Nowhere Boys (21 page)

‘Hey, get back here,’ Bates yelled angrily through his megaphone. ‘You’re on report, the lot of you.’

Jake didn’t care. Stuff Bates and his stupid rules. He led the way. He remembered the path as clearly as if they were here the day before.

He’d cared so much about winning the stupid exercise, and all for what? So he could beat that meathead Trent? He ran faster. He could hear the footsteps of the others slapping behind him. It felt good to run, like he was running from his past self and all the dumb things he’d cared so much about.

He rounded a corner and stopped, breathless.

The others caught up to him.

‘That was awesome,’ panted Sam. ‘Did you see the look on Bates’s face?’

Felix looked around. ‘I know where we are. This is the spot where Jake emptied out Andy’s backpack.’

Jake sighed. God, did he really need another reminder of what a tool he’d been? ‘Okay. I get it. I was a bonehead.’

‘Well, not to recognise the value of Nai Nai’s poncho was pretty remiss, given the circumstances,’ said Andy.

Jake couldn’t help smiling. He got down on one knee. ‘I would hereby like to apologise to you, Andy, and to you, Felix, for being a total jerk.’ He stood up. ‘There. Happy?’

Andy grinned. ‘We’ve all changed. I was a nerd, but no longer.’ The sky suddenly darkened, and Andy looked up. ‘A sudden storm. Just like last time. A confluence of repeating events.’

Jake, Sam and Felix looked at each other.

‘Yep, definitely no longer a nerd.’ Jake laughed.

Felix started moving them down the path. ‘Come on. We need to find the shortcut we took.’

The sky was steadily getting darker and a slow rumble was starting to build. Jake stopped and looked around nervously. The rumble didn’t sound like thunder; it sounded like it was coming from inside the earth. What was it Phoebe had said the four of them were?
A magical disturbance
? The earth rumbled again, angrily.

Feeling spooked, Jake jogged to catch up to the others.

Felix was leading them off the path and straight into the bush. ‘This is where we left the path.’

Jake pushed through branches and scrub until he emerged behind the others in a familiar clearing.

‘This is it,’ said Felix.

‘Where we fell over the cliff,’ said Sam.

‘And I lost the map,’ said Felix.

‘Whoa, It really is steep,’ said Andy, peering over the edge.

The earth rumbled again, so violently this time that the ground shook like there was something beneath it, trying to get out.

They looked at each other nervously.

Jake noticed the pulsing light underneath Felix’s shirt. ‘Felix, the talisman’s glowing.’

‘I know,’ said Felix. ‘The demon’s got its strength back.’

Jake felt a tug of fear. What was it going to hurl at them this time? What came after dogs? Bulls? Lions?

‘We have to stay together,’ said Felix firmly. He held out his hands. ‘Come on, we need to go down.’

Jake looked at Felix’s outstretched hand. He’d come a long way, admitting he’d been a jerk, but he wasn’t quite ready to hold another guy’s hand. ‘No way, dude.’

At that moment, a massive roar came from the earth, shaking the ground beneath their feet, and Jake grabbed hold of Felix’s hand. He stretched his other hand out to Andy and Sam, and before they knew it, all four boys jumped off the cliff. They slid fast and furiously down the side of the ravine, landing with four consecutive thuds.

Jake looked around. Just like last time, there was an eerie stillness. No breeze. No sound. He looked at the others. Their faces still registered the shock of the landing.

Felix took out the talisman. It wasn’t glowing anymore.

‘Batteries must have fallen out on the way down,’ said Andy.

Felix put it back under his shirt, annoyed. ‘You believe in wormholes and every harebrained scientific theory ever invented, but not magic.’

‘Actually quantum physics can be proven.’

‘Well, what if magic is just science that hasn’t been proven yet?’

Jake looked at Andy. How was he going to answer that one? But Andy said nothing.

Felix stood up. ‘Come on, we need to find the clearing where we made the sp– er, the fire.’

‘I thought we were looking for wormholes,’ said Sam.

‘Yeah, well, good luck with that,’ said Felix, heading off.

