Nowhere Boys (12 page)

In town, Felix veered down a side lane. He climbed the dozen or so steps behind the car park and stopped, breathless. Arcane Lane was still there. Exactly as he remembered it.

Last time he’d sneaked into the back room when Phoebe was distracted by Mia wanting her advice about making friendship bracelets. He’d found her Book of Shadows in a drawer and had flicked through it, looking for a spell that might help Oscar. He’d found something that he thought might work and, at the back of the book, he’d found a hand-drawn map of a powerful magical site in the Bremin Forest. He’d just managed to copy it down when Phoebe had caught him and chased him from the shop.

Felix took a deep breath. Hopefully, in this world, Arcane Lane would be run by a sweet old lady.

He peered through the window. Bugger. No such luck.

A grumpy-looking Phoebe was sitting behind the counter, packaging crystals in little Ziploc bags.

Felix hesitated. He needed to think this through. He couldn’t just walk in there and ask to look at her precious Book of Shadows. He looked around, searching for an idea.

A set of wind chimes hanging outside the shop clinked in the wind.

Felix considered them for a moment. If he could loosen them, he might buy himself enough time. He reached up and grasped the chimes closed to keep them quiet, then carefully loosened the string they were hanging from.

That should do it.

Felix entered the shop and Phoebe glanced up. ‘We don’t sell vampire books.’

‘I don’t want vampire books.’

Phoebe rolled her eyes and returned to her crystals. ‘My mistake.’

Felix looked around the shop. It was just as he remembered it. Dream-catchers hung from the ceiling. Strange statues of North American native people shared the floor with ceramic frogs, knee-high candles and crazed-looking fairies.

He ran his finger along the book titles, pretending to be interested:
ALCHEMY, SPIRITUAL HEALING, SELF HELP, WICCA, DIVINATION.

Crash!

Perfect timing.

Phoebe pushed her chair back with a sigh and stomped her way through the shop. She wrenched open the front door and, as soon as she did, Felix slipped behind the counter.

He parted the beaded curtain and stepped into the back room. On the walls were framed diagrams. The bookshelves were heavy with dusty books and glass jars with strange-looking specimens swirling in liquid. In the middle of the room was a large wooden desk where Phoebe kept her Book of Shadows.

Felix crept to the desk. If nothing had changed, it should be in the second drawer on the right. He pulled the drawer open and there it was. He grabbed it, stuck it up his jumper, and sneaked back into the front of the shop. To his relief, Phoebe was still outside, struggling with the collapsed wind chime. Felix hid himself behind a rack of fairy costumes. He placed the ancient-looking Book of Shadows on top of a pile of books and opened it.

Inside were pages of spells, just as he’d remembered. Spells for anything you could think of:
How to fly
;
How to speak in tongues
;
How to stop your rabbit running away
. Felix flipped through them anxiously. He stopped suddenly. There it was: the spiral diagram. He quickly pulled out his Book of Shadows and looked at his drawing. A perfect match. His eyes lit up. He turned the page and began to read.
These symbols represent the marks of
–

‘Find what you’re looking for?’

Felix slammed the book shut and turned. Phoebe was standing behind him with her arms crossed.

‘Ah, no. Still looking.’

Phoebe put her hand out. ‘I’ll have my book back, thank you.’

Felix hesitated. ‘It was on the shelf.’

‘Don’t lie to me.’

Felix tried another tack. ‘I just … Please. I really need to check something out.’

Phoebe shook her head. ‘No.’

‘Please!’

‘No.’

Felix reluctantly handed the book over, and Phoebe took it back to the counter.

Felix followed her. He couldn’t give up. He had to find out what those spirals were.

Phoebe pushed the Book of Shadows under the counter, out of sight. She looked up at Felix. ‘I think we’re done here.’

Felix took a deep breath. He had to take a chance. ‘We … I mean … I’m being chased by something evil and I need –’

‘Don’t use the word “evil”. It’s so judgemental.’

Felix sighed. She wasn’t making this easy. But he wasn’t going to give up. He knew she was connected to all of this, somehow. ‘Okay, not evil but bad. Very bad. I think it’s some sort of spirit.’ He eyed her carefully.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. ‘A
bad
spirit? How terrifying for you.’ She gestured to the box on the counter full of crystals in bags. ‘Why don’t you buy a bag of protective amulets?’

