Nowhere Boys (30 page)

Bates was standing behind them, flanked by Oscar and Sergeant Riles. Coiled in Bates’s hand was a long piece of rope.

Felix turned to Roland. ‘You’ve got to go. Quick, before they possess you.’

Roland snorted. ‘I’m not frightened by this lot.’ He gestured to Oscar. ‘Look at this one. He’s just a kid.’

Oscar erupted with a guttural roar. The branches of the gum trees shivered, and leaves and twigs fell like hail all around them.

‘All right, I’m gone.’ Roland quickly disappeared into the bush as the possessed Bates, Sergeant Riles and Oscar turned their full attention to Felix.

‘You have no hope,’ they rasped together.

Felix tried desperately to catch Oscar’s eye. ‘Fight it, Oscie. Come on. This isn’t you.’

Oscar roared again with such power it felt like the earth was rumbling with him.

‘We will destroy you,’ chorused the demons. Bates had closed in on him. He grabbed Felix by both arms.

Felix let himself be dragged through the forest. There was no point fighting. He was no match for three demons. He looked down at the talisman. Nothing. Come on, Roland! Come on, Sam, Jake and Andy! If you get here, I’ll get you home, I promise.

Thump
.

Felix was thrown against something hard. He looked behind him. It was Alice’s altar. So they were here. Back where it all began. And somehow, the demons knew about this altar.

Bates uncoiled the rope and he and Sergeant Riles started walking around Felix in opposite directions, tying him as tight as possible to the altar’s stone head. As they walked they began chanting:

‘Soon the disturbance will be over
Soon order will be restored.’

Felix watched Oscar placing stones around the base of the altar. He was creating the same spiral pattern that Felix had seen at every demonic attack.

‘Oscar, stop,’ Felix pleaded. But there was no response. He looked down at the talisman. Nothing. Not even a glimmer.

As if on cue, Bates reached over and pulled the cord from Felix’s neck. He flung the talisman into the bushes as the chant continued:

‘All our troubles will be over
All our troubles will be gone.’

Felix looked over to where Bates had flung the talisman. He could just make it out, lying on a pile of leaves.

A crack of lightning broke open the sky, and the wind began to blow a gale. Despite the ropes binding him, gusts of wind buffeted Felix about.

Bates and Sergeant Riles had finished tying him, and were now helping Oscar complete the spiral pattern. As they worked they kept chanting in low voices:

‘Restore the order
Restore the order
Restore the order
So you can reign.’

Oscar placed the last stone at Felix’s feet and, looking down, Felix realised the pattern was like a spiraling arrow – pointing directly at him.

The wind was building and Felix could hear a high-pitched humming coming from above him.

He craned his neck to see a perfectly formed twister spinning across the treetops towards him. It was just like the one that had first chased them in the forest, but this time, Felix couldn’t run. He thrashed against the ropes binding him but he couldn’t free his arms. Bates, Sergeant Riles and Oscar had their faces raised to the sky and chanted urgently as the twister grew in force, spinning towards them.

Felix looked around desperately, and a glimmer on the ground caught his eye. The talisman! The others were close.

Felix started to chant as loudly as he could:
‘Water, fire, earth and air
… ’

The talisman glowed brighter.

‘
Elements that we all share
… ’

As he kept chanting, Oscar suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground.

‘Oscar,’ Felix yelled over the howling wind, ‘fight it!’

Oscar staggered to his feet and looked around, bewildered. ‘Felix?’

‘Come on, Oscar. Fight it,’ yelled Felix.

Oscar looked around in shock. ‘What’s happening?’

‘Get me the talisman,’ screamed Felix.

Oscar scrambled towards the talisman just as Jake, Sam, Andy, Phoebe and Roland burst out of the bushes.

They struggled to get to Felix. The wind was gusting around him with such strength it was as if a helicopter was about to land. Leaves and twigs flung about in the air.

Roland raised his nulla-nulla high and sprang towards Bates, but Bates stared him down. Almost instantly, Roland’s nulla-nulla fell to the ground and he began to shake uncontrollably.

