Head Spinners by Thalia Kalkipsakis

not,’ I said, but it still felt good to have done something.
    On our way back to bed, our steps were lighter somehow.
    The next morning, a hand shook my shoulder. I was awake in a flash.
    â€˜Come listen to this,’ said Jack.
    We snuck down the corridor and stopped behind a corner near the nurses’ station. Something was going on. Phones were ringing and people were talking over each other.
    â€˜Â . . . call security . . .’
    â€˜I don’t know how it got out.’
    â€˜. . . we’ll need someone to make a statement.’
    I looked at Jack. ‘Reporters?’
    He nodded, grinning. ‘They’ve been stopped at the ground floor.’
    I peeked around the corner, not that I was worried we’d be caught. Everyone seemed too busy to care what we were doing.
    â€˜They won’t let any reporters up here,’ I said, stating the obvious.
    For a while we were quiet, listening and watching, enjoying the fact that we’d caused a commotion.
    â€˜You know . . . there’s nothing stopping us from getting down to them,’ said Jack quietly. ‘Nothing except a keypad or two.’
    I looked at him. ‘Are you sure?’
    He nodded. ‘Let’s do it.’

    Erin watched me pull on jeans and a T-shirt. I tried to act as though nothing was going on.
    â€˜Where are you going? Can I come too?’ she asked, once I was dressed.
    So much for my acting. I shook my head. ‘Stay here, okay?’
    â€˜No!’ She stamped a foot. ‘Tell me!’
    â€˜Brooke, come on,’ called Jack from the doorway.
    I looked back at Erin and knelt so I was her height. ‘We’re going to sneak down and show media people what’s . . . different about us. But you have to stay here.’
    â€˜No! I’m coming too.’
    I shook my head as Erin put her hands on her hips. ‘I want to show them my wings and you can’t stop me.’
    â€˜Come on!’ called Jack again.
    I sighed. ‘Okay.’
    Holding Erin by the hand, we made our way down the corridor to the nurses’ station. It was quiet by now. One nurse was on the phone but everyone else had disappeared. When she turned away to look at a computer screen we snuck past, making straight for the keypad beside the sliding doors.
    Jack had them open before the nurse had any idea what was going on.
    â€˜Wait!’ she called. ‘What are you—’
    But the doors had closed behind us.
    An alarm whirred to life. It was so loud that it made my teeth ache. For a moment I was lost, disoriented.
    â€˜The lift . . . this way!’ said Jack.
    We started up the hall, holding Erin’s hands between us, and then slowed when a woman in a guard uniform came round the corner. She saw us, and began to run.
    Jack swore and I turned to see what he already had: two more guards coming from the other way. We were trapped.
    â€˜Quick,’ I said, pulling Erin with one hand and jabbing the other at the keypad. ‘Get us back in!’
    â€˜What?’ Jack had no idea what I was thinking, but he did as I asked. The guards, too, pulled up and slowed as they watched us break back into Ward 5G.
    Inside, the nurse had her back to us, phone to her ear.
    I dashed up the hall, tugging Erin behind me. She opened her wings so that she half-ran half-glided to keep up.
    Jack was still holding her other hand. ‘What are you doing?’ he yelled, panting. ‘That’s a dead end.’
    Sure, it was a dead end in the real world but it was also a gateway to the CCTV network of the entire hospital.
    Working fast, I brought up the closed circuit network of surveillance cameras for Ward 5G. I was glad to have my extra arm to speed things up. There were even more cameras than I’d realised. I found the camera at the nurses’ station and brought up that view.
    â€˜Hey!’ cried Erin. ‘I know them.’
    I couldn’t help