The Advent Calendar (6 page)

The great birds reached the top of the thermal. Both Alice and Sam held on a little tighter as they beat their wings again, carrying them forward on the very borders between earth and space. The familiar shapes of the British Isles and Europe were spread out like a carpet below them. Endless blackness stretched above them. To the east again, away from the setting sun, the stars came into view clearer than Alice had ever seen. For a few moments at the very highest point of the flight, the winds dropped and there was complete silence. For the first part of the journey, Alice had been caught up in the detail: seeing everything from a new perspective. Now both she and Sam simply sat back and wondered at the earth and the skies spread out before them, drinking in the sense of space and size and order. Alice wanted to cry out but she had no words for what she felt.

Then the eagles turned, reaching the edge of the atmosphere, gliding but now down again in gentle, wide circles as the journey was reversed. The broad features of the land came into view first: the coasts and hills and forests and rivers; then the cities and towns; then the individual streets and houses; then the cars. Alice was surprised at how close to the earth’s surface she had to come before she caught again the first sound of the traffic moving in the rush hour, the trains from the main-line station heading for the North, the helicopters on traffic patrol over the M25.

Now with each vast, gentle circle, the familiar sites came nearer, rushing to meet her like old friends. The roof of her own house was there, her bedroom window, one of the neighbours in his garden. No one looked up. The eagles swooped in low for the final time, clipping the tops of the trees and landing neatly exactly where they had begun, on either side of the garden gate. Alice and Sam slipped down from the back of the birds trembling with excitement. Both looked up into the sky, searching for the hidden pathways they had just explored. Then, together, they looked back at the creatures which had carried them so high. Both eagles bowed low to the ground. Sam and Alice bowed their heads in return in silent thanks and wonder. With a single, graceful movement, the birds stretched their wings and flew, this time away in the direction of the west and the setting sun.

Sam and Alice stood in silence until the birds had disappeared, then walked together into the house. Alice took his hand. Neither wanted to be the first to speak.

‘Sam, what about Josie?’ asked Alice as she put her hand on the back-door handle.

‘It’ll be OK,’ said Sam. ‘Don’t worry!’ Alice noticed for a moment how different he looked after the long flight. She wondered if she looked different too.

Josie and Megs were back in the kitchen, fixing something to eat. Both looked up as Alice and Sam came in.

‘Hi!’ said Sam. ‘Back in just a sec.’

Together he and Alice went into the front room. Megs and Josie followed. There, on the wall, was the calendar. The fifth door was open now. The black leather blind was rolled back, secured with the neatest of tiny straps. The view through the door was one of wide-open winter skies. There, in the distance was the outline of an eagle in full flight, heading into the sun.

6 December

Sam’s alarm went off the next day at half past six. A hand shot out from under the duvet and silenced it. An instant later the second clock went off – this one positioned just out of reach. This time a hairy arm and shoulder emerged, stretched, groped about on the chest of drawers and found its prey. Sam snorted, turned over and tried to get back to sleep. He’d been up late with Josie talking into the night and had not slept well. Two minutes later, though, alarm number three got him. This one was on the other side of the room. Sam stumbled out of bed and turned it off along with alarms four, five and six.

‘Not bad,’ he smiled to himself as he reached for his dressing gown and headed for the loo. ‘Whassat?’ The familiar sound of flatulence came from his mobile phone. A text message had arrived. ‘Can’t be this early, can it?’

Sure enough, the code had arrived. ‘Galloping giraffes, that’s a blow. I just can’t be late for work today.’ What Sam hadn’t told Megs and Josie yesterday was that Richard had caught up with him on Wednesday and had given him a formal warning. He needed to get into the office early to do some extra work on the wretched report which was due in by noon Friday – no mercy and no last chances. He simply had to progress it this morning. They would just have to open the door tonight. Tizzy’s job was on the line as well.

Sam’s brain only worked very slowly in the mornings. By the time he’d puzzled all this through he was showered, shaved, dressed and tiptoeing down the stairs. Normally, of course, Sam leaving the house sounded like a herd of gnu but today he particularly did not want to wake Alice.

She, however, was waiting for him in the hall at the bottom of the stairs in jeans, jumper and trainers.

‘Aaaaah,’ he jumped. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Ready to go, stupid,’ she said. ‘The code’s arrived, hasn’t it?’

‘How did you know that?’ Sam asked suspiciously.

‘My bedroom door was open,’ Alice said, innocently. She didn’t add that she had propped it open last night to see if she could catch some of the grown-up conversation going on in hushed whispers. ‘I heard your stupid text-message signal. While you were in the shower, I checked. Today’s code is three, zero, colon, two, one. You must have heard it. Why are you dressed as if you’re going to work?’

‘Is there a door?’ Sam asked, despite himself.

‘It’s in the bottom left corner. It took me a while to see it. Simply a rectangle shape made of logs. Come and look – we can punch the code in together before Mum wakes up.’