Felix looked at the unpromising crystals. ‘How much are they?’

‘How much have you got?’

Felix shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

‘Thought as much.’

Felix wondered if he should take some. It would be better than having no protection. ‘I could work it off, if you like. Do some shifts here for free.’

Phoebe looked horrified at the thought. ‘God, no. Just take a bag. They’re past their use-by date anyway.’

Felix picked a bag out of the box. ‘Since when did protective amulets have use-by dates?’

‘Since they came from Korea.’

Felix looked at the tiny plastic-looking crystals. ‘Will they work?’

‘Depends if you have the gift, Felix.’

Felix looked up sharply. Phoebe was staring at him intently. ‘How do you know my name?’

Phoebe held his gaze and then smiled. ‘It’s on your book.’

Felix looked down to see his name on his Book of Shadows, which was poking out of his open bag. He grabbed another couple of bags of crystals just to be sure. ‘Thank you,
Phoebe
.’

Felix headed for the door.

‘Wait. How did you know
my
name?’

Felix smiled and let the door bang behind him. That’d make her wonder.

Felix made his way back down the steps and onto the street. He had a strange feeling. There was a noise coming from above him, a bit like he’d heard in the powerlines a few days ago. He looked up, and realised it wasn’t coming from powerlines, but from the trees. It was a humming noise, and it was getting louder. He fingered the crystals in his pocket. Man, he hoped plastic crystals from Korea could protect them.

Ahead of him, standing on the corner, Felix caught sight of Ellen. She was standing by a pole, taping a flyer to it. His heart leapt. ‘Hey, Ellen, er – isn’t it?’

She looked up. Her eyes were red as if she’d been crying.

‘How are you?’ asked Felix, not sure what else to say.

‘Great,’ she answered sarcastically. ‘First I nearly get run over by a bus on the way to school, and now Wiki’s gone missing.’

Felix read the flyer.

MISSING

ONE JACK RUSSELL

ANSWERS TO THE NAME OF WIKILEAKS

‘What happened to him?’ asked Felix

‘I don’t know. He didn’t come home last night.’

‘Maybe if you put some Twisties on the back porch?’

‘How do you know Wiki likes Twisties?’ she asked suspiciously.

‘Just a guess.’ Felix shrugged. ‘I can help you look for him if you like.’ Ellen definitely wasn’t the same in this world, but maybe if they hung out together, they’d reconnect.

‘If he saw you coming, he’d probably run,’ said Ellen, walking away.

Felix watched her, stung. Being rejected by your best friend was not a good feeling.

‘Watch out!’ yelled someone who suddenly came flying around the corner, nearly knocking Felix to the ground.

Felix regained his balance. ‘Oscar?’

Trent and Dylan appeared around the same corner in fast pursuit. They pushed past Felix and sprinted after Oscar, disappearing down a lane.

Felix sped after them. Oscar might not be his brother in this world, but he could still help him.

He found Oscar being cornered by Trent and Dylan at the end of the lane. ‘Hey, leave him alone.’

Dylan and Trent ignored him. Dylan held Oscar against the brick wall while Trent went through his schoolbag.

He opened Oscar’s lunch box and shoved a jam doughnut in his mouth. ‘Tell your mum we much prefer chocolate doughnuts, Oscar.’

Oscar squirmed under Dylan’s hands.

Trent pulled a toy spaceship out of Oscar’s bag.

‘Would you look at that? The weirdo has a little toy.’ He placed the spaceship on the ground and hovered his foot over it.

Oscar wriggled desperately. ‘Please don’t. It’s a Valtirian …’

‘Leave him alone!’ said Felix, more forcefully.

Trent turned and gave Felix a long once-over. ‘You hear something, Dyl?’

Dylan shook his head and Trent’s foot came down on the spaceship.

‘That’s what you get for being such a freak,
freak!
’

Felix felt the anger rising up in him. It was one thing, people calling him a freak. But his little brother?

He launched himself at Trent. ‘Don’t call him a freak!’

Trent and Felix hit the ground. Trent grabbed Felix’s arm and twisted it behind him. Felix brought his knee up hard, right into Trent’s groin.

Trent yelped with pain and his grip on Felix’s arm loosened. ‘Get him, Dyl!’

Dylan loosened his hold on Oscar as Trent rolled into a ball.

‘Run, Oscar! Run!’ yelled Felix.

