The Children's Crusade (11 page)

“Don't yell at me!” Oliver wailed. “I don't like this. Not one bit.”

Tim took a deep breath. It wouldn't help to shout at Oliver when he was trying to get the
annoying kid to shut up. “Listen, Oliver,” he whispered. “We don't want them to know where we are. We're playing a serious game of hide-and-seek. Okay? And if you're the quietest one of all you win.”

“A prize?” Oliver asked.

“Yes,” Tim replied, “a great prize. Fantastic. The very best.”

“Chocolate?”

“Sure.”

That seemed to work. Oliver was quieting down.

Tim could hear the animals getting closer. Tim held his breath as several creatures ran past them. He hoped none of them could hear his heart pounding. Or smell the sweat beading up on his forehead, his upper lip, his back.

Suddenly, hot, meaty, breath on the back of his neck alerted him that they'd been discovered. Tim slowly turned his head.

And stared into the yellow eyes of a tiger, who looked awfully hungry.

T
IM PANTED HARD
, trying to breathe through Oliver's suffocating clutches.

Well, one side benefit of fear
, Tim thought.
It finally shut Oliver up.

A roar, and the tiger was joined by a leopard. And then a lion.

They each sniffed, coming so close that Tim could feel their whiskers, could smell their pungent animal scent.

Okay, if there ever was a time for magic
, Tim told himself,
that time is now
.
But what do I do? Make ourselves disappear? Make
them
disappear?
Fear made Tim's brain go a mile a minute; first one idea would occur to him, then another and another—all in the space of seconds.

“Uh, tiger, lion go away,” Tim began, trying to figure out some kind of chant or spell. “That is what I have to say.”

He shook his head.
How lame can you get?
he admonished himself. He could feel his own heart and Oliver's thudding hard.

The lion and tiger seemed to be having a roaring competition. The leopard sat on its haunches and watched them for a moment. Then its intense focus shifted to Tim. It began to creep closer.

“Stop!” The girl who had been riding the elephant stood behind the animals. “Stop, I said. We must bring these three to the high council. We must not delay any longer.”

The tiger, the lion, and the leopard each gave Tim and Oliver a long hungry look, then turned. The tiger's tail flicked Tim's nose.

“Hey!” Tim yelped. He rubbed his nose. That tiger's tail had a powerful swing.

“Is the game over now?” Oliver asked.

“Yes,” Tim said, dragging Oliver to his feet. “The game is over now.”

He spotted a familiar shadow on the ground. When he turned around, he saw Suzy floating above them. A long vine was tied around her wrists. Tim realized Maxine held the other end of the vine. She'd captured her.

“Come,” Maxine said. “They're expecting us.”

Tim filed past her, defeated, Oliver clutching his hand.

“I'm sorry, Suzy,” Tim said.

“That's okay, Timmy-wimmy. You tried your best. That's all a girlfriend can expect of her boyfriend.”

He didn't bother to correct her again about that boyfriend stuff. Not after he had blundered so badly and put her at such risk.

At length, they arrived at a clearing where an elaborate clubhouse sat in the enormous branches of a massive tree. The kids Tim had seen squabbling about his arrival stood there, waiting expectantly.

They must have heard us coming
, Tim thought. His nose wrinkled at the powerful animal scent surrounding him.
Or maybe they smelled us.

Maxine rode her elephant right up to Wat.

“Well done, Maxine,” one-handed Wat said. “Truly nobly done.”

“They weren't that hard to find,” Maxine replied. “My friends got them pretty easy. So here they are. All yours.”

Tim could feel hot animal breath on the back of his neck again. He edged slowly and carefully away from the leopard behind him.
If this was a cartoon
, Tim thought,
I'd look like a great big burger reflected in that cat's eyes
.

“Tim, Suzy. I'm Wat.”

“We already sort of met,” Tim said. “Where was it? Oh yes…you were trying to think of a
nice way to welcome me. You hadn't quite decided to have me hunted by wild animals back then.”

“We do what we must,” Wat replied.

“Timmy, are you going to turn them into toads now?” Suzy asked.

“Not yet, Suzy.”

“Pity.”

Tim thought it was a pity, too. But he guessed that the only chance they'd have of getting home would involve learning more from the inhabitants of Free Country. And they wouldn't be able to help him at all if they were toads. Assuming he could even figure out how to transform them.

“Maxine.” Wat addressed the girl on her elephant. “Will you come with us to the high council meeting?”

“I don't think so. I'm kind of tired. I'm going back with my friends for a while.”

Maxine handed Wat the vine that served as Suzy's leash. The boy in the overcoat—Daniel, Tim remembered—wrapped a jump rope around Tim's wrists. Daniel must have noticed Tim's surprised expression. The boy shrugged.

“We only have toys in Free Country. No proper weapons.” He gave the jump rope a sharp tug, causing Tim to wince. “But we can improvise, can't we?”

