The Declaration

she’d never be able to sleep in such a place, with so much anticipation fizzing through her body, but now she was glad she had. She felt sleepy, but she also felt rested and a little calmer.
    The vent, behind which their future lay, was the same as the vents found around Grange Hall – rectangular in shape and just about big enough to wriggle through. It was positioned about two and a half metres up the wall, on the opposite side of the cell to Peter’s bed. Anna hadn’t allowed herself to fully believe that behind it lay a tunnel that would lead them out of Grange Hall until Peter had carefully pulled it off earlier to show her.
    ‘It’s small,’ he’d said seriously. ‘It’s not big enough to walk down, only crawl, so we have to go one at a time.’
    Anna looked up at the stark, musty tunnel uncertainly, then looked down at Peter. He was pulling a blunt cutlery knife out of his overalls and he met her eyes with a grin.
    ‘Got it a couple of days ago. Lunch, I think it was,’ he said, winking. He lifted it up, his forehead creasing in concentration as he used it to unscrew the wire mesh panel. ‘Domestic didn’t even notice it wasn’t on the tray when I gave it back to her. Not that I’m complaining.’
    Anna didn’t say anything; instead she took one last look around the cell. It was – she thought wryly – quite apt that her last view of the Hall should be of Solitary, the greyest, bleakest area of all. That night she would be leaving this place for ever. She didn’t want to contemplate the idea that they might get lost in this small, winding tunnel, to die in the underbelly of her prison.
    ‘I’m going to have to lift you up, so you’re going to be going first,’ Peter said seriously. ‘But I’ll be right behind you. OK?’
    He was looking at her intently – even in the darkness of the cell, she could see his eyes glinting, looking at her for reassurance that she was all right. She stuck out her chin bravely and nodded. Then, silently, she allowed Peter to hoist her up so that she could wriggle through the opening.
    ‘Will you hurry up!’ Mrs Pincent urged Dr Cox irritably. It was late, later than she’d planned to leave London. If they didn’t get to Grange Hall by four o’clock, it might be too late. The first checks were at six in the morning, and she wanted the boy dealt with by then.
    ‘All right, I’m just about done,’ Dr Cox said, easing the last of the Longevity+ fluid into a small bottle. It was a difficult job, collecting stem cells from unwilling patients, but the rewards more than made up for it.
    ‘The boy,’ he said thoughtfully, as he packed up his things. ‘I presume I can take what I need from him before I administer the injection?’
    Mrs Pincent shrugged. ‘Do what you want, but do it quickly. We’re going to be pressed for time by the time we get back there.’
    Anna expected the small opening to widen slightly once she got through, but to her dismay it didn’t. It remained resolutely about fifty centimetres squared, big enough for her to squirm through, but only just, and the dank air and lack of light made her feel like she was journeying into the bowels of the earth.
    As she travelled further along the tunnel, the smell got worse and the light all but disappeared. She could hear Peter clamber up behind her, which bolstered her for a while, but it wasn’t long before her demons were surfacing again. What if there was a dead end? she found herself worrying. What if they were discovered and instead of being pulled out of the tunnel, Mrs Pincent put the vent back on and left them to die?
    ‘I can’t see much at all,’ she called back to Peter, not even sure he’d be able to hear her – there seemed to be no space even for sound to travel.
    ‘Just keep going straight ahead,’ she heard his muffled reply. ‘It’s only fifty metres or so.’
    ‘How many metres have we done so far?’
    ‘About ten maybe.’
    Anna’s heart sank, but she gritted her teeth and continued squirming along the enclosed passageway, half crawling, half wriggling like some oversized worm.
    It took them over an hour to travel the short distance the tunnel covered. To her relief it had opened up a little as they continued. Anna’s only indication that the tunnel had come to an end was the fact that she squirmed straight into what felt like a brick wall. By now she was hot and sweaty, and covered in foul-smelling slime. Each movement made her squirm. It was absolutely