“Male pride is a wonderful thing!” laughed the girl. “You’ve been sparko for 5 minutes.”
“Tom meet Poppy. Poppy meet Tom.” Felix was unable to keep a straight face. His macho, rugby playing, sword wielding mate had been knocked out by a girl. This was one for the memoirs.
“I think her fist and my chin have met before!” Tom smiled and winked as he shook Poppy’s hand.
“Can I be a Guardian now?” Poppy asked.
“You’re the Keeper. You decide.” Tom winked at Felix.
“Excuse us for a second” Felix smiled at Poppy as he pushed Tom to one side.
“She knows I’m the Keeper now you muppet!” exclaimed Felix.
“She’s hard as nails and she knows a lot already. I’ve seen her at fencing, she’s not bad,” said Tom.
“We can’t drag a girl into all this.” Felix was worried enough taking Tom with him without having to accept responsibility for someone else.
“She certainly doesn’t punch like a girl!” Tom laughed holding his jaw.
Felix thought for a second and put his arm round his friend’s shoulders, “Well another pair of hands won’t hurt.”
“OK you’re in.” Tom announced to Poppy, beaming from ear to ear.
Poppy was delighted and hugged the two boys. It was the first time since they had seen her that she had actually acted like a girl. She quickly returned to her tomboy persona.
“What now then boss?” she asked Felix.
“Back to mine” he replied. “We need to get you up to speed on how this stuff works.”
Poppy replaced her sabre in the hockey stick case and followed the boys like an excited puppy.
16
Poppy sat on the sofa listening intently to the boys as they told her everything they knew about The Book of Words. She sobbed when Felix explained that the Brethren had killed her grandfather and that it definitely wasn’t a traffic accident. Her mood lightened as the stories of time travel to France and Pompeii were retold with enthusiasm by Tom. It seemed to be a lot to take in, especially the fact that the Guardians had vowed to give up their lives for the Keeper and The Book of Words.
“Sounds great!” exclaimed Poppy. “Except the bit about dying fighting the Brethren!”
“Part of the contract I’m afraid,” shrugged Tom. “You need to practise your fencing with us at my house every night.”
A surprised Poppy blurted out, “Every night!”
“Well we can hope the Brethren bring an apprentice next time we see them!” laughed Felix.
“Every night it is then.” She was slowly accepting that this new adventure would be hard work. The trio tucked in to the pile of sandwiches supplied by Mrs Jones. Full up, they went to the play room and slumped on the bean bags.
“So how do we know when the Brethren are coming?” Poppy enthusiastically asked.
“Good question,” replied Tom. “We don’t know is the simple answer.”
“We do!” shouted Felix as the lightbulb in his head came on.
“We do?” exclaimed Tom.
“Where do they always appear from?” asked Felix smiling.
“Explosions and smoke,” answered Tom. “Then those hideous creatures say...,” He turned to Poppy, screwed up his face and in a low gravelly voice said, “The Keeper, Felix Jones. Where are you?”
Poppy stepped back and nervously laughed at Tom. Felix acknowledged Tom’s impression as pretty decent apart from having a full face of skin and muscle.
“Yes, they come out of the smoke but where are the explosions?” he asked, hoping that Tom would figure it out.
“Paris, Jean-Claude’s house. Hampton Court, the servant’s quarters. Here, the house at the bottom of the school field.” Tom struggled to put everything together. Felix stared straight at him expectantly. “No nothing,” he finally blurted out.
“The common, the gardeners shed,” said Felix waving his hands as if to wind up his friend’s brain.
“Is it to do with the Guardians?” offered Poppy.
“Thank god someone’s thinking,” laughed Felix.
The cogs finally began turning in Tom’s head and he boomed, “They come through places where the Guardians spend a lot of time.”
“They also appear when there are a number of Guardians in the same place. I think!” said Felix.
“But how do they know?” Poppy was looking very confused as nobody had explained how the Brethren travelled.
