her house.
“What took you so long?” Boy asked, as he turned and pedalled off. “Come on!” he called over his shoulder, heading quickly down the driveway.
Boys! They never wait around for anyone, Violet fumed, as she walked round the side of the house and pulled the bike she’d been given for Christmas away from the pebble-dashed wall.
What was up with Boy, that he had to drag her out of bed for?
She was just cycling out of her driveway when a big black bird flew down from a tree, right across her path, just as one had done earlier when she was with her dad.
Violet swerved, releasing an involuntary squeal.
“You’re such a girly girl!” Boy teased, waiting by the bench just ahead.
“No I’m not,” she puffed, catching her breath.
“It was just a bird, Violet.”
“I know…” She fell silent as she pushed off once more. “It’s just…well…I had that dream again. Only this time there was a bird in it, as well as Edward – so it scared me, that’s all.”
“I told you, Edward Archer won’t hurt you or any of us again,” Boy said, pedalling up beside her. “You shouldn’t be having those dreams any more.”
“It’s not like I have them on purpose,” Violet replied. “I haven’t had one in ages, either. I think it’s because I was talking to Dad about Edward when we were walking home, and a bird frightened me then too. That’s all. I can’t exactly control what my head does at night, can I?”
“You can’t control what your head does ever, Violet!” Boy teased. “Come on, Dad wants us at the Brain, ASAP.”
“What does ASAP mean, anyway?” Violet panted, pedalling after him.
“It means hurry up!” Boy replied, taking a sharp angle onto Splendid Road and almost careening into a bed of eye plants.
“Well why didn’t you just say that?” Violet laughed, as they whistled by what was once the Archer Brothers’ Spectacle Makers’ Emporium.
The Archers’ Emporium had been at the heart of Perfect, and was where twins Edward and George had plotted and run their empire. When Perfect fell, Eugene Brown, Violet’s dad, and William Archer had set up their own optician’s business in the shop and it was now known as Archer and Brown.
The pair did normal optician stuff, like sell glasses and fix people’s eyes, but they had a cool space too, where Violet’s dad – who was an ophthalmologist, which is like a surgeon for eyes – did experiments that helped blind people see again. This research had been a passion of his since Perfect fell and it meant he got published in Eye Spy, a magazine about eyes, a lot more. Violet’s mother, Rose, was very proud of her husband and told everyone about his “ambitious” plans for Archer and Brown.
Violet and Boy pulled on their brakes, stopping outside the Brain.
William Archer was muttering to himself as he rolled up one of the metal sides of the Brain, revealing the hundreds of small TV screens. “I’ve checked the cones, the wiring… What is it, what’s going wrong? Some are blank on this side too.” He tutted, tapping the glass. William seemed oblivious to Violet and Boy. “This just doesn’t make any sense!”
“Erm…Dad…” Boy coughed.
“Great! You made it,” William said, whirling around on the spot. “Hate to bring you back here so soon, Violet. Now off you go, be back here before light please. I don’t want to alert all of Town to the fact this little beauty isn’t doing her best again. We’ll really have Crooked on our backs then. I told him everything was working fine after the meeting.”
“What do you want us to do, Dad?” Boy asked, confused. “You haven’t explained anything to us yet.”
“Oh right, silly me.”
He strode forward and awkwardly shook Violet’s hand in hello. William Archer always treated kids the same as adults, which was why Violet liked him so much.
“Thank you for getting out of bed to help us, Violet. We’d be lost without you, as ever. We’ve the same problem as the one I thought I’d fixed earlier – some of the screens in the Brain have gone blank, and I can’t get them to come back to life. I think if we work together – you two whizzing up and down between the Brain and the eye-plant beds on those bikes – we may be able to find out exactly what’s going on, and fix it. We’re a great team, us three. I know these hours seem unconventional, Violet, but I don’t want to cause any alarm in Town, especially after Vincent’s Committee questions. Hope you don’t mind!”
“What are we checking the eye plants for, Dad?” Boy asked, trying to make some sense of his father’s rambling mind.
“Loose transmitters or wires, foggy lenses, infections, that kind of thing. I’ll check the wiring here again. Now don’t split up – I know Town is safe without those Watchers patrolling our streets, but Rose and Eugene wouldn’t be pleased if I allowed Violet to wander around in the dark alone.”
“They won’t know, William.” Violet smiled.
“Nevertheless, Violet, please stick together. I know you two are more than capable of looking after yourselves, but I must at least try to act responsibly.” He smiled. “Just go to the bed on Forgotten Road, the one in Market Yard and the one at the footbridge. They’re the ones giving us trouble. See if everything looks normal, then come straight back.”
