Ghostbusters: The Queen's Revenge

Chapter 2

The missing persons' mothers, of course, had to be contacted. It was hoped, briefly, that their daughters could be located and retrieved quickly, and everyone could get home no more than a few minutes later than expected. However, this proved not to be the case. Winston was called back, and very soon arrived in a taxi with his wife Kaila, and Dana Venkman.

'We did call Kylie,' Kaila said to Eduardo, 'and ask if she wanted to share, but she said Roland was bringing her. I guess she'll be here soon. What the hell is going on?' Once she had delivered her message, she let go of her composure and began to sound panicky.

'We don't know,' said Peter. 'But we think maybe they're in the chess.'

Once again, everyone was gathered around the kitchen table: Egon, Janine, John, Peter, Eduardo, and now Winston, Dana and Kaila. Slimer was floating around too, looking anxious, and with no idea of what to do.

'What?' Winston stared blankly at the chess set. 'What are they doing in the chess?'

'Oh, that does it!' said Dana. 'I'm not an art lover anymore. Art is evil. Why can't it just leave people's children alone?'

Just then Kylie ran into the room, with Roland following at a more sedate pace, and went straight for Eduardo.

'Are they really missing?' she asked shrilly.

'Yes,' said Eduardo.

'But how can they be missing? What the hell were you doing? How could you let this happen?'

'It wasn't Eduardo's fault, Kylie,' said Roland.

'I know,' Kylie said at once. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's all right,' said Eduardo.

'We're all terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought at the moment, Kylie,' said Egon. 'I wasn't expecting you to come back, Roland, but thank you.'

'Of course I came back,' said Roland. 'I want to help.'

'These guys think they're in the chess,' said Kaila.

'Well,' said Egon, 'when Peter said that, he was simplifying, to an extent. We don't necessarily think they're in the chess. But certainly we think the chess is responsible.'

'Why is that?' asked Kylie, staring numbly at the big and beautiful chess set.

'It seems logical,' said Egon. 'All five of our absentees were last seen on this level, or heading upstairs from the foyer, and the chess set is new here.'

'Eden said she was going to look at it,' John said quietly.

'It's also sending the PKE meters crazy,' said Peter. 'I think that's worth mentioning.'

'Are you kidding me?' said Kylie. 'Then why the hell did you leave it lying around on the kitchen table?'

'Because,' said Egon, 'when I brought it here this morning, it wasn't giving off a reading.'

'Are you sure the PKE meter you used wasn't faulty?' asked Dana.

'Let's not blame the equipment for this,' said Roland. 'Or Egon, for that matter.'

'I wasn't,' said Dana. 'I'm just trying to understand. In science you always look for the simplest explanation, right?'

'Right,' said Egon, 'which is why I checked all the PKE meters. None of them is faulty.'

'Okay,' said Winston, 'so if the chess didn't have a strong PKE reading before, and now it does, what changed?'

'I'm sure there are a great many possible explanations for that,' said Egon. 'But, short of a ghost of some kind flying through the window and taking possession of it between this morning and this afternoon, I can't think of any just at the moment. I need to analyse these readings, and trawl through the database to try and figure out what's happened.'

'What about the chess set itself?' asked Kylie. 'We need to try and find out its history - that could tell us something.'

'Egon,' said Roland. 'Can you get in touch with the woman who sold it to you?'

'I'd have to track her down,' said Egon. 'It shouldn't be too hard - I know her name. But I'd rather try and analyse these readings. Maybe someone else could find her.'

'I'll do it,' said Kaila. 'What's her name?'

'Barbara Connell,' said Egon. 'Thank you, Kaila.'

'What can I do?' asked John.

'Nothing,' said Janine. 'I'm taking you home.'

John stared at her. 'Are you kidding me?'

'Of course not. You can't stay here. What if you disappear too?'

'I won't. It only wants girls. You're in more danger than I am.'

'We can't be sure of anything, John,' said Egon.

'So what am I supposed to do?' asked John. 'Just sit home and worry?'

'What if you came with me, John?' asked Dana. 'I want to see if I can find any of my old friends at the art museum. It's not too late - I bet someone's still there - and if I show everyone I find a picture of this chess set, there's an outside chance one of them might know a little something about when or why it was made.' Her eye fell upon the figure of a Roman scholar on the white queen bishop's square, and she added, 'I'm assuming it's best not to move any of it.'

'That seems like a sensible assumption,' said Roland.

John considered for a moment. Then he said, 'I guess I can do that.'

'Thank you, Dana,' said Egon. 'That sounds like an ideal solution.'

'I'll go with you,' said Janine. 'We can take my car.'

'What about you, Peter?' asked Dana.

'I think I'd better stay,' said Peter, still staring at the chess set.

'Okay.' She squeezed his hand, and then led the way downstairs. Janine, John, Egon and Kaila all followed her.

'I think I'll help Egon,' said Roland. 'He's probably not thinking as clearly as he'd like.'

'Probably not,' Eduardo said distantly, looking at the white king rook, a female figure in a Celtic chariot. She had a fierce look carved onto her face, and an abundance of hair cascading over her shoulders.

Roland looked at the sorry gathering for a moment, then turned and made his way after Egon. This left Peter, Winston, Eduardo, Kylie and Slimer. Slimer began to feel a little awkward, and made a subtle exit from the room. Kylie, meanwhile, had put her hand to her mouth and started to cry quietly. Eduardo put his arm around her.

'We'll get them back,' he said.

'We'd better get them back,' said Peter.

'They'll be all right while we're figuring out what to do,' said Winston. 'Charlene's already got plenty of ghostbusting experience under her belt, and Jess'll fight anyone or anything that tries to get in her way. They'll take good care of the your two, and Eden.'

