Read Online The Superpower Project by Paul Bristow - Free Book Online Page B

Time to switch to unleaded.”
    Megan flew over gently, stretching her hand out to help TJ up. “Careful TJ, these stairs must be a bit rotten.”
    The robot stepped out of the hole onto the next step, which he also promptly fell through.
    Megan shot Cam a look, but he was already doubled over laughing.
    â€œTell you what,” said Megan, hovering beside TJ, “you grab the banister while I take your arm.”
    Once Megan and TJ reached the top, Cam began carefully climbing up the banister instead of the stairs.
    When he was halfway up, TJ’s internal machinery suddenly clicked nervously. Looking all around him, his eyes eventually settled on a stained-glass window at the far end of the corridor. “Did you hear that?” he asked.
    â€œNot funny, TJ,” said Cam.
    â€œShhh!” said TJ. “I am listening.”
    While TJ and Megan stood still in the dark silence, Cam struggled not to slip off the wonky old banister.
    â€œThere. Did you hear it?” asked TJ, this time staring back down the stairs.
    â€œNot a thing,” said Megan. “What are we missing?”
    Cam scrambled up the banister to where they were standing, trying not to look as if he was in too much of a hurry.
    â€œWhispering children,” said TJ. “Can’t you hear?”
    Megan took Cam’s arm. “No TJ, we can’t. Are there other people here?”
    TJ paused, again staring around the room. “Not any more.”
    â€œOw!” shouted Cam, his arm crushed by Megan’s grip.
    â€œI remember…” said TJ, pointing further along the corridor. “That is the room they didn’t like.”
    â€œWell, let’s not go there then,” said Cam.
    â€œNo, we must go the other way.” TJ pointed again and stomped off to his right. He began tearing at the wall, ripping through plaster and wallpaper.
    â€œTJ? Are you ok?” Megan asked quietly.
    TJ continued to scrape at the wall. And he exposed a secret door.
    Megan and Cam’s mouths fell open.

Chapter 17.
Names and Faces
    TJ pushed at the hidden door. “It is locked.”
    Then, at the same time, Megan and Cam noticed a gap between the door and the floor.
    â€œCould you?” smiled Megan.
    Cam shuddered, and then started shrinking. Within seconds, he had disappeared entirely. A hamster scurried under the door gap.
    â€œSee,” said Megan, “hamster is useful after all.”
    â€œYes,” said TJ, “next time I will bring Cameron some peanuts.”
    There was a rattling on the other side of the door as Cam, now human again, unlocked it from the inside. “It’s really stiff,” he said. “It must have been locked for ages.”
    The door creaked open, rust falling from the hinges. The room beyond had no windows, but TJ’s lights illuminated it, and they saw that every available space on all four walls had been covered with photos or newspaper clippings. A map of the river was dotted with red pins, and there were many photos of small groups of children standing grimly outside the doors of Crowfell.
    â€œWhat is this?” asked Cam uneasily. “I’m not liking it here at all.”
    Megan was peering at all the photos, some of them X-rays.
    â€œThere,” said TJ, walking towards a rusted filing cabinet in the corner. The bottom drawer squealed as he opened it and reached in, pulling out a green cardboard folder which he handed to Megan.
    Slightly confused, Megan opened the folder. It was full of typed-up pages, scribbled notes and right at the back, a list of names, which she read carefully. “My gran’s name is on this list,” she said quietly. “Why is my gran’s name on this list?”
    Cam stepped over some broken glass and gently took the list from her. “Do you know any of the other names? John Bone, Tam Ash, Hannah Glass?”
    â€œDon’t think so. TJ, do these names mean anything to you?”
    TJ looked