The Amphiblets (12 page)

Having hastily packed their rucksacks, the boys were ready to leave. Ed still wasn’t very happy with abandoning Hugo, but not knowing his whereabouts made it hard to do anything else. However, Riley scribbled Hugo a quick note and left it in the one place they felt sure he would go to first – the bread bin, where his pancakes were kept.

They left the house, locked the door and left the key in a crevice in the wall. The Professor and Hugo would both know where the key should be kept. With their rucksacks slung over their shoulders they began their long trek through the woods in the direction of the lodge.

‘How far is it?’ asked Ed, after ten minutes of hiking.

‘At least a hundred miles.’ Riley shrugged. ‘It takes us two and a half hours to get there by car.’

‘But we can’t walk that far!’ groaned Ed, stopping in his tracks. ‘It’ll take us at least a week!’

‘We don’t have any choice – remember!’ grumbled Riley, dragging his brother behind him.

Despite Ed’s complaining, the boys resumed their trek through the countryside, across fields and roads, remaining undetected. It had rained the night before and soft mud stuck to their trainers like toffee, making it harder to move their legs. Two hours later, they spotted an old barn in the distance and made their way towards it.

‘We can rest in there for a while,’ suggested Riley.’ I can see a blue truck there as well. Fancy driving to the lodge?’

‘Definitely!’

On closer inspection it became clear that the truck was old and rusted. Suddenly, to their surprise, they heard a gruff voice from inside the barn. Retreating into a nearby ditch, they peered through a thick tuft of grass.

‘Just our luck! We should have known it belonged to someone,’ muttered Riley.

‘How were we supposed to know that the rust bucket hadn’t been dumped?’

A man exited the barn, dressed in a dirty shirt, his excessive stomach rolling over his belt as he huffed his way towards the van. He got into the driver’s seat, started the engine and drove off, oblivious to the boys’ presence. Once the truck was out of sight, the two boys breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Come on!’ urged Ed. ‘Let’s check out the barn!’

They crept to the barn door, which creaked gently as they shoved it open. The barn was an empty dark space, with narrow shafts of light leaking in from the gaps between the rafters, which were festooned with spider webs. They jumped when they heard someone whimpering at the far end and were startled to see a young girl sitting on the ground with her hands tied behind her back, secured to a thick wooden beam.

‘Is someone there? Please help me!’ she called. ‘Who are you?’

The boys froze, unsure of what to do next.

‘We’ve got to help her!’ whispered Ed.

‘She mustn’t see us,’ argued Riley.

‘Tough,’ said Ed, stubbornly. ‘We’re not leaving her here.’ He made his way towards the girl and knelt to untie her hands, while Riley kept watch by the door.

‘Who are you? Have you come to rescue me?’

‘Yes. We’ll have you untied soon.’

‘Did my father send you?’

‘No, we were passing by.’

The knots were tight but Ed persevered and freed the girl, who looked their age. She was doll-like with long whitish hair and pale blue eyes. She wore a thin black pencil skirt and a white blouse stained with dirt and ripped at the shoulder

‘Thank you,’ she said, standing shakily. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Ed and over there is my brother, Riley.’ Ed pointed towards the door.

‘My name’s Elisha.’

‘Who was that man?’ asked Riley.

‘I don’t know. I thought he was my chauffeur who drives me to school each day but it wasn’t him. I didn’t realise until it was too late. He kidnapped me this morning and brought me straight here. I don’t suppose you’ve got a drink on you. I haven’t eaten for ages or had anything to drink.’

‘You’ve been here all day?’ gasped Riley. ‘It’s a good job we were passing by when we did.’

‘Here. Have this,’ said Ed, offering her his flask.

The girl didn’t take it but looked a fraction away from his eyes with a blank expression.

‘Please help me. I’m blind,’ she explained. ‘I had a riding accident many years ago and my horse knocked me to the ground. My vision went soon after that. The doctors told me it might come back one day but it seems hopeless.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ said Ed quickly.

‘Don’t be.’

Ed held her hand and guided it to the flask. She took it gratefully and gulped the contents in a few seconds.

‘Did you touch her?’ gasped Riley.

Ed nodded.

‘Why is that so wrong?’ Elisha responded.

‘Our brother died from touching someone,’ explained Ed.

‘Huh?’ said Elisha.

‘We have a rare illness,’ lied Riley, not able to confess he was actually the result of a twisted experiment. ‘Our immune systems are weak.’

‘I hope nothing will happen to you because it’ll be my fault and I couldn’t bear that!’ Her lips began to tremble and her eyes filled with tears at this thought.

‘Shh. It’ll be okay,’ soothed Ed.

‘I can’t help it!’ she squealed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. ‘I can’t imagine not being able to touch anyone.’

‘I can’t imagine being blind,’ replied Ed.