'Eden might even be figuring out what to do about this right now,' said Peter.

'We don't even know they're together,' said Kylie.

There was a long silence while everyone digested this idea.

'Well,' Winston said at length, 'we don't know anything at the moment. Let's just concentrate on trying to get them back.'

Kylie nodded. 'I'd better hit the books. I don't see what else I can do right now. What am I looking up, anyway? Chess?'

'Sure,' said Peter. 'And try the, um… ice… er…'

'What?' said Kylie.

'What was it again, you guys?'

'Iceni,' said Eduardo. 'The Iceni tribe. Boudicca. Ancient Britain. Did he say when?'

'I don't think so,' said Peter, as Winston shook his head.

'Never mind,' said Kylie. 'I'll find out. Is that who these figures represent?'

'We think so,' said Winston. 'The dark ones, anyway. The light ones are Romans.'

'Oh no,' said Kylie. 'Don't say they're with Romans. Romans were horrible!'

'We can't assume anything,' said Winston.

.-.-.

'Edie,' said Jessica. 'You speak Latin, right?'

'Enough to get by,' said Eden.

'Halt, men!' said the leading Roman, and his soldiers obeyed. There looked to be about a hundred of them, and in fact - as Eden quietly considered - there was most likely that exact number, plus their leader, as this would make him a centurion.

'What are you about, maidens?' the centurion asked.

'Oh!' said Eden. 'You speak English!'

'Come, answer my question. Why do you wander these lands alone? It is not safe. We Romans are a savage and brutal race, who will make playthings of young maidens such as yourselves, and abuse their chastity.'

'Hey!' said Jessica. 'You leave our chastity out of this.' Not that she was chaste, she couldn't help thinking.

'Two of us are even underage!' Charlene added.

'We imperial and imperious Romans do not like to see spirit in those we oppress,' the centurion said, 'and most certainly we do not like to see it in womenfolk. Come, men! Hold them down, and we shall violate them by turns.'

'Oh no you don't!' said Charlene, grabbing Conchita and pushing her behind her back, while Jessica did the same to Eden. 'Just leave us alone, okay?'

'Why should we do such a thing?' asked the centurion. 'Do you intend to escape us, or overpower us? It cannot be done.'

The hundred Roman men, and their leader, began to laugh. Charlene and Jessica exchanged panicked looks. Each had one hand behind her, planted firmly on the arm of the girl she had taken charge of. Behind them, Conchita and Eden were also looking at one another, desperately racking their brains for a solution.

'You'll have to kill us first,' said Jessica.

'We shan't,' said the centurion, casually lifting his right arm and flexing his bicep. 'We can very easily hold you down. If you wish to fight us, it will do you no good, but we shall enjoy it all the same.'

'You sick bastard!' said Jessica.

'Not the kids,' said Charlene. 'Please, whatever happens, leave them out of it.'

'They are old enough,' said the centurion.

'They're fourteen and twelve!' said Jessica, outraged.

'Girls have been married at twelve and mothers at fourteen,' said the centurion. 'True, neither of them has yet the body of a woman, but we Romans are a violent and merciless people. We do not care.'

'I can't believe this,' Charlene said quietly, staring in blank despair at the centurion. 'I just can't believe it.'

'We are telling you,' said Jessica, 'not to touch them. If you do, I swear…'

'There's nothing you can do to them, Jessica,' said Eden.

'Charlene!' said Conchita, tugging on Charlene's sleeve. 'Let's run.'

Charlene turned to look at her. 'Where?'

'There.' She was pointing to a vast area of woodland that none of them had yet noticed.

'All right,' said Charlene, thinking quickly. 'Go now. You too, Eden - run!'

Both girls hung back for a moment, not wanting to abandon their comrades, but a slight push from Charlene and Jessica respectively was all it took to get them moving. They ran as fast as they could towards the trees, and the Romans made no move to follow them.

'Okay.' Charlene turned to Jessica. 'Now what?'

'Are you kidding?' said Jessica. 'I am not about to be gang raped by a bunch of Romans! As soon as they get to the trees…'

The Romans were advancing, but slowly. The two terrified women took a few steps back when they got within an arm's reach. Then, in the distance, Eden and Conchita disappeared among the trees. Charlene and Jessica turned and ran as fast as they could.

.-.-.

It was agreed between Winston, Peter and Eduardo that at least two people should stay with the chess set at all times, just in case it tried anything. Then none of them made a move to go anywhere. They all stared at the elaborately carved pieces, trying to fathom what could possibly have happened, and desperately wishing for a solution.

'So,' Eduardo said at length, 'have you guys ever seen anything like this before?'

'We've seen ancient artefacts do a ton of crazy shit,' said Peter. 'You know, like genies and stuff. But they never made people disappear for no reason… I don't think.'

'Okay.' Kylie appeared in the doorway, weighed down by an armful of heavy books. Finding no room to dump them on the table, she crouched down and let them fall to the floor. 'This Iceni queen person is actually really famous in some circles. But it says here she's called Boadicea, not Boudicca.'

'Oh, sorry, I forgot,' said Eduardo. 'That British kid said her name was mistranslated or something, and they only found that out sometime between his mom going to school and him going.'

'Very recently, then,' said Kylie, opening the first book she picked up. 'Way after these were written. But never mind, babe, I found her easily enough. I'll warn you guys now, these books don't tell us anything about why a chess set depicting the Iceni tribe would want to make girls and young women disappear. But maybe it'll be handy to know some of this anyway, once we do find out what's happened. Boadicea - sorry - Boudicca rebelled against the Romans around sixty AD. Until then, her tribe inhabited what is now known as Norfolk. And I don't mean Norfolk, Virginia, before anyone says it.'