‘What does a wormhole look like exactly?’ asked Jake.

‘A geometric tunnel that cuts through space and time.’

Jake looked around. ‘Nah. Can’t see one of those.’

‘Well, you might not necessarily see it before it swallows you.’

‘Come on,’ called Felix. ‘We need to stick together.’

When they caught up to Felix he was standing in a small clearing. Hanging from the trees bordering it were the strange-looking objects they’d seen last time. Felix was fingering one thoughtfully. He looked at the others. ‘It doesn’t make sense, but these were hanging in our old world, and they’re here in this world too.’

‘So, someone’s been doing art-and-craft lessons in both worlds,’ said Andy, looking dismissively at the woven ornaments.

Felix ignored him. ‘I think it’s got something to do with Phoebe’s sister. This might be the place she disappeared.’

‘Then all you have to do is reverse her spell and she’ll come back, right?’ said Jake, hopefully.

‘Do you know the spell?’ asked Sam.

Felix looked away evasively. ‘I could try.’

‘Well then, stuff wormholes. Do the spell,’ said Sam.

Felix shut his eyes and began to softly chant.

‘Water, fire, earth and air
Elements that we all share.’

The sky opened with a crack and lightning blinded them. Almost immediately a torrent of rain poured down.

‘Get away from the trees!’ yelled Andy.

Jake could just make out the stone ledge they’d sheltered under before. He made a run for it across the clearing. Lightning split the sky apart. Jake ran faster. He couldn’t see the others.

Then suddenly, he was falling. The whole world turned black as he fell through the earth. This, he thought, is what being swallowed by a wormhole must feel like.

sam:
not out of the woods yet

Through the drenching rain, Sam could just make out Felix holding the talisman and yelling at the top of his lungs.

‘Water wash our sins away
Earth guide us to a place.
Wind brings with it fear
Flames of fire we must face.’

Those words. Sam was sure he’d heard them before. But where? The driving rain hit hard at his skin. He made his way towards Felix. If magic was going to get them home then Sam sure as hell wanted to be there when it happened.

‘Walk upon this earth again
Walk upon this –’

He’d almost got to Felix when he felt something catch around his ankle and before he knew what was happening, he felt himself falling. Everything turned black around him and he landed with a jarring thump.

‘Owww,’ said a voice.

Sam felt around in the dark. Legs. Arms. A head.

‘Stop feeling me up,’ said the voice.

‘Jake?’

‘Sam?’

‘Where are we?’

‘I think we might have found Andy’s wormhole,’ whispered Jake.

Sam felt around. They were inside some sort of mesh net. Sam put his hand through one of the holes in the mesh. He touched dirt. ‘Are wormholes made of dirt?’

‘Dunno.’

Sam looked up above them. There was a patch of grey sky, concealed by what looked like branches of a tree.

‘It looks like an army trench. Maybe we’ve travelled to World War Two or something,’ said Sam.

Jake sat himself up. ‘Yeah, good one. Just what we needed.’

‘Shh,’ said Sam. ‘I can hear voices.’

Jake and Sam listened carefully.

From above they could hear Felix and Andy and another voice, deep and rough.

‘Who’s that?’ asked Jake.

‘Probably an army general or something. Keep quiet,’ whispered Sam.

But Jake wasn’t listening. ‘Help!’ he yelled. ‘Get us out of here.’

A pale light trickled in as the branches above them were moved, causing a cascade of water to land on them. A wild-looking face peered down from above.

‘Roland?’

‘Interesting. Very interesting,’ Roland said, pulling more branches away to reveal the anxious faces of Felix and Andy at the mouth of the hole.

The rain seemed to have stopped.

Sam called up to them. ‘Are we home? Did it work?’

Roland stood looking down at them, his nulla-nulla in one hand. ‘Not quite the desired outcome but a success, nevertheless,’ he said thoughtfully.

‘So, we’re home?’ said Sam hopefully.

‘This is my wild-beast trap. Nothing’s ever sprung it before, so good to know it’s working. You never know what you’ll find out here, boys.’ Roland shrugged. ‘Be prepared, I always say.’

