Lightning Chase Me Home

by Amber Lee Dodd

  “A book?” I said. “There’s Mr Sinclair’s bookshop in the harbour but I haven’t been there in ages.”

  I didn’t want to tell Tom I had stopped going when I had grown too old to look at the picture books.

  “Oh, I know that shop!” Tom said, bouncing up and down. “My gran took me there a couple of weeks ago. It has all these really old spooky-looking books. It’s bound to have this one!”

  That was the great thing about Tom; he made everything sound so easy. Find the book, stop the disappearing. That was the plan anyway, before everything went spectacularly and very terribly wrong.

  Chapter 15

  I had a weird twisting feeling in my stomach as me and Tom walked down the hill to the harbour shops. Would this book solve the puzzle of my disappearing? And if it did, would Tom no longer be interested in being my friend? Hanging out with him had been the best thing to happen to me in such a long time. Yesterday we had spent time exploring the tiny island – I had shown Tom my favourite areas and Tom had shown me his. We had gone treasure hunting in the caves at Smugglers Beach, visited the seals at Hope Cove and hung out at Tom’s grandma’s farm. We had even named the new ponies together. And I hadn’t disappeared once.

  When we got to the bookshop our excitement fizzled out when we spotted the big Closed for renovations sign across the door. Tom jiggled the gold handle on the door and I peered in through the dusty window into the darkness inside. I could just about make out white sheets covering all the bookcases.

  Tom was distraught. “Gran and I were just here the other day! I tried not to laugh when I saw her buying all these embarrassing romance novels. And right at the back there’s all these really cool old books that you’re not meant to touch, but I couldn’t help it and then Gran told me off and said she couldn’t take me anywhere. And I was scared she was going to get really mad with me. You wouldn’t know it because she’s really small, but she can be absolutely terrifying when she gets cross. But it was all right in the end because she calmed down and bought me a book about drawing comics.”

  I could tell Tom was upset because he couldn’t stop talking.

  “We should have come here sooner. I’m so sorry, Amelia,” he said miserably.

  “There might be another way in,” I said, pointing to the half-open window on the first floor of the shop.

  “You can disappear, Amelia, not fly,” Tom said.

  “I won’t need to,” I replied, peering around the side of the bookshop where a spindly tree was growing up around some very thick, spiky-looking holly bushes.

  Our plan was as follows:

  •Climb the tree, careful not to fall into the holly bush of death

  •Sneak through the unlocked top window

  •Find Illustrated Myths of Dark Muir by Hugo Bottomly and Florence Fields

  •Learn how to get rid of the curse

  •Get rid of the curse

  •Celebrate with pineapple, ham and olive pizza (Tom’s favourite)

  It was when we got inside the bookshop that the problems started. For a start there were books everywhere. The more we looked, the more books we found. They were piled up on the floor, on tables, under dust sheets. You couldn’t move without knocking them over.

  “We’ll never find the one we need!” I wailed, causing another mini book avalanche.

  “My dad used to read me the Harry Potters and there’s this bit where Harry, Ron and Hermione have to sneak into the restricted part of the library to find a book. I bet there’s a place like that somewhere, where all the really old and dangerous books are,” Tom said, weaving past another teetering pile.

  We both looked around a bit before Tom pointed to a curtained-off part in the very darkest part of the shop.

  “I think I found it,” Tom called out as he pulled the curtain back to reveal a wall of old leather books. They were covered in dust and it didn’t look like any of them had been touched in years.

  “You look through the ones at the top, I’ll search the ones at the bottom,” Tom said, sliding over the bookcase ladder.

  But it’s really hard to find what you’re looking for when you get your alphabet all mixed up. I started to panic a bit and dropped one of the big heavy books. It crashed to the floor, kicking a dust cloud up around us.

  “You don’t think we’re making too much noise, do you?” I squeaked out through coughs.

  “Bit late to worry about that now,” Tom coughed back. “Keep looking.”