Daniel leaned in close. “What've you done
with Marya?” he whispered.

“Nothing!” Tim exclaimed. “She got me to come here and I never saw her again. She's got a lot of explaining to do, if you ask me.”

“I didn't,” Daniel snapped.

“But you just did,” Tim argued. “You said”—Tim mimicked Daniel's cockney accent—“‘What've you done with Marya?'”

Daniel shoved a bright blue handkerchief into Tim's mouth.

Okay,
Tim thought.
I guess this conversation is over
.

 

Maxine rode her elephant into the grove she had claimed as home. Here she lived with the bears, monkeys, giraffes, tigers, horses, birds, and cats she had as her chosen companions. If it flew, crawled, galloped, or climbed, it was welcome. As long as it wasn't human.

Maxine slid down from the elephant and addressed her menagerie of friends.

“I thought I ought to wait until we got away from the others to scold you,” she declared. “I wasn't about to do it in front of those kids. But Mr. Leopard, I know you were going to eat that Tim boy when he ran away.”

The leopard lowered its eyes, its spotted tail flicking.

“You would have,” Maxine insisted, “if I hadn't made you stop. But you know how terrible it is to be hunted.”

“Like to run and chase,” said the leopard. “Like to sniff and follow.”

“What we do,” said the tiger.

“Rabbit thing tell us if we catch, we eat it,” added the lion.

Maxine stared at the animals. “He was lying to you,” she fumed. “I don't think I trust Jack Rabbit anymore. He's not a real rabbit, you know.”

“We know,” said the leopard. “Wrong smell.”

“Well, don't trust people,” Maxine warned. “And Jack Rabbit is people. Don't trust any human but me!”

“We eat Jack Rabbit?” the tiger asked hopefully.

“No,” Maxine said firmly. “I don't like him—or trust him—but it's not good to eat other animals. And a person is just a clothed animal, only less interesting.”

The tiger's tail flicked back and forth. “All eat each other. Sometime alive. Sometime dead.”

“Eat deer when we catch,” explained the lion. “We die, buzzards eat us.”

“Would you eat me?” Maxine asked.

“No,” said the leopard.

“Yes,” said the tiger.

“Maybe,” said the lion.

Maxine knew she could not ask them to go against their true natures. Their essence was meat eating. She had been wrong in thinking she might change them. It was unfair that she kept them with her—so close to temptation. It was asking for trouble. She knew it, even if the animals did not.

“I think all you lions, tigers, leopards, and wolves and cheetahs better go away,” she said.

“We like to be near you,” the tiger protested.

“We want to stay,” said the lion.

Maxine shook her head. “Well, I'm sorry, but you can't.” She stared down at the ground. She knew if she looked into their beautiful, deep eyes, she'd give in. And she couldn't. She had the other animals to think of. In nature they wouldn't all be living together, prey among their predators. It was only her power that allowed it. But she had to let the carnivores leave.

“I like you all, too,” she admitted, “but how can I live with someone who might want to eat me?” She looked up again. “You can still visit sometimes, if you want to.”

“Yes,” said the tiger.

“We come,” agreed the lion.

“Sometime,” added the leopard.

“Good-bye,” Maxine said, having trouble
getting out the simple word. She cleared her throat. “And stay away from the other people,” she warned. “They'll mix up your minds and try to make you work for them. Or maybe kill you and use your skins for rugs.”

The elephant wrapped its leathery trunk around her, lifted her up, and set her on its shoulders.

“We'll go away, too,” she told the remaining animals. “Somewhere no one will find us.”

They moved forward as a herd—the gazelles and giraffes, the small cats and birds. The elephant's ambling gait soothed her. “Maybe we can find a nice place,” she said dreamily, “with sweet grass and nuts and berries. Good stuff to eat. Better than eating animals or people. With a pool and a waterfall and trees to climb.”

As Maxine described her ideal home, Free Country provided it. The berries burst from bushes, the air sweetened with the fresh grasses, and nuts—already shelled—fell from the trees into the waiting mouths of squirrels and chipmunks.

“And no other people anymore,” she declared, “all arguing and scheming and telling stupid lies. These Free Country people are just as bad as grown-ups. Come on, let's find a good place to sleep.”

The elephant came to a stop in front of a cave.
Maxine slid down the elephant's trunk and peered inside. “It's cozy in here,” she declared. She went in, followed by many of her animal friends. A large black grizzly bear lay down and curled up on the floor of the cave.

Maxine crept over to the bear and snuggled into its soft fur. He was her favorite, all warm and cuddly. He reminded her of her daddy.

“You won't eat me, will you?” she asked the bear.

The bear didn't answer in words—he never spoke—but he made gentle, comforting, snuffly sounds.

