‘Yeah, well I was grounded, weren’t I? And they’ve confiscated my games console,’ I grumbled. Both friends shot me a look of sympathy – the kind you’d give to somebody on death row.
Simon looked pleased to see me anyway, if no one else particularly welcomed me or had even missed me. The lessons began and ended without notable incident and I did get away with not having done all the work sent to me. I still suffered from slight pangs of guilt for lying to Dad about completing all the work. I’d just shown him my book and explained that all the last half a dozen pages represented work done that week. He believed me as I never put the date on my work, which meant I could write fake ones in. I knew the teachers would never spot it; they just skim it when marking. Most of my work just says ‘Good’ or ‘Well done’ in red ink at the bottom of every other page.
I did look out for Guy at school but he didn’t appear. I wondered if he’d gone to Coney Island, or maybe the park again. How did he manage to skip school without getting caught?
Then, on the Wednesday, he found me in the playground with Simon and Pete at lunchtime.
‘Hi, Luke.’ The high-pitched voice sounded even whinier than usual.
‘All right?’ I nodded and tried to look nonchalant about it. It did prove more than a little embarrassing. I hadn’t spoken to anyone about Guy. The three of us were telling rude jokes when he interrupted and now he just stood there like a puppy waiting for me to throw him a stick.
‘Hey, look. It’s incontinence boy!’ Simon spoke before I could say anything. The air immediately fizzed with bad energy – out of nowhere. I didn’t know how to rescue the situation. I should have said something earlier, but I’d missed the chance.
‘What do you want, wee lad?’ Simon continued his taunting. ‘Some rubber pants?’
Guy looked at me with an expression of confusion. I looked away.
‘Sod off, piss-pants.’ Pete joined in now. ‘You can’t stand here. It’ll cost you fifty quid.’
My mates aren’t bullies – they’d consider it ‘banter’.
‘Come on, lads,’ I said with a fake grin. ‘Be nice to the freak, or he might start to cry.’
The others stopped laughing and looked at each other confused. I held it together.
‘He’s new here. He needs someone to show him around.’
The other two stared at me. Then Simon suddenly burst into laughter.
‘That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in years.’ He held his sides in an exaggerated mime of hilarity. ‘You’ll tell me next he should become our new best friend. Brilliant! You crack me up sometimes.’
I joined in the laughter. Guy frowned and eventually dawdled off.
That night I lay there staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. I found it hard to work out how I felt about Guy. Being friendly with him was clearly going to ruin my street-cred, yet there was something fascinating about him, even if the others couldn’t see it. There was no doubting that Guy offered something a bit different. Just hanging around and doing the same old stuff was getting boring now. Maybe it was time to grow up and move on.
Mum trusted me to look after him and a small part of me wanted to do that for her. It kind of felt like I had a mission to accomplish, and my instincts told me that being with Guy would never be dull. His ability to attract wildlife and his weird behaviour drew me to him. He seemed interesting – even though he was ugly, and a little bit smelly. But, hell, we could work on that …
During these thoughts the tapping began. At first it jolted me out of my deep thoughts. I knew straight away what it was, and strangely, something inside me made me feel that it was completely natural. No, nothing odd about a flippin’ bird tapping on your window, eh?
I got up and walked over to the curtains, which I pulled partially back. As expected, there in the dim glow of white moonlight and orange streetlamps, just the other side of the glass, stood the magpie.
And this time it felt different. Somehow. I welcomed his presence. Something about the bird made me feel calm and friendly towards it; I can’t really explain why. Perhaps someone outside of me was controlling my thoughts. It was as if I understood something completely incredible, which if I put it into words would make me sound crazy.
Maybe I was going insane?
I let the magpie in. As soon as I pushed the window outwards the waiting bird hopped in, making a sound that almost equated to a tut. That can’t be right. I was imagining things again. My first fear that the magpie would squawk and flap about madly was unfounded, but I still felt nervous in its unpredictable presence, and had to keep trusting it wouldn’t poo on my bed.