  I pulled myself along the shelf until I saw a bright red book. Pulling myself up on to my tiptoes, I reached out for it. I knew as soon as I touched it that it was the right one. It felt hot just like the Serpent’s Tooth Rock had the day I made the wish. I pulled it out. And there, shining in gold letters read:

  The Illustrated Myths of Dark Muir

  “I found it!” I called out.

  But Tom had gone very still.

  “Hey, I said I found it!”

  “Shhh,” Tom said, as a shadow loomed outside the window.

  But there was dust up my nose and I could feel a sneeze coming on. I pressed my hand up against my mouth, but that only made it worse. I could feel the sneeze shaking its way up, until…

  “Atchoooooooooo!” It rattled and echoed around the shop.

  The shadow moved round to the door and the handle began to wobble.

  “Hide!” Tom called out as he flattened himself against a shelf.

  But I couldn’t hide. I was halfway up a ladder, holding the world’s most enormous book. All I could do was freeze.

  Mum had once told me that explorer and documentary-maker Osa Helen Leighty said that if you’re facing down a bear or a tiger it’s best not to move. Just stay perfectly still and try to look big. But I didn’t think that was going to work. Mr Sinclair was about to come in, see me stealing a precious antique book, and I was going to be in so much trouble. Da was never going to forgive me. I could hear the rattle of keys. My heart pounded so loudly I was sure Tom could hear it, the man on the other side of the door could hear it, people in Australia could even probably hear it! I thought of how disappointed Mum would be if she was here. I could picture her nose wrinkle, the way it always did just before she got really angry. And then I felt my hand tingle. I dropped the book in shock.

  “Hey!” Tom yelled as the book burst open on the floor.

  But I wasn’t paying attention. Because my hand tingled again. Just like it had the night I’d first disappeared and during the fight with Blair. But this time I didn’t want to fight it. I wanted to make it work faster.

  I squeezed my hand and mumbled, “I want to disappear…”

  My hand grew magically hotter. It was working.

  “I want to disappear,” I yelled, and this time I could feel my whole body tingle, the magic working faster than ever.

  “Amelia, what are you doing?” Tom whispered, his eyes wide.

  The bookshop flickered.

  “Amelia, stop,” Tom said in a tiny panicked voice. “Don’t leave me on my own!”

  I opened my eyes. Tom’s scared face was staring up at me. In my panic I had completely forgotten about him. What was I doing? I couldn’t just disappear and leave him. I gripped on to the ladder with all my might, screwed up my eyes and tried to stop. But it was too late, my feet and legs had already vanished. Just as the door flew open, the sound of the ocean poured into my ears and the bookshop faded away.

  Chapter 16

  There was the sound of crashing waves and the screech of birds wheeling about in the air. But I convinced myself if I just didn’t open my eyes I could still be with Tom. I could still be in the bookshop. In my head I counted to a hundred. I took slow, even breaths. I waited to hear the sound of Tom’s voice or to be pulled off the ladder. But the sound of waves was getting louder. And there was another sound: the sound of barking. But not like Pipi’s happy bark or even like her excited bark. In fact it wasn’t like any dog bark I knew. I opened one eye cautiously and then quickly shut it again.

 
In the bookshop I had thought the disappearing would take me away from trouble. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was lying on a beach, on the damp sand. And all around me were the island’s herd of big grey seals. And they were not pleased to see me.

  Me and Tom had spent hours over the holiday watching the seals from up on the rocks of Seal Beach. I told him how Dark Muir seals were so big because they were really selkies: people who turn into seals in the water. Tom had insisted on naming them all, just like his ponies. But up close they weren’t very friendly. They had gathered around me clapping their flippers and rearing up with angry honking barks. The big seal we named Mad Eye, because he was missing one eye, was thumping his way towards me baring his teeth. Mad Eye threw himself up and opened his great mouth and roared. I rolled to the right just as Mad Eye threw himself down next to me. Thump! The sand exploded over my face. Mad Eye reared up again. But this time I was on my feet and running as fast as I could, away from the chorus of clapping seals and towards a boat bobbing up and down in the cove.