Boy nodded, and turned his bike towards Archers’ Avenue.
“Take this,” William said, grabbing a strange, black rectangular device from the floor of the Brain and handing it to Boy. “Let me know if you see anything odd. Remember to say ‘over’ at the end of your sentences, otherwise I won’t know when you’re finished.”
“Right, Dad,” Boy said, rolling his eyes up to heaven, but so only Violet could see.
“What’s that thing William gave you?” Violet asked, as the pair started to pedal down the street.
“It’s a walkie-talkie. Dad just made a pair. It’s for talking to him whenever I’m helping. They’re really useful, especially if we’re at different ends of Town, checking the eye plants.”
“I’d love one of those.” Violet grabbed it out of Boy’s hand and placed it in her back pocket before sprinting ahead on her bike. “Bet you can’t catch me!”
Violet could hear Boy over her shoulder, chasing her down, as she wheeled left onto Archers’ Avenue and then took another sharp left onto Rag Lane heading for No-Man’s-Land, Boy’s old home.
When Town was called Perfect and under the Archer brothers’ control, No-Man’s-Land had been a prison for people who were different and didn’t fit with Edward and George’s plans for perfection. The No-Man’s-Landers were outcasts, and their families still living in Perfect were robbed of all memory that they ever existed.
When Perfect fell, George Archer was captured and imprisoned in the clock tower of the Town Hall. The Watchers, who’d guarded Perfect under the Archers’ control, were locked away in the basement of that same building. Edward escaped, disappearing in the graveyard beside the Ghost Estate.
The No-Man’s-Landers and Perfectionists, who had been living on different sides of a wall in the same town, united. The gate into No-Man’s-Land was ceremonially knocked down, and the streets and buildings were renovated.
Forgotten Road was no longer forgotten – many of its buildings were already restored. Market Yard still held close to its roots, as a vibrant place where people gathered once a week to sell wares and exchange ideas.
Violet’s mouth watered as she pedalled past Sweets for My Sweet, which had opened a few months before and was now one of Town’s favourite shops.
Boy screeched to a halt as they neared the old orphanage.
The orphans had all gone back to their families, who’d forgotten they existed during Perfect, and now weren’t orphans any more. The orphanage itself was left as it had been, and opened as a museum to Town’s difficult history.
William told Violet, once, that the museum was so nobody ever forgot their Perfect past. She thought that was silly, since people wanted to forget about the horrible things that had happened in Perfect. At least, her mam did anyway. Rose got upset any time Violet brought it up. However, William had explained that sometimes the past was painful but, if you never wanted to feel that pain again, you needed to remember it. “People have short memories, Violet,” he had warned her. “If we forget our past, it will catch up with us.”
“These seem fine,” Boy said, pulling Violet from her memories, as he examined the eye plants in the first bed they’d been sent to inspect, on Forgotten Road.
The beds were mounds of deep-red clay about two metres long and oval-shaped. They were edged with white-painted paving stones and lined with rows of knee-high eye plants. Beside each bed was a small tank of blood – supplied weekly by Mr Hatchet, the butcher – to feed the plants with.
Violet dropped her bike on its side and walked over, bending down for a closer look.
The red stem of one of the plants nearby pulsed as it fed from the deep clay. Its translucent skin-like petals were open and its eyeball centre watched Boy suspiciously, following his every move.
“Be careful, you don’t want to annoy them,” she warned her friend.
She remembered the last time the eye plants had screamed, on the night Edward Archer disappeared. The sound was eerily haunting and she definitely didn’t want to hear it ever again.
“These things freak me out,” she whispered, looking straight at a bloodshot eyeball as it surveyed her.
“These ‘things’ are keeping everyone safe, Violet,” Boy said, as he crawled gingerly through the bed.
“Well, I don’t see anything wrong with them,” Violet announced, dusting off her trousers a minute later.
“Wow, you searched really hard!” Boy smirked, looking up from the clay.
“Yes, I did. As much as you did, anyway.”
“Well, how come I’m the one still down here checking them, then?”
“Please…come on, can we just go? I can’t look at the eyes close-up for much longer, they’re disgusting!”
Boy laughed, jumping up from the ground to grab his bike. “Fine. They do all seem to be okay. Anyway, I thought you weren’t scared of anything!”
“I’m not scared of the eyes,” she huffed, “I just don’t think they’re nice to look at!”
Boy was about to say something, when he stopped and looked around. “Does this remind you of anything?”
Violet shrugged as she mounted her bike. “Does what remind me?”
“The silence and empty streets.”
“No, why?”
“How about when we used to sneak through Perfect – when nobody else was about, only us and the Watchers?”
