I knew Blair was mad, but she wasn’t a fish killer, was she?
“Y-you wouldn’t,” I stammered.
Blair narrowed her eyes and wobbled the bowl closer to the edge.
“You wanna bet?” she said.
I looked at Colin helplessly sloshing around in his bowl and then at Tom’s poor frightened face. And I thought about how I had disappeared for all the wrong reasons in the bookshop. If I did it now, no matter how much trouble it got me into, it would be for the right ones.
I closed my eyes and whispered, “I want to disappear.”
“Amelia, don’t,” Tom called out.
But my mind was made up.
“I want to disappear,” I said louder and clenched my right hand into a tight fist, expecting at any moment for my hand to grow hot, the room to wobble and my secret to be out for ever. But nothing happened.
“How long is this supposed to take?” Blair sighed, waving the flash of her camera phone’s light on me.
I closed my eyes and yelled, “I want to disappear,” just like I had in the bookshop.
But something wasn’t working. No matter how hard I clenched my fist, I couldn’t get my hand to grow hot. Then I felt Tom’s hand in mine.
“Amelia, stop,” he said and I opened my eyes.
I was still standing in the tiny classroom that smelled of board markers and Miss Archibald’s fruity perfume, with the sound of the rain belting against the windows and Blair Watson holding a fish to ransom.
“I can’t do it,” I said and this time I wasn’t lying.
My hand wasn’t even a little bit hot; it wasn’t tingling. I didn’t know how I’d managed to make the disappearing work in the bookshop. But I hadn’t been able to do it again.
“YES YOU CAN!” Blair shouted. “I know what I saw. So no matter what, I promise you I’m going to prove it. One way or another,” she finished, giving me a look that made my insides turn to jelly.
And then she tipped Colin out of the window.
Chapter 19
It didn’t take long for Miss Archibald to notice Colin was missing. Every time she looked over at the empty bowl she sniffed and wrinkled her beaky nose like she was holding back tears. But she wouldn’t move the bowl off her desk. I think she believed it would make the culprit come forward out of guilt. But I knew that was never going to happen. If anything, Blair had become even more awful. It made me wish that I could tell Miss Archibald what had happened. But Tom and I were in enough trouble already without telling on Blair. So Colin’s disappearance was just another secret I was going to have to keep.
There were so many secrets, that I had to make a list to keep track of them.
Amelia’s Secrets
•I can disappear. (That’s kind of the biggest one.)
•I broke into a bookshop.
•I know who killed Miss Archibald’s fish.
•Blair Watson is out to get me.
I hadn’t been the only one keeping secrets. Tom had too. I could tell he was bursting to spill them to me. But Miss Archibald wouldn’t stop babbling on about the end of term assembly, even though it was months away.
“Right,” she announced. “I know some of you have made great progress with your reading skills so it’s time I revealed that one member of our class is going to get the very special honour of reading out an essay based on their journal project in the end of year assembly.” She paused, waiting for us to react.
The room was silent.
“OK, it’s optional. No one has to do it, if they don’t want to. But I think we’ve all been making so much progress in our lessons that it would be really wonderful for our class to be represented in this year’s assembly,” Miss Archibald continued. “And readers at the assembly will be up for a prize of a trip to the local owl sanctuary!”
You could have heard crickets chirp.
“And a ten pound book voucher.”
You could have heard baby crickets chirp.
Miss Archibald sighed.
“Also, to prepare for the assembly you will be excused from summer sports day, including the cross-country run.”
There was a ripple of approval from the class and Gregory and Ian rushed up to stick their names in the empty fishbowl.
“I’m going to leave this out until the end of term. Just in case anyone else is a bit shy about putting their name forward,” Miss Archibald said, eyeing the rest of the class from over the top of her glasses.
Miss Archibald was delusional if she thought I was going to get up and read in front of hundreds of people. I could see myself stuttering and mumbling through the whole first page and everyone laughing. Just thinking about it made me feel like a bowling ball was sitting in the pit of my stomach. I could see Tom staring over at me from his table at the front. He didn’t look tempted either. He stuck his tongue out at me. Ever since the fish incident we had gone back to being friends, but between Tom being grounded over the weekend and all my schoolwork, neither of us had had a proper opportunity to talk. It wasn’t until Monday break that I got the chance. As soon as I saw Tom coming out of STAR class I pulled him into the girls’ loo.
“We have to stop hanging out in here,” Tom said nervously, looking under the stalls to check if we were alone.
“I’ve been trying to talk to you ever since what happened with Blair.”
“Me too. But I’ve been grounded and I’m not allowed to use the phone, or the computer. I’m not even meant to be hanging around with you. My parents think you’re a bad influence because I’ve never been in trouble before, not until we became friends.”
“I’m so sorry, Tom,” I said, staring down at my shoes. “If I could take it all back I would.”
“I know, I found your card,” Tom said, pulling out the strange bubble-headed drawing I thought I had thrown away in art class. “You don’t really think I look like that, do you?”
I grinned.
“Only if you think I look like that,” I said, pointing to the crazy scribble-haired drawing of me next to the one of him. “So you got caught?”