‘We should leave. He might be back at any second. Oh, I wish that man hadn’t taken my phone. Do you have one?’

The boys shook their heads.

‘Well?’

‘A phone?’ quizzed Ed. ‘How could we bring a phone here?’

‘Have you been living in the dark ages or something? Mobile phones have been around for ages.’

At that moment, they heard the rumbling of the truck returning. ‘It’s him again!’ said Elisha. ‘He must have forgotten something. You’d better hide.’

‘We’re not leaving you,’ said Riley. ‘We’ll hide you in the rafters up there.’

Ignoring the rule of not touching anyone, they grabbed hold of Elisha under her arms and counted to three. Together the two boys jumped high into the air and landed neatly on the beam eight feet above them.

‘Wow!’ said Elisha. ‘What happened?’

‘We jumped up on to the beams,’ explained Ed. ‘Keep still and don’t say a word. Riley and I will deal with the kidnapper.’

They supported Elisha as they moved her to a secure place where she could rest her back against the side of the barn. She was quite hidden. Then they decided to adapt their skin to the surrounding environment as if they were chameleons. Lastly they discarded their clothes and hid them. In the corner of the barn, they caught sight of lengthy pieces of wood.

‘These might come in useful,’ smirked Riley, passing one to Ed.

The truck parked and a door opened and closed. The man was whistling as he entered the barn, just as a piece of wood came swinging through the air towards him, knocking him backwards and taking his breath away.

‘What the…?’ he murmured, gasping for air. As he slowly stood, the same thing happened again. The piece of wood had a mind of its own and he could have sworn it said, ‘This serves you right!’ The second time he was struck, he was knocked out cold on the ground.

‘Good work, Ed!’ shouted Riley, checking the man’s pulse. ‘He’s still alive. Let’s tie him and leave while we still can.’

‘Is everything all right?’ asked Elisha nervously. ‘Can I come down now?’

‘Yes. We’ll help you!’ laughed Ed. ‘It’s quite a drop, you know.’

The boys were happy that Elisha couldn’t see them. Although they were quite invisible except for their eyes, Elisha knew no better. She could still hear and feel them, making her none the wiser. Together they jumped on to the beams, next to Elisha, grabbing hold of her.

‘Are you ready to jump?’ asked Riley.

‘As ready as I’ll ever be!’ smiled Elisha, feeling a secure grip on her arms.

Elisha’s stomach churned over and she squealed in delight, making the boys laugh as they landed clumsily.

‘That was amazing. Are you some kind of superhero?’

‘We could be,’ said Ed.

‘Well, I think you are,’ she replied adamantly.

The boys sat her against the barn, laughing gently at the prospect of being superheroes, each grabbed a foot belonging to the man and slowly dragged his hefty body further into the barn, using the same piece of rope that the man had used on Elisha to tie him to a wooden beam as well.

‘He’s so heavy!’ Ed complained. ‘He could do with losing a few pounds.’

‘Let’s see how he likes being tied,’ muttered Riley.

‘Serves the creep right!’ Ed kicked the man’s foot. He moaned gently, causing Ed to jump.

‘Come on, we’d better get changed,’ whispered Riley, so Elisha couldn’t hear.

‘What are you two doing now?’ she asked.

‘We’re tying him up,’ called Ed, putting on his socks and then his trainers, slowly materialising once again. ‘That was so cool, what we did,’ he whispered quietly to Riley, who was also dressed by now.

‘Will you check the truck to see if my phone is in there?’ asked Elisha. ‘I’ll be able to call my dad to rescue me if it is. It’s a pink one.’

‘Sure,’ said Ed. Once outside, he glanced across to Riley. ‘So what do these phones look like? She never did tell us!’

‘I know. I’ve seen one on the internet before.’

They checked underneath the seats of the truck before searching the glove compartment. There in front of them was a small metal, pink object that fitted nicely into the palm of their hand.

‘It looks like a calculator!’ said Ed.

Suddenly, it bleeped several times. The boys jumped. From inside the barn Elisha became excited.

‘Hey! That’s my phone!’ she squealed loudly. 

Ed entered the barn and handed it to her. ‘I’ve found a map too.’

‘That’ll be useful,’ said Riley. ‘Tell your dad I’ll give him instructions for how to get here.’

‘Okay,’ said Elisha. Despite her blindness, she was adept at using her phone and retrieved her last voice message.

Elisha, can you hear me? I love you so much. I will find you, I promise, and bring you home soon, darling. Don’t worry. Be brave.

‘That’s my dad,’ smiled Elisha excitedly. ‘I’ll call him now to let him know I’m safe.’

‘Good idea!’ said Riley.

‘He’ll want to thank you,’ said Elisha, dialling her father’s number. He had been waiting by the phone for hours, ever since receiving a call from a man who had called himself Mr X and who had demanded ransom money in exchange for his daughter.