'I know all about Norfolk, England,' said Peter. 'Well… I know a little about it. Lars Wallance is doing his degree there. But that's not relevant.'

'Probably not,' said Kylie. 'But if you know anything about this Norfolk place, it could come in handy - you never know. The dispute with the Romans arose after the Iceni King Prasutagus died, leaving his kingdom jointly to the Romans, with whom he was allied, and to his wife and two daughters. But the Romans ignored the request. It was standard practice for them to allow allied kingdoms independence only until their current king died, besides which, Roman law only allowed inheritance through the male line. So they confiscated the tribe's lands, and Boudicca was flogged and her daughters raped.'

'Oh my God!' said Winston.

'There are Romans in this chess set too!' said Peter.

'I know,' said Kylie, who had been telling herself over and over again that the Romans were civilised enough not to assault underage girls, and now began to feel bad for not worrying more about those over eighteen. 'But let's not assume the worst. We don't have any idea what's going on. Anyway, Boudicca's daughters may have been involved in a political dispute with the Romans, but ours aren't.'

.-.-.

'Here you guys are,' said Jessica, hauling herself onto a thick, well concealed branch high in the oak tree where Eden and Conchita were sitting. 'I found a big stick, look.' She held up a thick piece of wood, about two-thirds her own, quite considerable, height. 'It might be useful for hitting people.'

'Like a hundred Romans?' Eden asked dryly.

'Hey,' said Jessica, 'it's better than nothing. I found them, Char, they're up here!'

'Should you be shouting like that?' asked Conchita.

'Maybe not,' said Jessica. 'But here's the thing. Those Romans didn't follow us. We got into the woods, and I picked up this stick, and I was ready to beat the crap out of as many as I could, and they weren't even there.'

'Careful, Jess,' said Charlene, as she joined them in the tree. 'You almost sound disappointed.'

'I am not disappointed,' said Jessica. 'I've never been so terrified in my life.'

'Hey,' said Conchita. 'Thanks for… you know.'

'Forget it,' said Charlene.

'I guess Rose really isn't here,' said Conchita, standing up and taking a good look at the view. 'I sure hope not. If she met those Romans… I can't even think about it!'

'Don't worry, Chita,' said Eden. 'If Rose were here, she'd be with us, surely.'

'What can you see out there?' asked Jessica.

'Country,' said Conchita. 'Miles and miles of grass and trees and stuff. It's all flat, so I can see a long way. Oh, and I can see the ocean.'

'It's probably a sea,' said Jessica. 'Those Romans sounded English to me, and if we're in England, their only ocean is on the west coast. We might just as well be on the west coast as any other, of course, but it's more likely to be a sea. That's maths - uh - math.'

'I don't see any reason to assume we are in England,' said Eden, 'no matter what the Romans sounded like.'

'Everyone was saying it was an Ancient British tribe,' said Conchita, sitting down again. 'So maybe this is England.'

'It could be Scotland or Wales,' said Jessica. 'Britain doesn't necessarily mean England, and don't let Hayden hear you say it does - it's about the one thing that makes him really mad. But I said the Romans sounded English, didn't I? Well, I stand by it.'

'So, what,' said Charlene, 'are we back in time or something?'

'I don't think so,' said Eden. 'Those Romans didn't even seem real to me, not least because they spoke English, and a modern form of English too. Even Hayden's ancient queen wouldn't have spoken like that. Anyway, as Jessica said, the Romans spoke Latin. So I don't believe we're back in time, ergo, we can't really be in England, or anywhere else that exists on the physical plain.'

'Hey, Charlene,' said Jessica. 'Maybe it's the Digital World. We're the new DigiDestined.'

'Oh man,' said Charlene, smiling at the thought. 'Imagine Eric's face if we told him that. So where are the Digimon?'

'Maybe the Romans were Digimon.'

'Yeah, had to be. I wonder what they Digivolve into.'

Jessica and Charlene, relieved to be out of danger for the time being, began chuckling at their own lame joke.

'So where are our Digivices?' asked Charlene.

'Screw that - where are our Digimon?' said Jessica. 'I bet Chita gets a pink one.'

'What are you guys talking about?' asked Conchita.

'Oh God,' said Jessica. 'There it was, Char. We're old.'

'Perhaps we should try to figure out where we really are,' said Eden. 'Somehow I don't think it's anywhere you two saw in a cartoon ten years ago.'

'No, Eden, sorry, Eden,' said Jessica.

'What else was wrong with the Romans, Edie?' asked Conchita. 'You said they didn't seem real to you. It wasn't just the language thing, was it?'

'No,' said Eden. 'It was what that centurion was saying. He called his own race savage and brutal and oppressive, and things like that, but the Romans didn't think of themselves that way. They believed they were a superior race, and they saw nothing wrong in killing and enslaving and generally oppressing other races. Any other races. Did you know that the term "barbarian" originally referred to any race that wasn't Roman? It was because the Romans said that any language which wasn't Latin just sounded like "bar-bar-bar" to them.'

'Thanks for the fun fact, Spengs,' said Jessica. 'That's really going to help us out.'

'The Romans sound like jerks to me,' said Conchita.

'In many ways they were,' said Eden, 'but arguably no more so than any other culture that found itself to be intellectually and technologically in advance of its contemporaries. And besides, they wouldn't talk about themselves that way. Of course, one mustn't generalise. There may have been some self-hating Romans, but somehow I don't think they would have been leading entire legions and attempting to assault young girls. No, I'm sure I don't believe those were real Romans.'

'Then what were they?' asked Conchita.

'Digimon,' said Jessica.

Eden took a moment to give her a contemptuous look. Then she turned to Conchita, and said, 'I don't know. At the moment, I'm more interested in how far our parents have got in trying to retrieve us. We have to assume they're trying.'

'Of course they are,' said Charlene.