“Yeah, I suppose so,” she replied. “I’m not sure I want to remember back then, though.”
“It wasn’t all that bad,” Boy said, pushing down on his pedals. “Sometimes it was exciting! Town is so normal.”
“There’s nothing wrong with normal! Do you miss danger or something?” Violet asked, confused.
“No, but sometimes I do miss adventure. And doing bad things.”
“‘Bad things’? What are you on about?”
“I don’t mean proper-bad things. I just mean things that weren’t allowed, like climbing the wall into Perfect or tricking the Watchers. Everything feels really safe right now.”
“Isn’t safe good?” Violet asked, cycling behind her friend.
“Yeah, I suppose, but sometimes it’s boring!” Boy called back as he disappeared down the laneway towards Market Yard.
“Maybe it’s just you who’s boring,” Violet teased, speeding past him in the narrow space.
Boy put his head down and raced after Violet, the pair almost colliding as they skidded to a halt near the Rag Tree in the centre of Market Yard.
“I won!” Violet panted, throwing her hands into the air.
“No, I won! I always win – that’s the rules!” Boy laughed, leaping off his bike and jumping around in mock celebration.
“You can’t always win!”
“Yes I can, that’s the rules.”
“The rules you made up!” Violet retorted, pushing his shoulder.
“Rules are rules, Violet,” Boy teased as he walked over to inspect the next bed of eye plants.
Violet was about to reply, when Boy looked up at her, his face serious.
“We need to get Dad! Give me the walkie-talkie.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” she asked, rushing over to hand it to him.
A large patch of eye plants was missing from the middle of the flower bed, as if someone had plucked them right out.
“They screamed earlier, gave me an awful fright,” a voice called from across the yard behind them. “I was going to tell your father, in the morning, but now I’ve seen you two out here, saves me the bother.”
Violet looked around. An old man was hanging half out the top window of a house on the edge of Market Yard.
“What time was it?” Boy asked. “Did you see anyone?”
“It was late, after midnight I’d say,” the man replied. “The screeching was awful, worse than squabbling cats. I didn’t see anybody, but it was dark, mind.”
Boy spoke into the walkie-talkie, then looked at Violet.
“Dad’s not answering. We better check out the next bed.”
The pair got on their bikes and raced down Wickham Terrace, past Boy’s house, towards the footbridge and the last of the beds William had asked them to examine.
“This one is the same – some of the eyes are missing,” Boy panted, turning to look at his friend anxiously.
He tried the walkie-talkie again. A rustling sound, like leaves in the wind, rattled across the airwaves.
“Dad, someone’s stealing the eye plants. OVER,” Boy said. “Dad… Dad?”
Static fizzed out into the dawn.
“He’s such a feather-head,” Boy huffed, as he shoved the device into his pocket. “We’d better get back to him, quick, Violet!”
The sun was just rising over Town, as Boy and Violet swerved onto Edward Street and pedalled furiously back to the Brain. William Archer’s nose was almost touching one of the screens as he fiddled with some dials.
“What’s happened?” he asked, looking up. “Did you find something?”
“We met a man who told us the eyes screamed last night. There’s some missing from the bed in Market Yard and the one at the footbridge,” Boy panted.
William seemed confused. “What do you mean? Have they died, or fallen over? I don’t understand.”
“No, gone, Dad, like someone has pulled them up and taken them,” Boy said bluntly.
“Oh dear. Are all the plants in those beds gone?” William asked, scratching his head.
“No, just some of them,” Violet replied.
“Surely if someone took the plants, they should have been spotted by the other plants? Why can’t I see it on the screens? This is very strange, very strange indeed…”
Violet and Boy watched as William Archer strode forwards and backwards, muttering to himself.
“We need to tell the Committee. It’s probably just someone playing a trick, though I wish they wouldn’t play it with the eye plants – they’re delicate.”
“Delicate? More like disgusting,” Violet whispered.
“Crooked will have a field day with this! Violet, will you tell Eugene I’ll be over a little later this morning, to fill him in?”
“What’s going on, Dad?” Boy asked.
“I don’t know, son, but as I said, I’m sure it’s just someone playing a trick.” William looked straight at Boy. “Let’s not talk about this in front of your mother, though. At least, not until we figure it out a bit more. She’s got enough on her plate already.”
Boy nodded.
“Is it okay if I cycle back with Violet?” he asked.
“Okay, then come straight home,” his dad replied, over his shoulder.
Boy nodded, then quickly cycled off down Edward Street.
“I can go home by myself, Boy,” Violet insisted, as she caught up to him.
“I know you can – I just don’t want to go back yet!” He smiled, pedalling ahead again.