‘I just can’t today, Alice. It’s a work thing. I’m behind on something. I just can’t be late. And what about school?’ Sam was not convincing when he tried to sound like an adult.

‘What about it?’ said Alice. ‘I couldn’t care less about school. It’s only assembly first thing. It’s so boring. The calendar is much more fun. Come on.’

She tugged at his sleeve. Sam wavered, then began to back away.

‘Alice – look, sorry. I really like the calendar. It’s been fantastic. Normally I wouldn’t mind missing work but I’ve run out of excuses, I really have. It’s serious. Bye.’

He ran out through the kitchen door before Alice could stop him. She was not to be beaten and headed straight for the calendar. ‘OK, Mr Keeno. Let’s see what this does to your work plans.’ For the sixth time she punched in the code one number at a time, pausing only slightly before the final number: ‘Three. Zero. Two dots. Two. One.’

At first, nothing. Then a soft cranking sound as the rows of tiny logs began to part in the centre like a stage curtain. In the middle of the small doorway was something that looked like a tiny spinning tornado. ‘Uh oh!’ thought Alice, just feeling the wind moving her hair. By the time the door was half open, she was holding onto the back of the sofa to stay upright. The instant it was fully open, Alice felt her feet lifting off the carpet as she was pulled into the air and towards the calendar. Instinctively, she closed her eyes, thinking she was going to hit the wall of the living room. She never saw whether the door got bigger or she got smaller. An instant later she felt something like wet branches brush her face and she was sitting on cold soft earth. The smell of pine trees was all around. It was raining very gently. There was a soft mist just lifting with the dawn.

Alice opened her eyes. It was early morning. She was in the middle of a great forest of Christmas trees as tall as lampposts. A single path led away between the trees. And to her great delight, as she had hoped, she was not alone. Sam was about two metres away, his clothing crumpled and torn. He was grumpy and pleased at the same time.

‘Suffering centipedes! You punched in the code.’

‘What happened?’

‘I was just putting my bag in the back seat of the car when I was caught up by an enormous blast of wind, spun through the air and set down here. You?’

‘Same, only in the living room. Where do you think we are?’

‘Dunno,’ said Sam, getting to his feet and brushing pine needles off his trousers. ‘In a wood? Lost? Late for work?’

‘Sorry, Sam,’ said Alice, grinning meekly.

‘Bit late for that,’ Sam said with a wink, pulling her up. ‘The timings have all worked out so far. I was wondering how we might manage it today anyway. You’ve got your parents’ evening tonight, haven’t you?’

‘Don’t remind me,’ said Alice. ‘Mum and Miss Newton meet at seven. I’ve been trying not to think about it. What about your work and stuff?’

‘Something,’ said Sam, ‘will just have to turn up. Let’s go – there’s only one path. Come on.’

They moved forward together down into the forest away from the clearing. The path was straight at first but then began to meander gently through the trees. It was a couple of metres wide and clear of the ivy and undergrowth that covered the forest floor. The canopy of branches sheltered them from the rain apart from one or two drips which made it through. The early morning sunlight cut shafts through the pine trees and made endlessly shifting patterns on the forest floor. The air was sharp on their cheeks. Both of them breathed in deeply. Wherever they were, it was good to be here.

‘So what happened with Josie?’ Alice asked once they were into their stride. ‘I heard her talking to Mum about a test or something. Did she fail an exam? She’s so nice.’

‘It was a pregnancy test, nosey. I suppose you had to find out sooner or later. Josie’s going to have a baby.’

‘But she was crying.’

‘I know,’ Sam said. ‘Having a baby’s not exactly in the plan. A few months ago we were really close and we did talk about, well, you know, the future and stuff and being together. Then we had this big bust-up. Around the same time, I had to move out of my flat and I came to live with you. Since then we’ve seen each other every so often – but I never expected anything like this.’

‘So what’s going to happen? Are you going to get back together?’

‘Dunno. It’s kind of a lot to think about just now. If we stay together, then there’s the baby to take care of. Not sure I’m ready for all that. It’s just not a good time. Then there’s all this stuff at work.’

‘Have you thought about, you know?’

‘Getting rid of it? Yeah. That might happen too. But it’s not something to take lightly, is it? And if we go that way, then it really is over between Josie and me. Have you seen what’s happening to the path?’

Alice looked back. The pathway was getting narrower, the bends were sharper now, and a few smaller tracks led off to the right and to the left. One or two were clearly dead-ends but some looked as if they would lead somewhere else completely. Out of the corner of her eye, Alice caught a glimpse of something else.

‘Something’s following us again. It’s the shadow I saw the day we went for tea to that church or garden or whatever it was. I’ve not seen it since. There was no sign of it at all in the vineyard and with the eagles. But it’s there now.’

‘Best keep moving then,’ Sam said. ‘What about these side-paths? Do you think we should explore them?’

