"Charlotte!"
* * *
Ben made his way through the trees in search of the fourth hare. He remembered it was on the path that led to the bird-watching hut at the northeast corner of the park, and felt pleased with himself when he saw the wooden hare sitting in the grass as he approached. He had been thinking about the Guardian's riddle. He knew that Charlotte would be able to solve it, and maybe he would be able to help her, but he had to find her first. If he could complete whatever challenge was waiting for him here and free the fourth hare, he hoped it would lead him back to his sister.
They had bickered and fought so much over the past two years. Almost all of his living memories involved some kind of confrontation with his sister. Their mother kept telling them that they used to play so nicely together and, while he believed it, he couldn't remember it. He decided that when he found her again, he would try really hard to be nice to her. Somehow, he knew she was thinking the same thing about him.
The fourth hare offered no clues about the challenge that lay before him. The inanimate wooden hare sat in the grass, surrounded by a ring of his father's ashes. There were no marks in the path and no tools lying in wait for his arrival. He scanned his surroundings and saw only trees, bushes, and flowers in the moonlight that felt like it was going to last forever. Then he looked down the path to the bird-watching hut and saw through the crack in the door that the light inside had been turned on.
* * *
Charlotte spun round in shock.
"Charlotte!" the voice shouted again. It was the voice of a woman, but not her mother. She crept back along the path until she saw a hand waving to her from the other side of the bridge that had taken her and Ben to the fifth hare.
"Ah, there you are, Charlotte," said the woman. She was probably about the same age as their mother and she was dressed in a suit that made her look like she was a member of an official group—maybe the police—but there were no indications what that group might be. Her long black hair was tied back and she wore spectacles, giving her a trustworthy air of authority.
Charlotte stood firm and said, "Who are you?"
"I know where you brother is," the woman said. "Come with me."
Ben! Charlotte thought. She knows where Ben is! She was about to set foot on the bridge to run over to the stranger when she realised that's exactly what this person was—a stranger.
"Wait a minute," Charlotte said, "you didn't answer my question. Who are you?"
"I'm just someone who can help you get your brother back. How did you get stuck in the park like this? It's the middle of the night!"
Charlotte didn't know how to explain her situation. The sudden appearance of a stranger—another real person—made the whole experience feel like a dream, like the search for the hares to break them out of their spell hadn't really happened. How could she even begin to explain that to this woman? She would think Charlotte was crazy!
"I don't know," Charlotte said. "We fell asleep in the day and woke up here in the night time. We're trying to find our mother."
"Your mother? Alison?" Charlotte nodded at the woman's question. "I know where she is as well. Quick, come with me and I'll take you to both of them."
Charlotte hesitated. Something in her soul told her to slow down and think about things before going anywhere with this woman, but the stranger was persistent. The tone of her voice was becoming more and more urgent.
"Come on, Charlotte. We need to go now or you'll never see them again."
Chapter 16
The door of the bird-watching hut creaked as Ben edged it open. Peeking inside brought back a long-forgotten memory of an Easter egg hunt around Hare Hill. On the Easter Sunday before their father died, they were given a map upon their arrival at Hare Hill—much like the maps their father made for them—with the instruction that if they found all the hares and noted down the names that had been pinned to each one, the Easter Bunny would be waiting in the bird-watching hut, ready to give them their reward of a chocolate Easter egg. Even back then at three years old, Ben knew the Easter Bunny was actually some poor unfortunate member of the park staff who had drawn the short straw to wear a pink rabbit suit for the day and hand out chocolate eggs to every kid who walked through the door.
Now the hut was empty, apart from a bench that ran the length of the opposite wall under the open shutters. On the bench sat a pair of binoculars and a clipboard with a sheet of paper clipped to it and a pencil tied on with a piece of string.
Confident there was nothing in there that could cause him harm, Ben stepped into the hut. He sat down on the bench and picked up the clipboard. The piece of paper had eight squares drawn on it, with a message written along the top.
Can you find all the wildlife in the park?
The first square contained the silhouette of a hare and the other seven were empty. Ben pulled the cord to turn out the light in the hut and picked up the binoculars. He looked through the open shutters, into the clearing outside, scanning the surroundings but seeing only empty bird tables. He adjusted the dials on the binoculars and was amazed how powerful and clear they were. One dial made his view zoom in so far that he could see the individual leaves on the trees that must have been at least fifty yards away.
He zoomed out again, then took the binoculars away from his eyes to take in the whole scene. Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes. He looked through the binoculars and zoomed in. He saw the leaves moving back and forth, then a hare appeared from under the bush, wriggling its nose on the ground, foraging for something to eat. Then, as soon as the hare had appeared, it ran away again, back into the undergrowth.
Ben lowered his binoculars, picked up the pencil, and marked the picture of the hare on the clipboard with a tick. A moment later, the silhouette of a kestrel appeared in the second box.
* * *
"Come on, Charlotte," the woman said. "You need to come with me now."
Charlotte didn't know what to do. This woman, who seemed like she wanted to help Charlotte when she first appeared, was becoming more and more threatening in what she was saying. She seemed to duck out of answering any of Charlotte's questions. "Who are you?", "Where did you come from?", and "How do you know where my mother and little brother are?" had all been met with a reply of "It doesn't matter—we need to go now!" or were just plain ignored.