“That’s the ultimate question,” smiled Felix. “We’ll answer that one another day.”
“For now we have to hope that you and Buckley aren’t enough to trigger an appearance,” he whispered to Tom.
“My grandfather’s house was the one at the bottom of the field!” sobbed Poppy. “It all makes sense now. The fire brigade couldn’t find a cause.”
“The Brethren,” whispered Tom. “They come when nobody’s looking!”
“What do we do now?” Poppy was keen to go on her first trip through time.
“We go back and find The Sheriff and talk to him,” Felix answered pointing at himself and Tom.
“What about me?” She looked very disappointed that she was being left out.
“I don’t know if you can travel as you’re not a proper Guardian,” replied Felix sheepishly.
“There’s only one way to find out!” Poppy screamed as she pulled a book off the bookcase and threw it open on the floor.
“No way! We can’t risk it - you may blow up or never be able to get back.” Felix was concerned for Poppy’s safety.
“Can’t we test it somehow?” suggested Tom.
“How?” grimaced Felix.
“Like space, let’s send a monkey or a dog and see what happens.”
Poppy smiled at Tom as he tried to convince Felix to include her.
“Oh yes,” said Felix sarcastically. “I’ll just nip next door and ask Mrs Johnson if I can borrow Trixie to go back to the Ice Age for a while!”
Poppy and Tom both smiled, gave a knowing look to each other and stared at the shelf next to the window.
“No!” shouted Felix.
The little pink nose twitched behind the bars as Fluffy, Felix’s sister’s hamster, reached for its water tube. The brown and white ball of hair had no idea what was being planned for it in the minds of the three staring figures below her.
“It’s Jess’s!” said Felix clasping his head in his hands. “I can’t take my sister’s hamster back in time. It may not survive.”
“If it doesn’t that pet place on the High Street has loads of them. There’s bound to be one the same.” Tom winked trying to encourage Felix to give it a go.
“Please!” pleaded Poppy. “I’d love to see if I can come with you back in time.”
Felix buckled under the pressure and reluctantly agreed to travel with Tom and Fluffy. To limit the harm that could come to the unknowing victim, Felix insisted that they went to an area where hamsters would survive. Tom scoured the internet on his phone for information on hamsters. Felix found the plastic ball that Fluffy was locked in every day to allow her to travel round the room without being able to escape. He gently picked Fluffy up and placed her in the ball. The hamster thought this was great and began speeding herself round the room banging into furniture and winding between the legs of the three people about to complete the dangerous experiment on her.
“Here it is!” said Tom. “Now we need a picture of Mongolia.”
“Mongolia! What’s there?” asked Felix, who was looking quite worried.
“Just desert,” replied Tom. “We only have to arrive and come straight back.”
“Here’s a holiday brochure with Mongolia in it.” Poppy had been browsing the magazines on the coffee table.
Tom looked excited at the prospect of time travelling again, “Great, let’s go,” he said excitedly.
“Get your sabre,” ordered Felix. “You never know what we will find.”
Poppy opened the brochure and laid it neatly on the floor. Tom took
a photograph of the room on his phone to enable them to get back to Poppy. They smiled at her and jumped onto the book. They disappeared and left Poppy alone staring in amazement at the empty space left by the boys.
17
Felix stared at Tom as he came back to his senses. They were in a field of tall long grass.
“Not sand dunes again!” exclaimed Tom.
“This is too dry for dunes,” replied Felix. “I can’t hear the sea.”
Felix opened The Book of Words to the first page. He couldn’t believe what he read.
Location Beijing, China
Date June 1215
Languages Mongol
“Well we’re not in Mongolia!” said a surprised Felix. “We’re in China, near Beijing.”
“Where are the roads and towns?” asked Tom.
“Not built yet, we’re in 1215!” laughed Felix. “We’ve got it wrong again!”
“Why is the language Mongol if we’re in China?” Felix pondered to himself. He quickly flicked to the middle of the Book. Tom went to explore the immediate area but soon came crawling back.
