"Where did he go?" Marinette whispered.
"I don't know." Adrien could not keep the fear out of his voice. They were trapped between two iron racks.
"I thought so," Marinette hissed.
"What?"
"Suez, that bastard. He.." She went silent. The footsteps of the wolves in uniform sounded very close. Two long shadows fell onto the central aisle of the stockroom. The wolf men were standing on the doorstep. Adrien folded his arms around Marinette. They tried to make themselves as small as possible. They couldn't move. With bated breath, they waited. Maybe the two would go away without seeing them. Just looking around and then closing the door. Every second looked like a minute.
See, Suez has tricked us, Marinette thought. We flew into it with open eyes. They didn't hear the footsteps anymore. Were the wolves gone? Adrien looked at the aisle. The shadows were still there. Suddenly, two heads appeared around the corner behind which the children were hiding behind. The mouths were half open, the red long tongues hung out and saliva dripped from their teeth, as sharp as icicles.
"There they are!" The words were gutted out like a rough throat. The wolves stepped forwards at the same time. Their shadows fell over Marinette and Adrien.
"Hey, wolves, look up!" The voice of Suez came from above. Everyone, even Adrien and Marinette, looked up. There stood Suez, on top of the rack. The silver on his fingers and clothes sparkled in the fluorescent light. His hands were above his head and he was holding a crate with HAWK-LICORICE.
"Catch!" The crate hissed down at a tremendous speed and collapsed on top of one of the wolfmen. He went through his knees, as if he was rammed into the ground with a pile. The other wolf howled of surprise and anger. He then got crushed by another crate.
"Bad catchers." Suez climbed fast and easy down, bent over Adrien and Marinette and helped them on their feet.
"Already recovered from the shock?" Adrien and Marinette nodded with pale faces. They were speechless and looked at the wolves. They were lying dead silent on the ground, their arms and legs crushed. Splintered pieces of the crates lay around them and they were buried under hundreds of HAWK-LICORICE rolls.
Adrien looked at the victims with a pale face. He gulped. "That….that HAWK-LICORICE is really dangerous!"
Suez' corners of his mouth curled lightly. "Not bad for a bastard, eh?" Marinette turned red, but Suez winked at her. "Come, let's go to the room."
They ran into the corridor, to the door with the red light. Suez carefully pushed the door open just a bit. Through the small opening of the door, they looked at a huge room. Rows of chairs, full of people: adults, children, toddlers. The room was dark, but at the end there was a wide, high stage, which was lit by bright lamps. At the front of the stage, on the edge, was a large, empty chair.
Left and right of the chair and in the middle of the room were TV cameras lined up. Behind the chair, almost the entire width of the stage, was a wall full of TV's. On all of the TV's was the empty chair seen, like one screen, that was repeated on screens indefinitely.
Marinette peeped over the shoulder of Suez. She was searching for her parents and Plagg. In the almost darkness of the room, she only saw silhouettes. All the faces were turned to the stage. Adrien also only saw just unrecognizable, dark backsides of heads. Suddenly, behind the TV's, a black curtain opened.