CHERUB: Knight

CHERUB: The Mechanic Preview Chapter

The metal frame of the bed shook with the impact of George crashing painfully into it. He rolled to his right and avoided a punch that would otherwise have impacted with his nose. The momentum of the roll meant he could get back to his feet, and he used his momentary advantage to run for the door. Before he could get it open, his opponent slammed it shut and pushed George away. George dropped back into a fighting stance, dodging a kick before landing a block and managing to press forwards, his kick connecting and his opponent slamming into the door before sliding down it into a sitting position. The battle won, George launched an all-out kick into the head area, but pulled back a few inches short.

"Hit my head on the door," Rex complained, accepting George's hand up. "You could've not pushed me back so hard."

"Sorry," George replied insincerely. Rex was a sore loser and bitter experience had told George that the only way he would ever be friends with you was if you just swallowed your pride every once in a while. In this case, though, George was happy to apologise because, for the first time since they'd arrive on the Mediterranean island of C_, he'd actually managed to beat Rex in a tussle.

The two boys were sharing a room and once the lights were out they often ended up in an impromptu wrestling bout, but they sometimes turned violent and George was pleased to have won this one. Usually he ended up pinned to his bed with Rex laying into his arm or leg to get him to submit, and all of the karate training that Rex had been doing during his suspension from missions for destroying a girl's room was paying off.

"I'm going to bed," Rex grumbled, finding his lost t-shirt somewhere on the floor and pulling it on before climbing into his bed, sounding put-out.

George didn't reply, but once he got back into bed he noticed that his pillows were missing.

"Where did my pillows end up?" he asked, looking under the blanket without any luck.

"Don't know, don't care," Rex replied, but the tone of his voice suggested he knew full well.

"Give them back," George demanded, jumping to his feet. "I can't sleep without them."

"How is that my problem? They're probably on the floor somewhere, or in the toilet," Rex said, holding back a laugh.

George didn't want to think about the possibility of his pillows getting dipped in toilet water, so he tore Rex's pillows away from his head and ran back to his bed.

"Hey, get your own!" Rex said, getting out of bed and aiming a kick at George. It caught the back of his heel and George toppled onto the bed, getting a second encounter with the painful bed frame.

"You can have mine," George replied, fending Rex off with a rugby tackle. Both boys tumbled onto the floor and rolled over, each trying to get the upper hand. George had just got his arm wrapped around Rex's back and was pinning him awkwardly in the gap between the end of his bed and the wall when the door flew open and the light flicked on.

"Alright you two, enough is enough," the voice of Maira, a white-shirt who was an agent until recently and was helping out at the hostel before she went to university in October. "I've listened to you banging around on the floor and the walls for the past hour, if you two aren't in bed in ten seconds you'll be sorry."

White-shirts could give out punishments, so George and Rex did as she said, grabbing their scattered bedding and scuttling back to their respective beds. George still had Rex's pillows and he settled down with a grin.

"Miss, I've lost my pillows," Rex replied, looking sheepish.

"Where did you last see them?" Maira replied, sounding exasperated.