“There are thousands of mad Chinese men over that ridge” he whispered.
“Genghis Khan and his army!” said Felix.
“He killed everyone he conquered didn’t he?” Tom’s basic grasp of History meant he panicked before he knew all the details.
“Not quite, but he wasn’t very nice to most of them!” smiled Felix. “Where’s Fluffy?”
“I’d forgotten about her,” said Tom. “She can’t have got far in that ball.”
They crawled around in the long grass searching desperately for the pet hamster, hoping that she had survived the journey through the vortex.
They made their way back and forth, flattening the grass as they went.
Tom stopped suddenly. “Over here,” he whispered anxiously.
Felix crawled on his belly to Tom. There was a narrow trail in the sand leading towards the soldiers’ camp. They peered over the ridge to see Fluffy heading down the gentle slope towards the round white tents, like a hamster Usain Bolt.
“I bet you a pound you can’t get Fluffy and get back here before the soldiers see you.”
Felix knew Tom could never resist a challenge to his sporting prowess. Tom studied the camp and noticed that the men were all drinking from large jugs and staggering about. “Done,” he whispered as he set off towards the plastic ball at full speed. As he reached the tiring hamster he lost his footing in a rabbit hole. Tom landed heavily on top of the ball. He had winded himself but more importantly the noise had signalled his presence to the partying Mongol soldiers.
He picked up Fluffy and tried to run, gasping frantically for air. He could hear heavy footsteps getting closer. Tom glanced behind him to see a dozen leather and fur clad soldiers approaching quickly with their swords drawn. He smiled at their thin little moustaches and plaited beards. The sight of their swords wiped the smile from his face. He began running but he couldn’t catch his breath. He hit the ground like a sack of potatoes as he was hit by a speeding body.
“Slow down matey!” Felix had run out to meet him. The pair stood up. Tom held the hamster ball tightly as Felix pulled the photo of the playroom with a beaming Poppy up on his phone. The phone was thrown to the floor and the pair jumped just as Tom was about to be grabbed by his pursuers. They had escaped, once again, in the nick of time.
18
The freezing cold water woke them with a start. This was definitely different. They lay on the playroom floor. Fluffy was busy running round in her ball and stood over them was Poppy. In her hand an empty jug. She looked relieved that they were both awake. The boys wiped the water from their faces.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tom screamed at Poppy.
“I went to get a drink. I came back in and you were lying here!” She looked confused by the boy’s anger.
“We told you we passed out when we travel!” Tom scowled.
“When did you travel?” she innocently asked.
Felix realised that because she hadn’t gone with them she couldn’t remember them disappearing. “What were we talking about before you went for the drink?” he asked.
“We were thinking about sending Fluffy with you back to Mongolia.” She was starting to think she was losing her mind.
“She’s like the others,” laughed Felix. “Poppy can’t remember us disappearing because she didn’t come with us. The Books worked its magic again.”
“You’ve been to Mongolia and back in the time it took me to get a jug of water?” smiled Poppy. “Looks like Fluffy is OK.” Poppy was excited at the sight of the hamster rushing round the room. She knew this meant she would be able to travel with the boys in the future.
Felix gently placed Fluffy back in her cage on the shelf. She seemed unharmed by her visit to China. Tom looked at the brochure Poppy had placed on the floor enabling them to go there.
“No wonder we ended up in China!” he exclaimed. “Poppy, lesson number ninety six. The picture needs to be of the place you want to get to, not just say Mongolia somewhere near it.” He held up the brochure page to show Felix a pencil drawn picture of Genghis Khan sacking Beijing in 1215.
“It was another close one!” Felix realised that they needed to prepare properly for their journeys in the future if they didn’t want another close shave.
Tom enjoyed showing off and got straight down to telling Poppy of his bravery in the face of the entire Mongolian army. She sat listening intently to Tom’s exaggerated tale. Felix sat deep in thought oblivious to everything. He was trying to figure out their next move in finding out the true purpose of The Book of Words. He looked across at his pair of Guardians and burst out laughing.