'I wonder if there's anything we can do to help them,' said Eden. 'We've already moved a few hundred yards from where we started, and we don't know whether that might make things harder for them. I suppose it's unlikely. We're in a world so far beyond our understanding, I should think we might as well be up this tree as standing on the grass over there.'

'We're not staying up this tree, are we?' asked Jessica.

'I kind of like it up here,' said Conchita. 'There's no Romans, for one thing.'

Jessica scowled. 'I am not going to sit up in a tree and wait to be rescued like some Disney princess from the fifties. I'm going to take my stick, I'm going to find out what the hell is going on, and then I'm going to get out of here!'

So saying, Jessica threw her stick to the ground and began to climb down after it. The other three exchanged a wearied look, and then descended the tree themselves.

'If I'd known we were coming,' said Eden, as she neared the ground, 'I would have worn pants.'

'I'd have tied my hair back,' said Jessica, pulling leaves and twigs from her untidy mass of curls.

'What do we do now, Jess?' asked Conchita.

Jessica looked at her. 'Why are you asking me?'

'Well, you seemed to know what you wanted to do a minute ago.'

'Okay,' said Jessica, 'well, first off, everybody grab a stick. If any Romans come near you, go for the parts that aren't protected.'

'Mainly the elbows and the knees,' said Eden, picking up the biggest stick she could see that wasn't too heavy for her to manage. 'Somehow I don't think I could break a man's kneecaps, no matter how big a stick I was wielding.'

'Me neither,' said Conchita.

'The main thing is to try,' said Jessica. 'We're none of us getting raped without a fight.'

'Now what?' asked Eden, once they were all armed with their choice of stick.

'I think we should keep moving,' said Jessica. 'You never know - we may find a magic portal or something that'll take us home to our mommies and daddies.'

'What if we left something behind?' asked Conchita.

'What do you mean?' asked Eden.

'You know,' Conchita said, 'like a trail of breadcrumbs. Just in case we need to find our way back here, or in case there's any chance it'll help our parents find us.'

'Sounds like a good plan to me,' said Charlene. 'We could take turns to leave something behind every few hundred yards or so. I mean, what do we have to lose?'

'Just our stuff,' said Jessica. 'All right, Chita, it was your idea, so you'd better leave something first.'

'Okay,' said Conchita. Then she looked down at herself. 'What do I have?'

'How about that thing in your hair?' said Jessica.

'Oh, right, my scrunchy.'

'Yeah, that's what Amber and her friends used to call them. Stupid word.'

'There,' said Conchita, as she pulled out the large, pink and fussy scrunchy that held her ponytail in place. 'Now we both have loose hair, Jess. You're not alone.' She looped the scrunchy over the end of a low branch.

'All right,' said Charlene. 'Does everybody have their stick? Okay, good. Now, Chita, you're the only one who had a good look at what's all around us. Where should we go from here?'

'It might have changed,' said Eden. 'I'm sure this wood wasn't here when we arrived.'

'Let's head for the ocean,' said Conchita. 'Or the sea, whichever it is. It was that way.' She pointed. 'It didn't look like far. If it's still there, we should be able to hear it soon, and we can follow the sound. It seems like the best way of keeping track of where we are. In every other direction, it's just miles and miles of green.'

'Okay, good plan,' said Charlene. 'God knows what we'll do when we get there, but there's no point crossing bridges before we come to them. Lead the way, Chita.'

Conchita led them out of the wood, and as soon as they were clear of the trees, they all saw sea on the horizon.

'I'm sure it wasn't that close,' said Conchita.

'If it was, we would have seen it before,' said Eden. 'But we didn't.'

'Never mind, Edie,' said Charlene. 'Let's just all keep our eyes on it and hope it doesn't disappear.'

They set off

'So, Jessica,' said Conchita, once they had gone a hundred yards or so. 'You're the expert on England. Where might this be, if it's a real place?'

'I don't know,' said Jessica. 'It could be anywhere. It's probably somewhere I've never even heard of.'

'Oh, come on, just for fun.'

'Fun?' Jessica gave her an odd look. 'All right, well… if that is an ocean rather than a sea, the only place on the west coast I know is Cornwall. I'm told that's where British people go to surf. Brighton's on the south coast - that's where Hayden goes to school when he isn't here… in New York, I mean - but I don't think we're there, because it's hilly, and this place is totally flat. He told me about a place on the coast in the north-east, called Whitby, which has all these cool legends and stuff, and part of Dracula is set there, but that's hilly too. This could be Norfolk, I guess. That's supposed to be flat, and some of it's on the east coast. Hayden's brother just started going to school there, in Norwich, which is the one and only city in Norfolk. I think I've got that right.'

'If Norwich is a city in Norfolk,' said Conchita, 'then what's Norfolk? England doesn't have states - even I know that.'

'It's a county,' said Jessica. 'Some of those places I mentioned are towns and cities, and some are counties. Please don't ask me to explain any more than that.'

'Maybe it's time we left something else behind,' said Eden. 'Those woods look an awfully long way back now.'

'Okay, great,' said Jessica. 'Your turn, Edie.'

'Eden doesn't seem to be carrying much, Jess,' said Charlene. 'I think we should leave your iPhone, which I happen to know you're carrying. After all, it's much less useful here than Chita's scrunchy. Look, her hair's getting blown all over the place.'

'Oh, poor baby,' said Jessica, whose naturally wild hair was getting rather more tangled in the wind than Conchita's silky, straight tresses. 'God forbid that she break a nail too.'

Conchita looked steadily at Jessica for a moment. Then she said, 'We can't use your iPhone here, Jessica. Don't worry, though. If you lose it, Daddy'll buy you a new one.'

'Just hold on a minute there, princess,' said Jessica. 'You're making Daddy jibes at me?'

