Nowhere Boys (28 page)
Phoebe shook her head. ‘The talisman is only a vessel for magical energy, so theoretically, you should be able to repair it.’
Sam gasped. ‘You could have told me that yesterday.’
Phoebe’s lips lifted at the corners in a wry smile. ‘Why would I do that?’
‘So why isn’t it working?’ said Felix impatiently. Bates was outside and it was only a matter of time before he smashed the glass and got in.
‘I don’t know,’ said Phoebe. ‘Something must be different between now and when you activated it the first time.’
Felix thought hard. What was different? Bees? The shack? He’d been under a bed when he did the spell.
‘I don’t –’ He stopped. Of course! ‘My brother. Oscar. Oscar was there.’
‘That nerdy guy with the buckteeth is your brother?’ said Phoebe.
‘He’s not that nerdy,’ said Felix. ‘Well, maybe a just little.’
‘Could he have anything to do with why you’re here?’ asked Phoebe.
Felix hesitated.
‘Tell her,’ said Jake.
‘I’m not sure –’
‘Oscar’s the whole reason we’re here,’ Sam jumped in. ‘He had an accident in our world and Felix was trying to unmake it, and he was pretty crap at magic so he unmade all of us as well.’
Phoebe narrowed her eyes at Felix. ‘Were you planning on telling me this?’
Felix avoided her gaze. ‘Sure. I just –’
‘You did an unmaking spell and disappeared from your own world? Kind of significant information, don’t you think?’
There was another loud, urgent banging on the front door.
‘Come on,’ said Andy, drawing their attention back to the talisman. ‘How do we make this thing work?’
‘Okay,’ said Phoebe, squaring her shoulders. ‘According to pagan lore, there are four worldly elements: earth, wind, fire and water. Then a fifth element. Spirit. If Oscar is the reason why the spell was cast, then he’s the connection between your world and our world. Oscar’s the fifth element. Find him and the talisman will work.’
‘Phoebe!’ yelled a voice from the front of the shop. ‘Open this door immediately.’
‘It’s Dad,’ Jake whispered.
‘Well, at least he’s not a demon.’ Phoebe gave Felix a piercing stare, then walked towards the beaded curtain.
He’d let her down. He knew it. He’d let everyone down.
The boys listened as Phoebe opened the door and spoke to the police.
‘We should go out the back way,’ said Felix. ‘Find Oscar. Make this thing work.’
The beaded curtain suddenly parted and Senior Sergeant Riles and Constable Roberts stood there.
‘Right. You boys are coming with me,’ said Jake’s dad.
‘On what charges?’ Phoebe pushed her way past them.
‘How about vagrancy, trespassing, burglary, impersonation – gosh, and that’s just the start. Come on, boys.’
‘Don’t forget wilful damage to school property,’ said a deep voice from behind the Senior Sergeant.
Bates
.
Felix felt a cold rush of air. He’d followed them in.
‘What are you doing here, Brian?’ asked Jake’s dad.
‘Door was open,’ Bates’s voice rasped horribly.
‘You should get some lozenges for that throat, mate.’ Jake’s dad nodded to Roberts. ‘Let’s go, constable.’
Jake’s dad grabbed Sam and Jake by the arms, and Roberts reached for Andy.
Phoebe tried to get in front of them. ‘You can’t just take them. I’m their guardian.’
‘Really?’ said Jake’s dad, as he dragged the boys through the shop. ‘Show me the papers.’
‘They’re, ah … in the mail,’ stammered Phoebe.
Roberts opened the front door and pulled Andy towards the car. Jake’s dad followed with Jake and Sam. Felix watched helplessly as they were shoved into the back seat.
Jake’s dad walked towards Felix.
‘Only three seatbelts in the back, Sarge,’ said Roberts. ‘It wouldn’t be legal.’
‘I’ll bring Felix in,’ said Bates.
‘Thanks, Brian, but I think I can handle this,’ said Jake’s dad.
Bates’s head twitched as he turned to stare at him. ‘As well as you’ve handled everything else, Gary?’
Jake’s dad looked like he was about to explode. He turned to Phoebe. ‘Make yourself useful and follow us in with Felix, would you?’ He jumped into the driver’s seat and reversed with a screech.
‘Come on,’ Phoebe urged Felix.
But Bates’s hand had jerked out and grabbed him. ‘Come with me, Felix.’
Felix tried to fend him off, but Bates’s hand gripped him like a clamp.
Phoebe wasted no time. She moved towards Bates and kicked him as hard as she could in the shins.