Oscar sprinted away as Dylan advanced menacingly on Felix.

Felix stuck his foot out and Dylan tripped over it, landing with a thud on the cobblestones. Before Dylan could work out what had happened, Felix jumped up and sprinted down the laneway after Oscar.

Oscar was quick. When Felix finally caught up with him, he’d nearly made it all the way home.

‘Wait up, Oscar,’ Felix called. ‘They’re not coming after you.’

But Oscar didn’t seem to hear him. He turned into their driveway, ran up the path to the front door, bounded up the steps and slammed the door shut just as Felix reached it.

Felix banged on the door, but there was no answer. ‘Oscar?’

A muffled voice came from behind the door. ‘Go away.’

‘Oscar, let me in. Come on.’ Felix swiped at a bee that was buzzing insistently around his head.

‘Just leave me alone.’

‘Come on! I just saved you.’

Oscar opened the door a crack and looked out. ‘You didn’t save me! You just made them hate me even more. Normally I’m number four on their hit list but after today I’ll be number two. Above Mikey Parker – and he brings a stuffed unicorn to school. So just leave, okay? He slammed the door shut.

Felix listened to Oscar’s footsteps recede.

Great. That had worked out really well.

A bee dive-bombed his head.

Felix flicked it away, annoyed. What was with these bees?

Another one came at him, and then another.

Now half a dozen bees were circling him. Felix suddenly realised what the strange humming noise he’d heard before was. Bees.

He watched them warily.

Right. He had to go into the house, whether Oscar liked it or not.

He looked at the old elm tree in the front yard. There was a branch that led directly to Oscar’s bedroom window.

The last thing Felix wanted to do was climb the elm tree. He’d avoided that tree for years. But this time he had no choice. If he stayed out here he was going to get stung to death.

Felix swung his leg up onto the first branch and started to climb. The bees stayed below, circling. As Felix climbed, he tried to shut out the memory but it kept coming: he and Oscar climbing together. Felix reaching the top branch, urging Oscar to climb just a little bit higher, just a little bit more. Then the terrible sound of cracking wood, like a bone snapping in half, and Felix looking down to see Oscar – just a broken body lying on the ground far below.

He pushed the painful memory away. It didn’t matter anymore, right? Oscar could walk. He didn’t have to feel guilty anymore. Well, at least not about that.

He reached Oscar’s window and looked in. Oscar was on the floor playing with his spaceships. His bedroom was filled with models of aliens, Star Trek paraphernalia and comic books, all overseen by a massive skull that doubled as a light. Man, Oscar sure was a nerd in this world.

Felix banged at the window.

Oscar looked up and shook his head, annoyed.

Felix banged again harder.

Oscar ignored him.

Felix looked down and saw the bees were starting to swarm up the tree. He yelled desperately through the glass: ‘If you don’t let me in, I’ll stay here all night and you’ll be known as the guy with the freaky BFF who lives in a tree. Then you’ll be number one on Trent and –’

Oscar sighed in defeat and lifted up the window sash.

Felix fell into the room, quickly slamming the window behind him.

‘Only girls say BFF,’ said Oscar, returning to his game.

Bees swarmed the window and batted against the glass.

‘Look, we hardly know each other,’ said Oscar. ‘And I don’t know why you want to be my friend so much. It’s weird.’

Felix shrugged. ‘Maybe I like you.’

Oscar looked slightly disturbed by that idea.

Felix looked around the room searching for a more convincing line. ‘Or maybe I just really love playing with Trianite motherships and attacking Centauras the Deadly.’

Oscar’s eyes lit up. ‘You do?’

‘Sure,’ said Felix. He glanced nervously at the window, which was now almost covered in bees.

‘Woah,’ said Oscar. ‘You must have disturbed their hive.’

Felix felt a tug of fear. This had to be another attack. He pulled the Korean crystals from his pocket and held them out towards the window. ‘Behold the repelling power of the crystals.’

The bees seemed only to gather in strength.

Oscar gave him a strange look. ‘What are you doing?’

Felix pocketed the crystals. What a load of junk. Thanks for nothing, Phoebe.

He had to get back to the shop and convince her to show him her Book of Shadows. It was their only chance. He needed real magic, not stupid crystals.

But he couldn’t just leave Oscar here. What if the bees got inside?

‘Listen, we have to get out of here and get help. But we can’t go out the front, so we’ll have to take the secret escape route.’