‘Got it, boss.’
‘Good lads,’ said Pickering, pulling the cork from the bottle with a squeaky POP and sloshing rum into cups. ‘A toast,’ he said, raising his cup. ‘THE MIDNIGHT MOB!’
‘Well, well, well,’ Pickering said. ‘Followed us, did you, Pole? SPYING on us, were you?’
‘Er. No,’ said Ben feebly. ‘Um, I was just passing…’
Pickering looked suspiciously up at the ledge from where Ben had tumbled. ‘Dodge, Crusher! Quick! Go and check! He might not be alone.’
They scampered up to the ledge and out of sight.
‘Shifty, tie him up.’
‘Is it time for another accident at the pudding factory?’ said Shifty gleefully, tying Ben’s hands with elaborate knots. ‘He must’ve heard everything.’
‘I didn’t!’ said Ben. ‘Honest! You don’t even look like robbers! Oh, er, I mean, um, I don’t know anything! I really ought to be getting home … Let me go, please! I won’t tell! You don’t need to drag me along, I’ll just get in your way!’
‘Ha! Thank you, Pole, what an excellent idea,’ grinned Pickering. ‘You’re coming with us to rob the museum!’
‘What? No!’ Ben wriggled desperately.
‘Oh yes you are, Benny-boy,’ said Pickering. ‘You’re going to be our little hostage, so if we bump into your mum, she won’t be any trouble, will she? Not if she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you, that is!’
‘There’s no one there, boss!’ said Dodge and Crusher, skidding back down from the ledge.
‘There was some footprints, but they disappeared over the edge of a pit. If there was anyone there, they’ll be a splotch at the bottom by now.’
Pickering smiled cruelly at Ben. ‘Well, it looks like you’re on your own, chum.’
‘Please!’ Ben pleaded. ‘I don’t want to go! What about the CURSE? I don’t want to be shrivelled!’
Jelly nudged Crusher. ‘The squirt’s gone doolally. Crazy in the coconut.’
‘No! Remember what my mum said?’ insisted Ben.
Pickering scoffed. ‘Only a pudding-brain would believe that piffle.’
‘Heh-heh! Yeah!’ nodded Dodge and Jelly, glancing sideways at each other. ‘Pudding-brains, yeah.’
‘So we’re going, right?’ said Pickering, staring at each of them in turn before swivelling his eye towards Ben. ‘And you are coming too, got it?’
Ben nodded feebly.
‘Well then,’ he said, ‘break it up and get some rest, you lot!
CHAPTER TWELVE
Midnight.
The moon peeped out from behind silver clouds and cast a pale white light over the City Museum.
Six dark figures scurried silently across the roof.
They stopped beside a skylight and peered through it to the entrance hall far below.
Ben stared into the inky blackness. He turned to Pickering. ‘It’s not too late,’ he whispered desperately. ‘If we leave now the curse won’t get us!’
‘Quiet!’ hissed Pickering fiercely, his single eye glinting in the moonlight.
Dodge cut a neat hole in the glass, just big enough for him to slip a hand through and flip the window catch.
One by one, the gang clipped themselves to a rope, slipped over the edge and slid down through the open skylight into the huge dark hall beneath them.
‘Now you, Pole,’ snarled Pickering, and he shoved Ben backwards through the window.
Ben whizzed down the rope. At the bottom, rough hands caught him, lashed a rope around his waist and held him close like a dog on a short leash. Pickering was the last one down.
‘OK, lads,’ he whispered, clicking on his head-torch. ‘Follow me, and don’t make a sound.’
They set off through the dark.
‘Quiet, I said!’ hissed Pickering. ‘Not a peep!’
‘I thought I told you to shut it!’ he hissed again.
‘Muh-me t-t-too,’ trembled Jelly. ‘I’m fuh-fuh-fuh-freezing.’
‘Oh n-n-n-no! It’s the f-fever!’ said Ben, shivering in the dark.
Pickering’s torch lit up Ben’s frightened face.
The gang looked nervously at Pickering.
‘It’s an old b-b-building, Pole,’ he said. ‘A damp old building and n-nothing more. Now c-come on, let’s move. It’s this way.’ He tugged on Ben’s rope and dragged him out of the hall.
They turned the corner and stepped into a long and deserted corridor. Pickering paused. Tiny red lights blinked in every dark corner.
‘Cameras,’ he whispered. ‘Shifty, you’re up.’
‘Yes, b-boss.’ Shifty nodded. He dropped to the ground and slithered on his belly like a fat adder to tinker with a small black junction box bolted to the wall.
There was a flash and a crackle and all the cameras blinked off.
Shifty gave Pickering the all clear. ‘The alarms are fritzed too, boss.’
‘Excellent!’ Pickering grinned. ‘Let’s go!’
Their torchlight flickered and bobbed in the dark as they snuck through a hall full of statues, stuffed animals and ornate suits of armour that gleamed in the pale moonlight streaming in from the high windows. Pickering led the way, dragging Ben after him. Dodge, Shifty, Crusher and Jelly followed close behind.
‘Hey, Dodge,’ whispered Crusher, nudging Dodgy Dave in the ribs. ‘What’s up with the squirt?’
Dodge shone his light at Ben who was muttering to himself and darting nervous glances around the room.
‘He’s off his chump!’ said Dodge. ‘He looks potty to me.’
‘C-can you see them?’ Ben blurted out. ‘They’re everywhere!’
‘What now?’ said Pickering, spinning round. ‘I told you to keep quiet!’
‘W-warnings!’ Ben pointed a trembling finger. ‘Look! All around us! Horrible!’
‘You must be seeing things!’ sneered Pickering, shining his torch around. ‘There’s nothing there.’
‘Seeing things?’ said Crusher. His voice wobbled. ‘What, like in the CURSE?’
‘Oh no! It’s the SECOND sign!’ Jelly gazed into the dark. ‘I SEE ’EM TOO! Turn off your lights!’
One by one the gang switched off their torches.
They blinked and rubbed their eyes. Jelly’s voice echoed in the gloom.
Ben pulled at the rope around his waist. ‘Let me go, Pickering! I don’t want to get SHRIVELLED!’
‘QUIET, POLE!’ hissed Pickering, yanking Ben close. ‘A mummy’s