But it didn’t. In fact, it acted with excellent manners. What kind of bird was this? Wild birds don’t enter houses after knocking politely. If a bird does accidently get into a house it goes completely mental and craps everywhere. This one looked at me with eyes that gleamed with intelligent understanding. It knew me. I swear, it looked at me and knew I wouldn’t hurt it. In the old days I would have looked for a stick or a weapon. Now things were different, and I stared back at him with utter fascination. I moved even closer, confident I wasn’t in any danger.
‘You need to choose your friends more carefully, Luke.’
I stumbled slightly and had to grip the windowsill with my fingertips to hold myself up.
What the –?
The sodding bird had only gone and spoken to me. It snapped its beak, glared at me sideways, then flicked its tail.
Was that for real, or had I lost the plot? Being with Guy had obviously turned me into a nut-job.
Up to now, I’d witnessed some amazing sights – but they could all be explained in encyclopaedias. However amazing the creatures Guy showed me, each one existed in the real world. But a talking bird? Now we’d suddenly jumped into a different dimension.
And it had used my name.
Had Guy sent this amazing bird to me to blow my mind even further?
It had to be Guy’s doing – sent on a crazy mission … unless …
‘Guy?’
Now I felt really stupid talking to a bird.
‘Hello, Luke.’
Bloody hell. Take me to a padded cell. I’d lost it. Maybe I never had it!
‘Guy? Is that …’ This was crazy. ‘… is that you?’
But then he didn’t answer using words.
At first the magpie shimmered, as if the radio-waves transmitting a holographic image faltered for a few seconds; coloured lights shot out like fractals from a million angles then increased rapidly in mass until a person stood before me. Guy. A genie from a bottle.
What had I just seen? What had I just witnessed?
Chapter Sixteen
I stared open-mouthed and with new eyes at the boy now standing beside me.
‘Maybe your friends are right. I’m a freak.’
‘Is this some kind of joke?’ My mind struggled to express my thoughts. ‘Have you some kind of superpower?’
‘Not superpower, Luke, just energy. We all could harness it if we only listened to nature.’
I so couldn’t believe this crazy transformation I’d witnessed just a few seconds ago. I had to be dreaming. This felt unreal.
‘This is ancient magic …’
Magic? Yup, I’d just entered cloud cuckoo land. Goodbye normal world.
‘Thousands of years ago all people lived closely with nature. Ordinary people had what we’d consider supernatural powers … magic. But it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary – not for them, because they lived with nature and listened to what it told them. The problem with our modern world is that we think we can control things, but we can’t. Nature is always too big for us. We’re not in control – we’re just part of it. Animals. Creatures, like all the others we share our planet with. Our biggest error is in thinking we can harness or manipulate natural forces. Of course we can’t. Nature will always be bigger, stronger, and beyond our control. Rather than master it, we should accept our part in it and learn its secrets and wonders.’
It was only then that I noticed he was naked. Although it made me feel uncomfortable, there was no sense of threat, and Guy just carried on as if nothing was strange or different.
I didn’t really follow what Guy was telling me as it all sounded like a load of new-age hogwash, really.
‘Where did you get all this stuff from?’ I garbled, for want of anything more sensible to say. ‘Who the hell are you?’
But Guy had clearly told me enough already.
‘I need something to wear.’
Without another word I nodded and found him some old jeans and a jumper.
‘Put your warmest clothes on,’ he ordered. ‘We need to sneak out of here without waking up your parents.’
‘Do I dare ask why?’
‘Showing you is so much more fun that telling you.’
‘Why am I trusting you?’
He smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. For some reason I trusted him. I’d changed. In the old days I’d have punched his lights out for doing that.
Before I could wonder how we’d creep down the squeaky stairs and out the front door without waking up my Mum, Guy was already climbing out through the window onto the ledge overlooking our back garden. With light agility he stepped down to the fence and then jumped two-footed onto the lawn. My jump was less elegant, but ended with a roll onto the grass, which jarred my ankle.