Conchita opened her mouth to reply. Then she closed it again, shut her eyes and started muttering something to herself. Some of it sounded like Spanish, and some of it English, such as the phrase 'smooth handle'.

'You guys,' said Charlene. 'We'll have to talk about this later. Right now, we got more Romans to deal with.'

'Oh no!' Conchita opened her eyes, tightened her grip on her stick and ducked behind Charlene. 'Where? How many?'

'Just two,' said Charlene. 'There, look.'

'Well,' said Eden, 'this might not be so bad. Look. One of them isn't even a man.'

.-.-.

When Roland went to check on Kaila's progress, he found her with a fair sized list of names and numbers. She was on the phone, just finishing up a conversation with a word of thanks, and, 'Sorry again for calling so late.'

'Was that Barbara Connell?' asked Roland.

'Barbara Connell?' said Kaila. 'I finished with her twenty minutes ago. She said she didn't know anything about the chess set making people disappear, but she gave me the name and number of the guy who sold it to her, and then he sent me to the guy who had it before him. So now I guess I'm trying to trace it back to its last living owner. It may well be there's no one alive today who knows anything about it, but I figure it's worth a shot. How about you and Egon? You found anything out yet?'

'Egon's working on a theory,' said Roland. 'He hasn't said any more than that yet, and I don't like to ask. You seem to be making good progress, though. It could really help us if you found something out about that chess set's history. I'd better leave you to it.'

He turned to make his way back to Egon, and almost collided with Eduardo and Kylie, who were running towards him.

'Look at this.' Kylie held out something small, made of pink fabric. 'This just appeared in the middle of the chessboard when no one was looking.'

'Really?' said Roland. 'What is it?'

'Chita was wearing it,' said Eduardo.

'She was?' Kaila stopped in the middle of dialling, and peered around Roland to look at Conchita's scrunchy. 'Well, that's got to be good news, hasn't it?'

'Maybe,' said Kylie. 'I hope she left it on purpose, to try and give us a clue or something. If she didn't, then goodness knows what's happened. Still, I can't imagine a really terrible situation where she'd lose her scrunchy and nothing else.'

'I'll show it to Egon,' said Roland, holding out his hand for the scrunchy. Kylie gave it to him, a little reluctantly.

'If Chita somehow sent that back here,' said Eduardo, 'then doesn't that mean she can come back here herself?'

'Not easily,' said Kaila, 'or she'd have done it. They all would. But it is encouraging. They might be able to find a way, and if they can't, we will. Okay, this isn't a US phone number. I'm going to have to find out what country it is, and then dial out.'

'She's tracing the history of the chess set,' said Roland.

'Good,' said Kylie. 'We've been researching Roman Britain circa sixty AD, and now we have Chita's scrunchy to show Egon. With any luck, some of this will actually end up doing us some good.'

.-.-.

'Stay back!' said Jessica, brandishing her stick. 'We're armed!'

'So I see,' said the male half of the Roman couple. The woman held onto his elbow and stared at the quartet before her with large, stupid eyes. 'I had better not attack you, then.'

'Who are you?' asked Eden.

'My name is Gaius Suetonius Paulinus,' said the man. 'I am governor to the Emperor Nero. I make sure that all is in order in this small but significant corner of his empire.'

'Which is where, exactly?' asked Charlene, pleased to learn that this character was willing to answer questions.

'East Anglia, of course,' said Paulinus.

'Hey, that's Norfolk!' said Jessica. 'I was right! Unbelievable.'

'We're in England, Mr Paulinus?' said Eden. 'Do you mean that, to the best of your knowledge, we are standing on actual English land?'

'Certainly. Are you mad, girl, or just stupid? Well, it doesn't much matter to me. All barbarians are lower than the maggots that feed on the excrement of dogs.'

'Nice,' said Jessica. 'What about your girlfriend? Does she say anything?'

'She is but a woman,' said Paulinus. 'Her sole purpose is to bear sons.'

'I might pummel you anyway in a minute,' said Jessica.

'Remember historical context, Jessica,' said Eden. 'Mind you, that does seem an odd thing to say. I'm sure Roman men weren't quite that condescending of their women.'

'How do you know anything about it?' said Paulinus. 'You are not from our time.'

Charlene raised her eyebrows. 'Yeah? You know much about that?'

'Perhaps,' said Paulinus.

'What are we doing here?' Jessica demanded.

'How do we get back?' asked Conchita.

'You do not want to leave, little one,' said Paulinus. 'There is something here that you would very much regret leaving behind, I think.'

Conchita's eyes widened in alarm. 'What do you mean?'

'Are you talking about her scrunchy?' Jessica asked suspiciously.

'I know not this scrunchy of which you speak. Whither bound, barbarian maids?'

'Like we'd tell you,' said Jessica. 'You Romans are all a bunch of jerks, as far as I can see.'

'Jessica…' Charlene said, quietly and despairingly.

'So we are,' said Paulinus.

'This again!' said Eden. 'You Romans are so self-critical!'

'Indeed we are not, child. We consider ourselves the finest race in the world, and so it must be, for we have conquered many lands. In fact, I may see about getting up an army to brutalise the four of you. A little later, perhaps. But for now, farewell.'

'That's another thing,' Eden said quietly, as Paulinus put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders and led her away. 'They make threats, these Romans, and then don't seem to act on them.'

'Good,' said Charlene. 'Let's hope they don't start.'

'What did he mean about something I don't want to leave behind?' asked Conchita.

'He was probably just messing with you,' said Jessica.

'But what if he wasn't?'

'If he wasn't,' said Charlene, 'then we'll figure it out and deal with it. Don't worry.'

'I am worried,' said Conchita. 'Aren't we all worried? I think we should be!'

