Arthur and the Fenris Wolf (9 page)

‘What's the worst part?'

Before the pup had time to react, Arthur picked her up and dropped her out into the hallway, shutting the door between them. He urgently turned back to Ash, who had a confused look on her face.

‘Why did you–' she started.

‘Listen, Ash,' he leaned over the breakfast table, whispering frantically, ‘just as I was telling the story, I realised something. Have you ever noticed how Ice looks just like a wolf cub?'

Ice was scratching the door, whining to get in.

‘What?'

‘Think about it. The long snout, the pointy ears. What dog looks like that? She looks just like a younger version of the wolf in my dream.'

‘Arthur don't be ridic–'

‘Look at how we found her! On the ice. How did she get out there by herself? She could barely crawl to you, let alone make it that far out.'

‘It's like Cousin Maggie said: someone put her there to die.'

‘No, don't you see? She was there deliberately waiting for us.'

The scratching had become increasingly fevered. Ash looked at Arthur, the accusation hanging in the air between them.

‘You think … you think that my puppy was trying to kill us?' She raised her eyebrows as she said it and he could see she was sceptical.

Arthur let out the breath he'd been holding and said, ‘Look, I know it sounds crazy, but if you'd had my dream you'd be suspicious too.'

‘So what do we do now?' Ash asked. ‘How do we prove or disprove your theory?'

‘I don't know,' he replied.

‘Wait! I have an idea!' Ash tapped Arthur's chest. ‘Loki can't touch the pendant without it hurting him,' she reminded him. ‘Surely the same would apply to this child of his, this Fenris Wolf.'

Arthur thought it over before nodding. ‘You could be right.'

Ash got up, walked to the door and opened it. Ice practically fell into the room. Ash smiled for a second as the cute pup licked her ankles innocently then picked her up and carried her to Arthur.

He took the pendant from around his neck and dangled it over the little pup in Ash's arms. She gawked up at it, the bronze disc reflected in her dark eyes.

‘OK,' he said. ‘Here goes.' He lowered the pendant until it hung just above Ice's fur. He hesitated, bracing himself in case of the blast that had happened every time Loki had touched the pendant, then placed it against Ice's back.

Nothing happened.

The dog twisted in Ash's arms and snapped at the pendant as if she thought Arthur was teasing her with it, but he snatched it away before she could catch it.

‘Well, that answers that,' said Ash with a relieved smile. She nuzzled her face into Ice's fur before setting her back down.

‘I'm not sure it answers anything,' Arthur warned.

‘What do you mean?' Ice looked from one friend to the other, wagging her tail excitedly.

‘We don't really know if the pendant would have any effect on the wolf. I had no chance to try it against the World Serpent,' Arthur said. ‘We can't let ourselves be fooled again.'

‘Be fooled? What do you mean? Look at her, Arthur. She's tiny and helpless – do you think she's faking the problem with her legs? How could she possibly hurt us?'

‘Listen–'

‘No! You listen to me.' She was suddenly furious, more so than Arthur had ever seen her, and he decided it would be prudent to stay quiet. ‘You're obviously scared of Ice. I know she almost got us drowned, but it wasn't her fault. It was mine. Clearly that wasn't a real Loki dream you had; it was just an ordinary nightmare. A bad nightmare – like Max has been having.'

‘Yeah … OK, maybe you're right,' Arthur admitted, putting the pendant back around his neck. An awkward silence ensued and then, ‘Well, I suppose I should go home. You probably want to get a little more sleep.'

‘Yeah, I'm still pretty tired, actually.'

They didn't say anything else to each other as Arthur let himself out. On the walk back to his house, he wondered about his dream. He wasn't at all convinced by Ash's idea that it was a simple nightmare. He was sure that it had been a vision and that Loki's second child was a wolf, so he had a bad feeling and really didn't know what to think about Ice. Despite the lack of reaction to the pendant, he couldn't shake the feeling that they shouldn't trust the little dog. He'd been tricked once before and it had almost cost him, Ash and Max their lives. Even if he couldn't convince Ash, he wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

Arthur walked to the bus stop by himself on Monday morning. He left early, hoping to avoid Ash, but she'd obviously had the same idea. When he got there he found her sitting by herself.

