laughed.
‘You’ve got to be kidding, right? I’m a bit bigger than I was back then. And I’ve got to admit, my tree climbing skills are probably not what they once were.’
Daisy gave a shrug.
‘Mine are,’ she said simply.
Ryan looked at her.
‘What? You want to get up there? In that dress?’
‘Sure. I do it all the time.’
‘Jeez, I’ve been missing out,’ he chuckled. ‘Okay, I’ll give you a leg-up.’
Many years before, Daisy had done just the same thing for him. She had hoisted him up high enough to reach the lowest bough, using the trunk for support, and from there it had been a simple matter of climbing from branch to branch until he’d reached the one he wanted.
This time it was Daisy’s turn, and though it wasn’t as much of a stretch as it had been before, Ryan had to avert his gaze from looking straight up her dress. She was right though; her climbing skills were just as good as they always had been. Once she had hold of the branch she scampered nimbly up onto it, and then swiftly to the next, and the next, until she was within reach of the rope swing.
It only took a little push to free the wedged stick, which swung down in a wide arc, narrowly missing Ryan. He caught it on its return swing.
‘Nice one!’ he said, smiling up at her.
‘Why don’t you try it out?’ asked Daisy, starting to climb back down.
Ryan gave the rope an experimental pull and briefly examined the stick. It seemed pretty sound. He took several steps back, a childish smile spreading slowly across his face. With the line taut and the stick between his legs, he gave Daisy a wink and then pushed himself into the air.
The transformation was complete; Ryan was back in his early childhood again, whooping and hollering as the air rushed past him and he swung out over the treacherous bog. In the time that had passed since his last ride on the swing he had been to plenty of theme parks, and experienced all manner of intense rides and thrills, but this was different. This was special. A gateway to his past had opened up and he had swung straight through it, back to a time when none of those memories existed. He was having the time of his life again.
As he swung back towards solid ground he saw Daisy’s face beaming back at him. He kept his legs outstretched as he passed her and went for another swing, leaning as far back as he could and seeing the world rushing past him upside down. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the trolley flash past.
As he came into land next to Daisy, he looked back out at it and a thought struck him.
‘I reckon I can reach that with my feet,’ he said, trying to judge the difference between the length of the rope and the distance to the trolley.
Daisy gave him a strange look.
‘With your feet?’ she repeated.
‘Yeah.’
‘And do what?’
‘Pull it out, of course.’
‘With your feet?’
‘Yeah, why not?’
‘Ryan, it’s half full with mud.’
‘It’s got holes in it. The mud will just drain out.’
‘No Ryan, that’s a silly idea. I thought you wanted the rope swing for a sensible plan.’
‘I did. I was going to untie it and get you to hook it onto the handle.’
‘Well, that’s a much better idea. Help me back into the tree and I’ll get it for you.’
‘No, no,’ said Ryan dismissively. ‘I can do this, trust me.’
‘Ryan…’
‘Here, hold onto this for me please,’ he interrupted, handing her his mobile.
She took it from him and was about to say something, but Ryan was intent on proving his little stunt would work.
He took hold of the stick with both hands and ran forwards, clutching it close to his chest as it went taut. As the ground opened out beneath him, he lowered himself down and swung out, kicking his feet towards the trolley. The sole of his shoe clipped the handle, but he was unable to get any purchase.
Swinging back, he had to tuck his feet right up underneath him to clear the worst of the mud. As he skidded to a halt his trainers dragged along the ground, picking up dirt and dried leaves. He stood up and gave them a quick inspection. The muck had gone above and beyond the soles.
‘Bugger,’ he said. ‘Oh well, no going back now.’
He ran back to Daisy and prepared for another go.
‘Ryan, I really don’t think this is a good idea,’ she said, although she appeared to be enjoying his foolhardy determination.
‘I’ll get it this time, just you watch,’ he smiled.
He did.
For his second attempt he took a slightly different line of attack, and the change in swing allowed him to get one foot under the handle. There was a brief moment of weightlessness, then gravity kicked in and his hands took his full weight, almost causing him to lose his grip. Grimacing, he kicked out and managed to get the heel of his other foot over the top of the handle.
‘Go Ryan!’ shouted Daisy, egging him on.
