Cicely managed to convince herself that Sarah Jane was fine, that nothing was going to happen to her, that she could deal with it...when an alarm went off. The guide bustled everyone out towards the exits and hissed to a worker, "Get them out! Get everyone out!"
Then I heard a scream, a scream that I knew so well.
Cicely looked at Maria.
"That's Kelsey!"
So maybe it wasn't Sarah Jane who had set the alarms off, but Kelsey was still in danger.
Maria turned and ran back the other way, me hot on her heels. Within a second, Cicely had blurred up alongside Maria. She could track Kelsey's scent like a bloodhound, and lost no time in pulling Maria towards her, avoiding workers wherever possible.
At one point, Cicely yanked Maria behind a crate to hide her from the workers.
"Listen to me, Maria. I'll explain everything later, but you've got to trust me. Don't think of me as a child. Think of me as a older woman in a kid's body and clothes."
"I've got to call Kelsey," gasped Maria, but no sooner as she had turned on her phone and pressed the CALL button, when an alarm sounded for a second time.
"Okay, don't try that again," Cicely advised, yanking her away from the container and moving on again, running.
But she stumbled as she caught a picture of a boy, with an oxygen mask over his face, sparks flying everywhere, the boy destined to join our team...
No! Cicely grimly forced herself into the present,
But a few more twists and turns later, she caught the scent of a boy, and then, nearly ran into him.
"Oh, hello. We're here to help. I'll give you the details later, but we've got to get out of here, understand?"
The boy nodded, and we heard voices around the corner, and the boy ran off.
"Come on!" Cicely called to Maria.
As we ran, Maria gasped, "Do you know him?"
Cicely short of shrugged. "Sort of. Bit complicated to explain, along with the whole, who are you question," Cicely added, seeing Maria's mouth open again, and added, perfectly factually, "You humans have limited breath and energy, so you'd better save it for running."
Eventually, Maria caught up with the boy, and they ran together.
"Stop!" Cicely called, and yanked both Maria and the boy behind a pillar as a team in orange overalls marched past. None of them dared to breathe until they had been passed.
Maria pointed at the orange door opposite us.
"We can hide there!"
Cicely hesitated for a seventeenth of a second and nodded. We dashed across.
"We'll be safe in here for a bit. Men never go to the Ladies."
The boy looked confused.
"Why do men never go to the Ladies?" he asked.
His ignorance seemed unreal to Cicely, and she reached up, placing both hand on his temples, and probed him.
"Oh my," she murmured, pulling away.
"What?" Maria asked.
"This boy was created by the BubbleShock people. He knows barely anything about the world, but his memory, intelligence and raw brain power is completely off the charts . . ." Cicely trailed off, shaking head in wonder.
They barricaded themselves inside a cubicle, and almost instantly, she caught the scent of Sarah Jane, and another moment later, she opened the cubicle, almost recoiling in shock. "Hello Sarah Jane," Cicely said calmly. "So when do I get to tell you...uhh...told you so?"
"Maybe when we're no longer being hunted by Mrs Wormwood?" she said.
"Ah, so that's her name. Charming woman. Didn't she order Leslie to kill you?"
Sarah Jane stared at me. "How do you know that?"
"Later. This is Maria Jackson, and a nameless boy, somehow created by the BubbleShock weirdoes. Everyone, this is Sarah Jane."
Cicely sat back on the toilet lid, satisfied.
"What is going on here?" Maria demanded.
"I'll explain it back at home. Cicely? Can you keep a watch? If you smell anyone coming, or hear Mrs Wormwood at all, tell me."
"Smell her?" Maria asked.
"I'm a 280 year old Immortal child," Cicely said with a grin. "What you might know as a vampire. Don't worry, I'm a vegetarian."
Cicely cackled, and concentrated.
"Wait! She's right outside! She can smell us in here! She's demanded why they haven't searched in here."