Sam reached Felix and pulled urgently at the knots, trying to free him. He freed one of Felix’s hands.

‘They’ve swapped Oscar for Roland,’ yelled Felix.

Oscar had almost reached the talisman but he was struggling to stand in the force of the wind.

Jake ran to help. He grabbed the talisman and flung it towards Felix.

Felix snatched the talisman with his free hand. He held it out towards Bates, Roland and Riles. It was glowing fiercely now.

‘
Water wash our sins away
Earth guide us to a place.
’

Roland, Bates and Riles backed down, confused. The twister stopped swirling and the breeze stilled as Felix kept chanting.

‘Wind brings with it fear
Flames of fire we must face.’

It was working. The demons were weakening.

But then the three demons’ heads jerked up and they rose to their full height with a surprising new strength. They opened their mouths in unison and a fearsome, deep cry seemed to come up through the earth. It shook their bodies and blasted out of their mouths. Three pairs of red eyes beamed down onto the boys as they started to advance.

‘Come on!’ Jake yelled as he, Andy and Sam threw themselves at the demons. But they were flicked away like irritating mosquitoes.

The demons turned their sights on Felix, their true focus, and the ropes that were still binding him fell away of their own accord. Like snakes eager to be somewhere else, they slipped away.

Felix jumped off the altar and held the talisman high, but its power seemed to be waning.

He looked up into the twister, which was spinning furiously in the sky above him. There was something in its vortex – an image was forming there. What was it? A face?

Felix’s legs gave way beneath him and he felt himself being dragged across the ground. The talisman fell from his grasp. The wind had such force that he couldn’t fight it. The twister started to descend. He was going to be sucked into it – he could feel it.

He kept chanting at the top of his voice, but the demons were no longer affected. They stood watching his body being dragged across the ground like a rag doll, their red eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

A hand grabbed Felix’s leg, and he looked up to see Andy gripping on to his ankle as hard as he could. In his other hand he held Felix’s phone. He pointed it towards Bates.

Through the roaring wind, Felix could just make out his song – the song that had got them in so much trouble. The song that could get them home.

It was the unmaking spell.
Cast again, in the same way, in the same place, and the spell would be reversed
.

Bates, Sergeant Riles and Roland put their hands over their ears and shook their heads. The song was affecting their power.

‘Turn it up,’ Felix yelled to Andy as he felt himself starting to slide towards the twister again. ‘Everybody, sing!’

He could faintly hear Sam, Jake, Phoebe and Andy joining in.

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

The song seemed so small in the face of the roaring wind.

But it was powerful.

The demons suddenly fell to the ground. And they were no longer roaring, but screaming – bloodcurdling screams of indescribable pain. Felix looked up at the twister. It was frozen in the sky. The face inside it was clear now. Felix knew that face. He’d seen it before. He looked towards Phoebe in astonishment.

‘Alice!’ yelled Phoebe.

Felix scrambled to his feet. He turned to Phoebe.

Tears were streaming down her face. ‘It’s Alice,’ she cried. ‘She’s the demon.’

Alice writhed in fury as the twister started to spin inward on itself.

Andy picked up the talisman as Felix bellowed the last lines:
‘Water wash our sins away …’

Sam, Jake and Andy surrounded him and together they yelled to the earth, to the wind, to the lightning and the rain:

‘Earth guide us to place.
Wind brings with it fear
Flames of fire we must face.’

The sky broke apart with an almighty crack, and everything turned to white.

we’re home, freak!

The soft melodic sound of bellbirds rang through the forest. The boys looked around the clearing; golden sunlight was filtering in through the trees around them. The sky was a perfect, still blue. There was no sign of the storm or the twister or their demonic attackers.

‘Where’s Phoebe?’ asked Sam.

‘Where’s Oscar?’ said Felix.

Andy picked up the talisman that was lying on the ground between them. ‘More importantly, where are we?’

The boys looked at each other, daring to hope that maybe – just maybe …

Felix jumped to his feet. He could hear something in the bush. He gestured for the others to be quiet.