'Oh, would you look at that?' said Eden. 'The coast is miles away all of a sudden!'

Charlene, Jessica and Conchita all followed her gaze, to where the sea was now a thin line of blue on the distant horizon. Then a sudden sound turned all of their heads, as if of an animal shaking itself and making an odd, throaty noise. As it happened, this turned out to be exactly what the sound was.

'You have got to be kidding me,' said Jessica, when she found herself looking at four sturdily built horses. They stood side by side, a white stallion on the right, then a grey and a chestnut coloured mare, and finally a black stallion on the left.

'Hello!' Conchita seemed to forget about her deep-set anxiety, and made a beeline for the horse closest to her height, which happened to be the chestnut mare. 'Aren't you a pretty girl?' She reached up and patted the horse's nose. 'Yes you are!'

'Well,' said Charlene, 'what do we make of this? Clearly, someone or something wants us to ride these horses to the beach. That's so weird!'

'We're from New York,' Eden said, her voice heavy with disapproval.

'Uncle Alf put me on a horse once,' said Jessica. 'Oscar got a nice, good-tempered one and had a great time on the horrible thing. I didn't like mine, though. By far my least favourite thing I've had between my legs.'

'Jessica, must you?' said Eden.

'Sorry, Spengs,' Jessica said at once. 'I don't know what made me say that.'

'I do,' said Charlene. 'I was right before, wasn't I? You're on a promise.'

Jessica frowned at her, crossing her arms. 'How is that any of your business?'

'Well, because first of all it was making you be grouchy and mean to poor Chita, and now it's making you smutty.'

'When was I mean to Chita?'

'When we wanted you to leave behind your iPhone. Speaking of which…'

'I don't want to,' said Jessica.

'Does it really matter so much if you lose it?' asked Eden.

'That's not what I'm worried about,' Jessica said. 'I'm just afraid that someone might call - and before anyone says anything, I know they can't call me here. But if by any chance it ends up back home…'

'You mean you're worried your dad will see it?' asked Charlene, unable to keep from smiling slightly. In this frightening and perhaps hopeless situation, here was something reassuringly familiar.

Conchita turned round, still with her hands on the mare's nose and neck, saying, 'I didn't think you kept secrets from your dad.'

'All self-respecting girls keep secrets from their dads,' said Jessica. 'Look, it's not a big deal, okay? I just… don't want people knowing who calls me in the middle of the night.'

'Is it someone special?' asked Conchita.

'Are you kidding?' said Jessica. 'There's no such thing.'

'Jess, don't tell her that!' said Charlene.

'It's okay, Charlene,' said Conchita. 'I don't believe everything Jessica says.'

'If he isn't special,' said Eden, 'then why are you so upset? You can see him any time, but right now we need you to work with us.'

'Hey,' said Jessica. 'Who suggested we arm ourselves with big sticks? Who identified Norfolk? Okay, I admit that hasn't been fantastically helpful, but don't you try and tell me my head's not in the game.' She paused, then said, 'But look, if you're expecting me to teach you all how to horseback ride, I really can't. It was a long time ago, and the horse hated me even more than I hated it. Anyway, who says we can trust these things? Someone might have sent them to bring us to the Roman public baths or something.'

'All I was saying,' Eden said timidly, 'is that maybe you could forget about… whatever it is you want to do with this person… and try to be a little bit nicer.'

'Were you?' said Jessica, and for a moment she thought about getting angry, then decided not to. 'All right, I'm sorry if I haven't been nice. I'll try harder.'

'Well, good,' said Charlene. 'Thank you, Jess.'

'What do we do about the horses?' asked Conchita, who had moved along, and was now fondling the black stallion. 'What a good boy! You're a beautiful boy, aren't you!'

'I don't trust them,' said Jessica.

'Besides which,' said Eden, 'we don't have the necessary skills to ride them.'

'Oh,' said Conchita. 'That's weird.'

'What's weird?' asked Charlene.

'They're all harnessed to something. Those weren't there a moment ago.'

'Chariots,' said Eden, leaning sideways to peer around the horses' bodies.

'We're not chariot drivers either!' Jessica said irritably.

'Look.' Charlene nodded to the horizon. 'The coast is much closer now.'

'Well,' said Eden, 'someone certainly seems to approve of our plan to get there.'

'Right,' said Charlene. 'So does that mean we're going the right way, or the wrong way?'

.-.-.

Janosz Poha, Dana's boss of some twenty-five years ago, was only too happy to help when the anxious party of three arrived at his art museum waving digital cameras and talking frantically about missing girls.

'Let me get this right,' Janosz said, once they were all furnished with coffee - or, in John's case, Pepsi - and sitting round a four-seater table in the museum café. He looked from Dana to Janine, and then back again. 'This chess set has stolen your daughters, yes?'

'Yes,' said Dana. 'Ours, and some other people's too. Five girls have just disappeared into thin air, and we're sure this chess set is responsible. We don't expect you to know anything about why or how this has happened, of course, but if you can maybe just tell us something about when the chess sight might have been made, or why…'

'It's very difficult to say,' said Janosz, squinting at one of the photographs.

'Sorry we couldn't bring the original,' said John.

'No, no, I understand,' said Janosz. 'You do not want to move it while it has your sister captive. It's all right. I can see well enough, but it is not like anything I've seen before. The style of sculpture is Renaissance more than anything. It has almost the detail of a Michelangelo, but of course, he was the best of his kind, so this is not so well done. The sculptor does have skill, however, I must say. But it is carved from wood. This was not a popular material at that time - not for figures. Renaissance sculpture is marble and bronze, as I believe you know, Dana. There was a small circle of limewood sculptors in Germany, but they never made anything like this, and anyhow, it is not either one of the two sides made from limewood. But then, of course, these aren't only works of art. Wood is an odd material enough for Renaissance figure sculpture, but a chess set?'