‘I’m not really sure,’ said Alice, ‘I think we’re meant to stay on this one.’

But as they moved forward, the path they had been following became smaller and smaller until it began to look like the other pathways which criss-crossed the forest floor. There was no sign of civilisation of any kind. Each time they could tell which the main pathway was but only just. They couldn’t see much beyond the trees but occasionally they caught sight of mountains on each side of them. They were clearly in some kind of great valley.

After an hour’s steady walking they came upon a large rock by the side of the road. A very tiny spring bubbled up through a crack in the centre of the rock and ran across the pathway only to disappear into the ground on the other side. Sam tasted the water first. It was clear and fresh. They both drank deeply, cupping their hands to gather the ice-cold refreshment. Sam looked curiously at the rock and the way the water just appeared. Alice was looking at where they went next.

‘We need to go more carefully here. We could take a wrong turn.’

Up ahead of them, the path divided into two. This time, the two ways looked exactly the same but each went off in a different direction, twisting and turning away from the other.

‘Eeny, meeny, miny mo,’ said Sam. ‘Come on, it’s this way.’

‘Sam, wait!’ cried Alice. ‘Stop and think.’

Sam stopped, three paces down the left-hand track.

‘This is the first time we’ve had to make a choice since we began the calendar,’ Alice went on, glancing over her shoulder. ‘None of the other roads have divided. I think it means something.’

‘The shadows are still there,’ said Sam, looking back. ‘I can see them too now. There seem to be more of them. There’s no way we can just wait here. There’s no way of telling which way to go from looking at the pathways. This one is exactly the same as that one. They are the same width; they head off in approximately the same direction. They look identical. So the only way is to just choose. Do you want to flip a coin or something?’

‘But suppose it’s important?’ said Alice. ‘Suppose there is another way to decide? Suppose we just wait and listen.’

To Sam’s amazement, Alice squatted down by the side of the road and just looked at the two paths. ‘But Alice, the shadows – we can’t wait here.’

Alice had a deep, irresistible and strange sense that she needed to stop and think. It came from deep within her.

‘Just do it, Sam,’ said Alice. ‘Just trust me on this one. It’s a feeling.’

Sam did as he was told. Nothing happened for about a minute. Every ten seconds or so, Sam looked back over his shoulder. The shadows were slowly coming nearer. He was no wiser at all and about to give up when Alice stood up and pointed down the right-hand path.

‘This is the way,’ she said, setting off at once.

‘How do you know that?’ said Sam, amazed.

‘I just know,’ said Alice. ‘I listened. Come on – no time to lose. We might throw them off the trail.’

Glancing behind him again, Sam set off after Alice, keeping his eye on the pathway. Fifteen minutes later they came to another rock by the side of the road. Again, there was a tiny spring bubbling up and running across the path. Beside the spring this time were two tiny flat loaves.

‘Look, Sam. This must be the way.’ Alice took a drink of water and broke off a piece of bread. It tasted of honey and herbs. ‘I’m starving.’

‘S’good,’ said Sam, a bit reluctantly. ‘I’m impressed, Alice. How did you know the way?’

‘It was just as I said. I just kind of concentrated and listened.’

They set off again refreshed, nibbling the bread as they went. Sam looked at his watch to see how late he was for work already. The hands had stopped at ten to seven. A bit further on the trail divided again, this time into three almost identical paths. The central path was a little wider this time.

‘Straight on?’ wondered Sam.

‘OK,’ said Alice, and followed him slowly. Then she stopped. ‘Hold up, Sam. I’m not sure this is the pathway. Just wait a moment.’

Sam turned back. As he did, he thought he caught a glimpse of three shadows lurking in the trees ahead but said nothing. Alice squatted down beside the road again in the place the paths divided, lines of concentration on her face. This time Sam heard the little whisper too. ‘Left,’ it said, soft as a kiss on the cheek.

Alice pointed left. ‘This way,’ she said. ‘Quick.’

‘I know,’ said Sam. ‘I heard it too. There are shadows down that middle pathway and at least five behind us now.’

On they went through the forest trail, twisting now this way, now that, climbing steeply. The path had become so narrow that they had to walk in single file, Alice first with Sam bringing up the rear. Despite the bread, they were becoming tired because of the pace. The third junction was different again. One pathway began to climb very steeply up to the left. The other was broad and wide and led down into the valley.

‘It must be this way,’ said Sam, pointing down to the right. ‘It looks like the original path we followed at the beginning.’

‘Just wait, Sam. We have to wait and listen again. I know we do.’

Both of them knew the shadows were gathering in the trees behind them and much closer now. Every time they looked round at least three or four flitted across the paths, keeping to the darkness of the trees when they could. Despite that, Alice squatted bravely in the road and tried to concentrate. Sam did the best he could to listen for the soft voice in his head but this time could only shuffle and look round. He caught nothing.