He staggered back and shook his head, disorientated.
‘Go!’ Phoebe said urgently. ‘Find Oscar and get to the police station. You need all five of you to activate the talisman.’
‘I can’t leave you with him!’
‘Don’t worry, he’s not after me. Go!’
Felix hesitated. Bates was regaining his balance. He started to move stiffly towards Felix.
‘
Run!
’ yelled Phoebe, giving him a push.
Felix turned and bolted. He ran as fast as he could through Bremin. Phoebe was right. He had to find Oscar. Chances are he would be at home. At least that would be the obvious place to try. He took a shortcut down a lane and sprinted across the cobblestones.
He stopped dead.
Standing at the other end of the lane was Bates. How had he got there so fast? It wasn’t possible.
Bates’s red eyes drilled into him. A roar exploded from him – the sort of roar Felix had heard coming from Roland, and then Mia.
Felix sprinted back towards the main street, but he knew he couldn’t outpace Bates. He quickly dropped to the ground and slipped under a parked car.
Lying on his belly, he saw Bates’s shoes crunch past on the gravel. The shoes stopped, and then turned. Was he confused? The demon sure wasn’t that smart. Not at first, anyway.
Sure enough, Bates’s shoes disappeared up the street. Breathing a sigh of relief, Felix was about to slip back out from under the car when another pair of shoes came into view. A familiar pair of red-and-green runners.
‘Oscar!’ Felix hissed.
The shoes stopped. Their owner was clearly trying to work out where the voice was coming from.
‘Down here!’
Oscar’s face suddenly appeared next to his. ‘Cool. Aliens live under cars. Makes sense.’
‘Listen. Oscar. Can you see Mr Bates?’
‘Yeah he’s outside the supermarket.’
‘Okay, pretend you’re doing up your shoe.’
‘Why?’
‘Just do it, okay?’
Oscar started to untie and retie his shoe.
‘Listen carefully. I need you to help me with a spell. A very important spell. Mr Bates is possessed by a demon and he wants to kill me.’
Oscar turned away.
‘Oscar? Did you hear me?’
‘Hi, Mr Bates,’ said Oscar weakly. He stood up, out of Felix’s sight.
Felix rolled his eyes. Oh crap.
‘How are you, Oscar?’ came Bates’s thick voice.
‘Oh, ah, pretty good …’
Felix hesitated, hating the decision, but knowing there was only one option. He quickly rolled out from under the car. ‘
Run!
’ he yelled to Oscar.
The two of them hurtled down the street.
Bates took a moment to process what had happened and then, in jerky robotic movements, set off after them.
Felix and Oscar bolted through town. ‘We have to get to the police station,’ panted Felix.
‘But that’s back there,’ said Oscar.
‘I know, but we have to confuse Bates. We’ll go down to the bridge and then cross back the other way. Demons have a terrible sense of direction. You have to disorient them.’
‘Cool,’ panted Oscar. ‘I’ve never been chased by a demon before.’
As they belted down the road to the river, Felix heard the sound of a car behind them.
He glanced around to see a black SUV bearing down on them.
Oh God. Bates had a car. They were cactus.
‘This way!’ Felix called desperately, leading Oscar off the road.
The SUV screamed to a halt and Bates jumped out.
‘Run!’ yelled Felix, urging Oscar on. He glanced back to see Oscar trip on a tree stump and land hard on the ground.
‘Oscar, get up. Come on!’ yelled Felix.
Oscar staggered to his feet, but Bates was gaining on him.
Felix ran back towards Oscar. He stared Bates down. ‘Don’t you dare touch my brother.’
‘I’m … your brother?’ Oscar asked in surprise.
‘Yeah. Where I come from, you’re my brother.’
Oscar grinned. ‘Wow. I’ve always wanted a bro –’
‘Oscar, watch out!’
Bates had put his hand up to strike him, but he stopped suddenly in midair and his hand jerked back to his side.
Felix breathed a sigh of relief. ‘It’s okay. He’s still too weak. Come on, run!’
But Oscar didn’t move.
Felix stared at him.
Oscar’s eyes were completely vacant. He took one jerky step towards Felix.
Felix felt a scream rising from deep within him, but before he could release it, everything turned black.
‘Enough with the nonsense, kid. You want me to call up Child Protection Services again?’ Jake’s dad threatened. ‘I can get the lot of you sent away in a second. All I have to do is make the call.’
Jake glanced towards the front door of the police station. What was taking Phoebe and Felix so long? They should have been directly behind them. It’s not like they would have stopped off for a burger with Demon Bates.