“Do you want me to leave?”
Tom was holding Poppy’s hands and staring into her eyes while he was excitedly recounting their first meeting with the Brethren and their French adventure.
Tom let go of Poppy immediately and went bright red.
“Erghhhhh! No way. He’s not my type.” Poppy groaned.
Felix thought she was too quick to deny any feelings for Tom and laughed.
“Right! Good night’s sleep needed and off to see The Sheriff tomorrow morning,” ordered Felix.
“I can’t in the morning,” muttered Poppy. “I sing in the church choir.”
“A woman of many talents!” Tom laughed at the thought of the tomboy in a choir robe looking angelic.
“After lunch it is then. Meet here at one.” Felix smiled.
He watched Poppy and Tom walk down the road chatting and laughing before he closed the front door. Before he went to bed he thought he should check on Fluffy just to make sure there weren’t any delayed effects. To his relief Fluffy was running on her small wheel and looking full of life. He collected some books on King Arthur from his bag and climbed the stairs. Within minutes of his head hitting the pillow he had fallen asleep under the open pages of Arthurian legends.
19
Felix sat down with his parents and sister for Sunday lunch. The smell of slow cooking roast beef had filled the house all morning. Felix was starving. He had been reading about King Arthur but there were few clues about The Book of Words. His mission for today was to go back and talk to The Sheriff, Mr Law, who was his predecessor as the Keeper. He hoped The Sheriff knew more of the secrets of the Book and would enlighten him to its real purpose.
Poppy was reluctantly at church with her family. She would much rather have been at Felix’s house preparing for her first ever journey back through time. She sat in the choir stalls tapping her fingers on her hymn book as the vicar seemed to be giving the longest sermon ever. The adventure ahead distracted her and all she could hear was “Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah.” Her brain was busy planning every sword fight and when the organ struck up the next hymn she opened her book and began blasting out the wrong words. The choir master gave her a stare that said “You wait until we’ve finished.” As soon as the service was done her robes were thrown on the
ir peg and she was off towards the common with her hockey stick over her shoulder.
Tom woke up at 12.30 as his mother called him for lunch. He wolfed down his chicken dinner, grabbed his guitar case and ran to the common to meet Poppy. He brushed his hair with his fingers as he ran. Poppy was sat on the old oak stump patiently waiting. She tapped her watch as Tom neared.
“This is early for me!” he shouted as he approached. “We’ll still get to Felix’s on time if we rush.” Poppy laughed and jumped down to join Tom. The pair of Guardians walked quickly across the common and down the road to their friend’s house. Felix was stood in the window waiting for them.
In the playroom Felix pointed out the one flaw in the plan to go back and interrogate The Sheriff. “It’s Sunday, the school is shut!”
“Thought of that. It’s all sorted!” Tom had realised on the way home the previous night and for once had used some sense and found a solution to their problem.
“How are we going to get to the photos of The Sheriff?” asked Felix wondering how Tom had managed to figure this out and he couldn’t.
Tom looked smug. “Buckley, you muppet!”
Felix smacked his forehead. He had forgotten that the other Guardian was Mr Buckley, the school caretaker. “Fantastic, let’s go.”
They made their way to the school. Buckley had left the side gate along the secluded alleyway open for them. They could sneak along the school fence to the fire exit from the school canteen without being seen by the CCTV. Buckley was inside waiting for them.
“You took your time,” was their greeting followed by, “Who the hell is this?” when he saw Poppy. Felix explained how Poppy had found them. Buckley had fought with her grandfather against the Brethren and now welcomed her with open arms. She smiled from ear to ear as she was starting to feel accepted as part of the gang. Buckley, like his father, looked like a jolly gnome. He led them down the corridors to the reception area. The walls were plastered in photographs going back over 70 years. The Sheriff featured in many of them showing field trips and sporting events.
Felix Jones and The Honour of The Keeper (Felix Jones Adventures Book 2) Page 5