The Power of Five Oblivion

back?” Francesco laughed briefly. “You’re out of your mind.”
    Giovanni leant forward and began to ask his uncle questions. Francesco answered him briefly. Pedro heard the name Scott mentioned and Giovanni scowled. They talked for what seemed like a long time until finally the older man turned back to him. “This friend of yours is the same age as you? A dark-haired boy? An American?”
    “Yes.”
    Giovanni began again but Francesco held up a hand, warning him to be silent. “You cannot see him,” he said. “You are mistaken about him. He is not a prisoner in the castle. He is a guest. He sleeps in a fine room with sheets and everything he could want. In the day he walks out in the streets of Naples and although he is accompanied by guards, they are there only to protect him. He can go where he likes.”
    “No. You’re wrong.” Pedro shook his head. “That’s not possible. That’s not Scott.”
    “I am not wrong.” Francesco was deadly serious. He rested his fists on the table and spoke softly, as if he didn’t want the rest of his family to hear. “Listen to me, Pedro,” he said. “Giovanni works in the kitchen but sometimes he has to serve food in the dining hall. That was what he was telling me just now. He was there two nights ago. They had a banquet, a whole load of important people eating the best food and drinking fine wine. There was a man from America there, some sort of big shot. But he wasn’t at the head of the table. Do you know who was? It was Scott Tyler. Is that right? He was wearing black trousers and a black shirt. And they all raised their glasses to toast his health. That was when Giovanni heard his name.”
    “No.” Pedro refused to believe it.
    “Giovanni, whose father was a doctor and who should be at school, works fifteen hours a day in that place. He sweeps and he cleans and does everything he is told and they beat him for the slightest reason. You see his face? Maybe he’ll show you his back and you can see the whip marks. Two nights ago, he bowed in front of your friend, as he had been told to do, and took the dirty plate from him. And when he thought nobody was looking, he scraped the food that was left into his own mouth. But Scott saw him. Scott smiled. It amused him. He thought it was funny.”
    “I have to see him,” Pedro said. “You don’t understand. They did things to him. They hurt him. But Scott isn’t like that. He isn’t what you think.”
    “So you’re just going to walk back in and ask to meet him?”
    Giovanni was glaring at him. And Pedro understood why he was angry. The Italian boy had risked everything to help him escape and had brought him back to his own family because he believed in him, and because he thought that in some way Pedro could help fight back against the people who ruled over the city. But Pedro was repaying him by calling him a liar. Everything he had done was being thrown back in his face.
    Could he be wrong about Scott?
    Could his friend have joined the other side?
    Pedro sighed. He turned to Francesco. “I have to see Scott because there is nothing any of us can do without him,” he explained. It had been a long time since he had spoken his own language at such length. “Obviously I can’t go back into the castle but if he is free, as you say, perhaps he can come to me. I don’t want to put any of you in any danger but I cannot leave here without seeing him. He is one of the Five. You seem to know what that means. We can’t do anything without him.” He thought for a moment, then glanced at Giovanni. “Is there any way that Giovanni could pass him a message? Maybe there is somewhere in the city, or outside it, where the two of us could meet. Somewhere safe. I’d have to make sure that he was on his own, but whatever you may think, I know he wouldn’t hand me over to them. All I need is to talk to him for a few minutes. After that, I’ll go anywhere you want.”
    Pedro had to wait while Francesco translated all this for Giovanni. The older man, Francesco’s father, cut in a few times and one of the women joined in too. It was clear that nobody around the table was happy with what Pedro had proposed. Finally Giovanni spoke. Once again, Pedro was impressed by how confident he was. Nobody interrupted until he had finished.
    “Giovanni thinks he can do what you ask. Tomorrow they change all the sheets and it’s his job to carry them down to the laundry room. That means he will go into Scott’s bedroom. Do