Over the course of several hours I divided my time between regrowing my arms, and fixing the numerous fractures and smaller internal injuries – as well as growing back my missing tooth.

  Since it was still daylight outside, the plan was to wait until evening before making our next move.

  I wasn't able to concentrate on much else besides healing my injuries because of the excruciating pain.

  During my fight with Sweet-Face adrenaline, fear, and the power had stopped me from feeling the brunt of the pain.

  Regrowing back my lost tooth was like the pain of a root canal without any local anaesthetics.

  Slowly regrowing back my arms was like having them chipped away with a knife, but in reverse.

  By the third hour I managed to heal and regrow the worst of the damage, though my hands were unresponsive and still needed at least another half hour before fine motor movement would return.

  Would be easier to just cocoon, I thought.

  Because cocooning was like a get out of jail free card when it came to having to deal with the brutal process of healing one's injuries. The cost however was that your body, and your identity and sense-of-self, wasn't going to remain unchanged.

  The thought of going through another cocooning made the shearing agony at regrowing my stump arms the preferable option.

  Because my rasping and gasping from healing had stopped, conversation among the others picked up again.

  "I just want to know something," said Clang.

  He was looking at Marbelle, who had been lost in her own thoughts. She fixed Clang with an attentive look.

  "So you said you know about Chellam," said Clang, "Does that mean you were evacuated?"

  It might have been because of her marble skin, but it was suddenly quite difficult to tell what it was Marbelle was thinking.

  "I wasn't evacuated," said Marbelle.

  "But you're the right age for it," said Clang, "Didn't the Pipers test you?"

  Marbelle seemed to find this question amusing.

  "What's funny?" said Snap.

  She had taken back control of her body shortly after I began to heal my injuries. She did however keep to herself, sitting with her thoughts in the right-hand side of the hideout.

  I was thankful that my ability to predict what she was thinking seemed to have died down shortly after I had used the power to do so during our sparring session. Using different aspects of the power was, it seemed, like exercising a specific muscle. In the same way, I was glad I wasn't automatically reading people's medical information at a glance like I had done with Donald back on his farm.

  "The family I hail from doesn't answer to the Pied Piper regime," said Marbelle, "All the families in our strata are at a level of wealth and power beyond any kind of governmental control."

  "So your family is a part of Chellam, then?" said Clang.

  "I suppose there's no avoiding it," said Marbelle, "Yes. I hail from one of the oldest, and most influential Chellam families in Europe."

  "Why are you telling us this?" said Snap.

  A slightly amused smile was plastered on Marbelle's face.

  "Because I'm terrible at keeping secrets," said Marbelle, "I don't want to be accused of not mentioning my parentage sooner rather than later."

  "Who are your parents, then?" said Clang.

  "I already told you I'm not going to tell you," said Marbelle, "Because, although it wouldn't make much difference if you were to know, I am not going to divulge the name should it be used against my family at a later date."

  "So you weren't evacuated?" said Snap.

  "None of us elites were," said Marbelle.

  "They let you stay home?" said Clang.

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  "If by 'they' you mean the Pied Piper regime," said Marbelle, "Then 'they' didn't 'let' us do anything. When you're a child raised in the highest echelons of the Chellam bloodline hierarchy, you answer to no-one except the other concordant families."

  "I must have missed something," said Clang, "Because by the sound of it you're saying you're one of them?"

  "No," said Marbelle, and this time there was indignation in her voice, "One doesn't choose who their birth parents are, nor the circumstances they are raised in. Or would you assume a child born inside a prison is just as guilty of the crimes their parent was sentenced for?"

  "No," Clang admitted.

  "If you weren't evacuated, then does your family know you have the power?" said Snap.

  "Yes," said Marbelle, "It was agreed among the majority of the Chellam families that discerning which children had the power, as you call it – they call it the bloodline, was of unparalleled importance. But to understand some of why Chellam is the way it is, you would first need to know about Chellam's blue-book messianic prophecies concerning the coming of The Protector."

  Snap and I exchanged a knowing look.

  I remembered both Robert Hoffman clutching his little blue book back at his 'special dinner', and of Donald explaining to me the lore of The Protector during my brief stay at the farm. I had explained all of this to Azad and Xandra too.

  "You know about The Protector?" said Marbelle.

  "A little," I said in a parched voice.

  Marbelle's appraising look became one of intrigue.

