'Looks like some sort of creature,' said Davey. 'What do you think it is?' Billy shrugged.

'Here - that's the ancient alchemical symbol for water,' Davey said, pointing at one of the legs. 'That one, and that one look like air, but the proportions are all wrong.' He leaned over the drawing and peered at the main cylinder. 'This one beats me, lad. I think we'll need help. I'll get some paper.'

'What's happened to me?' Billy asked, in a small voice.

'I'm not exactly sure, lad. But your mind were never wired the same as the rest of us. Always did have a gift for these things. You know - these colours you see, or the way you understand numbers and shapes. After you fell in the river - whether it were the blow on the head, or nearly dying, I don't know, but it triggered something, didn't it? And when they put you in that chair…' He tailed off a little, as if even he were struggling to find an explanation. 'Well. All I can say is, you must have been more linked into the machine than should strictly be possible. Seeing the blueprints of the building, speaking to your Shadow? I'm sure my little contraption here played its part, too.'

'The box? What is it?' Billy asked, watching the little cartoon man's face twist into a maddening grin.

Now we'll find out, kid. Finally!

'And these,' Billy pointed at the engravings around the edges of the box. 'I see them all the time, these funny triangles; in numbers and colours and smells and tastes. Everywhere. What do they mean?'

Davey sighed. 'I were only a few years older than you when the Seekers came for me,' he said.

Billy could barely contain his frustration. This was no time for war stories. Davey did not seem to notice. 'During the blitz the children were easy pickings,' he continued. 'So many homeless. So many dead anyway, who would know?'

'Did they take you?' Billy asked, after counting to ten to calm himself down.

'They only found me by accident, really. We were scavenging round the bomb sites, looking for valuables, food, anything to get by. Found a huge crater where our church had been, deeper than any of the others. Thought it were strange, but Jane said maybe churches had vaults underneath or something.'

'Jane?'

'Aye,' Davey said, 'my big sister. We only had each other by then.'

'What did you do?' Billy imagined young Davey standing at the edge of a vast chasm, while bombs fell all around him. It pretty much summed up how he had felt for the last week.

'I had to look, didn't I?' Davey's eyes sparkled sadly in the early evening light. 'Jane said not to go in there, said there might be a bomb or something, but I had to see for my self.' He looked at Billy earnestly. 'You would, wouldn't you?'

Billy nodded. He knew he would. 'So you climbed in?' he said, interested despite himself.

'Aye.'

'What was in there?'

Davey shook his head, as if he did not believe his own words. 'People,' he said. 'Lots of them. They looked frozen, or - or something.'

'Were they dead?'

'Oh no, lad. Not dead, just - watching. And staring. All in a circle.'

'At what?'

'Aye, that's the strange thing. A huge black stone were half buried in the rubble, with those markings - triangles and such - on it. Never seen anything like it before. It were beautiful. The church folk must have buried it when they built the place. Now these frozen people, they were all looking at it, but without saying a word. When they came for me, those symbols were burned into my mind, as if they had leapt out of the stone and into me.'

Billy didn't understand. 'And you got frozen too?' he asked.

Davey shook his head. 'It were hypnotic, but I couldn't really see much. Then there were a crash, and I heard Jane shouting.'

'The Seekers got you?'

'I started out of the hole, but Jane shouted, "Davey! You stay down there! Hide yerself!" I hated myself for doing it, but I always did what she said. She were the only reason I had survived that long. So I found a gap under some roof beams and hid, for hours.'

'They didn't find you?'

'Don't think they were looking for me. They took all the people away, dug out the stone, and left me in darkness. When I came out again, I saw a piece had broken off. I stuffed it in me coat. I looked for my sister.' The old man's eyes shone in the twilight. 'She weren't there,' he said thickly. 'Then they caught me. Not so good at hiding after all.'

Billy gasped. 'What did they do?'

'Not much. That were the strange thing. Locked me in a dark room with these other little 'uns, all crying and moaning. All terrified of what were going to happen. They told us they were saving us from the Germans, but the truth were much, much worse.'

'What did they do?' Billy asked, again. Davey looked like he was going to be sick. For a moment Billy thought he was not going to answer, the old man was so far away in his own memories, but then he coughed and smiled.

'Just tests, lad. You know, maths and such. I were never any good at that stuff. Didn't do very well. Then they let me go.'

Just like that? the box said suspiciously. He's not telling you everthing, kid. What did he mean, 'worse'?

Billy suspected this was true, but took pity on the old man. He looked so sad. 'After everything you'd seen?' he said.

'I were just a kid, like you. Who would I tell? My parents were gone. My sister - Who would believe me? For a while, I tried to pretend nothing happened, but I always had the piece of the black stone.'

He looked guiltily at the little cartoon man. 'It's inside this box.' he said.

'So the triangles -?'

'When I built the box, it seemed the right thing to do, the stone had a complicated energy signature -' Davey must have seen Billy's confused look because he interrupted himself. 'Don't worry lad,' he said. 'You don't need to know how it works. I'll explain it more when you're older.'

'What does it do?'

Davey chuckled. 'I'll tell you what it were meant to do,' he said. 'It were meant to just reflect your feelings in that little face it has. Simple stuff. When I were doing my research, I discovered that the stone responded to the emotions of those around it. It even changed when you were on the other side of a screen! Amazing. I realised that it could be used to predict danger. It could warn you if someone nearby had malicious intent, even before they were close enough for you to realise it. I thought that you would be able to use it, better than anyone else. With your talent. Your, um, skills.'

Billy thought he knew what the old man meant, but was pretty sure that Davey himself was not clear on the details.

He's got no idea, the box said.

I know, Billy thought. He's hoping I'll tell him.

Yet he knows more than he's saying. Ask him what he thought would happen.

Davey was watching him curiously. 'What did you think would happen?' Billy asked.

Davey looked a little taken aback at the directness and mumbled, 'Don't know lad.'

Liar!

'But you hoped something would?' Billy pushed. 'Something to fix me. Maybe make me better?'

'Better?' Davey feigned surprise. 'Did someone say you were sick?'

'Everybody says I'm sick. Now I think they were right.'

Davey shook his head. 'Never mind about that. You've been through a lot these last few days.'

Now that's an understatement if ever I heard one!

'Let's get back to the drawing, lad. You think you can draw this again, on paper?' Billy shrugged. The box stayed quiet then. He could feel the tiny pistons moving slowly, as if it were lost in its own thoughts. He did not ask what they were. At that moment, he did not wish to know.

'I'm going to play pirates now,' he said.