“Why did your dad say that about your mam?” Violet asked catching up once more.
“Say what?”
The sun was just popping out behind the clock tower of the Town Hall as they passed Archer and Brown, on the corner of Edward Street and Splendid Road.
“Not to tell her about the eyes, that she’d enough worries?”
Boy didn’t reply. He looked a little sad, not like his normal self.
“Is there something wrong?” Violet asked, feeling worried this time.
“No… Well, I don’t really know…”
“You can tell me, I’m your best friend.”
“I know, Violet, I just don’t know what to tell. Mam is acting weird. She’s sneaking around a lot and always seems kind of upset. It’s like she doesn’t listen, like her head is somewhere else.”
“Did you ask your dad?”
“Yeah, he got awkward and said something about her finding it hard being free of the small room the Archers kept her in. I don’t believe him, though. I think he knows what’s really going on. I’ve heard them whispering, sometimes. I don’t know why adults whisper like that.”
“I know.” Violet sighed. “It’s like they don’t think kids have ears! Maybe she’s just stressed? Adults get that a lot. I think it’s like the flu, or something.”
“I don’t think that’s what stress is, Violet!” Boy laughed.
“William might be right, though,” she continued, ignoring him. “I was only in Macula’s room for a few minutes, but I think living in it for all those years must have been really hard. All your mam did was sit there and write letters.”
Violet remembered the deep-red carpet and dark mahogany furniture of Macula Archer’s room, the luxury a complete contrast to the derelict house that encased it in the Ghost Estate. She remembered the wild paintings that looked like freedom, and sitting in Macula’s chair reading one of the hundreds of letters to her boys.
“She never talks about that time.” Boy sighed.
“Mam always tells me I’ve to talk about things, especially bad things. She said that if you don’t talk about the bad things, they can get stuck in your head and get much worse. Then they turn into really bad things, when they were probably not that bad at all to start with.”
“I feel sorry for the things that get stuck in your head!” Boy joked.
“Very funny!” Violet smiled, stopping outside the entrance to her house.
“Right, I better get back home. I’ll see you in school.”
“Hey, Boy!” she called, as he turned to cycle away.
“Yeah?”
“Your mam will be okay. Remember, my mam lost her imagination and was totally under the Archers’ control in Perfect, and she’s fine now. Parents are always okay in the end. They just like to worry about things.”
“Thanks, Violet.” He half-smiled.
She watched until Boy disappeared round the corner, then climbed off her bike and pushed it up the gravel drive, to the side of her house. She was just climbing the steps when there was a rumble of thunder.
Violet jumped, her heart pounding as clouds gathered in the sky above.
The sun had perpetually shone in Perfect – or, at least, people thought it did – but since the Archers’ downfall, lots of things, including the weather, were back to normal. The weather in Town was good. It was sunny a lot of the time, broken up by the odd rain shower – but Violet had never heard thunder in the skies here before. She’d almost forgotten what it sounded like.
“Violet, what are you doing up already?” her dad asked, as she went inside. He was standing in the half dark at the bottom of the hallway.
“Did you hear the thunder, Dad?” she asked, eyes wide.
“I thought I heard something, pet. Thank goodness it wasn’t my stomach!” Eugene Brown smiled. “What were you doing out there?”
“Boy called for me.”
“At this time?”
“Yeah, William needed help. There’s a problem with the eye plants.”
“I thought he fixed that last night?”
They walked through to the kitchen and Violet sat down at the table. She had filled her dad in by the time William Archer knocked on the door a little later that morning.
“Any news on the eye plants?” she asked, as William strode into the kitchen.
“No, Violet, I searched for footage in the Brain’s memory stores again, but there’s no information at all. The other eyes didn’t pick up any attack. It’s very strange, almost as if something is disturbing the signals.”
“Violet told me what happened, William,” Eugene said, looking up at his friend. “Sit down, I’ll make you a cup of tea.”
Tea hadn’t been a favourite in Town for a while after Perfect fell, because the Archer twins had poisoned their brew to steal everyone’s sight. Then Violet’s dad and William had come up with the idea of reopening the tea factory. They called it a “cross-community project”. When Violet asked her dad what that meant, he said it was something that the No-Man’s-Landers and the Perfectionists could work on together, so they could see that they weren’t so different. In the beginnings of Town, some people had still been a little suspicious of each other.
The factory was reopened a month after Edward disappeared. It had taken Town a while, and a lot of work, but gradually people began to trust each other and the tea factory again.
Now UniTea was a favourite on all kitchen tables. Eugene was particularly pleased with the tagline, “Bringing Town Together”, which was displayed proudly on every purple packet and over the factory gates on George’s Road.
