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  ‘Sorry to startle you, Zig. I wondered if I could ask you something.’ He coughed, ‘I don’t mean to upset you or anything, but I wondered if you’d mind, erm …’

  ‘What is it, Keith?’ Zig frowned.

  ‘Has he asked you, Zig?’ a lean, olive-skinned young man appeared at Keith’s side.

  ‘I was just going to, Pellier,’ he said.

  Pellier had been one of the first Labs to live anonymously among Non-Labs, as a music student. With his laid-back attitude, he had quickly fitted into student life. Now he was working with Keith as sound and special effects technician for Zorro and his band.

  ‘We want you to appear in the video trailer for Zorro’s new single,’ Pellier interrupted. ‘It’s called “She-Devil”. Your eyes would be just perfect!’

  ‘What? You want everyone to know what a freak I am?’ Zig stood up dropping the trowel she was holding onto the ground. ‘No way!’

  ‘No, Zig, please don’t be offended!’ Keith began. ‘We’d never put you in that position …’

  ‘Zig, you’d be performing a dance routine. Everyone will think your eyes are done by special effects,’ Pellier explained.

  ‘What if someone found out? Anyway, I can’t dance. No, it’s not for me, no way!’ She shook her head.

  ‘No offence taken?’ Keith held out his hand. Zig squeezed it and smiled.

  ‘You could always think about it.’ Pellier patted her shoulder.

  Leon and Johnny beamed as they walked into the hall that evening hand in hand with their fiancées, Fern and Violet.

  ‘Hey, man, this is even better than the do we had on Monday evening!’ Leon said.

  ‘Yes, that was the official one. But this is introducing the girls to our family,’ Johnny added, as several people came up to shake their hands and wish them well.

  Ruby smiled and nudged Abel as Sakura and Simon came up to talk to the newly engaged couples. Johnny held out his arms as Sakura passed him the tiny baby she was holding in her arms.

  ‘They’ll have their own little ones to think about soon,’ she whispered to him. ‘And I think it might be twins!’

  Abel raised his eyebrows questioningly.

  ‘It’s not women’s intuition,’ Ruby laughed. ‘Fern told me they’re both expecting – and twins are quite common in their family.’

  Isaac and Celia joined them as they went to speak to the couples.

  ‘The place looks really wonderful!’ Fern said to them looking around at the heart and flower decorations festooning the hall.

  ‘You must have all worked so hard,’ her sister added.

  ‘And we really appreciate it,’ Fern said.

  ‘It was a joint effort,’ Celia smiled. ‘Everyone wants to celebrate the good news.’

  ‘Look at Leon with Simone!’ Ruby grinned. ‘He’s getting in training.’

  ‘The boys have another six months to prepare themselves.’ Violet laughed, rubbing her stomach.

  ‘And yes, it is twins, for both of us!’ Fern added with her hands on her own stomach. She groaned as her fiancé approached. ‘No, Johnny, put away that name book!’

  ‘The longest girl’s name I can find is Alexandria,’ he opened a well-thumbed paperback.

  ‘She’d be called Alex,’ said Dette. ‘Or maybe Lexi.’

  ‘Or even Lex,’ added Violet.

  ‘That would not be allowed!’ Johnny continued, ‘as for boy’s names, the longest I have found so far is Dionysius.’

  ‘His friends would call him Dion,’ Violet said.

  ‘I’m also going to have a say in our children’s names, and I’m not so hung up on the number of syllables, Johnny.’ Fern pointed out.

  ‘You’ve got one girl’s name and one boy’s name. What if you have two girls or two boys?’ Dette mentioned.

  ‘Oh, I never thought of that!’ Johnny groaned, ‘I’m going to need at least two more books.’

  Leon looked at Abel. ‘And how is life here on the Compound, Abel? Are the Labs still keeping you busy?’

  ‘You could say that,’ he said, smiling. Simon caught his eye and looked away.

  ‘Tonight there is no talk of work, we are celebrating.’ Sakura caught her husband’s arm. ‘Come and dance with me!’

  Isaac offered his hand to Celia and they joined them on the dance floor. They danced for a while and then she looked up at him. ‘You are such a good friend, Isaac. You spend so much time doing things for us Labs.’