'I thought of that,' said John. 'Why not use ebony and ivory, like everyone else?'

'Perhaps they had these materials to hand,' said Janosz. 'This was made from European trees. Oak and pine, I think, and we have here the Romans, who were so active in Europe all those years. So, we can deduce that someone quite deliberately made this chess set from materials that were not popular, either in sculpture or in chess, but easy to acquire. It may be that the sculptor went on to make a name for himself, but I couldn't say. Oh, I do not try to be sexist. I say "himself" because, if it were a woman, then certainly she would not have been allowed to pursue a profession in art or in games manufacture. Such was the way.'

'Never mind that,' said Janine. 'What else can you tell us? Any more specific time frame than just "Renaissance"? That lasted… what, like three centuries?'

'Of course I cannot be sure,' Janosz, 'but I'd say late Renaissance, if Renaissance at all. It was made during or after that time, I think. Not before, though before is when wood was most used in sculpture. But never so detailed and precise. Perhaps the piece was influenced, or even created, by the Pre-Raphaelites.'

'Late nineteenth-century England,' said Dana. 'Right, Janosz?'

Janosz nodded approvingly. 'Very good, Dana.' He looked at Janine and John. 'These were men who wanted to steer away from movements such as impressionism and take art back to its purest form, which was before the work of Raphael, so they said. Certainly it was he who first suggested that art does not need to be a perfect imitation of true life, as the Renaissance had at first set out to achieve. But you know, they said that Michelangelo had reached this goal, so someone had to think of something else to do. Raphael wanted beauty greater than life, which your chess set is not, I think. The likenesses very much for me hold true to life, and the faces are not all so very pretty. Ah, it was a grave error in Ghostbusters Two for Dr Spengler to say that Raphael was early Renaissance - always that troubles me. I am sure he did not say anything so ignorant at the true event. But I am straying from the point.'

'So what is the point?' asked Janine. 'That the chess set's so unusual you can't be sure who made it, or when, or why, or anything?'

'I am afraid so,' said Janosz. 'I have my ideas, which I have told to you, but there is no being sure.'

'Well,' said Dana, 'what you've told us might be useful. It seems like we can be pretty sure someone went to a lot of trouble to make the thing, and for a reason other than to show off their skills as a sculptor, or to give someone a nice gift.'

'I think so,' said Janosz. 'A thing so exquisite would not have been gifted to an ordinary person, but anyone noble would not enjoy a chess set made of oak and pine. There is some purpose to it that I cannot imagine.'

'Well,' said John, 'we know it steals young women and girls. It's probably best not to try and imagine why.'

'Maybe it wants older women too,' said Janine. 'Or maybe boys and men, or anyone. We don't know. Those five were the only ones who were alone with the thing, weren't they?'

'We'd better get back and tell the others what we've found out,' said Dana, rising to her feet. 'Thank you, Janosz.'

.-.-.

'Does anyone recognise this?' asked Winston, picking up the latest item to appear on the chessboard.

Peter, Eduardo and Kylie all had a good look at the small, black band. Then Kylie said, 'Yes, that's Rosy's hair thing.'

'They've got to be leaving them on purpose, haven't they?' Peter asked hopefully.

'Well,' said Kylie, 'they wouldn't be taking them out for no reason. Having your hair tied back does make things easier.'

No one quite knew what to say to this. Then, moments later, a loud thud attracted their attention. They turned back to the chessboard, and saw that a small pair of black sneakers had appeared there.

'Those are Rose's shoes!' said Eduardo, horrified. 'Why would she take off her shoes? Her hair band, okay, but both her shoes?'

'Her socks are here too,' said Winston, taking a closer look.

Kylie went to the chessboard and gathered up the precious objects in her arms. She and Eduardo exchanged a look, half afraid the rest of Rose's clothes would appear, and stared at the chessboard for a good thirty seconds. Nothing happened.

'They made a sound,' said Winston. 'Like they dropped from the sky or something. I wonder what that means.'

'Maybe it means we have to be ready to catch them if they do come back,' said Peter, not liking that thought at all. Then, as if to reassure him, something else appeared with a light thud. 'Oh, look, Jessica's iPhone.' He picked it up. 'It doesn't seem to be damaged.'

'Does it still work?' asked Kylie.

'It's switched off,' said Peter. 'She never has it switched off, but if they're in some kind of demon dimension, I guess that would do it.'

He switched on the iPhone, satisfied himself that it was working, and then switched it off again.

'If anyone calls her in the middle of the night,' he said, 'I don't want to know about it.'

.-.-.

When Eduardo and Peter appeared in the foyer with their daughters' belongings, Kaila was still on the phone, this time frantically scribbling down notes with a look of intense concentration.

'That's incredible!' she was saying. 'Who did you say told you this? … Well, if he was right, that could really help us out. Thank you so much! And it was in your family since…?' She wrote down a date. 'Hey, you don't have to explain yourself to me. That's all I wanted to know. Thanks. And really, really sorry to call you in the small hours of the morning… Well, that's very kind of you. Bye!' She hung up, then looked at Peter and Eduardo. 'The guy didn't want me to think badly of him for selling a family heirloom. Like I care - I don't even know him!'

'He's well rid of it,' said Peter.

'Too true,' said Kaila.

'So,' said Eduardo, 'you found out something useful?'

'Yes, I did. I think. What's all that?'

'Jessica's iPhone,' said Peter, 'and Rose's shoes, socks and hair band.'

'Why would she take off all of that?' asked Kaila, astonished.

Eduardo shook his head helplessly, just as Egon and Roland appeared, the former wearing Conchita's scrunchy on his wrist and carrying an armful of computer print-outs.