Violet loved having the tea back. It was made from the same Chameleon plant the Archer brothers had used and tasted like anything she wanted it to, but was minus their blinding potion, so it didn’t rob her eyesight.
“Thanks, Eugene,” William said, looking worried as he sat down. “I’m at a loss as to what’s happening. I’m sure it’s someone playing a trick, as I can’t imagine anyone in Town stealing anything – especially not those plants.”
“And nobody saw a thing?”
“Mr Eton said he heard the plants screaming and looked out, but whoever it was had gone. A few others heard them too, but nobody spotted anything. One person said they saw Boy when they heard the screams, but they must have confused their times. Boy and Violet weren’t down there until after the eye plants were taken.”
“It’s very strange,” Eugene said, shaking his head. “I’m sure Vincent Crooked will be raving about this at the Committee meeting tonight. Of course, you’ll have to call a meeting, given the circumstances.”
“I can ask about the eye plants at school, Dad,” Violet said, feeling excited. She missed investigating stuff. “It could be kids. They might think it’s funny?”
“It’s alright, pet. We’ll figure it out,” Eugene said. “Do you think it could—” He stopped abruptly, looked at his watch and turned to face his daughter.
“Pet, you need to get ready for school or you’ll be late again.”
“But, Dad, I want to stay and hear!”
“Violet!” Her father’s tone was serious.
Slowly, she got up from the table and walked out of the kitchen. Eugene closed the door behind her. Then, after a few moments, she carefully placed her ear against the cream-painted wood.
“Violet’s having bad dreams about Edward. I thought they’d gone, but I heard her have one again last night,” Eugene said, from the other side of the door. “I didn’t want to talk about him in front of her.”
“Edward?” William asked.
“Yes. Do you think he could have come back?”
“Violet Brown!” Her mother’s voice rang down the hallway towards her.
The kitchen door swung inwards and Violet stumbled forward, off balance.
“Violet!” her dad exclaimed. He looked disappointed, and she hated when he looked at her like that. “What have I told you about eavesdropping? Go get ready for school.”
“But, Dad, if Edward’s come back, I want to know! You can’t keep it a secret from me.”
“He’s not, pet. I just asked the question, that’s all.”
“My brother is not coming back. It’s not him, Violet,” William said, standing up and walking to the door. “He wouldn’t need to steal the eye plants, they’re his invention after all.”
Eugene coughed. “Not entirely his…”
Even though the eye plants were invented because of a terrible idea, Violet’s dad was still a little proud of having helped develop them. He said they were a good thing, just put to a bad use by awful people.
William nodded and looked back down at Violet. “And if my brother ever does return, you and Boy will be the first people I inform,” he said seriously. “You saved Perfect. You defeated my brothers, Violet. We’re a team, like I told you before.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling proudly.
Violet got dressed and rushed out the front door, bidding goodbye to her parents and William in the kitchen. Then she climbed onto her bike and headed towards Town.
The sun was peering round the clouds as she pedalled the streets to her school.
Violet sped down the tree-lined avenue and turned left onto Splendid Road, towards the centre of Town. She waved at Mr Hatchet, the butcher, sweeping up outside his shop door. He waved back warmly as she cycled past and swung up right off Edward Street to her school.
Everybody was friendly in Town these days – not falsely friendly, like they’d been in the old Perfect days, but proper friendly.
Violet propped her bike against the school wall and headed for the entrance.
“You better get a lock for that,” somebody said, behind her.
Violet turned and was greeted by Beatrice Prim – possibly the most annoying girl in school, or at least in Violet’s class.
“Nobody locks their bike in Town,” Violet said dismissively.
“They do now,” Beatrice said. “Haven’t you heard the news?” The red-haired girl lowered her voice, as though she were about to tell Violet a massive secret. “Lucy Lawn’s bike was stolen from outside her house last night. Her mother told my mam at the school gates. Lucy’s so upset that she couldn’t come in today!”
“Oh,” Violet replied in surprise. So it wasn’t only the eye plants that were taken last night. She’d never heard of anyone stealing in Town before now.
Violet’s dad said Town was one of the safest places in the world – but real safe, not Perfect safe, where everybody did what the Archers told them to, without question. For the most part, since Perfect fell, people had a new respect for each other, Eugene Brown had said.
“Maybe somebody just borrowed Lucy’s bike, and they’ll drop it back later,” Violet answered.
“You would say that.” Beatrice smirked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re his best friend – of course you’d cover for him.”
“What are you talking about?” Violet asked, feeling a little frustrated.
Beatrice smiled and stepped back.