  ‘I enjoy being with you. There’s never a dull moment with you lot. Really, you all mean a lot to me. But I really admire you, Celia. So, what plan do you have for the future?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. Continue working here on the Compound, I suppose,’ she shrugged.

  ‘I meant your personal life. I mean, do you see yourself with your own family one day; now that you’ve sorted things out with Vanessa?’

  Celia was silent for a while.

  ‘Hey, sorry, sorry! Tell me to mind my own business!’ Isaac stuttered.

  ‘No, that’s fine,’ Celia said. ‘It’s just with all this talk of the Radical Labs, I wonder what the future holds for us all. What about you, Isaac? Do you picture yourself as a family man?’

  ‘I know we can’t guarantee the future, but, yes, with the right person I can.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Oh, Celia, you must know how I feel about you.’

  ‘I had hoped,’ she smiled. ‘I don’t know what I would have done without you on so many occasions. I can’t see my life without you.’

  Isaac moved closer, clasping both her hands in his. ‘You’ll never have to.’

  Zig smiled and looked across at Cam and Zane, who were hanging onto every word Leon and Johnny were saying.

  ‘They can’t believe they’re meeting their heroes in the flesh,’ she smiled. ‘And you were right, they’re so down to earth. Their girlfriends, too.’

  ‘Yes,’ Bailey replied. ‘They have done a lot to get Labs the recognition and acceptance we have now.’

  ‘Sakura hoped Simon’s mother would come to accept her, especially now they have a baby; but things aren’t going too well for them,’ Zig said.

  ‘No, we’ve come a long way; but there’s still a long way to go,’ Bailey agreed.

  Zig brushed her fingers over her eyes. ‘I really understand how it feels to be different now. Thank God for these contact lenses. All of us from the Zoo know what it is like to be outsiders.’

  ‘The Independent Labs haven’t made your life, or life for any Labs, easier, that’s for sure.’ Bailey’s lips narrowed. ‘The only thing to do is face up to people. Don’t run away. We’ve done nothing wrong. Why should we hide?’

  ‘You’re right. I’m here at the Compound with good friends now, so I suppose in a way, Angus and his gang sort of did me a good turn. Though I’m glad I broke his arm with that metal pipe. It made him let go of Zane, anyway.’

  Bailey frowned. ‘How did you know how badly injured he was?’

  ‘Someone – yes, it was Hugo – said he’d be nursing a broken arm for a few days.’

  ‘Hugo? He wasn’t even there, was he?’ Bailey looked puzzled.

  ‘No. He must have heard one of the others say something. Anyway, let’s forget about the bad guys for the moment and enjoy ourselves. Come on! Let’s dance!’ Zig laughed as she pulled him on to the floor.

  Ruby and Abel were dancing too. Ruby caught the expression in his eyes. ‘No, you’re not going to corner Simon and start on Lab business tonight, Abel!’

  He smiled ruefully. ‘OK, it can wait until tomorrow.’ He pulled her closer to him. ‘You know, seeing that little baby, and the news of more babies on the way made me think … how about three of our own?’

  Ruby drew her eyebrows together. ‘Oh, Abel, three never works, it’s an odd number … But maybe four would be OK …’

  Abel smiled and pulled her closer to him. ‘We must talk about this later …’

  Towards the end of the evening Zig made her way to the sound system where Keith was sitting with
Celia and Isaac.

  ‘A song from your past. Isaac,’ Keith smiled as he leaned over the equipment and adjusted the volume slightly.

  ‘This takes me back to my uni days.’ Isaac sprang up, pulling Celia behind him. ‘Come on, we’ve got to dance to this.’

  Keith smiled at Zig as she slid into the seat beside him. ‘I hope you have forgiven us. We certainly didn’t mean to upset you, Zig.’

  She squeezed his arm. ‘You haven’t. I’d … I’d like to do it. But I don’t want anyone to know about these,’ she pointed to her eyes.

  ‘As Pellier said, everyone will be made to think they are special effects, even contact lenses,’ Keith reassured her.

  ‘And I’m no dancer, I’ll tell you that now!’

  ‘It’s not so much dancing we have in mind, more strutting and looking mean,’ he replied. ‘And we have a great choreographer, you’ll get on really well with him.’