His ego suitably inflated, he gave the trolley an experimental tug. It didn’t move an inch. Undeterred, he made sure his hands were gripping tightly and gave another, more extended, pull. There came a weird sucking noise from the mud, and the trolley appeared to move slightly.
‘It’s coming!’ he shouted, though it was proving to take a lot more effort to keep hold of the stick than he had anticipated.
‘Ryan, your phone’s ringing!’ shouted Daisy in reply.
‘What?’ he cried. ‘Who is it?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Look at the screen, Dizz.’
‘Oh… it’s your mum.’
‘Oh for God’s sake, what does she want?’ he said, still tugging at the trolley.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well, answer it then!’ he shouted in frustration.
‘How?’
‘The green button, Dizz, the green one.’
‘Okay.’
Ryan tried to keep one ear open to the conversation as he wrestled with the trolley. It seemed to be moving, but he would soon have to let it go and swing back to dry land for a rest.
‘She says the police have just called round,’ cried Daisy. ‘They were looking for you.’
Ryan was in the middle of one final pull when that piece of news arrived. But before he had a chance to release the trolley he discovered what had actually been moving, as the stick he was holding on to snapped.
Daisy gave a squeal as he fell flat on his back with a splat! He lay there for a moment, listening to Daisy reassuring his mum that what had just occurred was nothing and that he was fine. Then he tried to stand up.
The mud was remarkably pliant, giving way to any weight he tried to put on it, but then growing in resistance as his limbs sunk deeper. After a few moments of struggling he decided that standing was a bad idea, and resorted to rolling over and crawling on his hands and knees to spread his weight out. Slowly he made his way to the shore.
‘You forgot the trolley,’ smiled Daisy, helping him to his feet when he arrived.
‘Very funny,’ he said grumpily, looking at the state of his clothes – the new season’s colour was definitely brown. ‘What was that about the police?’
‘Your mum said they had just called round looking for you. She wants you to call her back right away. She sounded a bit mad.’
‘Jeez, what the hell is this? What have I done now?’
He wiped his hands on the only piece of clothing that was still clean and took the phone from Daisy. He dialled his mum, then turned on the speaker so they could both hear her.
It only rang once before being picked up.
‘Hello?’
‘Hey Mum.’
‘RYAN! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’
‘Whoa Mum, easy.’
‘Don’t ‘easy’ me, my boy. I had the police round earlier looking for you, and I’ve just heard from the Roses that they want to speak to Daisy too. What on earth have the t
wo of you been up to?’
Ryan and Daisy looked at one another, both utterly dumbfounded.
‘Nothing Mum, I swear,’ he said.
‘Don’t you lie to me Ryan Butler…’
‘I’m not lying! I’ve no idea what’s going on.’
‘Ryan…’
‘Did they say what they wanted to see me about?’
‘No, they just said they would check in on you later.’
‘Then why are you having a go at me? Why are you automatically assuming I’ve done something wrong?’
‘Because Ryan, it’s the police. The police!’
‘Yeah, I heard you the first time.’
‘Just come home will you. Then we can discuss this face to face.’
‘Fine.’
And he hung up. A moment later, he roared at the top of his lungs for a full five seconds, causing Daisy to step away from him in fright.
‘Ryan…’ she started.
‘God, what is the matter with her?’ he growled. ‘And why do people keep trying to get me into trouble? I’m sick of it!’
‘Ryan, maybe it’s Tristram.’
‘What?’
‘Maybe they were bringing bad news.’
‘What? So you’re saying that the Academy know where we live now, is that it?’
‘I’m just saying…’
‘Well, I’ll tell you what; if those gits have gone and got me grief from my mum there’ll be hell to pay. Anyway, why would they call on us during the daytime? All they need to do is to wait until nightfall.’
‘Like I said; perhaps there’s bad news.’
Ryan sagged.
‘Maybe you’re right,’ he said quietly.
Daisy had looked genuinely frightened by his outburst and he gave her a weak smile.
‘Hey,’ he said. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing.’
‘There’s only one way to find out though, isn’t there?’ she said forlornly.
‘Yup. We’ve got to go back.’
‘But I’m not tired yet. I couldn’t go to
Dreamweavers: Awakening Page 56