The Contest

Hugh woke with a start, his eyes still blurred with sleep and his head thumping. He felt dreadful, and it took a mighty effort to get out of bed and stumble into the bathroom. He had been awake all night feverishly thinking about his next moves, drifting into an exhausted sleep just as everyone else in the palace was waking.

He ran a cold shower and stood under the ice-cold jets, the freezing spray shocking his body and clearing his mind.

He dressed and went over to the window. A small crowd had gathered in the courtyard with Eemay in the centre. Then he saw Nettie, tearing madly around with a little Spaniel.

“Scott, so there you are and you won’t escape my clutches a second time.”

The plastic bag containing Scott’s belongings was still where Hugh had dumped it earlier, but had tipped over, spewing some of the contents over the floor. He picked up Scott’s lap-tab, soon realising it was still ‘logged on’. He couldn’t believe his luck, the spell must have frozen the default lock. He then had another brainwave. How brilliant I am, I will send a cymail to Eemay from Scott, telling her of his decision to withdraw from The Contest, never to return!

It took him some time to compose the message, until, with a satisfied smirk, he finally hit send.

After making sure all the programmes were closed down, he stuffed the lap-tab, along with Scott’s other belongings, into the plastic bag, which he carefully concealed in the enormous antique wardrobe, behind his clothes.

Although he had been unable to abandon Scott as planned, he now considered his options:

As Scott is now a dog, he is no longer an immediate threat.

Eemay will soon pick up the message telling her he has withdrawn from The Contest, so I now have her all to myself.

I will get rid of Scott, as originally planned, when the time is right.

After thinking it through, he relaxed and a triumphant smile slowly spread across his evil face.