  ‘Well, I’ve had plenty of experience strutting and looking mean!’ Zig grinned.

  Johnny and Leon and the two girls looked up from the breakfast table as Dette and Celia came in the next morning.

  Abel came in carrying two chairs. ‘Sit yourselves down, ladies! Ruby and Isaac have cooked enough bacon and eggs to feed most of the Compound.’

  ‘And I made the toast, Daddy,’ Ness said, placing an overflowing plate in the centre of the table.

  Abel smiled and ruffled her hair. ‘Thanks, love. Give a piece to your brother, would you?’

  Johnny looked around, beaming. ‘It’s just like the old days.’

  ‘With lots of extra people,’ Leon pointed out. ‘It’s good to get together again. We haven’t seen much of anyone these past few months.’

  ‘We hope it will be easier once the season ends next month,’ Johnny added.

  ‘The next big get-together will be the wedding,’ Violet said.

  ‘If we ever get it organized,’ her sister joked. ‘You boys will have to make time for a suit fitting next week.’

  ‘There’s no point in us having our dresses altered again until the last minute,’ Violet said. ‘We’re growing by the day!’

  ‘Hybrid babies do grow quickly,’ Ruby smiled.

  Sakura sighed as her daughter closed her eyes. ‘At last! I can get myself some breakfast. I’ll put her down in her pram in the other room.’

  ‘How is your work going, Dette?’ asked Ruby. ‘Are you still working on the sustainable fuel project in Scotland?’

  ‘At the moment. A new team of Labs and Non-Labs are taking over at the end of this month. Now we’ve proved that the first station had very little effect on the environment, we’re hoping we don’t have so much opposition against the second station we want to set up in Cornwall,’ she said

  ‘So, what is the news on the Independent Labs here in the UK?’ Simon asked Abel. ‘Have you managed to track them down yet?’

  ‘We have some leads that we are following up. The youngsters we rescued have been able to help us trace most of the guards from Etherton Hall.’

  Dette leaned forward. ‘Celia was telling me about this group. They sound as if they can be very dangerous.’

  ‘It’s the same group that Takir and Angus are involved with,’ Abel explained. He went on to explain how Zig had become involved with them through Angus, and about the other youngsters who were now living on the Compound. ‘They are ruthless in pursuit of their aims.’

  ‘Which are what exactly?’ Johnny asked.

  ‘From what Zig and her friends have told us, we believe they are trying to produce a perfect being,’ Abel said.

  ‘And from what you have said, it is difficult to stop them. They just disappear when you get close,’ Dette said. ‘Do they have inside knowledge? Is there someone here who is keeping them informed of your moves?’

  ‘We have checked that there are no bugs planted here. I can’t think of anyone here who would be in touch with them,’ Celia shrugged. ‘There’s just us, the youngsters, and a few of the Hybrid children who became aware of Zig and Cam’s talents, who even know of the existence of Independent Labs.’

  ‘Hybrids?’ Dette pursed her lips. ‘These children may seem the same as Non-Lab children, but even at a young age their IQ levels are well above those of most adults. It might be worth keeping a careful eye on them.’

  Ruby shook her head. ‘Dette! We have two Hybrid children, and so do Beth and Frank. We have perfectly normal but very bright children.’

  ‘Yes, I accept your point – but are all the Hybrids like your children?’ Dette continued. ‘I suppose you can get delinquent Hybrids just like you can get delinquent Non-Labs and Labs.’

  Ruby frowned. ‘I suppose you could be right, Dette.’

  There was a loud wail and Ness appeared in the doorway carrying a red-faced Simone.

  ‘She smells a bit! I’m not very good with nappies.’ Celia got up and motioned Sakura to sit down. ‘You finish your breakfast, I’ll take care of her.’

  Isaac followed her into the other room and watched as she quickly changed the tiny baby.

  ‘Hey, you’re pretty good at that,’ he laughed.

  ‘There seems to be plenty of opportunity to develop skills at this job around the Compound.’

  Isaac watched the tender look that passed over Celia’s face as she gazed at the child in her arms, and felt a stab of longing in his own heart.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Pellier let out a low whistle of approval as Zig entered the studio. ‘You look good, Zig.’

