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"I don't think I've recovered as much as Ithought," Madeleine panted, as they propped him against the end of therailing.
"In future, I'm only rescuing people who faint at thebottom of stairs." Noi looked downat the boy doubtfully. "Maybe Ishould go find some sort of cart."
"Hey! HEY!"
The shout came from above, heralding three more boysstampeding down the stair.
"If you're the cavalry, your timing sucks," Noisaid, unimpressed by their rapid approach.
"What happened?" asked the tallest boy, andMadeleine had to blink because he was movie-star handsome: preciselysymmetrical features, flawless brown skin, silky black hair, athleticbuild. Even his voice was fantastic: amix of Indian and plummy English accent which was candy to the ear.
"We found him on the stair," she said, and feltsilly for her defensive tone. "He'shit his head."
"Told you Fish was pushing himself too hard," saidthe boy nearest Madeleine, a strawberry blonde well-furnished withfreckles. His blue eyes sloped down atthe corners, giving him a weary look, but his hands moved briskly over theunconscious boy's head, locating the lump as if he could learn something fromit.
The third boy was the shortest, his face fashioned from animp template, with pointed chin and fly-away eyebrows which darted toward thesandy-blonde hair at his temples. Hemight as well have 'Mischief' stamped on his forehead.
"You two carried him down the stair?" His grin took up half his face. "Damn, I'm sorry I missed that."
"Yeah, yeah, the floor show's at eleven," Noireplied. "Maybe we should get yourfriend out of the sun. We were takinghim to the wharf."
"Lead the way. I'm Pan. This is Nash andGav. Looks like you met Fishalready."
As Madeleine and Noi introduced themselves, the first twoboys hoisted Fish up on linked arms.
"Was there anyone nearby?" Nash, the tallest one,asked. "Could someone have attackedhim?"
"I haven't seen anyone but Madeleine," Noisaid. "We were going up to look atthe Spire."
"We've just been." Pan glanced over his shoulder, and up. "Fish wanted to do some comparisons of our stars to the ones of theSpire. You seriously think someone hithim, Nash?"
"It would be stupid to ignore the possibility. We still haven't the least idea what is goingon."
"Why compare your stars to the Spires'?" Noi also looked over her shoulder, craningback to sight the tip of the Spire.
"To see if they matched in pattern, or evenreacted." He glanced down at Fish,at the patches of blue on his exposed arms. "And to see if having stars would let us through the barrier aroundit."
"Did it?" Madeleine asked, interested. "Did you touch it?"
"No. The barrierremains. But it was only a firstlook."
Unlocking the sliding entrance door of Nikosia, Noi led them into thesmall indoor dining area, pulling one of the tables aside to clear access tothe long, padded seat which ran up the right wall.
"There's a first aid kit somewhere. Be right back."
"Have you been cooking?" Pan asked, sniffing therestaurant's fresh-baked aroma as his friends manoeuvred Fish onto thetoo-narrow seat. Then he laughed:"Man, you won't even have to look at people to tell which ones are Blues –just wave something edible and we'll come ru
"Are you all–?" Madeleine asked, and Pan held hisarms out, showing starry blue palms and a thick stripe disappearing under thesleeves of his jacket.
Nash was more obviously Blue, with all of the back of hisneck that shade, the stars rather faint, and Gav – wearing a black blazer overa school uniform similar to Fish's – stripped it off to reveal all of his leftarm and most of his right was blazing with light against a midnight field.
"Only Blues are out and about, I think," he said,hooking the blazer over a chair. "We fell over quickest, once the stain showed up, but the Greens atschool can still barely get out of bed."
"School? Youstayed at your school?"
"We're from Rushies," Panexplained, gesturing at an embroidered gold crest on the blazer. "Rushcutters Bay Grammar. It's one of the biggest boarding schools inSydney. Two-thirds of the students areday boys, but the rest of us are either from out of town, or overseas. No way to get–"
He broke off as Noi emerged from the kitchen, first aid kitin one hand, and a baking tray half-full of scones balanced on the other.
"One of you grab the jam and butter I set out," shesaid. "There's drinks in thewalk-in to the right."
She handed the tray off to Nash and then began sortingthrough the first aid kit while everyone else attacked the scones. Even Madeleine had another, surprised atherself.
"Is this extreme appetite thing going to keep up, do youthink?" she asked Nash.
"Who can tell?" He didn't seem as hungry as his friends, only eating one scone for thepile they'd inhaled. "BlueGreen – one of the data compilation sites – issuggesting that the stars indicate some level of stored energy, and that is whythere's a need for increased food intake. Did both of you experience the surge after the stars developed?"
"Surge?" Noipaused, holding a pad of antiseptic-soaked cotton wool. "The poltergeist imitation? Yeah, I sent our coffee table flying."
Madeleine nodded, and rubbed her arm where her shirt hid aplaster-treated cut.
"It may relate to the field which stops anyone fromapproaching the Spires," Nash said. "The Spire has stars. Blueshave stars. The Spire has a shield. Blues experience the surge. And only Blues are so ridiculouslyhungry. So far." He sighed, and looked quickly at Noi's patient, who had shifted in response to herdabbing. "We went down to CircularQuay after trying the Spire, because someone had reported a Blue dog, and smallanimals surviving are so rare we wanted to document it."
"An exercise in futility, with bonus rottingseagulls," Pan said. "Gav, youhave a car, right? I don't think Fish isgoing to be up to a walk even if he does wake up."
"Right." Gavgrabbed his blazer and another scone and headed to the door. "See you soon."
"I think he'll be okay," Noi said, as Pan hoveredat her elbow. "He at least reactsto the antiseptic, and there wasn't that much bleeding. Is he a good friend of yours?"
"Fish? Never evenspoke to him before Friday. I think Imight have seen him once or twice, but he's in year eleven – Nash and I areyear ten – and Fish is a day boy."
"Then why was hestill at the school?" Madeleine asked, reasonably. School was the last place she would havewanted to hang out.
"Microscopes. Rushies is big on Theatre and Science, so the school's allauditoriums and laboratories. Fishstayed up Thursday night studying himself. Then he moved on to everyone else. Did I tell you I went off at him, Nash?"
"It does not surprise me, temper-boy," Nash said,brows lifting.
"After he recovered from the surge, he divided everyoneup," Pan explained. "So now wehave Greens Dorm, Blues Dorm, and the big one for those who didn't make it. Fish broke the Greens up into groups and trieddifferent things on them. Aspirin, heatpacks, cold packs, sugary drinks, water only. Teddy – Teddy Rasmussen from 10B – he was doing so bad, and Fish told meto switch him from hot packs to cold packs and keep checking his pulse andwriting down all the changes and I just started shouting. Told him I never knew anyone better suited totheir name, that fish were warm in comparison. He just waited until I wound down and then asked me if I knew the bestway to take out a zombie."