“Yeah, about a second after you disappeared, Mr Sinclair found me.”
“Did he call the police?”
Tom shook his head.
“Worse. He called my gran.”
I sucked the air in through my teeth, imagining the scary little lady I had seen at Tom’s door.
“She made me clean up the whole shop without saying a word and then when I got home I had to tell my parents and they didn’t say anything for the longest time. We just sat and ate dinner with Mum looking like she might cry until finally Dad said he was really disappointed in me,” Tom said.
I scrunched up my face. “Sorry,” I said again, because I knew “disappointed” was pretty much the worst thing an adult can say to you. Worse than getting mad, or even yelling at you. It meant they didn’t trust you any more.
“Then Gran went and banned me from looking after the ponies for a bit. And she said if I so much as forgot a pencil at school, let alone got into any more trouble, she would sell them off so she could focus on teaching me manners,” Tom continued.
I felt bad all over again. If there was one thing Tom loved more than anything on the planet, it was his ponies.
“So why are you helping me?” I asked.
“Because I’m still your friend, stupid, even when I’m mad at you.”
That was one of the best things about Tom; he had a way of making even the most complicated things sound simple.
“And I guess we’re even now. You coming back to save me from Blair. But, Amelia, what were you thinking trying to disappear in front of her? Can you imagine what she’d do with a video of that? Can you imagine what would happen to you?” Tom said shaking his head.
But that was the thing. I didn’t know what was happening to me! I knew I could disappear and when I did it took me to places and objects that were important to Mum and me. But I didn’t know why and I didn’t know how to stop it. There was so much I didn’t understand.
“I wish we’d been able to get that book because I need to know what’s happening to me,” I said.
Tom smiled. “I think it’s time I showed you that Operation Bookshop wasn’t a complete disaster,” he said, pulling out a folder from his backpack. “Just before I got caught I managed to shove some of the pages of the book that came loose down my trousers.”
I couldn’t help but gasp as Tom showed me the pages. They were filled with swirly inky drawings, full of dark forests and glittery stars. The kind of pictures that should have big, gold dragons and silvery princesses in midnight blue castles in them. But instead they were drawings full of the places I knew from around the island. I had only ever thought of Dark Muir as a cold island in the middle of nowhere. But these pictures made it feel magical.
“This section is about the rock,” Tom said, his eyes shining.
Tom handed me a page. The Myth of Serpent’s Tooth Rock it read, and underneath was a picture of the rock rising above a black-and-blue sea.
“Do you really think this is going to explain what’s happening to me?”
“I think so,” Tom said,
My hands trembled as I turned over the page. A giant snake’s head leered out at me. Its golden eyes looked almost real and its scales glittered in silvery ink. I blinked trying to read the swirly writing.
“Do you want me to read it?” Tom asked and I nodded. He turned to a page with a picture of a starry night overlooking a glittery snake twisting its way through giant waves.
“In the beginning there were no islands. Only sea as far as you could see. Until one day the serpent of the world awoke. With a flick of his great tail, the seas parted and an island sprung up. With a wobble of his body another island sprung up and, with one great toss of his head, Dark Muir appeared from the waters. The snake yawned; he was so tired after creating all the islands that he fell asleep, letting only one tooth poke above the water,” Tom read.
“I know this story. It’s the one Grandpa used to tell me.”
“There’s more,” Tom said, bouncing up and down. Shakily, I watched as Tom turned over the page. All the stars from the previous page had been replaced by snow. And the island was engulfed in inky black clouds and silvery lightning.
“Over time the angry sea and roaring wind tried to claim back the islands. But no matter how hard the wind blew or how high the waves grew, they could never harm Dark Muir, because it was protected by the magic of the serpent’s tooth,” Tom read, turning to a page with a picture of the snake wrapping itself around Dark Muir. Its glittery head resting on the cliff tops, its tail cradling Sometimes Island, casting a golden ring of protection.
“But once in a while the serpent grows tired of watching the island and chooses to transfer its power temporarily by granting a wish. That’s why every year when an islander turns eleven they set out to make a wish. If chosen, the serpent gives that person a power to fulfil their wildest dreams. A power that grows stronger and stronger until the wish finally comes true.” Tom’s eyes were growing wider and wider.
“However, without the protection of the serpent’s magic the angry sea and jealous wind will try to take back the island.” I gasped as he turned to a picture of Dark Muir being engulfed by gigantic waves.
“Only the return of the wish can grant the islands safety once more,” Tom finished, putting the pages down shakily.
“Amelia,” he whispered. “What did you wish for?”
But before I could answer the bell went.
Chapter 20
I had thought the book would explain everything that was happening to me, but it just created more questions.
•Would the disappearings eventually take me from places that meant something to Mum, to Actual Mum herself?
•Was the island really in danger from a terrible storm?
Thinking about it all made my head spin. I needed to tell Tom everything as soon as possible after school. But I had to get through the day without running into Blair first, and she hadn’t been lying when she said she would stop at nothing to expose my secret.