It didn't feel right. Charlotte couldn't explain it, but she had an overwhelming feeling telling her not to go with this woman. She had always been told to only trust grown-ups in uniform when she was in trouble but, on a night where she had seen all kinds of magical things, this was the first time she had felt in real danger.
The woman took a step towards the bridge. Alarm bells sounded in Charlotte's mind.
"No!" she shouted, and edged back, away from the bridge.
"We're wasting time, Charlotte," the woman growled as she set foot on the bridge. "If you don't come with me, you'll never see your mummy or your little brother ever again."
"No!" Charlotte shouted again, louder this time. There was a rustle in the bushes around her and out of the corner of her eye she saw movement in the grass at her feet. Then there was movement all around her. She took her eyes off the woman who was stalking across the bridge and saw hares sitting at her feet: seven of them—the seven hares Charlotte and Ben had freed from their spell so far. All at once, they sat upright, as if they were soldiers standing to attention, and looked directly at the woman crossing the bridge. Charlotte looked up and saw the woman on the bridge. She was only a few steps from the island.
To Charlotte's amazement, the woman’s appearance was changing. Just moments ago, she had appeared to be the same age as Charlotte's mother, but now she was ageing before her eyes. Grey and white streaks shot through her hair; her skin became pale and wrinkled; her eyes narrowed and, with each step across the bridge, her body stooped further until she had the undeniable look of a wicked witch.
"Come with me, Charlotte," she snarled.
Without thinking, Char
lotte raised her hand and shouted, "No! Go away!"
The next few seconds were a blur. All of a sudden, Charlotte was surrounded by a golden glow. It was the hares: all seven of them were shining with the same magical light they had emitted when they were broken from their spell. She had barely a split-second to register the phenomenon before her arm recoiled from a blast of golden light that shot from her palm, heading towards the bridge.
The wooden planks of the bridge burst into a million tiny pieces in an almighty explosion of splinters and golden light, sending the woman tumbling into the pond, screaming "Charlotte!" until she sank, coughing and spluttering, beneath the surface of the water.
Charlotte blinked, and once more all was calm. The glow from the hares had been extinguished. Their task complete, the hares scurried away.
Was that woman the witch? Charlotte wondered. Have I killed the witch who cast her spell on the hares of Hare Hill?
Then she thought of Ben and how he might cope in the same situation. She found the bridge that led to the sixth hare and pressed on.
Chapter 17
Far from being tormented by spectres, Ben was having the time of his life. So far in his wildlife-spotting challenge, he had seen a hare, a kestrel, a deer, and a grass snake. Each time he saw one of the creatures, he removed his binoculars, ticked them off on his sheet, and watched them roam free for a while. Then, when he checked his sheet for the next animal to spot, the previous one had disappeared. Now, Ben was watching a scorpion scurrying around in the bushes.
That's weird, he thought, I didn't know there were scorpions in this park.
Shrugging off that thought, he lowered his binoculars and ticked off the scorpion on the sheet. There were three boxes left on the sheet and, just as the silhouettes of the other animals had appeared before him, he saw the outline of a sixth animal draw itself on the page.
But this didn't make sense to Ben. He rubbed his eyes, not believing what he was seeing. The new image on the page was the silhouette of a horse, but it had a horn protruding from its head.
A unicorn? Ben thought. But they don't exist. Or do they?
He lifted the binoculars to his eyes, missing the silhouettes of the two remaining creatures as they were magically drawn onto the page.
Ben scanned the surroundings, expecting to see a horse galloping through the trees, telling him his mind had been playing tricks on him. But he didn't see anything, at least not at first. He heard a piercing howl from somewhere in the trees. It was like a wolf's call, but it reminded him of a song that Charlotte always badgered their mother to play in the car. She said it was one of their father's favourite songs and they all joined in when the singer began howling. What was it called?
That's it! Ben thought, remembering the name of the song. It's called “Werewolves of London.”
Then a single word remained in his mind. Werewolves.
Before he could look down at the clipboard, a flash of white caught his eye. Bursting through the trees, a massive white unicorn galloped majestically into the clearing and stopped in clear view. It seemed to turn in slow motion, allowing Ben to take in its unnatural, fantastical beauty. It let out a huge breath and clouds of steam burst from its mouth and nose. The unicorn steadied itself on its feet and breathed heavily. It looked tired, as if it had been running from—
An enormous roar erupted from the trees and a huge hairy beast leapt from its hiding place. Ben jumped and crouched down in the hut, but he kept watching the scene before him. His mind was telling him to drop everything and run, but his body was frozen solid; it was impossible to turn away.
The werewolf was the size and shape of a grown man, but it was standing on all fours, covered from head to toe in thick black fur. It paced in front of the frightened unicorn, barking and howling, making false lunges towards it, trying to pick its moment to attack. The unicorn was backing up further and further. Ben could see that the werewolf was trying to corner it against the fence at the other side of the clearing, but he was powerless to help. What could a five-year-old boy do to help in this situation?
