Nowhere Boys (13 page)
Oscar looked at him suspiciously. ‘How do you know about the secret escape route?’
Damn, he had to be more careful. In his world, Felix and Oscar had made up a secret escape route through the laundry window and out the back of the house. In this world, Oscar must have done the same thing.
‘Ah, telepathy,’ said Felix, not sure how else to answer.
To his surprise, Oscar smiled. ‘Woah, cool! Are you, like, an alien with intergalactic powers?’
Felix figured that was about as good an explanation as any he could come up with. ‘Yeah, something like that. Come on.’
Felix and Oscar sprinted downstairs. ‘Holy crap!’ said Felix, seeing that the bees, now in their thousands, had covered the lounge room window with their angry, vibrating bodies.
The boys raced into the kitchen. Oscar flung open the cupboard under the sink and grabbed two cans of insect spray. He gave one to Felix.
They ran into the laundry and jumped up on the washing trough beneath the laundry window. The bees hadn’t reached the laundry yet, but their buzzing was deafening.
Felix and Oscar held their cans poised, fingers on the nozzles.
‘Are you ready?’ said Felix.
Oscar grinned. ‘You’re actually kind of cool – for an alien.’
Despite the possibility of death by a thousand bee stings, Felix smiled back. ‘One, two, three!’ He flung open the window. ‘
Go!
’
Felix and Oscar burst through the door of Arcane Lane. Felix slammed the glass door behind them as Oscar sprayed the life out of the lone bee that had slipped in with them.
Phoebe looked up from the counter. ‘Hey, get that stuff out of here. It’s full of fluorocarbons.’
‘Then give me something that isn’t totally useless,’ said Felix, dumping the Korean crystals onto the counter.
Phoebe picked up the crystals and dropped them in the bin behind the counter. ‘Could have told you that.’
Felix leant in. ‘I need to see your Book of Shadows.’
‘Sorry, it’s adults only.’
‘I need to see it. Please.’
Phoebe looked up, exasperated. ‘Listen, kid, I can’t –’
Felix had walked back to the front door and, in one swift movement, pulled up the venetian blinds.
Phoebe’s eyes widened. Swarming against the door was a wall of bees so dense that the street was no longer visible.
‘I’m guessing you haven’t just disturbed their hive?’
Felix shook his head.
Phoebe dislodged herself from her chair and retrieved the Book of Shadows from under the counter. ‘All right. Follow me.’
Felix and Oscar followed Phoebe into her back room. Oscar looked around in wonder as Phoebe placed the book reverently on the desk.
She was about to open it when she stopped. She gave Oscar a long, hard look. ‘Who are you, exactly?’
‘He’s my …’ Felix began.
‘Friend,’ Oscar finished the sentence for him.
Felix smiled. Friend would do, for now.
Phoebe turned back to the book. ‘I wouldn’t be smiling if I were you. Not if I was being chased by an army of bees.’
‘It’s not just the bees … that’s the thing.’ The words tumbled out of Felix. It was a relief to be able to tell someone. ‘First there was this weird tornado and last night there was this storm that left all these spiral patterns, and a hooded figure –’
Phoebe looked up sharply. ‘A hooded figure? Where were you?’
Felix hesitated. Had he said too much? ‘In the forest.’
‘Did you see its face?’ asked Phoebe. Her eyes seemed to be radiating a dark light.
Felix suddenly had a very strong feeling that maybe he shouldn’t tell Phoebe everything that had happened in the past few days. He had no idea whether or not he could trust her, and revealing too much could be a big mistake. He quickly backtracked. ‘No. In fact, it may not have even been a figure. The storm was really wild and everything was moving in the wind. It could have just been a tree.’
Phoebe looked at him suspiciously. ‘A tree?’
‘Sure.’
‘There wasn’t a storm last night,’ said Oscar, puzzled.
‘Still as a stone in Bremin last night, Felix.’ Phoebe’s eyes bored into him.
He looked warily at them both. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Which means,’ said Phoebe, returning to the Book of Shadows, ‘that something is targeting you in particular.’ She found the page she was looking for. ‘Here we are. Elemental attacks.’