“I know you eat meat sometimes,” Maxine said, “but you don't have to. You're clever—you can choose. I have to choose, too, you know. I have to choose whether to stay here or to go back home.

“I love Free Country. It's the only place where I truly feel like I'm home,” she mused. “But sometimes I wish it was even more perfect than it is.”

She sighed. “When Jack Rabbit told me how bad I was needed here, I thought all the other kids would come and we'd learn how to save the world. But nobody knows what's happening, and I'm confused again.”

One thing she did know, though. She did not trust Jack Rabbit. Not one bit.

T
IM SAT IN THE CORNER
of the clubhouse.
How did these kids go from treating me like an honored guest to treating me like a prisoner?
The jump rope wrapped around his wrists chaffed and the gag in his mouth was really uncomfortable.

“You should not treat my boyfriend like that,” Suzy scolded. She hovered in the air. Daniel had tied her vine leash to the back of a chair. Oliver sat under the table, pouting.

“If we remove your gag,” Wat said, “you must promise, on your honor as a wizard, not to utter any kind of magical spell, invocation, or charm. Do you so swear?”

Ridiculous. They want me to swear while a handkerchief is rammed into my mouth.
“Mmph. I pho pwhywe ooww aake viff off me.”

The kids exchanged puzzled glances. “I
believe that was his attempt to satisfy the terms,” Kerwyn said.

“I believe you are right,” said Wat. “Daniel, remove the gag.”

Daniel untied the knot behind Tim's head, and then Tim spat the handkerchief out of his mouth.
Blech
. His tongue felt all cottony.

He stretched his face muscles and wiggled his jaw a bit. “Are you going to let us go home, then?” Tim demanded, once his mouth was working.

“At this moment, Timothy Hunter,” a voice said behind him, “we could not send you home even if we wished to do so.”

Tim turned and saw that another kid had just climbed into the tree house. He was dressed like Kerwyn and seemed to be about the same age.

“What news, Aiken Drum?” Wat asked.

“The gates out of Free Country have closed,” Aiken Drum said. “We have brought so many through in the last month, she cannot nurture all of them. She lacks the power.”

“Who's she?” Tim asked. Was there yet another person for him to worry about?

“Free Country,” Wat explained. “She has a spirit, a soul, a heart like any being.”

“That explains why the branch tripped me!” Daniel exclaimed.

All turned to face him.

“I was running,” Daniel explained, “and for the first time ever, I tripped over a branch and fell. Usually Free Country keeps those things out of the way.”

“Is that why she wouldn't fix my doll?” Suzy asked Tim.

“Maybe so,” Tim said.
And that must be why I felt as if I'd slammed into an invisible door when I did that last hopscotch,
he realized
. Because I had jumped right into a closed gate.

“She has grown weak indeed,” Kerwyn said sadly.

Wat stepped up to Tim. “Can you not feel her pain, Tim Hunter? Her distress?”

Tim stared down at the short, one-armed boy and shrugged. “Not really. But I'm happy to take your word for it.”

The gigantic bunny lurched over to Tim and grabbed him by the front of his T-shirt with enormous pink paws. “Are you trying to make a joke of this council, boy?”

It was very hard to take a threat from an oversized bunny rabbit seriously. “Not particularly,” Tim replied. “Are you? I mean, dressed like that…?”

The rabbit raised a paw as if he were about to strike Tim.

“Jack Rabbit,” Wat said in a sharp tone, “back.”

The rabbit released Tim and hopped to the other side of the room.

“If it helps, I'll believe you,” Tim said. “The world is dying and now you can't send us back. So what's your point here?”

“Free Country has been our home and our refuge for many, many years,” Aiken Drum explained. “But we knew that we were the privileged ones. We were saved and loved. Why we were selected to be rescued we did not know.”

Wat took up the story. “But in the Bad World we came from, children were being hurt, starved, killed. How could we live with ourselves if our salvation could not be universal? Thus it was we resolved to save all the children of the Bad World.”

“Every one of them has stories such as ours,” Kerwyn said, “of abuse, of neglect.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “All? I don't think so.” He put his hands on his hips. “You can't tell me that those forty missing children from Brighton each had a horror story. And from what I know of Oliver”—he jerked a thumb under the table—“it's his parents who need the refuge.”

Wat's eyes narrowed. “We have created a world for children. This is where they belong.”

“But—” Tim began. Then he noticed both Jack Rabbit and Daniel glaring at him. He decided
to let Wat continue with the explanation. “Okay, go on.”

Wat nodded. “As we began to bring over the refugees, it became apparent that Free Country could not sustain all of them.”

“That's where you lot came in,” Daniel said. “Jack Rabbit obtained a list of the most powerful children there were in each of the universes that touch ours. Then we set out to bring each of you here.”

“Why?” asked Suzy.

“Free Country needs power,” Kerwyn said. “Each of you has power. Power we need to feed and save the land.”