Sure, Felix had totally screwed them over, but that didn’t mean he deserved to be mauled to death by their science teacher. Besides, selfishly, Jake didn’t think they stood much chance of getting home without Felix. If he’d done the spell to get them here, then they needed him to do the spell to get them home.
His dad cleared his throat. ‘I’m waiting.’
Sam leant forward. ‘Okay. Here’s the thing,’ he tried, earnestly. ‘We’re from another world – exactly like this one. Except here, we don’t exist.’
Jake’s dad stifled a laugh and lifted one of his legs off the ground. ‘You want to pull this one as well?’
‘We need to go and look for Felix. He should be here by now,’ said Jake.
Constable Roberts was trying to process what Sam had just said. ‘If you don’t exist, how come we can see you sitting in front of us?’
‘Yes, we’re physically present. But you don’t know who we are. No-one here does,’ explained Andy.
‘So,
who
…
are
…
you
?’ asked Jake’s dad. He lengthened each word as if he was talking to someone with a mental impairment.
Time was running out. Jake figured Bates would’ve caught Felix for sure, by now. ‘If we tell you the truth will you go and look for Felix?’
‘Sure. If you’re capable of that,’ said his dad.
Jake took a deep breath. ‘Okay. My name is Jake Riles and, in my world, I’m your son.’
His dad laughed out loud. ‘You are seriously unhinged, kid. I don’t have a son.’
‘Maybe not in this world. But in my world, you and your ex-girlfriend, Sarah, had a child together when you were teenagers. That child is me.’
His dad shook his head in frustration. ‘You know what? This is clearly a mental health issue.’ He turned to Roberts. ‘Call Child Protection Services.’
But just then, the phone rang at the reception desk and Roberts got up to answer it.
Jake leant forward. He had to get through to his dad. It was their only chance.
‘In your world, you didn’t have the baby. It wasn’t the right time. But in my world you did, and …’ Jake swallowed hard. ‘It changed everything.’
Jake saw something flicker in his dad’s eyes. He could see that he was calculating dates in his head.
‘That’s not possible.’
‘It is, because it happened,’ said Jake. ‘I know, deep down, you know me.’
His dad looked at him carefully. Jake thought he saw something shift in him.
‘You have to trust me, Dad.’
His dad took a deep breath. ‘Roberts, ring Phoebe,’ he called out gruffly, ‘find out what’s holding her up.’
Jake smiled. ‘Thanks, Dad.’
He shuffled some paperwork on his desk. ‘Don’t push it, kid.’
Roberts put down the phone and walked back into the office. ‘Sorry, Sarge. What did you say? That was a call from Mrs Lau, reporting a man chasing two teenagers down the street.’
‘Two teenagers?’ whispered Sam.
‘Must be Oscar and Felix,’ said Jake. ‘If Felix found him, they’ll be looking for us.’
Andy jumped out of his seat. ‘Sergeant Riles, I think it’s time we informed you that Mr Bates is possessed by a demon and wants to kill Felix.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake. What next?’
‘Sarge,’ said Roberts. ‘I think we should go and check it out. She was quite upset.’
Jake’s dad reached for his hat. ‘Fine. I’ll go and talk to her. You stay with this lot and get Phoebe and Bates on the phone. Find out where they are.’
Andy was about to protest, but Jake shook his head at him. They’d have more chance of escaping with his dad gone.
‘Good luck, Dad,’ he called out as his dad reached the door.
‘Thanks, son.’
Jake smiled as his dad realised what he’d said and almost walked into the glass door.
Jake watched Roberts, who was back in reception looking for Phoebe’s number on his computer. Jake quietly leant over and picked up his dad’s desk phone. He pressed the reception button and then slipped under the desk with the receiver.
Andy gave him the thumbs up as Roberts picked up.
‘Bremin Police Station. How can I be of assistance?’
Jake put on a croaky old-lady voice. ‘Help me. I’ve been mugged.’
‘Where are you, ma’am?’ asked Roberts.
‘Just behind the police station. Please come quickly.’ Jake quietly hung up the receiver.
‘Ma’am? Ma’am?’ Roberts yelled into the phone. He hung up and looked around uncertainly at the boys. ‘You boys stay here. I won’t be long.’ He grabbed his hat and made his way quickly towards the back entrance of the station.
‘Let’s go,’ Jake whispered, as soon as Roberts was out of sight.
The boys sped out the door and down the steps of the police station. Further up the main street, Jake could see his dad by the supermarket talking to Mrs Lau. They couldn’t go that way.