Decree of the Amulet

“Shadra,” he whispered into the panel and the gate cranked open to let him through. There were two ways to go. Should he go to the left or the right? He pressed first the ruby and then the emerald, the warmth on his left indicating he should choose that. He took the left turn which led round a sharp corner and he was suddenly aware of the red eye of an electronic camera flashing. He knew it was too late now to escape detection by trying to become invisible. He would just have to go on. It could only be seconds now before he was discovered. Striding on, he found himself in a narrow corridor that led up to a long bare room glassed in on one side. The corridor appeared to continue into the distance. I must be in some sort of observation gallery, he guessed. Below him he saw a control room with dials and monitors everywhere displaying unintelligible graphics. There were white coated technicians on duty who were tapping in information on their keyboards. He caught sight of men in protective clothing moving in and out of a distant door. Could this be the third gate Mary had warned him about? According to Lotharion’s plan this would be the processing plant itself and could probably be reached by following the corridor. Suddenly one of the technicians below spun round in his seat. Davey thought he’d been spotted. But the man was talking animatedly to his fellow worker who came over to look at his monitor. Something was wrong. The display was flickering. The graphics were going berserk. A third technician joined them. A tinny electronic voice could be heard, “Condition critical….. alert …alert… condition critical.” The monitor blanked out. Then a second monitor, and it was soon apparent the whole control room was out of action. Davey could feel stinging burning sensations from the amulets. He withdrew them from his pocket and saw they were emitting brilliant flashes of light. What was happening? Could their powerful radiations have caused a reduction in the power supply? Lotharion and Mary must have known this would happen. It was clear they had never meant him simply to act as a spy. He felt betrayed. But he couldn’t waste time feeling sorry for himself. Stefan had warned what might happen if the supply failed. And soon, if not already, they would know there was an intruder. He tore back down the corridor but the metal gate would not yield. He was trapped! He could hear the sound of voices behind him getting louder. Now more than ever he needed the guidance of the amulets. But before he had time to calm down a hand was clapped on his shoulder and he was roughly swivelled round. Davey found himself looking into the furious face of his uncle, and into the evilly, black eyes of Mannheim who held him firmly in his grip.