The sound of branches being pushed aside and the soft murmur of voices came drifting their way. Trying to be as quiet as possible, the boys crept through the forest towards the sounds.

Jake grabbed the biggest stick he could find, prepared for anything.

Felix led the way. He stopped and put his hand up. The others crowded around him. Through the dense branches, they could just make out Mr Bates and Jake’s dad. ‘They’re looking for us,’ he whispered. ‘Everyone grab a weapon.’

Jake pushed aside a branch. ‘Wait a minute.’ He grinned so widely it threatened to split his face in two. ‘It’s Loser Dad!’

The others looked again. Sure enough, Jake’s dad wasn’t dressed in a police uniform. He was wearing trackpants and a T-shirt with holes in it, and had thongs on his feet.

‘Who wears thongs in the bush?’ muttered Andy.

‘Loser Dad does!’ yelled Jake. He jumped around on the spot. ‘We’re home. You did it, Felix. You legend!’

Felix stared at him. Had it worked? Was it possible?

Jake crashed through the bush towards his dad.

His dad’s face lit up in delight as he enveloped him in a hug.

‘I never thought I’d be so glad to see you,’ said Jake.

Tears welled in his dad’s eyes. ‘Oh son, we’ve been so worried.’

Bates blew his whistle as hard as he could. ‘They’re here,’ he called. ‘They’re found.’ His voice echoed through the forest.

There were more shouts and the sound of feet crashing through the undergrowth.

Felix turned to Sam and Andy. ‘I’m so sorry. For everything I put you through.’

Sam clapped him on the back. ‘It’s okay. We’re home, freak.’

Felix smiled. ‘Guess after what I’ve done to you, you can call me freak.’

Sam grinned. ‘Oh, that’s just the start.’

Felix turned to Andy. ‘You know, without you remembering the phone we would never have made it home.’

‘I told you, it’s all about the confluence between science and magic.’

‘You did great, brainiac,’ said Sam.

Andy grinned sheepishly. ‘Man hug?’

Jake came leaping back towards them, and the four boys clapped each other on the back and hugged with joy.

They’d done it. They were home.

‘Andy!’ yelled a voice.

Andy broke away and ran towards his dad, who grabbed him like he never wanted to let him go. ‘We knew all along the Australian bush was no place for you.’

Andy tried to free himself from his dad’s hug so he could breathe. ‘It wasn’t so bad, Dad. Really.’

‘Never again,’ his dad said firmly. ‘Your
nai nai
will put you under house arrest.’

Sam’s dad came stumbling through the forest.

Sam ran to him and his dad grabbed him in a headlock.

‘I knew you’d be okay. I kept telling them, “Sam knows the forest. He’ll be fine!”’

‘But Dad, it wasn’t the forest that was the problem. We’ve been in a parallel universe where we –’

‘Sam,’ warned Felix, eyeing him steadily. ‘We just got lost, that’s all.’

‘Felix?’

Felix turned. His dad was standing in front of him.

He looked older than Felix remembered. His shoulders were stooped and the lines on his face were deeper. ‘Oh, son,’ his voice broke. ‘We thought you’d …’ He stopped himself, the emotion threatening to overwhelm him.

‘I’m okay, Dad,’ said Felix quietly. ‘We couldn’t find our way home. That’s all.’

Felix’s dad’s hands shook as he grabbed a hold of him. ‘You know we love you, Felix. We really do.’

Felix swallowed hard. It was years since he’d heard those words. ‘How’s Oscar?’

His dad wiped his sleeve across his eyes. ‘Lost without you, mate. We all were.’

Jake’s mum plonked down next to him on the picnic rug. She tousled his hair. ‘Have I mentioned how unbelievably happy I am to have you home?’

Jake grinned. ‘Only about 3,568 times.’

His mum laughed. ‘And I’m not stopping there.’ She put a plastic plate in front of him. On it was a perfect BLT.

‘Do you know how often I dreamed about this?’ As he took a bite, Jake felt a wave of pure happiness.