Grimsdon (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

‘It does fly!' From the top of their fairytale roof, Bea had climbed onto the back of the leaping stone horse and watched, wide-eyed, as Xavier's flying machine approached from the building opposite. It was a bicycle with wings on either side, an umbrella-shaped cover and a cargo box at the back.

‘It looks like a giant praying mantis.' Raffy sat on the wing of the water dragon statue.

‘It looks like a death trap.' Griffin slumped on the doorstep of the stone house beside Fly. He looked down at her sketch of the contraption. In just a few strokes she had captured it perfectly.

Xavier peddled fast, rising and falling on the wafting air currents. He flew between the buildings and staggered over the heads of the others, swerving between the statues before coming to a flawless stop.

Xavier pulled a pair of leather goggles from his eyes and stepped off the machine. He kicked out a bike stand and hoisted the contraption onto it.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Aerotrope.'

Isabella pushed back one side of her coat, placing her hand firmly on the knife in her belt.

‘The Aerotrope?' Griffin asked.

‘Yes. Good name, I thought.'

‘I'm surprised you didn't call it Xavier's Magnificent Aerotrope.'

‘You know, Griff, that's a great idea. No wonder Izzy lets you stick around.'

‘It's Griffin.'

‘No problem,' Xavier winked, ‘Griff.'

Bea and Raffy climbed off the statues and circled the machine.

‘Where did you find it?' Raffy asked.

‘I made it.'

‘Made it?' Bea's eyes widened.

‘Yep. With a little ingenuity and a lot of smarts, there's no end to what you can come up with.'

Fly and Griffin rolled their eyes.

‘How does it work?' Isabella asked.

Xavier smiled and held out his hand. ‘Come, I'll show you.'

Griffin jumped up, making sure to stand between them.

‘The pedals operate the wings, which rotate in a figure eight. This pushes streams of air down and back, propelling the Aerotrope forward.'

He walked alongside one of the outstretched wings, followed closely by Bea and Raffy. Isabella and Griffin stood together, arms crossed.

‘The wings are made out of a waterproof material, and I've made them rounded at the front and thinner at the back. It's the best shape for flying.'

He tapped the bright-red bike frame. ‘This was a real find. It's made from tough, lightweight carbon fibre and, because of its hollow frame, it floats in water.' He pointed to two small floatation devices in the centre of both wheels. ‘These help too.'

Griffin noticed a powerful-looking front light. ‘How does that work?'

‘Batteries. I found a huge stash in a shopping centre when I went exploring.'

Bea and Raffy followed him to the tail. ‘This acts like a rudder for turning, and when I'm coming in for a landing all I have to do is tilt the wings and turn the tail downwards.'

‘How far can it fly?' Isabella asked.

A victory smile rose into Xavier's lips. ‘As far as your legs are willing to pedal.'

He stood legs astride, hands on hips. ‘Inventors throughout history have been trying to perfect the flying machine,' he said grandly. ‘From the ancient Greeks to Italy's Leonardo Da Vinci and Australia's Lawrence Hargrave – and now we can add Xavier Stone from Grimsdon.'

He took a low bow.

Bea and Raffy applauded.

Xavier turned to Isabella. ‘Impressive enough?'

‘Why are you showing us this when you could keep it for yourself?'

‘What's the point of great inventions if you don't share them?'

‘What's the point if you can't show off, you mean,' Griffin mumbled.

‘But why us?' Isabella demanded.

Xavier laughed. ‘I wasn't about to help any of the
adults.'

Isabella scowled. ‘You don't even know us.'

‘It's getting harder for you to find food.' He slapped the seat of the machine. ‘But with this baby, I can fly you to places filled with food that you haven't been able to reach.' He clapped his hands. ‘Would anyone like to be the first passenger on Xavier's Magnificent Aerotrope?'

‘Can we have a go, Izzy?' Bea and Raffy chimed.

‘How do we even know it's safe?' Griffin asked.

Xavier offered him an impish grin. ‘We're living in a flooded city. Is anything safe?'

‘That doesn't answer the question.'

‘Some questions aren't that simple to answer.'

Griffin stepped forward. ‘Well, maybe that's not–'

‘I'll try it,' Isabella said.

‘Excellent.' Xavier smiled directly at Griffin.

‘Isabella.' Griffin turned his back on Xavier and did nothing to lower his voice. ‘I don't think we should trust this guy. We don't know him.'

‘I have these.' Xavier opened the storage box on the back of the Aerotrope and pulled out a helmet and life jacket. He handed them to Isabella. ‘Not that we'll need it; I'm a very fine pilot.'

