The Purple Emperor

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Henry stared around him miserably.

'Well, where is it?' Blue demanded.

'It must be round here somewhere,' Henry said. They were in Nutgrove Street, for heaven's sake. Nutgrove Police Station had to be in Nutgrove Street.

'Henry,' Blue hissed. 'I have to find Mr Fogarty. I have to get him back to the Realm.'

'Yes, I know,' Henry said.

What he didn't know was what they were going to do when they found Nutgrove Station. Blue seemed to have the idea they would just march in and demand Mr Fogarty's release.

'Let's try down there,' he suggested.

'We've already been down there,' Blue said. But she followed him as he moved off.

'Blue,' Henry said, 'what's happened?'

Blue's tone softened. 'I don't really know yet. But something's going on. My father's body has disappeared and I think there's a plot to kill Pyrgus. Pyrgus sent me to find Mr Fogarty – we need him.' She hesitated, then added, 'It would be nice to have you as well.'

Henry felt a flush begin to crawl along the back of his neck. 'Do what I can,' he mumbled, wondering just what he might mean by that. He looked about him in a moment of confusion and saw the police station down a side street. 'Oh, there it is!' he said brightly; and the words were swiftly followed by the thought, What are we going to do now?

'Henry,' Blue said, 'what exactly is a police station?'

Henry looked at her, then realised there was no way she could know. 'It's… it's sort of, like police headquarters. I mean, not the overall police headquarters -that's in Scotland Yard or somewhere. It's sort of headquarters for a district..'

'And all the police live there?'

'I don't think they actually live there. It's more like an office they come into.'

'And your police are like our police in the Realm?' Blue said. 'They flog you if you do something wrong and cut off your hand if you're caught stealing? Unless you're a noble, of course.'

'No, I don't think they do that,' Henry said uncertainly.

'Why not? It's pretty silly not to, isn't it?' Blue said. She set off down the side street.

Henry realised he was standing on his own and ran down the side street after her. He caught Blue by the elbow. 'What are you going to do?' he asked urgently. 'You can't just swan in and order them to let Mr Fogarty go.' He caught the expression on her face and stopped himself adding, You're not Princess Royal here, you know.

'I wasn't planning to swan anywhere,' Blue said coldly. She looked into his face and relented, giving a little smile. 'It's all right, Henry – I have some cones with me.'

'Cones?' All he could think of was ice cream, but somehow he didn't believe that was what she meant.

'Spell cones,' Blue said.

Henry felt his jaw drop. 'You're not going to… you're not going to…?'

'Use magic?' Blue prompted. 'Yes, I am.'

'You can't!'

'Why not?'

Why not? Why not? Henry cast around for a reason and couldn't think of one, except that using magic in a police station was probably illegal. Or would be if the police believed in it. Magic was all very well in the Realm where everybody used it, but using magic here -on anybody, let alone a policeman – was just something you didn't -

'What sort of magic?' he asked in a small voice.