'More of their stuff?' asked Roland.

'Yes,' said Eduardo. 'Mostly stuff Rose was wearing. I'm freaking out about it, to tell you the truth, and I think Kylie is too.'

'Well,' said Egon, 'try to look on the bright side. The fact that those things have found their way back here is a good sign. It means there must be a relatively simple way for our daughters to come back to us, if only we can find it.'

'I've got something, Egon,' said Kaila. 'It's a legend about the chess set, and after what it's done tonight, I can't believe this isn't true.'

'Excellent,' said Egon. 'I shall be fascinated to hear it. We all will. Is the museum party back yet?'

'Yes,' said Peter, just as Janine's car pulled in some yards away from them and Dana, John and Janine got out. 'Look, honey. Jessica left us her iPhone to help us find her.'

'Does it help?' Dana asked, snatching the phone from Peter's hand and staring at it with wide, frightened eyes.

'Indirectly,' said Egon, 'it might. Did you learn anything at the museum?'

'Not much,' said Dana, 'but I'll tell you what Janosz told us. Who's missing? Kylie and Winston. Anyone else?'

'No,' said Eduardo. 'They're upstairs with the chess.'

'Then I suggest we join them,' said Egon, and they all trooped upstairs, where they found Slimer coping with the situation by going over the living room with a feather duster.

'That's kind of you, Slimer,' said Egon. 'And very helpful. We want them to come back to a nice, clean firehouse, don't we?'

Slimer stopped what he was doing, looked at the party with big, soulful eyes and babbled something that sounded like a question.

'We're doing as well as can be reasonably be expected of us,' said Egon. 'I am beginning to formulate a theory, and I'm hopeful that any information anybody else has will support it, if not clarify a few things.'

Slimer made a noise of encouragement, then went back to his dusting. Egon, Peter, Roland, Eduardo, Dana, Janine, John and Kaila all made their way into the kitchen and began to discuss, with Winston and Kylie, what they had learned.

.-.-.

'Another thing about these Romans,' said Jessica, as they walked over thinning grass and onto a patch of pebbly earth. 'Aren't they way too tall?'

'Are they?' asked Conchita, sounding quite astonished by this idea.

'People were shorter in the old days,' said Jessica. 'You might learn that in school one of these days. Ask Hayden about the tiny eleventh-century church door next time you see him.'

'Eleventh?' said Eden. 'That was long after the Roman Empire. You're right, Jessica. If we are to believe that humans really have been getting taller over the centuries, then the people we've met here should be very small indeed. But on the other hand, we really mustn't treat any of this as part of our own world.'

'Okay,' said Charlene, fighting to keep her hair out of her mouth, as she too had left behind her hair band some two hundred yards back. 'I'll ask my question. These Romans are sexist enough, but they don't seem to have anything against black people. I thought maybe they would. Was that very wrong of me?'

'Not very,' said Eden, 'given human history, but as far as anyone seems to know, the Romans didn't seem to distinguish by colour. I believe there were some black people they held in quite high esteem, in fact, while any who could not be considered Roman were no more looked down upon than any other barbarians. So we're all equal in their eyes.'

'Right,' said Charlene. 'All equally despised.'

'Maybe things are about to get better,' Conchita said brightly, as they moved downhill and the earth gave way to golden sand. 'This is a really nice beach. Of course, I'd rather be going home.'

'We all would,' said Jessica. 'I knew this would happen. We've gotten to the coast, and now we don't know what to do.' She looked at Eden. 'Do we?'

'We haven't the slightest idea,' said Eden.

'We'd better try and find out why we're here,' said Charlene. 'Maybe there's something we can do to get us out of here, like… I don't know!'

'Someone seemed to want us to come to the beach,' Conchita reminded them. 'I was kind of hoping that when we got here, there'd be -'

'CHITA!'

Conchita whipped round at the sound of her name, the voice that called her carried almost clean away by the wind, but in spite of this she knew it at once. A small, dark figure was running barefoot over the sand.

'Rose!' Conchita was overcome with alarm and confusion as her little sister barrelled into her. 'What are you doing here? Why weren't you with us all the time? What's happened to you? Did you meet any Romans? Did they do anything to you?' Then she gasped, and exclaimed in tones of sheer horror, 'Maria Madre de Dios, someone did your hair!'

'How about that?' said Jessica, to Charlene and Eden. 'We found her breaking point.'

'I'm sorry, Chita,' said Rose, her arms clamped firmly around her sister's waist and her face buried in her chest, muffling her words. 'You can have as many sleepovers as you want. I was going to say horrible things to you! I wish I'd never even thought them!'

'Don't worry about that,' said Conchita, gently prying Rose's tear-streaked face away from her sweater. 'Rosy, you have to tell me what's been happening. Has anyone hurt you?'

Sniffing, Rose shook her head.

'Has anyone tried to hurt you?'

'No,' said Rose. 'I've only met one person, and she's actually been really nice to me. She braided my hair, and then she made me take off my shoes and socks and go paddling in the sea with her, and now they've disappeared.'

'What's disappeared?' asked Eden.

'My shoes and socks,' said Rose. 'But Chita, she's crazy! She thinks I'm her daughter, and she keeps calling me something weird.'

'Deorwynn!'

The voice was full, resonating and fairly deep, but unmistakably female. The five girls looked up, for the word had apparently been spoken above them. Standing on the hill from which all but Rose had just descended was a tall, broad and buxom woman with tawny hair that fell below her waist. She wore a long, loose dress woven in several dull colours, and a thick cloak fastened with a brooch. The cloak, the dress and the long, wild hair all billowed impressively in the wind.

'Deorwynn,' she said again, more gently this time. 'Your sisters have arrived.'

To be continued...