‘We only have your word on that,' Griffin said.

Xavier held his hand across his heart. ‘I promise that apart from when I was experimenting with earlier versions of the Aerotrope, I haven't had a crash.'

‘So you
have
crashed it?' Griffin asked.

‘Not this version.'

‘I'll be fine, Griffin.' Isabella put on the jacket and buckled the helmet. ‘Stay here and take care of the others. We won't be long.'

Xavier climbed onto the flying machine and patted the seat behind him. ‘Your carriage awaits.'

‘Can we have a go when you get back?' Raffy tugged at Xavier's sleeve.

‘We'd easily fit,' Bea said. ‘We're only small.'

‘That's up to Isabella, I'd say.' Xavier turned to Isabella. ‘Hold me round the waist.'

Isabella threaded her arms loosely around him.

‘You'll have to hold on tighter than that. It can get a little breezy up there.'

Griffin folded his arms across his chest. ‘How much longer do we have to stand here before you show us how magnificent you are?'

Xavier lowered his goggles over his eyes. ‘About twenty seconds, I'd say.'

He began turning the pedals. The stand held the Aerotrope's spinning wheels above the ground. The wings slowly creaked to life, plunging down in a long sweep before dragging themselves upwards.

Xavier pedalled faster.

‘Ten seconds till take-off,' he yelled.

Isabella held on tighter.

Xavier smiled even wider.

Fly slipped beside Griffin and took his hand. Griffin squeezed it but didn't take his eyes off the machine.

Xavier pressed a button on the handlebar and a small pair of wings in the centre of the back wheels flicked open. He kicked back the safety stand with one foot and the Aerotrope bounced onto its wheels, moving forward across the roof.

‘Stand by for take-off,' Xavier shouted.

But the flying machine wasn't flying.

Fly gasped, not wanting to blink. Bea looped her arm through her brother's. Griffin's eyes locked on the machine, watching every turning wheel, spinning cog and plunging wing.

‘Please, please, please,' Raffy whispered.

But still the machine wouldn't lift and headed straight for the small wave-like wall.

CHAPTER THREE

Finally, as if drawn into the sky, the wind caught under the wings of the flying machine, the tyres lifted from the ground and just cleared the edge of the roof.

The twins jumped and hugged each other. ‘Go Izzy!'

Griffin's shoulders dropped and he let out a sigh.

Xavier pedalled faster and the Aerotrope rose even higher, soaring further away from the Palace.

Isabella's grip on Xavier's waist loosened. She closed her eyes and felt the wind sweep past, buoying them as they sank and swam through the air. When she opened her eyes again, she looked over the city of half-submerged clock towers, church domes, marooned castle turrets and spired cathedrals.

‘I told you there was nothing to worry about,' Xavier cried. ‘I've done this loads of times.'

Row after row of building tops floated beneath them. There was a greenhouse with panels of glass crashed through by overgrown trees, lines of crooked and broken chimneys and a children's rooftop playground with swings, monkey bars and roundabouts tangled in ivy.

Xavier pushed the handles of the Aerotrope forward. He dipped closer to a large metal bridge that sat in the floodwaters like a castle surrounded by a vast moat. Isabella felt as if she could almost touch the laced crown-like ironwork.

‘Bet you never thought Grimsdon could look so good?' Xavier steered the machine into a corridor of derelict shops and department stores. He followed the course of the original river that wound past the Abbey of St Joan, tipped with gargoyles and praying angels and the medieval turrets of what once was the Queen's castle. Isabella's heart quickened when she saw a group of adults hunched around a fire on one of the battlements. They pointed and yelled as the Aerotrope flew over them. Isabella quickly looked away.

The spires of one particular building poked out of the river like the spiked back of a dragon. The tower at the end stood upright like its proud neck and head. At the top, each side bore a clock with hands that had been rusted still.

‘Parliament House,' Isabella whispered.

‘Some of it at least.' Xavier pulled back the handles. ‘I want to show you something else.'

They flew higher, sweeping up so that they were only metres from one of the clock faces.

‘I never knew it was this big.' Isabella marvelled at the opalescent pieces of glass that made it glow. The hands stretched away from the centre for several metres, and above it were honeycombed archways leading to the belfry where the giant bells quietly sat in their holds.

‘There.' Xavier nodded towards an arch. It was filled with branches and leaves fashioned into a giant nest. They could hear huddled scrambling and the cries of robins.

Isabella leant towards them and the Aerotrope tipped off balance.

‘Whoa, careful now! No sudden moves,' Xavier warned. ‘She's a finely balanced machine.'

