Excerpt: Shadow Boys

Lesley let him get a good head start before following. She hadn't quite realised on the climb up how narrow the stairs were. They were triangular-shaped in order to fit in the cylinder of the tower, but even the widest part was narrower than normal steps, and the rise was taller. Lesley placed her feet very carefully, doing her best to avoid slipping on the smooth stone. All she could think of was how easy it would be to misstep, and what a long way it would be to fall. She let her hand feel her way down the rough-cut stone of the outside wall and wished there was a safety rail to hold onto.
"I came here with Daniel once," said Michael. He was walking behind her, slowly and casually putting one foot in front of the other. He must be frustrated with how slow she was walking, but if he was, it didn't show in his voice at all. It was calm and measured. "It was a long time ago. We came up through the town, not through the catacombs. The hill was such a [bugger] to walk up. It would almost be worth having to go through the catacombs in order to use that lift, and I really hate being underground. I don't think I told you about the first time I went down there. Anyway, me an' Daniel came up the hill. This was before the fire, when his daughter ... anyway. Her name was Charlotte. She was nice. Her mum was really nice, too. She made the best lemon cordial."
"What, from scratch?" said Lesley, almost not noticing her terror. "Not from a bottle?"
"Yeah. This time Daniel and I came was when Dr — er, the Doctor was first starting with his automatons. He had these ones on wheels, kinda like a little car, but they were the size of a dog, and you could move them by remote control. Daniel and Char and I had a derby through the rose garden. Char was fastest, but I was really good at this sort of grappling hook thing you could shoot from its nose. Daniel was really good at knocking the car-thing off the path. He knocked mine right into the ... thingos." He paused for a moment in thought, and then said, "Rho-do-den-drons."