‘Hi, Dad.’

‘Elisha!’

Elisha spent the next few moments reassuring her father that she was safe, after being rescued by two mysterious boys whom she referred to as superheroes, much to their embarrassment. She explained what had happened leading, how the chauffeur who had arrived to drive her to school had been an imposter who had kidnapped her.

‘Where are you now, Elisha?’ asked her father.

‘We’re still at the barn. Riley knows where we are. I’ll pass you over to him.’

Before Riley could reveal their location, he was receiving grateful thanks for rescuing the man’s daughter. He suggested a financial reward for saving her and couldn’t wait to meet them.

When he passed the phone back to Elisha, Riley said, ‘He sounds nice.’

‘He is.’ While Elisha spoke with her father, the brothers went outside to talk.

‘He wants to meet us, but we can’t be here when he arrives,’ said Riley. ‘He mustn’t see us.’

Ed nodded. ‘I know. The money would have been useful too. Never mind. What shall we do?’

‘We’ll leave a few minutes before they arrive, it’s as simple as that. We can be in a place watching the barn to make sure Elisha is okay but one thing’s for definite – they mustn’t see us.’

‘What should we tell Elisha?’ asked Ed.

‘Nothing more than she needs to know,’ said Riley, grimly.

A few minutes later, as they sat outside the barn chatting happily away, they heard the roar of a helicopter. Riley and Ed saw a small black speck in the sky.

‘That’ll be them,’ said Elisha, passing them her phone. ‘By the way, the number on the screen is my phone number. Call me sometime. It’ll be nice to hear from you.’

‘Sure,’ said Ed, memorising the number.

Without saying goodbye the boys left Elisha, to avoid explaining to her why they had to leave. They dashed towards the ditch, slipped down the bank and crept towards the nearby woodland. She’d been none the wiser that they were abnormal in any way. As the helicopter landed in the field, Riley and Ed smiled to see Elisha and her father reunited. Although she called their names several times, they didn’t respond but headed in the opposite direction, hidden amongst the trees.

Peter Peed was lying on the sofa next to his wife Scarlet, watching television. His arm was placed around her shoulders where she held his webbed hand with her slender fingers.

‘I can’t believe how lucky I am to have met you,’ whispered Scarlet.

‘Nor can I,’ replied Peter. ‘I’m quite a catch.’

Scarlet playfully punched him in the arm. ‘And me?’

‘You’re not so bad, either,’ he smiled.

‘We’ve been married six years now,’ she reminded him.

‘Oh, have we? It feels much longer than that.’

Scarlet pinched him this time and they started to tickle each other. Peter quickly pinned her arms and tickled her toes. Then something quite spectacular occurred. One minute she was lying beneath his weight giggling uncontrollably and the next she was passing straight through Peter as if she were a ghost, although her form still appeared quite solid. 

‘That’s not fair!’ groaned Peter.

‘Nor is it fair for you to sit on me like a great fat hen!’ she laughed.

‘But you always do that!’

‘And so?’ She stood, smoothing her ruffled clothes. ‘And don’t tell me it’s not fair. You’re the one who clings to the ceiling to get away from me.’

‘And you move through walls!’

‘I know. I guess that makes us even.’ She smiled mischievously. Peter tried to grab her but his fingers passed straight through her again.

‘I wanted to give you a cuddle,’ he insisted.

‘I’m not stupid. I know you too well. You wanted to tickle me again.’

‘Can’t blame a man for trying,’ he shrugged sheepishly.

‘Well, until you promise not to tickle me you’re not getting your hands on me!’

‘Spoilsport!’ he replied sulkily, relaxing back in his chair. Scarlet joined him once more and they continued to watch the film.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Will were playing upstairs, giggling constantly. They were playing their version of ‘tag.’ At that particular moment, Will was hiding on the ceiling, sticking to it like a gigantic spider while he waited for Ruby to enter the room. The moment she stepped through the door to his bedroom, he swung and tagged her, before opening the door and leaping along the corridor, beyond her reach.

As he leapt downstairs, he discovered Ruby was already there, after she had fallen through the ceiling from the floor above, landing in front of him. Will leapt on to the ceiling, while Ruby sprinted upstairs. Will changed his position just in time as Ruby’s hand magically appeared through the ceiling, sweeping close to Will. He jumped to the floor as Ruby stuck her head through the ceiling and made a face. The next moment, she swung down and landed next to Will, who was grinning so much his mouth ached.

‘Are you kids all right?’ Peter called from the living room.

‘We’re fine,’ replied Ruby. ‘Just playing.’

‘What are you playing?’ asked Scarlet.

‘Tag,’ said Will.

‘Sounds fun,’ murmured Scarlet.

It was at this point that someone knocked heavily on the door of Pondweed Manor.