After the fish incident Blair had rallied her ponytail gang to spread the word that I was public enemy number one; that I had weird freaky powers and for the good of the school I needed to be exposed. And even though nobody really believed Blair’s story about me disappearing, it was much better to be Blair Watson’s friend than her enemy. Especially as Gregory and Ian had been found locked in a store cupboard in nothing but their PE shorts after they’d played a prank on her. So it soon became apparent that it was the whole year’s mission to catch me doing something weird. Blair’s spies were everywhere that day. Waiting for me in the girl’s loos, stalking me on the field, sitting too close to me in assembly. Even our special lunchtime spot under the stage wasn’t safe. Me and Tom couldn’t walk around a corner without someone pointing a camera phone at us. I had gone from the strange home-schooled girl who nobody talked to, to the most famous girl in school!
When I had started school, I had dreamed about being popular, about having a big group of friends who I could invite around my house, sharing secrets and having sleepovers. I’d never really minded not having many friends when Mum had been about. We didn’t need anyone else to make our adventures any better. But after she left I’d watched everyone in their friendship groups in church or at the cinema and I’d longed with every bit of me to be part of one. To not be the loneliest girl on the island. But Blair had made it so I couldn’t even go to the loo on my own. I kept waiting for it to calm down, but more and more kids joined in. Half of them didn’t even know Blair or about my supposed disappearing powers. It had just become the popular thing to do. It made it impossible for me and Tom to have a top-secret meeting.
It was a few days later when Tom managed to sneak me a note during STAR class. It had a funny picture of me and Tom on the front dressed like ninjas complete with swords.
“At break meet me back at the library. Take the long way around. Don’t be followed.”
It was the not-getting-followed instruction that turned out to be the hardest bit. Even though Tom and I split up, Blair was tracking me almost as soon as I got into the corridor. She was joined by the redheaded twins as soon as we were down the stone steps. I knew they wouldn’t come too close as some of the teachers had started to cotton on to what was going on. She knew how to tail me whilst acting like she was doing something perfectly innocent like looking at posters or listening to music with her friends. Blair might have been mad but she wasn’t stupid. I was wondering how I was ever going to lose them when Miss Archibald poked her head out of her office on the first floor corridor.
“Ah, Amelia, just who I was looking for,” Miss Archibald said, ushering me into her office.
I saw Blair and the rest of the ponytail gang glower as Miss Archibald shut the door.
“Amelia, I’ve been really impressed by some of the work you’ve been doing in class. But I think you might benefit from using some extra tools, something to help make reading a bit easier. I’ve got some coloured sheets I think you should try,” Miss Archibald said, faffing around in her desk drawer. “I must have left them in the classroom. I’ll be right back.”
As Miss Archibald opened the door I could see Blair and the ponytail gang still lurking in the corridor. Chloe looked more miserable than ever. I let the door slam shut and looked around desperately for an escape. There was a narrow window over Miss Archibald’s desk. I climbed up and wiggled the rusted latch free. I squeezed my head and elbows out, then my right leg, but my bum got a bit stuck and my horrible itchy skirt got caught on the latch. I could hear footsteps coming back up the corridor. I didn’t know what was worse: being followed by Blair, or getting caught halfway out a window by Miss Archibald. So I took a deep breath and started wriggling. Bit by bit, parts of me started to come free, and with an awful rip I was on the other side of the window.
It wasn’t too hard to sneak back into the building. Blair and her cronies had already gone off to look for me e
lsewhere. And the corridor was empty otherwise.
Tom was already waiting for me in the library, looking red, sweaty and covered in something gooey.
“I swear I nearly didn’t make it. A whole group of year seven girls started following me, so I had to hide in a wheelie bin. And trust me, they are much harder to get out of than to get into,” he panted.
I grinned and picked an old straw from Tom’s bristly hair.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked.
“Follow me,” Tom said as he led me down the stone staircase and yanked me through an old hinged door with a sign reading Out of Bounds. I had walked past this door so many times, but I’d never even wondered what was behind it.
Tom slipped his metal ruler out of his bag. And, pushing it into the crack in the door where the lock was, he wiggled it until I heard the lock go click.
“I told you I had everything in the bag!” Tom grinned.
As soon as my eyes adjusted to the dark, I gasped. If this had been a fairy tale then this would have been the room at the top of the castle that they locked the princess in. The only light came through narrow slit windows, the kind that archers might have used to fire on enemies below. And the whole room was filled floor to ceiling with tables and chairs and even a dusty old piano, all covered in glittering spiderwebs.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Gregory and Ian showed me this place when they figured out the lock trick. Apparently it used to be where they kept the weapons when this was a real castle. When Bridlebaine first opened, this was the music room, until the piano fell through the floor and crushed the head girl. Apparently.”
“Should we be in here?” I asked as the floorboards gave a loud groan.
“Don’t worry. It’s fine as long as you don’t jump up and down,” Tom said, clearing the dust off a piano seat and setting up a fold-out chair for me.
“So,” he said, when we were both settled. “I think it’s time you told me the whole story.”
Lightning Chase Me Home Page 9