Sam called up to Felix. ‘Felix? Did it work? The spell you were –’

Roland reached his arm down to help Sam out. ‘Guess you boys will be wanting a lift into town again.’

Again
. Sam felt the sting of that word. So, they
weren’t
home. If they were, Roland wouldn’t have a clue who they were. Nothing had worked. No wormhole. No spell. His stomach heaved. He stared at Roland and realised how much he’d been hoping this excursion would reverse everything. But now, their last hope was dashed.

He reluctantly grabbed hold of Roland’s grimy outstretched hand and let himself be pulled up into the light. Roland heaved Jake up after him.

Sam collapsed on the side of the hole – filthy, muddy and depressed.

‘All right, boys, follow me to the car and I’ll give you a ride home,’ Roland said, turning back towards the bush.

Sam felt like laughing out loud.
Home
? He had no home.

Below him, the ground started to shudder. As if to mock him, it rumbled like a laugh waiting to burst out of a belly. Sam turned to the others and saw Felix grasping at his neck.

‘The talisman,’ said Felix. ‘It must have fallen off.’

The ground around them began shaking more violently.

Sam watched Roland carefully. He looked strangely frozen. Then his body started moving in weird, robotic gestures. His neck jerked, and he looked at the boys, his eyes as dead as stones.

‘We have to find the talisman,’ yelled Felix above the deafening shaking of the earth. ‘It’s the demon. It’s taking human form.’

Sam jumped to his feet. He began scrambling through the undergrowth searching for the talisman.

Roland took jerky movements towards Felix. His eyes started radiating a creepy red light. A deep, guttural roar exploded from his mouth.

Sam grabbed Andy. ‘Come on. Look! We have to find it.’

‘Like a necklace is going to save us,’ Andy said scornfully.

Sam couldn’t believe it. The time to question magic was not when a
demon
was about to attack. He grabbed Andy hard.

‘Ow!’ cried Andy. ‘You don’t have to resort to physical violence.’

‘Look. Now!’ ordered Sam.

Felix had skirted around behind Roland. He was terrifying, but his movements were slow. It took him a moment or two to work out where Felix had gone. He finally turned, lifted his nulla-nulla above his head and took a swipe at Felix, nearly knocking him off his feet. Felix quickly ducked and slipped away from him, and again, Roland took a moment to work out where he’d gone.

‘Let’s find the talisman while Felix is distracting him,’ Sam hissed to Jake and Andy.

The three of them started scrambling around in the scrub. The undergrowth was wet and Sam came up with nothing more than handfuls of damp leaves.

Roland opened his mouth and let out another furious roar. His eyes were gleaming like embers. He seemed to be gaining in strength.

‘Find the talisman!’ yelled Felix. He ran swiftly across Roland’s path, trying to disorient him. But Roland’s reflexes were improving. He reached out a hand to grab Felix and missed him by millimetres.

‘Jake, we’ve got to stop him or he’ll kill Felix,’ Sam yelled. He turned back to Andy. ‘You keep looking.’

As if only noticing them for the first time, Roland turned towards Sam and Jake. He flung his nulla-nulla to the ground and lumbered towards them.

Jake and Sam glanced at each other nervously. Roland bent down and put both arms around a massive log. Sam knew there was no way a human could lift that. But clearly this wasn’t a human, because Roland lifted the log as if it were nothing more than a chopstick. He hurled it at Jake and Sam. They flung themselves out of its path and the log smashed against a nearby tree. Roland rushed towards them, roaring with a primal force that came straight from the earth and out through him.

‘Surround him!’ Sam yelled.

Jake nodded. ‘One two three!’

They hurled themselves at either side of Roland. He batted them away as if they were annoying insects. Sam landed hard against a boulder. A sharp pain went up his right leg. He felt up and down his shin. Man, he hoped he hadn’t broken something.

Roland had diverted his attention back to Felix and was gaining on him fast. Felix ducked away but Roland was too quick. He grabbed him with both arms. Felix tried to struggle but Roland was too strong. It looked like Roland was about to squeeze the air out of him when Andy yelled out, ‘I’ve found it!’