He turned to see Isabella's broad smile, her face glowing with the reflected sunlight off the clock. For a moment, Xavier loosened his grip on the handlebars and the machine nosedived. He snapped round and quickly pulled it up.

Isabella grinned. ‘Careful now. No sudden moves.'

Xavier circled the tower and headed back towards Isabella's home. It wasn't long before he saw the stone fairytale statues and small figures jumping and waving their arms.

‘You want to see what she's really capable of?' Xavier asked.

‘I'm game if you are.'

Xavier pushed the handlebars forward, sending the Aerotrope into a freefall.

Isabella fell against him, gripping his waist tighter.

Griffin saw the dive and stepped forward.

‘What's he doing?' Raffy asked.

‘Are they going to crash?' Bea grabbed her brother's hand.

‘They won't crash,' Griffin said. ‘He's done this before, remember?' But the Aerotrope kept falling. ‘Pull up, pull up,' he whispered.

It was too late. The machine plunged between a maze of buildings.

‘Izzy!' Griffin sprang forward but tripped on the water dragon's claw and was sent sprawling to the ground, his head striking the wall, his glasses flying from his face.

‘Griffin!' Bea shouted.

Bea, Raffy and Fly surrounded him.

‘I'm okay.' He turned and dragged himself up, a fleck of blood dripping down his forehead. ‘Where are they?'

Fly took a hanky from her pocket and wiped his face. Bea handed him his glasses.

‘Can anyone see them?' Griffin asked.

‘There!' the twins pointed into the sky.

Griffin spun round in time to see the Aerotrope swoop out of the buildings into a wide roller-coaster loop. He heard Xavier whooping over the wind – along with Isabella's laugh.

The machine sailed towards them, its wings smoothly flapping on either side of Xavier's wide-stretched grin. It landed with the smallest of bumps, before coming to a stop.

‘You did it!' Bea ran to Isabella.

‘What was it like?' Raffy asked.

Isabella climbed off the seat and undid her helmet, flicking her hair behind her. ‘It was brilliant.' She took a deep breath, an irrepressible smile on her lips.

‘But you fell,' Griffin blustered.

‘We didn't fall, Griff.' Xavier jumped to the ground. I was showing Isabella my fine skills as a pilot.'

Isabella noticed his bleeding head. ‘What happened?'

‘Nothing.' Griffin wiped his brow with his sleeve. ‘It looked like you were going to crash,' he said sullenly.

‘That's where you have to be careful, little man,' Xavier said. ‘Not everything is as it seems.'

Griffin flicked out his knife. ‘What's to stop us taking the machine and throwing you in the river?'

There was a brief silence.

‘As well as the Aerotrope, I also have a covered rowboat called a Velocraft, and I can take you to the Haggle.'

‘What's the Haggle?' Isabella asked.

‘It's where the others meet and trade.'

‘The others?' Griffin frowned.

‘A bunch of kids, actually. Adults aren't allowed. They scavenge things from all over the city and swap them. That's where I found the bike for the Aerotrope. You can get a lot of useful things at the Haggle – if you know someone with the right connections who can get you in.'

‘Meaning you?' Griffin raised an eyebrow.

‘You betcha.'

The twins tugged at Xavier's jacket. ‘Can we have a turn on the Aerotrope?' Xavier looked to Isabella. ‘We all know now it's safe.'

Griffin's eyes locked onto a growing shape in the distance. ‘Sneaker wave.'

‘A what?' Xavier asked.

‘That.'

On the horizon a wave reached into the air like a giant, grasping hand.

‘Oh, that's what you call them.'

‘Everybody inside!' Isabella yelled.

Griffin dropped his knife, and he and Isabella hurried the children across the roof. The harbour waters gathered into a single, bulging wave and surged towards them. It rose upwards in an increasing roar, filling the air with ocean spray that showered over them.

‘The Aerotrope!' Xavier ran towards the machine.

Isabella clenched her teeth and raced after him, catching him around the ankles so that he slammed to the ground. ‘There's no time!'

Griffin watched as the wave was almost on them. It pummelled into buildings as it approached the Palace, crashing and rolling against everything in its way. He stood at the door of the roof, unable to move as the water reared higher. He tried to run to help Isabella but his mind had gone numb. His breath was shallow and his heart thundered.

Isabella dragged Xavier to his feet and shoved him through the door. Griffin snapped back to life as they hurtled past. Fighting the squalling wind and thick spray of water, he and Isabella grabbed the handle of the steel door and pulled it shut, locking it firmly.