  "I suppose you three have been through much more than I first anticipated," said Marbelle, "I saw the three of you on the Mice Network – that bravery in Fauncherton Green. Marvellous."

  "I don't mean to be rude," said Snap, "But you still haven't explained why you're in Stowchester in the first place."

  "Isn't it obvious?" said Marbelle, incredulously.

  "You want to protect people?" I said.

  "Exactly," said Marbelle, "But not because of any of that protector nonsense. I've come to Stowchester because I want to do what I can to keep people safe – especially from those who have the power, like us."

  "But why?" said Snap, "What would it matter to you?"

  "I could ask the three of you the same thing," said Marbelle, "But I'll give you my answer first."

  She crossed her legs and sat upright. Due to her substantial height her head, even sitting down, brushed the low hideout ceiling.

  "I have spent my whole life caged by those around me," said Marbelle, "And it is only because of the power that I have the means to escape their clutches. Trust me on this, no-one is more a prisoner to the powerful unseen puppeteers in this world than those who are born into it."

  This time, it was clear to see that Marbelle was finding it difficult to speak through the new swell of emotions which gripped her.

  "If you only knew the things those in power do – the evils. I shan't think you would ever sleep well at night. I certainly don't."

  And then Marbelle smiled, though her eyes glistened with the onset of fresh tears rising out of the marble skin.

  "There were others like me, you know," said Marbelle, "Powered, I mean. There isn't an official name, of course. Because, officially, Chellam's bloodline children don't exist. But there's a name that caught on among those of us in the bloodline."

  Marbelle looked from Clang, to me, and then to Snap, to be sure she had our full attention. And, seeing she had it, she said, "We called ourselves 'Superpositioners.'"

  "And what's the goal of this group, then?" I said, tiredly.

  "They all want to become The Protector," said Marbelle.

  "Great," said Snap, "Another psycho faction to deal with."

  "What do you mean?" said Marbelle.

  Snap shot me a look. She realised she might have said too much already.

  "Do you know about the Sub-Division?" said Snap.

  Marbelle shook her head.

  "You don't know?" said Clang, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  "Sorry, no, I don't," said Marbelle.

  "Youths with the power that were in juvenile correction, or in prison," said Clang, "They got scooped up and blackmailed by the Pied Pipers to do their dirty work."

  Marbelle mused on this new information, but didn't seem particularly surprised.

  "And then there's also the–" Clang began to say, but that was the most he could get out before I cut him off.

  "DUDE SHUT UP," I shouted, "Don't talk about that."

  Clang looked offended, and he clenched his fists. But then, after thinking things through, he calmed down.

  "Yeah," he said, "My bad."

  "There's things we can't talk about," I said to Marbelle, "For the same reason as you."

  "Understood," said Marbelle, "As long as we all know where we stand. I should hope this has cleared up a few things about my intentions."

  "Not quite," said Snap, "You still haven't explained why you're in Stowchester. Not really."

  Marbelle became introspective, and began to caress her own marble-white arms that were also layered with dark waves at different intervals.

  "The fine arts are the bread and butter of our education," said Marbelle, "But someone dear to me was in possession of a treasure trove of vintage comic books. I think, looking back, it was those comic books, and the heroes in them, that truly saved me."

  Throughout saying all of this Marbelle gazed at the rose patterns on the hem of her long skirt.

  And then, she said, "Comic books taught me that no matter where we begin in life, it's what we choose to become as we move forward with our gifts that defines us. Back then, comic books were just a fantasy for me to escape to. But receiving the bloodline, discovering that I had the power – it's my chance to do the impossible. Maybe someone like me could be a hero too. Not a protector that only serves Chellam. But a hero, for everyone."

  Marbelle raised her head, and she was crying silent tears.

  "Why Stowchester?" said Marbelle, "Well, it hasn't been the first stop on my journey. I've been searching for trouble, and it was only recently that I was able to learn of Sweet-Face and his men. You know the rest from there."

  "You stole the Mousetrap," said Clang, "And he came after you?"

  Marbelle wiped the tears from her face, and in doing so there were faint clacks as her marble skin collided with itself.

  "Okay," said Clang, "Then I've got one more question."

  "Okay," said Marbelle, cautiously.

  "You said you read comics," said Clang, "But have you read any manga?"

  I couldn't help but chuckle at this. Snap giggled. Marbelle looked perplexed, but smiled too.

  "No," she said, "I'm afraid not."