Scarlet raised her eyebrows at Peter as he appeared in the hall to answer it.

‘We’re not expecting anyone, are we, love?’ he asked frowning.

‘Not that I know of,’ she replied.

‘Kids, go into another room.’ Peter put on his gloves and sunglasses that were beside the door before he opened it. In the meantime, the knock came again.

‘Good evening,’ said Peter. ‘Can I help you?’

Scarlet took Will and Ruby to the next room and peered through the bay window, which looked out towards the front door.

‘Can you see who is it?’ whispered Ruby, leaning next to Will on the roomy windowsill.

‘No. Whoever it is has come in now.’

‘Stay here for a moment,’ said Scarlet, going to see if her husband needed any help. She returned a few minutes later and told the children to go upstairs and stay there until they were told otherwise.

‘But who’s the visitor?’ groaned Ruby.

‘Everything will be explained to you both soon enough. Now do as I say or there’ll be trouble. Hopefully we’ll be able to share some news with you before long. But for now, keep yourselves busy upstairs and don’t be nosy.’ The last request was aimed at Ruby who had a habit of eavesdropping on conversations.

An hour later, Ruby, growing increasingly agitated, sighed impatiently for the umpteenth time. She had wrapped her long black hair around her fingers and had talked non-stop. They sat in Will’s bedroom moping until their parents came and told them some news.

‘I want to know who he is!’ she insisted. ‘It’s not fair. There’s a man inside this house and we don’t know who he is! I don’t feel safe knowing there’s a stranger here. I’d feel much better if Mum would explain everything to us. Why the big secret? I know Mum has some strange friends from her past. She hardly sees them any more. Not since she left.’

Will was also growing agitated but for a very different reason. Ruby was driving him mad. She could talk endlessly and win medals while she was doing it. But the last thing she had said was actually interesting and Will had wanted to ask her something for ages.

‘Where did you live before?’ asked Will. ‘You’ve never told me.’

‘I’m not allowed to, that’s why,’ said Ruby. ‘It’s top secret. I mustn’t tell anyone. But basically we used to live in this cool place where there were loads of kids like you and me around. It’s a different world to this one, that’s for sure.’

‘Is that how you’re able to move through solid objects and heal people?’

‘No,’ said Ruby. ‘I inherited my gifts from my parents.’

‘What happened to your dad?’

‘He died in a crash. Mum survived. She was pregnant with me at the time. I never knew my dad.’

‘Where did your mum come from?’ asked Will.

‘I can’t tell you,’ said Ruby.

‘Why?’

‘She told me not to tell anyone.’

‘But I’m your brother. We’re family now. There shouldn’t be secrets between us.’

‘You’d never believe me,’ she challenged.

‘How do you know that?’ said Will. ‘Your story can’t be any more unbelievable than mine is.’

Ruby laughed. ‘You want to bet! Okay then. Let’s see how you take the news. My mum is an alien born on a planet known as Faroura. Many years ago there was a war and many of her people died. Mum and Dad escaped and came here to earth as refugees. We’re the only two of her race here on this planet. When Mum dies, there’ll be no other child like me on Earth.’

‘I know what you mean,’ whispered Will, thoughtfully.

‘No, you don’t!’ insisted Ruby. ‘You still have two brothers somewhere.’

Will grew upset. ‘Yeah, somewhere. But I haven’t a clue where they are. They could be dead now for all I know. All I was saying was that ever since I’ve been apart from them I’ve felt different and alone.’

There was a moment of silence and Ruby started to laugh.

‘What’s so funny?’ asked Will. ‘What is it? Ruby! Why are you laughing? I don’t get the joke.’

Ruby had been laughing so much she was crying. ‘I told you my mum was an alien from another planet and you didn’t think it was weird or anything. We started arguing how it feels to be alone. I thought it was funny that you didn’t think being an alien was an issue.’

‘Look at me, Ruby. I’m not exactly a hundred percent human, am I?’

Ruby smiled. ‘Don’t tell Mum I told you.’

Will rolled his eyes. ‘Will it make any difference to her that I know? She’s my mum too.’

‘So why don’t you ever call her Mum?’

Will shrugged. ‘I suppose it’s because I know I’ve got another mum somewhere and I feel as if I’m betraying her, even though I can’t remember her.’

Ruby suddenly rose to her feet.

‘Where are you going?’ asked Will.

‘Nowhere.’

‘I bet you are!’ accused Will. ‘You’re going to find out who’s here, aren’t you?’

‘So what if I am?’ replied Ruby, tartly.

‘Well, if you’re going, then I’m going too.’

‘I’m the only one who can stick my head through the floor in order to see who it is.’

‘So?’ replied Will. ‘At least I can be with you while you do it.’

‘True,’ said Ruby. ‘But you had better not tickle my feet when I go upside down.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ smiled Will mischievously.