'You thought exactly the same thing as I did when you saw them, Ed.'
'Come off it, Jordan, they're just little boys.'
But even as he said it Ed doubted his own words. Strange things had happened in the world. If Matt was right, that just might be God and the devil over there, walking right past them, not five metres away.
Don't be an idiot.
Ed straightened up. 'Stop still. Don't move.'
The boys froze.
'We're kids,' the fair-haired one shouted, without turning round. 'Only kids.'
'Let's hope so,' said Ed under his breath, then he shouted back at the boy. 'I can see that. Where have you come from?'
'Waitrose,' said the kid.
Ed wanted to laugh, but stopped himself. It was too ridiculous. They hadn't come from heaven. They'd come from a supermarket.
'Waitrose?'
The little boy turned round. 'In Holloway.'
'Where's that?'
'North London. Past Camden Town.'
Ed tried to figure out how far that was. His geography of London wasn't great but he was pretty sure that Camden was a fair distance away.
'You've come all the way from there?'
'Yes I'm trying to get to Buckingham Palace.'
This was getting more and more surreal.
'Well, you're more than a little lost,' he pointed out.
'I know,' said the boy. 'Please, we're very tired and hungry. We've been running from grown-ups all day.' He sounded scared and shaky, not like a god at all.
'Is it just the two of you?'
'Yes.'
Ed and the others walked into the road and approached the boys.
'Will you help us?' the dark-haired boy called to them. 'We can't go on. These are our last legs.'
Ed whispered to Jordan. 'You satisfied? They're just kids.'
'I know,' said Jordan. 'But you can't be too careful. It's been an unusual day. And you must admit ...'
'Yeah, I know, but I mean ...' Ed paused, he was trying to convince himself more than Jordan that there was nothing supernatural about these two boys. 'You don't ... feel anything?'
'You said it, Ed, they're just kids.'
'Yeah.'
Ed went over to the boys, taking off his helmet. The boys looked at his scar with wide eyes. He knew the effect it had on people so he smiled so as not to scare them and knelt down in front of them.
'How old are you two?' he asked.
'Nine,' they both said together.
'And you've made it all the way here from north London?'
'The shrimp did,' said the dark-haired kid. 'I been living round about Spitalfields but I got into the tunnels and I was sore lost and '
'Whoa, hold on, not so fast.' Ed put up his hand to stop him. 'So you've been in Spitalfields? Who's been looking after you?'
The dark-haired kid shrugged. 'No one. There was some other muckers with me one time, but they're all dead now, you can count on it. It was only me. But then I found the hobbit. We been helping each other. We're mates.'
Ed shook his head and snorted with laughter. 'And here we were thinking we were pretty clever living in the Tower, pretty tough. You two kids have shown us up as a right bunch of wimps.'
'Is it safe there?' said the fair-haired boy.
'In the Tower?' Ed thought about it. 'Safe enough.'
'You sure?'
'You've been through a lot, haven't you?'
The fair-haired boy nodded.
'Well, it's as safe as anywhere, I guess. Safer than out here on the streets. Safer than down in the tube tunnels, that's for sure.'
'Will you take us there?'
'Sure. Why not?'
'And we'll really be safe? It's just you? Just kids?'
'There's sixty-seven of us live there,' Ed explained. 'All kids. All ages. It's not the greatest life in the world. But it's a life. You're safe now, mate.'
The two boys burst into tears.
Ed nearly joined them. He held them to his chest until they stopped crying, and then picked them up so that they sat against his hips and carried them towards the Tower.
As they walked along, an image of the banner came into his head once again.
Maybe, just maybe, Matt had been right all along.
Books by Charlie Higson.
Young Bond series.
SILVERFIN..
BLOOD FEVER.
DOUBLE OR DIE.
HURRICANE GOLD.
BY ROYAL COMMAND.
DANGER SOCIETY: THE YOUNG BOND.
DOSSIER.
SILVERFIN: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL.
THE ENEMY.
THE DEAD.