  ‘I should do, it’s taken nearly an hour and a half in Make-up,’ she quipped, then drew a sharp breath as she looked in a full-length mirror. ‘Hey, that doesn’t look like me!’

  She turned around, viewing the skin-tight leather jumpsuit and the six-inch stilettos. ‘What do you think, Keith?’

  He blushed and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Yes, you look, erm, very nice, Zig. Just what we had in mind. Shall we run through the track again and talk you through it?’

  The first half hour went well, but Zig found it hard to look mean when Keith took close ups of her face and eyes.

  ‘Hey, I don’t think she-devils laugh like that, you know. You’re supposed to be feeling mean,’ he grinned.

  ‘How can I stop laughing with that camera stuck in my face and you shining lights in my eyes?’ she giggled.

  ‘We need the close-up of your pupils narrowing in the light. When we edit this shot we’ll slow it down. Why don’t you think about someone or something that really annoyed you?’ Keith suggested.

  Zig closed her eyes and the image of herself standing confronting Angus on his betrayal of her at Bramways came into her mind.

  ‘How could you let them do this to me, Angus? You let them make me into a freak!’

  He’d stood there silently.

  ‘What did you tell them at the Compound? You let them think I’d just gone off, left without a goodbye, didn’t you?’

  ‘It’s what you would have done in the end, Zig. We all know that.’

  ‘For the first time I had friends, a home, a good job. I was going to go to college …’

  Angus had laughed at her but she had punched him and promised to prove him wrong. She remembered how he had recoiled as her eyes bored into his.

  ‘Wow!’ Keith’s voice recalled her to the present. ‘That’s it! I pity the poor person you were thinking of!’

  Two hours later Pellier stood up and clapped his hands. ‘That’s it! Exactly what we wanted. You were brilliant, Zig. Zorro is going to be really pleased with this. Take a break while we finish off the editing.’

  Later that afternoon Zig’s mouth fell open as she watched herself strut around the stage in time to the music, pouting and posturing; scowling into the camera as her pupils narrowed to slits.

  ‘They won’t guess about my eyes, will they?’ she said.

  ‘No, they just look like part of the special effects,’ Keith assured her.

  ‘I bet you once the video is out, there will be a rus
h to buy wildcat contact lenses,’ Pellier added.

  ‘But they don’t make them, do they?’ Zig asked.

  ‘Not at the moment, but I think I’ll exchange a few ideas with Ramsey from Materials,’ Pellier added, slipping off his chair. ‘Now if we could get something up and running before the album launch concert …’

  ‘There goes the great entrepreneur,’ Keith smiled. ‘How about having a bite to eat before we head back to the Compound?’

  ‘Great idea. All that strutting and pouting has made me hungry.’ Zig grinned.

  ‘I never thought I’d be saying this, but that was really good fun,’ she said a short while later as she spooned rice and vegetables onto her plate at a nearby Chinese restaurant.

  ‘You were a natural,’ Keith complimented her. ‘You really looked the part. A girl of many talents!’

  ‘Hardly. It doesn’t take much talent to strut around to some music, even good music.’ Zig laughed.

  ‘You’d be surprised at how few really good dancers there are out there.’ Keith told her. ‘Sometimes we spend more time editing than shooting. We rarely get it finished as quickly as we did today.’

  ‘How did you get involved with Zorro?’ Zig asked him.

  Keith told her about his earlier life and how Zorro had been a great supporter of the Labs when the Centre had first been in the news.

  They talked for several hours about their lives, as a Lab and as a ‘Special’, as the Zoo members had decided to rename themselves. Finally Zig looked at her watch.

  ‘It’s nearly midnight! We’d better be making a move.’

  It was quiet when they arrived back at the Compound and Keith walked Zig to her door.

  ‘Goodnight, Zig. Thank you for all your hard work; and for a most enjoyable evening,’ he said.

  ‘I’ve enjoyed it, too,’ she replied.

  ‘Perhaps if you’re free on another evening … unless there’s someone else …’

  She shook her head. ‘There’s no one. I’d really like that, Keith.’

  He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. ‘Goodnight, Zig.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  ‘Leon promised they would be back here as soon as the season finishes and they would teach us some of the tricks they use on the football pitch,’ Frankie said excitedly to Hugo after school a few days later.