They hadn't spoken since Saturday morning when they'd had their disagreement. Arthur knew they should have been over it by now, but this was their first argument and it felt strange – uncomfortable, somehow. The rest of the weekend had passed slowly. He'd spent most of it playing an Xbox game that Joe had bought him for Christmas. His heart wasn't in it, though, and he barely noticed any time one of the computer-generated zombies attacked his avatar. As he stirred some soup for himself and Joe on Sunday afternoon, he spotted Ash through the kitchen window. She and Max were on the green chasing after Ice while the pup rolled after a football. Arthur could have gone out and said something, but he didn't know what to say. He certainly wasn't going to apologise, as he was still certain that his hunch about Ice was spot on, but he knew that Ash wouldn't want to hear about it again.

‘Hey,' Arthur said as he got close to the bus stop.

Ash looked up. ‘Oh, hi.'

‘Going in early?'

‘Something like that. Listen, Arthur–'

‘No need to apologise.'

‘Apologise?' she said, affronted, her voice rising. ‘Why would I apologise?'

‘Oh, so it's me who's in the wrong, is that it?' Arthur shouted, equally outraged.

Ash didn't reply, but the way she crossed her arms and stared at him said it all. Just then, a bus pulled up to the stop. They boarded in silence and sat at opposite ends to each other.

It was the first proper day back to normality after the Christmas break for thousands of workers and schoolchildren so the traffic moved frustratingly slowly. Whatever their reasons, it turned out it was a good thing they'd left early because otherwise they'd have been late for their first day back.

The morning bell rang as they walked across the car-park in front of Belmont School – Ash keeping twenty paces ahead of Arthur at all times, pointedly ignoring him. The building was modern and boxy, with one side completely constructed from glass. At the sound of the bell they started to run, and as they dashed inside they found that they weren't the only ones late and racing down the hallway. Other students and even some teachers were speed-walking towards their classrooms, including their own Miss Keegan.

‘Hi, Miss,' Ash said when she caught up with her.

‘Oh, good morning, Ashling. Arthur.' Her strawberry blonde curls cascaded out from under a pink, woollen beanie and she was wearing a matching cardigan with a yellow blouse underneath. She was younger than most of the other teachers in Belmont and certainly the most fashion conscious.

‘I saw you two on the news last week,' she said as she walked with them. ‘You were lucky Arthur was there, Ash.'

Ash's face flushed red as she muttered grudgingly, ‘I know.'

From the stony silence that followed, Miss Keegan realised that all was not well between the two friends so she quickly changed the subject. ‘We have a couple of new students today, so you're no longer the new kid, Arthur.'

Despite their argument, Ash and Arthur looked at each other, concerned. Could this mean Loki was back in his Will-disguise? Like the rest of the world, Miss Keegan had been hypnotised to forget that Will had ever existed, so he could easily have slipped back into class and only Arthur, Ash and Max would know that he was a threat.

Their fellow pupils were mostly sitting around on the desks when Ash, Arthur and the teacher reached the classroom. They were swapping lists of Christmas presents or sharing funny stories about things that had happened over the break. When they saw Miss Keegan, they all shuffled into their seats with much scraping of chair legs on the linoleum floor. Arthur took his seat next to Ash and quickly scanned the room. No sign of Will. In fact, there was no one new here at all that he could see.

‘I trust you all had a nice break,' Miss Keegan was saying, taking off her coat and pulling some books out of her large handbag. ‘I hope you're all so well rested that you can't wait to get back to work!'

There were some groans at this. Kevin and Colin – the ginger O'Toole twins – said in sync, ‘Go easy on us, Miss!'

‘Yeah, Miss,' Rob Tynan spoke up. ‘We need to warm up first.'

