Accelerating

As they turned a corner into yet another alley he'd never known existed, Nick panted "how far to the hospital now, do you reckon? Five minutes or thereabouts?"

"Slowcoach," cackled Margaret. "We'd make it in three if we didn't have to slow down to make allowances for you."

Nick bristled. "Hey, don't worry about me. I can keep up with you two, no problem."

Margaret looked at Alice. Alice grinned, and then nodded.

And as they seemed to move up a gear, Nick wished he'd kept his mouth shut.



Part Two begins here.