“You met Maxine, who lives among the animals,” said Wat. “She gave us healing power and she continues to aid us.”

“As you will, too,” Wat said.

“What if we don't want to give you any of our power?” Tim demanded.

“The mirrors will do as they must, will ye or not.” Wat signaled to Daniel and Katherine, the Peter Pan girl. They pulled a large black velvet cloth from a tall, ornately carved full-length mirror. They wheeled the mirror over to where Suzy was tied up.

“Are you going to hurt me?” Suzy shrieked. She turned and pleaded with Tim. “Timmy, please
don't let them hurt me.”

Tim started to move toward her but was restrained by Kerwyn and Jack Rabbit. He stared at the mirror, trying to figure out what was going on. From what he could tell, absolutely nothing.

“It does not hurt, Suzy,” Wat assured the panicked plant girl. “You see, it has already happened.”

Suzy floated gently down to the floor. She looked weak and pale. “Tim, they took something from me,” she moaned. “There was something inside me that isn't there anymore.”

“I'm sorry,” Tim whispered. He remembered how he felt when his mum died and thought Suzy must be feeling something similar. Why couldn't he work his magic when he really needed to?

“Now you, Tim,” Wat ordered.

Tim shook his head. “You lot. You're all stark staring loony.”

“Maybe we are. But we can save the children of your world and we can save ours.”

They truly are insane
, Tim thought. “But you just said that Free Country isn't strong enough to cope with the kids she's got. How's she going to cope with millions more kids from—”

“Enough!” Jack Rabbit bellowed. “We stand
and jabber while our world dies and children of your world burn and scream and perish.”

“Tim, this won't hurt or anything,” Kerwyn assured him. “You'll just feel a little drained for a bit. We need your power.”

“You're the wizard,” Wat said. “Your power will change everything.”

Nobody ever listens, do they?
“I don't have any power!” he shouted. “I'm not a wizard. I'm just me!”

“Show him to the mirror!” Jack Rabbit cried.

The kids surrounded him, grabbing his arms, pushing his legs. Tim struggled against them, but he was outnumbered. They shoved him directly in front of the mirror. Tim squeezed his eyes shut, uncertain what would happen. They held him in place. A moment passed.

“Shouldn't something be happening?” Tim heard Daniel ask.

Tim's eyes popped open, and he faced his reflection. All he saw was himself—a confused, somewhat bedraggled, regular kid from London. He crossed his arms over his chest. “See?”

“But I don't understand,” said Kerwyn.

“Thou art the master magician,” Wat said.

“I told you I'm not a master anything!” Tim fumed. “I'm still trying to figure out who I am.”

Jack Rabbit shoved the other kids aside to stand beside Tim and stare into the mirror. “But it has to work,” he said. “I don't understand!” He gripped Tim's shoulders with his big paws and shook him. “You were the power to open the great gates. To bring all the children here. You were the power!”

Tim's eyes widened. This rabbit wasn't only not a rabbit—he was no ordinary kid either. And as badly as the others wanted this to work, the big bunny was almost obsessed.

Then it hit him—this was all a trick. They were using him, like everyone he had encountered since he discovered magic. He didn't care what their so-called cause was. They had no right. No right!

“Look at that mirror!” Kerwyn cried.

Tim stared at his reflection. His mirror self was glowing, and he felt an extraordinary power surge through him. It was as if an electrical current were running between him and his reflection.

Anger rushed through him, and as it did, the reflection glowed brighter—stronger—until it was blinding.

I am sick of being manipulated! How dare they trick us! I can't believe they hurt Suzy. It's a violation, what they're doing. This lot is as bad as the adults they're trying to escape.

He heard shrieks and howls of pain all around him. He could feel the floor beneath his feet shake, as if they were caught in an earthquake, but he never took his eyes off the mirror, never broke his connection with himself.

He heard gasps behind him, and realized the kids in the clubhouse no longer saw his reflection in the mirror. What they were seeing was the destruction of Free Country. Chasms opened up, and terrified animals fled from crevices. Trees shot into the air, as if being spit out by the ground itself. Grass burst into flame.

“Timothy! Stop!” Katherine cried.

“Do you not feel the screams of Free Country?” Wat shouted above the deafening roars. “For her sake, please stop!”

“Anybody! Please! He's destroying the world!”

“Suzy, stop him!” Kerwyn shouted.

“Kill him!” Jack Rabbit ordered. “Somebody kill him!”

Tim watched the terrible devastation reflected in the mirror, not certain of how he was making it happen. It was as if Free Country were erupting.

He heard Suzy's voice whisper in his ear, “Enough.”

If I'm doing this
, Tim realized,
I can stop it
. He
reached out and touched his reflection in the mirror.

Silence.

In fact, Tim didn't think he'd ever heard such loud quiet in his life.