water inside. And they absolutely had to keep him away from Zachary, for the ferret seemed quite determined to eat him if he could.
‘How many more days?’ Lex asked, shivering as he pulled off his shirt. When you’re ill and longing for warm sheets and blankets, having to get into a cold tank of water with no clothes on and eat slimy poisonous brains and tentacles really is the very last thing you want to do.
‘Mr Schmidt said probably just a few more days,’ Lucius said.
Lex would be interested to find out just how Schmidt knew so much about whiskerfish poison later. But for now, all he could do was concentrate on how ill he felt and how bitter he was that that beautiful, flawless, enthralling crown had been left behind in the dirty fingers of a mad old crone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
At long last, eight days later, Lex was standing shivering in the kitchen, stripped down to his underwear, waiting to get into his tank, glaring ferociously at the slimy mugget already there when… absolutely nothing happened.
‘You should have turned into a fish by now,’ Schmidt said eventually.
Lex sat down on the chair, pulled his blanket tighter around his shoulders and said nothing. He didn’t care any more. Fish, human, what did it matter? Another side effect of whiskerfish poisoning was that, for some reason, it made your hair grow. Lex’s hair was now as long as Lucius’s, and lank and greasy because he hadn’t washed it since becoming ill. His skin had turned this greyish colour and he felt thin and everything ached…
Schmidt insisted they wait an hour to be sure Lex definitely wasn’t going to turn into a fish again before letting him crawl into the small room near the bridge that he had taken over. Lex had moved in there a few days after the poisoning because there comes a point in any illness when you feel so awful that you just can’t stand to be around anyone. Besides which, the panoramic windows on the bridge let in far too much light. Lex wanted a small, dark, silent room where he could curl up and just concentrate on not moving. This will pass, he kept telling himself. Jezra had weakened him but he was still in the running and — damn it — he was still going to win. Schmidt had been in charge of the ivory swan that drove the ship whilst Lex had been ill so that it continued to head towards their destination — the Ladder Forest where they would play the third and final round. They were now only a week away and Lex would be recovered enough to play by then.
‘Try and eat some human food as soon as you can,’ Schmidt said when they reached his room. ‘With me, of course… ’ He hesitated a moment before going on. ‘Lex… why didn’t you swap us on purpose?’
‘What do you mean?’ Lex asked, rubbing at his red eyes.
‘Why didn’t you swap bodies with me and make me share some of the illness instead of doing it all yourself?’
‘I was feeling so ill it didn’t occur to me,’ Lex said. ‘It’s a good thing you didn’t ask me that question a few days earlier, Monty.’
‘Huh,’ Schmidt grunted. But he didn’t believe him.
‘Look, do me a favour,’ Lex said. ‘Keep Lucius away from me for the next few days.’
The lawyer nodded. ‘I hope you feel better.’
And he left Lex to crawl gratefully under his blankets at last.
Lex walked onto the bridge three days later, aware that he still looked pale and sickly but feeling much better now that all traces of muggets had left his system. At long last he could look at human food without feeling sick and he’d brought a couple of fruit sticks up to the bridge with him. He was ready to rejoin the others and find out what he’d missed. He was most displeased, however, on stepping onto the bridge, to have Schmidt look round at him from the window and say, ‘Haven’t you found Zachary yet, Lucius?’
Lex’s mouth dropped open in pure horror at being mistaken for his pale, weedy brother. ‘I’m not Lucius!’ he spluttered indignantly.
‘Oh, is that you, Lex?’
‘Yes!’
‘Feeling better?’
‘Well, I was,’ Lex grumbled, ‘until you just insulted me like that.’
‘Have you looked at yourself in the mirror recently?’ Schmidt asked. ‘At the moment I’m afraid Lucius is the healthier-looking one of the two of you.’
Lex scowled. ‘I’m going to have a wash and cut my hair after this and then I’m sure I’ll look much better. So where’s Lucius?’
‘Looking for Zachary. He keeps wandering off.’
‘Good, I hope he falls overboard,’ Lex said, throwing one of the refreshing fruit sticks to Schmidt before taking a bite out of his own.
‘I would have thought your recent illness would have made you a little more sympathetic to Zachary’s plight,’ Schmidt said, after biting into his fruit stick.
‘Well, then you were entirely wrong,’ Lex said with a shrug. ‘Don’t feel bad about it.’
The door opened then and Lucius walked in with a struggling ferret tucked under his arm. ‘Lex!’ Lucius exclaimed, dropping Zachary in delight when he saw his brother on the deck. To Lex’s irritation he came over and tried to hug him. ‘I’m so glad you’re feeling better. You’ll never have to eat another mugget again!’
‘I hope not,’ Lex said, trying to twist out of his twin’s grip.
‘Well, it was your own fault, anyway,’ Schmidt pointed out helpfully. ‘Lucius did try to warn you.’
‘It was worth it,’ Lex declared. ‘I was a king for five seconds. My name will be on the Royal Monument in the Wither City now, Mr Schmidt. You’ll have to check it out when you get back.’
‘I’m sure you plan on seeing it for yourself, as well,’ the lawyer said, watching him closely.
‘Of course. But I’m not going back to the Wither City with you. You’d turn me straight over to the police and I’d get stuck in jail.’
‘Well, you did break the law,’ Schmidt said with a shrug.
‘How long will Lex have to serve, Mr Schmidt?’ Lucius asked, looking distinctly unhappy.
‘Well that depends on the judge to some extent,’ Schmidt said. ‘But you’ve got theft, fraud, criminal damage, evasion of justice-’
‘It would be about five years,’ Lex interrupted.
‘If you were lucky,’ Schmidt said.
‘I’m always lucky.’
‘Five years?’ Lucius said, looking horrified. ‘Oh, Lex-’
‘Shut up, Lucius. I’m not going to prison. They’ll never catch me.’
‘But do you really want to be running your whole life?’ Lucius asked.
‘Ha! Only if somebody’s chasing me,’ Lex grinned. ‘It wouldn’t be fun otherwise. Who’s done what with my crystal ball, anyway? I want to watch the footage from the second round.’
Lucius dug it out of the pile of blankets and handed it over to Lex.
‘Thank you,’ he replied. ‘Now I’m going to clean up and cut my hair. We’re looking a little too similar for my liking. I’ll be back later.’
He left the bridge and went down the corridor to the bathroom. It was a large ivory room with a huge circular bath in the centre. When he’d first found it, Lex had been put off from using the bathroom by the thick black toenail clippings that blocked the plughole. When he’d turned the taps on, he’d washed them all away but the image had stuck in his mind. The enchanter had clearly had something of an obsession about his feet, for Lex found a myriad of foot creams and lotions and — urgh — a whole bag of pumice stones neatly laid out in one of the mirrored cabinets. But now the thought of clean hot water outweighed Lex’s distaste and he filled the tub to the brim, sloshing water everywhere when he stepped in. He couldn’t help a groan of pleasure when he sat down and a whirlpool motion started up, pummelling his back and easing away all the aches and pains. The hot water was wonderfully soothing
