The Bard of the Bodleian (an Alex Rider fanfiction)

Chapter 6: As If By Magic

Disclaimer: all characters and references to Alex Rider, Mission Impossible, James Bond, Narnia, Marvel and any William Shakespeare play are not our own (we're just big nerds).

As soon as Alex left, Tom continued into the room in front of him. There were boards covering the walls giving a timeline of Shakespeare's life and overviews of plays he had written. Below each of these were glass cases holding copies of old manuscripts and editions of the texts. Clearly this was the right place. Glancing around he realised there wasn't a single museum attendant in this room, just his luck. However, Tom was increasingly sure that the manuscript of The Tempest that Alex had told him about was somewhere nearby; it would make sense for it to be on display in the section about the plays that Shakespeare wrote. He decided to continue on, hoping that Alex would have more luck alerting someone as to what was about to go down.

The room he was in continued in an L-shape around the corner with yet more boards offering information on plays. They seemed endless! How many plays had Shakespeare written?! Obviously the guy hadn't cared that one day kids in school would be forced to learn about all his plays. Looking along another wall, Tom let out an exasperated sigh. Where the hell was The Tempest?

Suddenly the deafening racket of an alarm sounded, causing Tom to put his hands over his ears, grimacing. For a second, he thought he and Alex were too late, was it a security alarm indicating that a manuscript had been stolen from one of the cases? Looking up, he noticed the flashing red lights of the fire alarm sensors on the ceiling. So it hadn't been a security breach, someone had triggered the fire alarm! It must be the bad guys, they were causing a distraction. Ignoring the other people in the exhibition pushing past him, trying to head to the exit, Tom reached the end of the room, noticing there was another smaller room adjoining it, that was now completely empty of people. As he watched, it started to fill with smoke, slowly at first and then billowing out, beginning to spread to the other exhibition rooms. It was like some kind of magic illusion. Prospero was using misdirection! He was distracting everyone with the fire alarms and smoke to clear the exhibition so that he could stroll in undetected and steal the manuscript!

There was movement in the room, just visible through the smoke. Well, if they could use the smoke to their advantage then Tom could too. He darted to the doorway, peering in. The smoke was rising, and hadn't quite filled the room. In the area where the smoke was thinnest, about a metre below the ceiling, Tom could make out the information boards on the back wall. And there it was! The Tempest. But where was Alex? Shouldn't he be here by now? Pausing for a second, he looked behind him, there was no one there, Alex must've got held up somewhere... which meant it was all down to him. He needed to do something.

What would Alex do? The one time he'd properly come along with his friend on a secret 'mission' he'd seen Alex captured, and that told him all he needed to know. His friend would probably rush in without a plan. That was a definite no. How Alex had survived this long as a spy he honestly had no idea. No. Tom knew Prospero had a gun. He needed to be careful. Maybe I should just do the opposite of what Alex does, Tom thought, because I actually need to get in there without being seen. That would give him the upper hand. Crouching down, he began to move himself forwards so that he was hidden behind one of the podiums in the room. There were four or five podiums, Tom couldn't be totally sure because of the smoke, and these held the glass cases containing the manuscripts. Judging by where The Tempest's information board had been, the manuscript was on a podium beneath it in the right-back corner of the room. There was a flurry of movement and two pairs of feet walked past a few metres away from him, there was a breeze - as if a door had been opened - and smoke was sucked through a doorway at the side of the room that had, until now, been near invisible. As the smoke cleared slightly, Tom could make out the hulking figure of Caliban hunched in the corner of the room, trying to open the glass case. He shifted slightly so he could reach his pocket and grabbed his phone. The stress of the situation made him fumble the device and it fell to the floor. Tom felt like he was watching it in slow-motion. Then it clattered against the ground. He picked it up as quickly as possible but the damage was done. Caliban must have heard it. Tom looked up to find that the smoke had once again thickened, and he could no longer see the other man. But that was good. That meant Caliban couldn't see him either.

Channeling his inner-spy, Tom rolled to the side behind another podium, his rucksack somewhat hindering him and turning his side roll into a flailing mess. Yes, he was a regular James Bond, or Ethan Hunt. As he crept around the corner of this podium, preparing to race to the next, he could almost hear the Mission Impossible music playing in the background. This was pretty sick, no wonder Alex was struggling to give up being a spy. He allowed himself a small smile, Caliban had no idea what was coming.

In fact, Caliban knew exactly what was coming. He'd been watching Tom's progression across the smoke-filled room through his infra-red goggles, tracking his movements with an unimpressed raised eyebrow. Anger once again surged through him, believing Tom to be Alex, and stepping into Tom's path he grabbed the boy, pulling him upright by his rucksack. The stupid kid was pretending at being a spy and now he was going to pay for humiliating Caliban in front of Prospero and Ariel earlier on. Caliban was going to get his revenge.