“Besides,” the voice went on, “I can’t begin to tell you how many rules it would violate.”
Emmie swung her torch and illuminated Estravon the Assessor.
“Well, I could tell you how many rules it would violate, but we’d be here all day,” he said. “All that matters is that you have to hand that crystal over. Now.”
Estravon stepped forward so quickly that Finn hardly had time to close his grip on the crystal, and instead found surprisingly strong fingers prising it from his grasp. Finn felt immediate shame at the struggle being so short, his prize so easily lost.
“You can’t take that,” protested Emmie.
“I have to take it,” said Estravon, indignant, “according to rule 43b of section 5 of the, oh, stop rolling your eyes, young lady. The rules matter. There’d be anarchy without the rules. There’d be people running around doing whatever they wanted without recourse to the proper procedures and, if you doubt me, then just have a look at where we’ve all been led this morning.”
“I need that crystal,” said Finn. “It might help me get to my dad.”
Estravon stood back, examining the crystal under his torch’s light. He appeared genuinely curious, as if this discovery was as much of a surprise to him as it was to Finn and Emmie. “Well, that is an odd one. Some town this, isn’t it? Full of surprises. I found that ice-cream shop on the harbour too. Tasty. They do an amazing nutty chocolate sauce.”
“How did you know we were here?” asked Emmie.
“Finn told me,” answered Estravon, still closely examining the crystal. “Well, his watch did. There’s a tracking device in it.”
Finn felt the fat watch on his wrist and then disgust ran through him at having fallen so easily for the Assessor’s camaraderie. Finn had led him right to them. He really needed to be more careful in future.
“I’ll be honest,” Estravon continued, “I wasn’t sure you would find anything, but when doing an assessment it always pays to be a couple of steps ahead just in case. I did have to sleep in my car on a country lane outside the town while I waited, though. A mission like this requires a little subterfuge, you see. And a measure of discomfort and physical sacrifice. Plus, the only hotel in Darkmouth has been closed for years so I didn’t have much choice.”
Estravon pulled a small plastic bag from his suit, placed the crystal into it, zipped the bag shut and put it back in his jacket pocket. He then looked at his hands and the blood-red residue left behind.
“Do you think it’s one of the gateway crystals?” asked Finn, feeling helpless now, and switching to a softer approach in the hope of persuading the Assessor to let him try it out. “Because there are more. We could use them to send in a rescue party.”
“More of the crystals?” said the Assessor, interest piqued.
Finn had immediately failed in treading more carefully.
The Assessor motioned them to move aside so he could stoop to examine the hollow in the rock. “There’s only one more here,” said Estravon.
Finn frowned – but Emmie shot him a look while putting a finger to her mouth.
Bending down, Estravon pushed at the crystal with his bare finger, examining the powder on the tip of his finger. “Did you ever have sherbet?” he asked them, a grin filling his face. “I doubt this tastes too good, though. There we go.”
He eased the jewel-like object from the rock with little effort. The hollow was bare of crystals now, except for a couple of tiny buds poking through the film of red dust that clung to the rock.
“So?” asked Finn. “Do you think we should use them to send a rescue party?”
“Oh, I doubt it,” Estravon said cheerily. He took the plastic bag out and added the crystal to the other, before tucking them both away again in his suit jacket. “Aside from the specific risk-assessment regulation forbidding rescue parties, I’m not sure it’s going to matter anyway. Yes, they’re crystals, but they’re probably just standard ones with nothing at all to do with gateways. After all, if crystals were to just pop up and open gateways all the time that would be a health-and-safety nightmare.”
Holding the torch under his armpit, he inspected the dust on his hands before giving them a clap in an effort to be rid of it. He didn’t appear satisfied so took out a small bottle of hand soap, squidged it on his palms, gave them a clean and then grabbed his torch again to point it towards the way out.
“We have to see what the crystals do,” insisted Finn.
“Don’t worry, we’ll run tests just to be conclusive,” said Estravon. “Although, when I say we will run tests, I obviously don’t mean you. Now it’s time to go. Your co-operation would be appreciated. For the report and all of that.”
Sulking, angry, Finn started for the exit, with Emmie and the Assessor following. They emerged into the daylight at the base of the cliff, where Yappy sniffed busily at the stones littering the entrance. Narrowing their eyes to the brightness, they made their way unsteadily across the stones, where crashing waves splashed at them, until they rounded the small rocky headland. There, Emmie walked closely alongside the Assessor.
“You know I came here to Darkmouth with my dad,” she said. “We spied on Finn’s family.”
“Yes. I appreciate that,” said Estravon. “Now we do need to get a move on.”
“I haven’t stopped spying, you know,” Emmie continued. “Actually, there are a couple of things I could tell you about what’s happening here that you really should know.”
“Watch your step,” he said, holding her elbow. “Seaweed.”
“Number one,” she said, pulling her arm away. “That dog that was sniffing about at the cave? Its owner was in contact with the Infested Side. Definitely. And she’s been missing ever since. That has to be important.”
Somewhere behind them, Yappy yapped.
“I’m not sure that’s very likely,” said Estravon.
“Number two,” Emmie said, walking on. “Has it occurred to you to ask us how we even found that cave in the first place? Surely that’s quite important for your assessment.”
Back towards the cave, out of sight, the dog was yapping incessantly. “I had fully planned to investigate that particular …” The Assessor stopped and looked around, distracted.
The dog kept barking.
“Where’s the boy gone?” he asked.
“Oh yeah,” said Emmie. “Maybe there’s a third thing I should have mentioned. It’s about the crystals.”
A smile crept across her face as she held a palm up to display the red, dusty residue clinging to it. But she wasn’t holding a crystal. “There might have been three of them,” she said.
Estravon ran back towards the cave.
“Shush, Yappy,” Finn begged the dog as he clambered over the mound at the cave entrance.
Yap, replied Yappy. Yap. Yap. Yapyapyap.
Pushing towards the darkness, Finn wished he hadn’t given his torch to Emmie. As any natural light became choked off, he had to trust his hands, the feel of the walls as they narrowed either