Maybe there's something in the hut I could use to distract the werewolf, he thought, and lowered his binoculars. As he did so, silence and calm suddenly descended on the park. The sound of snarling and howling had gone, and he looked across the clearing to see that the creatures had disappeared.
What's going on? Ben thought. He looked through his binoculars and saw the creatures once again; now the werewolf had the unicorn pinned against the fence. He looked down at the clipboard and saw that all the remaining boxes on the sheet had been filled in with silhouettes of animals. The last three creatures were a unicorn, a werewolf, and—
No way, Ben thought. It can't be...
He raised his binoculars again and saw the same scene: werewolf versus unicorn. The werewolf crouched and, as the unicorn whimpered, resigned to its fate, the werewolf pounced. The creature flew through the air, drool dripping from its long fangs, but it failed to land the killer blow. The werewolf was stopped in mid-air. A gigantic foot came from above and slammed it into the ground in a cloud of dirt and dust. In the commotion, the unicorn made its break for freedom, running through the clearing, past the hut and into the trees.
There was a deafening thump as a second giant foot slammed into the ground, rattling the wooden planks of the hut. With wide, unblinking eyes, Ben followed the creature's feet to its legs, to its torso; the rest of this behemoth was obscured from view by the hut. With two more giant thumps, the creature's feet turned to point directly at Ben.
With the binoculars still held to his eyes, he scrambled out of the hut and wound the zoom dial back as far as he could. No sooner had he slammed the door behind him, than the hut was flattened by one of the gigantic feet. Splinters showered all around and, in the cloud of debris, the beast leaned over and let out a blood-curdling roar. Ben spun round and found himself face-to-face with a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Time seemed to stop. This creature, only inches away from his face, was majestic in its horrific beauty. He was staring down the biggest, most fearsome killing machine that had ever walked the earth. He had seen the T-Rex in books and in films, but nothing had prepared him for the sight before him. He could feel this monster's breath on his skin; it was blowing his hair like he was staring down a thousand hair-dryers. The rows of razor sharp teeth were never-ending and Ben knew it could swallow him whole if it wanted to.
And it did want to. The T-Rex lunged at Ben, its jaws open wide, and Ben saw the dark abyss behind the sharp teeth coming towards him. He fell backwards and dropped his binoculars. He heard a smash as they hit the ground. Ben scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could, then stopped when he realised the sound of the ravenous dinosaur had gone.
He turned round. The scene behind him was still. The hut was still in one piece. Ben found the binoculars and picked them up. Anticipating another dinosaur attack, his body tensed as he looked through them. But he saw nothing, apart from a magnified view of the hut, distorted by the cracks in the binoculars' lenses.
He started to walk back down the path to the hut, but he stopped at the fourth hare when it suddenly started to glow. The ring of ashes whirled around it, then there was a flash and the hare was released from its spell. Right on cue, it ran away.
Ben felt a warm, positive feeling wash over him.
I completed one of the challenges all by myself! he thought.
Then, as quickly as the feeling of achievement had come, it was replaced by concern for his sister.
Is she being chased by dinosaurs too? he thought, and headed in the direction of hare number ten—the hare Ben and Charlotte thought they had been looking for when they were separated. That felt like a long time ago, almost as if a different little boy had rolled the dice with his sister.
Chapter 18
Charlotte arrived at the sixth hare just in time to see it break out of its spell. She was taken aback.
But I didn't have to complete a challenge or solve a puzzle, she sai
d to herself, then a thought struck her and she ran back across the bridge onto the island. The bridge where the woman—or was it the witch?—had tried to get Charlotte to go with her had repaired itself.
This was the challenge, Charlotte realised. The hare had been broken from its spell, so she knew she must have done the right thing. For a brief moment, she considered what might have happened if she had gone across the bridge with the stranger, but she quickly wiped it from her mind. She thought of Ben instead.
"Charlotte!" came a shout from across the pond. This time it was a voice she recognised, and the boy waving at her was the person she longed to see more than anyone in the whole world.
"Ben!"
She sprinted across the bridge and they met with a warm embrace. In their excitement, they bombarded each other with questions like, "What happened to you?" and "Where did you go?" before Charlotte said, "Okay, Ben, you go first. What happened to you?"
"I went to the tenth hare but you weren't there. Then I went to hare number four, which was the number on my dice when we rolled them together. Then, when I got there, I had to go into the hut and spot animals using some binoculars. It started off with hares and birds, but then I saw a unicorn, a werewolf, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex!"
Had they found themselves in any other situation on any other day, Charlotte would have written off what Ben was saying as either pure fantasy or the fevered dreams of a child who had had too much cheese before bedtime. She was no stranger to vivid dreams herself. But this was their day in the dreamland of Hare Hill, where anything was possible. She believed him completely; after all they had seen together, why would he feel the need to make up anything more fantastic? She was also relieved that his experience had been exciting and fun, unlike hers.
"What did you have to do?" Ben asked, and Charlotte told him. She told him about the woman who said she would take her to Ben and her mother, how she had tried to cross the bridge, and how the hares had helped her cast her own spell that sent the woman tumbling into the murky depths of the pond.
The Children of Hare Hill Page 6