The class made some general sounds of agreement as Miss Keegan chuckled to herself. Just then, there was a knock on the door. The teacher went over to answer it, holding a finger to her lips at the class. Arthur caught a glimpse of their principal before the teacher shut the door behind her. As the other pupils started murmuring and whispering to each other again, Arthur turned to Ash.

‘Could you see the newbie?' he asked.

‘Nope. Do you think it's him?'

‘Will?'

She nodded.

‘I hope not.'

The door opened again and the class fell back into hushed silence. Miss Keegan re-entered, ushering a boy and girl in front of her.

The boy was almost as tall as Miss Keegan but of a much broader build. He had small brown eyes through which he squinted at his new classmates, a large and crooked nose that looked like it had been broken at some stage and a strong, square jaw with hints of facial hair already sprouting along it. His black hair was shaved close to his head and he grimaced at them with an expression that said
I'm bigger than you, so don't test me
. He had a backpack slung over one of his powerful shoulders and his brown school uniform was a couple of sizes too small for him, with the sleeves stopping well short of his wrists. Arthur doubted that they even made the Belmont uniform in his size.

The girl, on the other hand, could easily be summed up as petite. Standing at just over four feet tall, her slim frame was a twig compared to the trunk that was the gargantuan boy behind her. Her straight black hair was pulled back from her face by a light-blue hairband and hung in a bob just above her neckline. Her deep brown eyes popped out from her sallow skin; they were watchful, studying each face in the class. When they landed on Arthur they stopped and he couldn't help but look away, discomfited. It felt as if the eyes were looking into his soul. Unlike the boy's, her uniform fit her perfectly. However, the coat she wore over the uniform was far too large for her and bunched at the elbows. It was an adult-sized trench coat and it trailed along the ground by her feet, only serving to add to the illusion of her littleness. Instead of a backpack, she held a cracked leather attaché case in her right hand. She smiled a toothy grin at them all, clearly pleased and excited to be there.

‘Class,' said Miss Keegan, ‘this is Ellie and Xander Lavender. They'll be joining us for the rest of the term.'

‘Ex,' said the boy Xander. His voice was a deep baritone rumble, certainly more grown-up sounding than anyone else in the class.

‘I'm sorry, Xander, what was that?' Miss Keegan asked.

‘I prefer to be called Ex, Miss Keegan.'

‘Oh, I'm sorry.' She turned back to her pupils. ‘Ellie and Ex Lavender.'

The boy nodded his head slightly while the girl waved.

‘Maybe you'd like to tell the class a little about yourselves?' Miss Keegan suggested. ‘Ex?'

‘No, thank you.'

‘I'll do it!' Ellie said eagerly. She put her case carefully on Miss Keegan's overflowing desk and took a step towards the class. ‘As Miss Keegan said, I'm Ellie Lavender and this is my brother, Ex. He's thirteen, nearly fourteen. And I'm eleven, just gone. Usually, we're home schooled although I've been in five real schools in the past. But our parents are archaeologists, you see, so they're pretty intelligent. And they've gone on a dig in Greece for a few months, so here we are! Speaking of which,' she turned to Caroline Cusick in the front row, ‘I see that you have just come back from Greece.'

‘How did you–' started Caroline.

‘Thank you, Ellie.' Miss Keegan cut her off mid-sentence. ‘If you'd like to take a seat, we'll begin the class.'

Two vacant chairs sat right in front of Arthur and Ash, which the Lavender siblings went straight for. Ex sat right down while Ellie busily took off her massive coat. She hung it on the back of her seat and put her hand out to Arthur.

‘Hi,' she said. ‘I'm Ellie. What's your name?'

‘Ellie,' Miss Keegan said, turning away from the blackboard she'd been writing on. ‘Maybe you could make time for introductions during break? We have work to get on with.'

‘Of course, Miss Keegan. Sorry, Miss Keegan.' Ellie sat down and faced the teacher studiously.

Arthur looked at Ash. She swirled her index finger in little circles at her temple and crossed her eyes, indicating that Ellie was nuts. She was right, Arthur reflected. Whoever this pair were, they definitely weren't like Will. Despite that, he still felt wary of them. He suspected that any new classmates would take a long time to earn his trust nowadays.