Felix craned his neck to look over her shoulder. ‘What are they?’
‘Earth, fire, air, water. Sound familiar?’
‘No. Not really,’ Felix said evasively.
‘Well, they’re the building blocks of the natural world. If something has disturbed them, any of the natural elements can rise up in defence.’ She looked at him piercingly. ‘Have you disturbed something you shouldn’t have, Felix?’
‘No. Of course not.’ Felix looked away. Of course he had. He’d disturbed everything.
‘He
is
an alien. Does that count?’ offered Oscar cheerfully.
Phoebe ignored Oscar and opened a drawer. She pulled out an old battered box and placed it in front of her. ‘Most of the people who come in here are after scented candles and dolphin statues. No-one knows anything about real magic.’ She stroked the box thoughtfully. ‘But if you’re the victim of elemental attacks, then it stands to reason you are a threat, and to be a threat you must have magical power. Am I right?’
Felix was starting to regret coming here for help. Too many questions he couldn’t answer. He was about to make his excuses and leave when he remembered what was waiting for him out the front. He didn’t actually have a choice.
He shrugged. ‘Maybe. I don’t really know.’
Phoebe opened the clasp of the box. ‘Okay, then. Let’s find out.’
Inside the box was a round, roughly hewn talisman on a string. It was divided equally into four parts. Each part was engraved with indecipherable lettering. Phoebe scooped it out and placed it carefully on the desk. Then she lit a candle.
‘This talisman belonged to my sister, Alice. It can protect against elemental attacks, but first it needs to be activated by someone with special powers.’ Her black eyes drilled into Felix as she passed him the Book of Shadows, open at a spell. ‘Alice was a very powerful witch. This was her book.’ She nodded at the open page. ‘Read it.’
Felix looked at the spell.
Phoebe filled a small bowl with water and another with dirt. She placed them on the desk as Felix began to read.
‘Divinity of the elements, I summon thee. Earth …’
Phoebe took his hand and placed it in the bowl of dirt.
‘Water
…’
Phoebe put his hand in the water bowl.
‘Air
…’ Felix blew onto the talisman.
‘Fire
…’ Felix took the candle and held the flame to the talisman.
‘
Within this stone I invoke ye place
Your greatest strength, your kindest grace
And while this stone remains at hand
Thou shall be safe throughout this land.
Earth. Water. Air. Fire. I invoke thee.
’
Phoebe picked up the talisman and placed it around Felix’s neck. ‘Okay, let’s show those bees who’s boss.’
Felix stood nervously at the front door. There were even more bees than before, if that were possible. He touched the talisman and then, taking a deep breath, flung the door open.
The bees swarmed at him – mini kamikazes intent on their mission of ultimate destruction.
Felix fell back inside, yelling in pain.
Phoebe slammed the door shut. She picked up the insect spray and blasted the half-dozen bees that had got inside. She put the can down and looked at Felix. ‘Well, that was disappointing.’
Felix felt the searing pain of the bee stings. ‘You’re telling me.’
Phoebe picked up some calendula ointment off a shelf and threw it at him. ‘Try this.’
Felix sat up. He smeared the ointment on the stings. It helped a bit, but his skin was throbbing all over.
‘Give me the talisman back.’ Phoebe put out her hand.
Felix held it to his chest. He wasn’t going to give it over that easily. It could be his only hope. ‘We’ve only tried it once.’
‘What? You want another go? Be my guest.’
Felix looked at the door. The bees seemed to be growing in size as well as in number. Maybe not.
He turned to Phoebe. ‘Maybe it just wasn’t activated properly.’
‘Well, it can only be activated by someone with magical powers, which clearly you don’t have, so …’ she reached out her hand again. ‘Give it.’
Felix felt suddenly strangely possessive. He didn’t want to give Phoebe the talisman. It felt like it belonged to him. He wasn’t going to give it up without a fight.
He thought hard. Earth, fire, air and water were the elements needed to activate it. The same elements
he’ d
needed. And Phoebe had said elemental attacks occurred if something in nature had been disturbed.
Felix looked up suddenly. ‘What if the elements needed to activate the talisman come from another world?’