  I jumped into it and pulled the tarp over my head. I lay in the dark waiting for Mad Eye and the other seals to lose interest. A horrible creeping feeling was sneaking up my spine. This gently rocking, red-painted boat was so familiar to me – it wasn’t just any boat; this was Mum’s. I felt sure the rock’s magic had brought me here for a reason. Just like it had taken me to Mum’s binoculars, just like it had taken me to her fossil, it had taken me here, to The Bonny.

  The Bonny had been Mum’s best surprise. I could remember the day we found it so clearly. It had been after Mum and Da’s fights had grown so bad that Mum moved into the attic room. I had thought if I could get Mum out of the attic she would have to make up with Da. I’d done everything: I sprinkled itching powder that I’d bought from the joke shop on Stony Isle on her sheets, I even slipped a big spider under the door. But nothing worked. So I’d sneaked into Da’s tool box and stolen his hammer. I was going to break the attic window. There was no way Mum could stay in a room with the rain coming in. But it was impossible to sneak around a house that squeaked under every footstep and Mum had caught me red-handed on the stairs with the hammer. I had thought she’d be so cross, but she wasn’t. She didn’t even mention it to Da. Instead for the first night in ages she had read to me from The Little Book of Lady Adventurers. She’d told me the tale of Anne Bonny, the flame-haired pirate who ruled the Caribbean seas.

  Anne Bonny was a fierce young girl who fell in love with a pirate. Turned out of her home by her father, she moved to the famous pirate hideout New Providence in the Caribbean. There she fell in love with another pirate called Calico Jack Rackham and met Mary Read, a woman who had disguised herself as a man to serve in the navy and then taken to the pirate life. Together they stole a ship and took to the seas to become the scourge of the Caribbean. Anne was so feared in combat that all the pirate crew she served with respected her and she even became a most wanted pirate. After capturing a Spanish ship and hauling in a huge treasure, the king’s ship was sent after her. Sadly, after a desperate battle, Anne, Mary and Captain Calico Jack Rackham, along with the rest of the crew, were captured. But Anne managed to escape execution and disappeared – some say to continue her pirate life under a new identity.

  I knew the story so well but I loved how Mum added in Anne’s own voice, making up things she would say in a very bad Irish accent.

  Then the next day Mum had taken me down to Seal Cove where we found a skiff that had washed up. Mum was really excited even though it wasn’t much to look at. It was old and a bit rotten and I was pretty sure it had holes in it. But Mum had given me her mischievous look and said, “How about we put that hammer to better use and make a pirate ship?”

  Mum and me spent weeks fixing it up. We painted it red and black just like the picture of Anne Bonny’s ship from my book. Mum even found a wooden trunk and fitted it in the keel for holding treasure. And in honour of the pirate queen we named the boat The Bonny, painting it in gold letters on the bow. Mum had said it was our magic boat. That it could take us anywhere we wanted to go. And she promised that the next summer we would take it out for real and go on a proper adventure. But Mum didn’t come home the next summer, or the one after.

  In the end me and Da took The Bonny out into the cove. Da made a pirate flag and smashed a beer bottle over the hull for good luck. But sailing The Bonny hadn’t felt the same without Mum. All I could think about when we were out on the water was all the places in the world she could be.

  The pirate flag lay in the bottom of the hull. It looked all sad and crumpled, so I rolled it up and stuck it into the back of my jeans. I’d wished to be with Mum and so far all the disappearing had done was take me to places and to objects – the binoculars, the ammonite, and now the flag – that reminded me of her. I felt like I was starting to piece things together, like I was on the cusp of an adventure. I just wasn’t sure what kind of adventure it would be. I desperately needed to talk to Tom about everything. But with a sharp pain I remembered Tom’s poor face in the bookshop.

  “Don’t leave me,” he had said.

  But that’s just what I had done – left him to face a very angry Mr Sinclair and get in trouble for trespassing. I was very probably the worst friend in the world.