‘What exactly are we doing? Not looking for hedgehogs and badgers, are we? I could be curled up asleep in bed right now. I’ve had enough of animals for a few days.’
‘Just wait. It’ll be worth it. Promise. Atmospheric conditions are just right. We have to be patient.’
How could I say no to a boy who can turn into a bloody magpie? Everything in my entire world had changed in those few moments.
We walked for about ten minutes, and eventually got to the local park where we’d spent all that time previously looking at wildlife.
‘Not more bats,’ I said, disappointed.
‘No, no. Although it’s a shame you can’t appreciate how cool they are.’
‘I can only take so much,’ I grumbled. I wanted to see him change back into the magpie. Now that was cool! If it had really happened. I started to doubt my own memory. Things like that don’t really happen. Not really; in reality. A wind began to press against us as we walked.
‘The swings!’ he cried out to me.
‘You’ve gotta be kidding me,’ I now began to question his sanity as well as my own. ‘You got me out of my bed to go on the swings?’
Guy shrugged and jumped on one of them. ‘Trust me.’
I begrudgingly sat on the second swing, next to him and pushed off to get to the same level.
A strong gust of wind blew into my face as I started to gain height. Then it changed direction and an invisible shove gave me extra momentum.
‘Higher,’ Guy ordered. He was pushing hard on his swing until his head went above the level of the metal crossbar. I did the same and felt the wind suddenly strengthen as it swished through the trees. Within seconds a storm had erupted, with pelting rain cooling my face, and I was soon drenched as the winds drove against each rise and fall I made on the swing.
‘Keep pushing,’ Guy screamed. I could only just hear him so I followed his arcs and tried to keep level. By now the stormy winds were bending even the giant trees. ‘Nearly there,’ Guy called out.
Nearly where?
Thunder rumbled distantly. Was this it? Guy had brought me to come and play in a storm! Big deal. Big let-down.
‘Grab my hand!’
I looked across and wondered if I’d heard him right.
‘Your hand! Keep together. Get ready to let go.’
I placed my right hand in his and gripped onto the chain with my left as my legs swung up and down. My swing was not in perfect synchronisation with Guy’s but we managed to stay together even though my arm got a bit wrenched.
‘When I say “now”, jump.’
‘Sod off!’
‘Just do it. But keep hold of my hand.’
Was this revenge for calling him a freak? I always used to jump off swings as a kid and remembered how much the sting hurt your feet. What the hell.
‘Three, two, one. Now!’
I gripped Guy’s hand tightly, scared of it slipping away in the rain. I felt my bum slide off the plastic seat and then waited for the searing agony. Please don’t let my head smash on the concrete path.
We didn’t crash. We only went and floated!
Instead of dropping we somehow soared to the top of the trees. The next part made me feel queasy. We were flung around and around as if caught in a circulating air current. Each time we hurtled towards the ground, I prepared for death, but then became aware of another rapid, stomach-churning ascent.
My hand still gripped Guy’s but it was slipping down to his wrist. He looked over at me and smiled. I must have looked scared stiff.
‘Relax,’ he shouted. ‘Put your other arm out – like a plane. Trust me.’
Just this simple action gave me much more control. Guy smiled as if this was a natural, everyday event for him. He pulled me close and shouted into my ear.
‘We’re riding the storm! Woo-hoo!’
I began to laugh manically – nervously. It was elation mixed with absolute terror.
‘Climb onto my back and hang on tight. This could get rough.’
He jerked me towards him – giving me the chance to grab hold of his shoulders. I flung my arms around his chest and locked my fingers together, and refused to unlock them, even in the throes of intense cramp. Without thinking, I also wrapped my legs around his.
I was shrieking; swearing; cheering; wailing. Tears streamed down my face from the onrushing air. When we fell – hundreds of metres at a time – I couldn’t hear myself scream. The sudden rise upwards left my gut behind and I dizzily clung on with my last ounces of strength.