When the bell for break rang, the fifth- and sixth-class pupils trooped out to the all-weather pitch at the back of the school. The pitch had been the last piece of construction work to be completed when the new school was being built and it was a much appreciated addition for the majority of the pupils.

Rob Tynan, who liked to consider himself the best sportsman in the school, tossed a rugby ball from one hand to the other.

‘How about some rugby?' he asked loudly. The ball fell between his arms and bounced unevenly away. He stretched to catch it, then nonchalantly rubbed his hand through his hair as if nothing had happened. ‘Rugby, yeah?'

‘Can the girls play too?' Tara Egan asked, taking a step forward and grabbing the ball from him. Rob wasn't a fan of letting the girls join in and often suggested rougher sports for lunch break to put them off.

Rob gave her a pitying look. ‘Really? Ha!'

With that, Tara threw the ball. It soared far and wide across the pitch and Megan Gallagher caught it mid-air. She held it above her head triumphantly.

‘Yeah,' Tara said, as the other girls giggled, ‘really.'

‘OK,' Rob agreed reluctantly. ‘But I bags captain!'

‘Bags!' Tara said quickly before anyone else could claim the second captaincy.

They picked teams. Almost the entire class agreed to play, so the pitch was quite cramped. Rob picked first and went for the new boy, Ex Lavender. They didn't know what he was like on the pitch so it was a gamble, but judging by the new boy's powerful physique, Rob guessed the gamble would pay off. Tara's first choice was Megan, followed by Arthur. While Tara's team was quite evenly mixed, Rob didn't want to pick any girls. He eventually had to take one – Ash, the last one standing. Just once, Ash thought, just once I want to be picked first. Ciara O'Connor and Caroline Cusick were both too precious about their hair and nails to join in, so they sat on the sidelines with a couple of like-minded fifth classers and the new girl, Ellie.

Although Arthur had been Tara's second choice, he thought that her faith in him was misplaced. He loved basketball, and had even won medals for his efforts back in Kerry, but rugby was one sport he had never excelled at. His uncle in Kerry, who was a huge rugby fan, boasted that the sport was more ingrained in his blood than any other, including Gaelic. (This, of course, was considered blasphemy by the GAA supporters in their town, but it always made Arthur laugh to hear his uncle wind them up on purpose.) Coming from Munster, Arthur naturally enjoyed watching rugby. But playing it was out of the question. He had a light, slim frame – perfect for basketball, not for rugby.

This game, however, was getting off to a flying start and Rob's team had already scored one try, partly thanks to a vital pass from Ash. Arthur's team now had the ball. Niall Fitzgerald passed it to Mark Curtis, who passed it to Brian Savage who passed it to Robyn Power who passed it to–

‘Arthur!' she shouted as the ball bounced feebly off his chest and onto the ground. Arthur had drifted away, not really paying attention. He looked down at the ball by his feet, rocking over and back.

‘Pick it up!' someone shouted at him.

He did as they said, grabbing the ball and clutching it tight to his chest, then he ran in the direction of Rob's goal line. His heart was thumping as his legs pounded off the rubbery all-weather surface. Since it was still freezing, they were all wearing coats, hats and scarves; a drop of sweat rolled into his eye, stinging it. But he ignored the discomfort and kept going. He hadn't far to run now: he could see the line coming up before him and no one was in the way, just footsteps thundering after him.

Suddenly, something yanked him backwards. Whoever it was had grabbed the back of his coat, stopping him in his tracks and pulling him in the opposite direction through the air. He heard the hood of his coat, caught in the grip of his attacker, rip as easily as tearing toilet paper. The person let him go and he fell with a heavy thud onto his back. The ball flew out of his arms and straight into those of Ex Lavender, who was looming over him. That's who had been pulling him backwards! Without even giving Arthur a second look, Ex kicked the ball back down the field to cheers from Rob's team.