Oscar looked at Phoebe, his theory confirmed. ‘I told you he was an alien.’
Phoebe looked confused. ‘Not sure I’m following the logic.’
‘To protect ourselves from the elements of this world, we need elements from our own world,’ Felix continued excitedly.
Phoebe and Oscar exchanged glances. ‘What?’
‘Come on. We have to find the others.’
‘What others?’ said Oscar.
‘And how are you planning on getting out of here?’ said Phoebe.
Felix stopped. Good point. There was absolutely no way of getting past those bees.
‘I want the talisman back, Felix,’ Phoebe insisted.
Felix thought fast. ‘Just give me one more chance to activate it and if it doesn’t work, I’ll give it back to you. I promise.’
‘And if it
does
work? asked Phoebe.
Felix hesitated. What did she want, exactly?
Phoebe moved towards him. ‘I’ll help you to get out of here on the condition that if it
does
work, you’ll do something very important for me in return.’
What choice did he have? He had to get out of there and find the others. ‘Sure,’ Felix agreed. ‘Anything.’
Phoebe smiled. ‘Okay, then. Follow me. My van’s in the garage out the back.’
Phoebe’s kombivan pulled up outside the shack and Felix and Oscar jumped out. They seemed to have outrun the bees, for the moment at least.
‘Thanks, Phoebe,’ called Felix.
Phoebe put her head out the window. ‘What? That’s it?’
Explaining Oscar to the others would be hard enough, let alone explaining why he was hanging out with the creepy woman from the magic shop.
‘For the activation to work I need there to be minimal interference, that’s all. I’ll let you know what happens.’
Phoebe narrowed her eyes. ‘You remember our pact, okay? I’ll be waiting.’
Felix and Oscar walked briskly towards the shack.
‘So, don’t mention magic to them, okay? They don’t understand.’
‘Are they aliens like you?’ asked Oscar.
‘Sure they are. From the planet Cretin.’
‘So we have to find the elements, right?’
‘Yep. I’ll tell you what to –’ Felix heard a rising rumble, then saw a swarming cloud of black appear above the rise.
‘Run!’
They ran towards the shack and, once inside, Felix slammed the door firmly behind them. Jake, Andy and Sam looked up.
‘What’s he doing here?’ asked Jake, staring at Oscar.
‘Doesn’t matter right now.’ Felix threw Sam and Jake the two cans of insect spray. ‘Bees,’ he said, pointing towards the roof, which was now vibrating with the sound of thousands of bees swarming. ‘Just keep the bees away.’
The bees were finding every possible crevice in the roof and walls to get inside. Sam and Jake let fly with the cans while Andy desperately tried to plug up the holes in the walls.
‘What now?’ Oscar whispered to Felix.
‘Okay. To activate this protective talisman, I think I need to put it in contact with four elements from our world.’ He looked around. ‘Jake! There’s a hole over here,’ Felix yelled. ‘We need to plug it. Throw us your shoe.’
Jake ripped off his shoe and pegged it at Felix.
Felix gouged at the dirt in the sole. He smeared it on the talisman. ‘Jake. Practical, stubborn, brutish. Earth.’
Oscar’s eyes lit up. ‘So, these guys are the elements?’
‘If they’re not, we’re done for,’ replied Felix.
A swarm of bees burst in through a rusty patch in the wall. Sam sprayed at them madly. Andy coughed.
‘Andy. Fluid thinker, kind of wet. Water.’
Felix handed Oscar a hankie to give to Andy. ‘Here.’
Andy grabbed it and blew his nose hard, then handed the snotty hankie back to Felix, who rubbed it onto the talisman.
‘Gross,’ said Oscar, screwing up his nose.
‘That leaves selfish, superficial, lives in the clouds, Sam. Air. We just have to catch his breath.’
The bees continued their assault, thudding hard against the outside walls.
‘This is it. The championship quarter. Prepare for war!’ yelled Jake. He screwed up his nose. ‘Who let rip?’
‘I hope that’s not the last thing I ever smell,’ groaned Andy.
‘Sorry, guys. Pre-comp nerves,’ apologised Sam.