‘Thermals!’ Guy yelled. ‘We’re birds! Woo-hoo!’
Then two terrifying thoughts struck me. What if Guy changed back into a magpie? He wouldn’t be able to hold my weight. Then worse – how do we land?
Maybe Guy could sense my terror. Perhaps my tightening grip had begun to hurt him.
‘Had enough?’
All I could do was nod dumbly and hope he got the message. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to hold onto him much longer.
Guy stretched out his limbs and wheeled around a perfect arc. I finally got an amazing view of the sprawling network of lights below me. What a sight – the whole town at once. I started to relax a little, thinking about this freedom. How weird to be away from the ground – from my own town and home. This just wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
Skilfully steering a path back over the houses and trees, Guy manoeuvred us back towards the park. I saw the lake ahead of us, lights rippling on its surface. Just as we approached its shimmering target I realised Guy had put one hand over his shoulder to grip my arm. Then in one sudden move he’d flipped me and himself so we faced each other. I clung to him desperately and he embraced me tightly. We were already falling. Very fast.
‘We’ll go for a soft landing,’ he whispered into my ear. ‘Brace yourself.’
I think I must have lost consciousness. There was an explosion, the loudest thing my ears had ever experienced. Then, when everything moved in slow motion, I wondered if I’d died and become a spirit in a nether world. I just remember shapes and shadows lunging at me. It went black and white. The slowness continued, until suddenly, another explosion led to a gasping of breath and an end to the agony. My body collapsed and I knew I was being held. Water splashed onto my face and I dragged fresh wind into my mouth. Air. Beautiful, life-giving air.
My heart was too big to fit in my chest and my lungs were boiling – about to burst. My eyes stung and my ears throbbed with echoes and drumming. My arms and legs didn’t work. I was freezing cold. But I was alive!
Guy hauled me out of the lake – drenched, limp, and exhausted. I blubbed and howled
in a cringing mess of bones and skin. Guy stood over me, grinning and hardly out of breath.
‘How wild was that?’
I just lay on my back and laughed at the strangeness of the last few days. In all truth, what I’d just experienced was the greatest moment of my life so far.
Chapter Seventeen
‘You know what he’s gone and done now?’ Simon asked as I reached my locker.
‘What? Who? What you on about?’ I shrugged melodramatically.
‘Piss-pants. Freakshow. You know. The wee lad.’
‘Oh,’ I said with less enthusiasm. This was going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I’d created a monster. I dreaded to think how my original rumour could continue to evolve and spiral out of control.
‘He’s found some allies,’ Pete added.
‘Yeah, he hangs around with Cheryl and Taylor and that lot now,’ Simon explained.
‘They love him. He’s one of the girlies.’
‘Told you he was gay,’ Simon added unnecessarily. ‘He can chat about shoes and shopping with them.’
‘Now Connor wants to fight him,’ Pete said. Listening to these two was like watching a tennis match.
‘Why the hell does he want to fight him?’ I tried not to sound too alarmed or defensive, so I turned back to my locker.
‘He thinks the freak is stealing our women,’ Simon replied.
‘But that doesn’t even make sense. If you reckon he’s gay then he’s no threat.’ I felt pleased with my argument, but I wondered if it was good to support the “Guy is gay” theory – especially if I was ever seen in his company. But then again, another part of me wondered if it were true. He had started becoming quite tactile, and when we’d been flying I’d been hugging him very tightly. I shuddered. Now I felt very confused.
‘Whatever.’ Simon deflected my comment nonchalantly. ‘Anyhoo, Connor wants to beat the crap out of him.’
‘What planet is he on?’ I slammed my locker shut and spun around. ‘What’s Connor worried about exactly? If Guy is gay then there’s no problem. Or does he seriously think that the freak is going to shag every single girl in our school and turn them against him? What the hell is going on in that tiny brain of his?’
Pica Page 9