  It was already getting dark and Da was expecting me home before dinner. But I couldn’t go home without finding out what had happened to Tom. So on my way back I stopped at the bookshop. It was dark again. The closed sign hung on the door and the top window was shut. I pressed my nose against the glass and peered in just to be sure. I couldn’t see Tom or the red book I had dropped. In fact, the whole shop looked the same way it had before we broke in. Even the dust covers had been put back over the piles of books. It made me shiver to look at it. It was like nothing ever happened. But I knew it had. I couldn’t get Tom’s scared face out of my head.

  On the way to Tom’s farm I kept going over all the ways I would apologize. In my head I came up with thirty-two different ways. I was going to buy Tom every coloured marker I could think of. I was going to clean out pony poo until I was a hundred years old. I even convinced myself I was going to dig out my inflatable flamingo armbands and teach Tom how to swim.

  It was pitch black and pouring with rain by the time I sneaked through the pony paddock and up to Tom’s grandma’s house. I could see Tom in his bedroom, his face lit up in the glow of his computer screen.

  “Tom,” I called, but he didn’t turn around.

  I grabbed a stone and threw it up at his window.

  “Tom,” I yelled again, trying to remember all the important things I had planned to tell him.

  He eventually opened the window. His eyes were all puffy and his face looked red. I felt my stomach flip over. I had never seen Tom upset. Not even when he slipped and split his trousers trying to play football. Or when he knocked over a jug of water and ruined his painting in art. Or even when Blair held Colin the fish in the palms of her hands as he thrashed and gasped, until Tom begged her to put him back in his bowl.

  “Tom…” I started.

  “Go away,” he hissed and then slammed the window shut before I could get another word out.

  I felt terrible about all the trouble I had got Tom into. I couldn’t imagine what his scary grandma was going to do to him. I should have knocked at the door and explained how everything was all my fault. But I didn’t. I didn’t do anything at all. Instead I ran home. Mum may have named me after two of the most famous lady adventurers, but it looked like I was still the very opposite of brave.

  Chapter 17

  It wasn’t until I got home that the rain stopped. But this time the black clouds didn’t fade away. They hung heavy in the sky, making the occasional thundery crackle. Pipi growled.

  Ar row, row, row, she barked, spinning herself in circles before coming back to lick me.

  I hugged her and breathed in her wet doggy smell.

  “I’m all right. Everything’s all right,” I kept saying, but neither of us
believed it.

  Pipi whimpered and nibbled at my fingertips.

  “Shhh, you’ll wake Grandpa.”

  But I needn’t have worried about waking Grandpa up. I could hear him out in the garden and he wasn’t alone.

  “We found him staring at the cows again,” Penny said, stepping into the kitchen.

  “Cows, very sinister creatures – always look like they’re plotting something. Did you know more people die from cows stampeding than from shark attacks? I was just being vigilant,” Grandpa said.

  I wasn’t in the mood for another of Grandpa’s lists of ways he might kick the bucket. And I really didn’t want to spend any more time with the terrifying next-door neighbours. I just wanted to crawl into bed and try and forget everything that had happened that day. But I heard Da’s jeep rumble up the driveway and I knew I couldn’t escape.

  “Hello there,” Da said in his fake cheery voice. He knew as soon as he saw Hettie and Penny that Grandpa had been making trouble again. I could see his shoulders slump as he walked into the kitchen. So could Grandpa.

  “I thought we talked about you not going walkabout on your own,” Da said to Grandpa.

  “It’s not healthy to keep yourself locked inside all day. More people die in their houses than anywhere else, don’t you know,” Grandpa huffed.

  “Thank you for bringing him back,” Da said, and paused, expecting Hettie and Penny to say their goodbyes and leave.

  “Have you heard about the bookshop? It seems like somebody broke in,” Penny said, making herself comfortable on one of the chairs.

  “Oh, really?” I said a bit too loudly.

  “What on earth could they have wanted?” Da asked, as he dropped a big bag of shopping on to the table.

  “Yes, I wonder,” Hettie said, and she stared very hard at me. It felt like her gleaming yellow eyes could see right into my head. And not for the first time I thought she knew more about all this strangeness than she was letting on.