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I have to restrain Kade, whose immediate reaction is to fight the smirking topknot guy, "Leave it Kade, let's watch and wait," I say, pulling him back onto the seat. He grapples in his pocket and pulls out his cell, "Damn, we don't have reception down here," he says, with rising impatience.
"That's ok, we get off at the next station and call Kelly and Troy right away," I say, over emphasizing my confident tone.
The guy with the topknot is sitting in between a little boy and girl, each with an imp, cradling into them like cutesy little koala bears. His three female colleagues are interspersed between the excited gaggle of children.
As the train trundles through the tunnel, I check out the women. I have an innate feeling that they are innocents, unaware of the evil that some of their charges are carrying.
Kade taps his foot, the way he does when he's tense. I put my hand on his knee, to stop the foot and in an effort to calm him. It works, he smiles at me, then catches the eye of one of the women, "So where you taking these lucky kids?" He asks.
She doesn't answer, instead the little girl next to her says, "She can't speak." Kade and I glance at each other, a sense of knowing passing between us. He leans forward, "Then you can answer my question; where are you kids going?"
"We're going on a school outing, I'm excited," she says, clapping her hands, gleefully.
"That's awesome, where is your outing to?" Asks Kade.
The little girl glances at one of the women, then back to Kade, "It's a magical mystery tour, we don't know till we get there," she answers, then looks at the woman, who nods her head, as if to approve her answer.
It's then I notice that the train has slowed considerably. Kade looks out the windows at the blackened tunnel walls passing ever slower, "Jeez, London Tube trains are real frustrating, they always crawl..."
..."and get stuck in the tunnel, when you're in a hurry to get somewhere," cuts in topknot guy, just as the train comes to a screeching halt.
He's aged in his thirties, I guess. Conservatively dressed, in trousers, a white shirt and dark blue pullover. Kade looks him over, "Aren't you a little too old to be wearing your hair like that?" He asks.
The guy reacts with a matter of fact manner, "It's not my style; and you know the story," he says. The train's engines kick back in and my anxiety drops at the thought of getting off the confines of this imp filled carriage.
But as it moves, my anxiety levels return to high – the train starts to trundle backwards. Topknot guy rises from his seat. Kade scrutinizes him and I know he's checking out his physique in a combative way. He's a small, skinny man; Kade would have no trouble overpowering him. Knowing exactly what Kade's thinking, I put my hand on his knee and whisper into his ear, "Don't act, not yet, let's try and fathom this situation and act when it gets into a station." Kade nods a hesitant 'yes.'
