Rising Star

by Scott Prince

  There are two thuds. The first is me, landing awkwardly on the concrete floor. The second is Justice, landing awkwardly on me. My arm immediately swells with pain.

  “You alright, man?” asks Justice, clutching his leg.

  “Broken arm, I think.”

  “I can’t feel my leg,” replies Justice. A shadow appears behind us.

  “Hello, Dylan and Justice,” says a familiar voice. “I’ve been waiting for you to visit.” We both look up and there she is. Not standing, but floating.

  CHAPTER 30

  UNCOVERED!

  The sight of Taylor Neila floating blows my mind. I pinch myself with my good hand to see if it’s actually happening. Yes, it’s actually happening.

  “Never used a ladder before?” she asks with a smug smile. Justice is about to lose his cool, so I interrupt.

  “You just called me Dylan,” I jump in. I’m wondering how she knows. Her eyes look deep into mine, almost as if she can read my thoughts. She smirks again.

  “What are you, sis, some kind of cave-dwelling, air-bending, mind-reading, psycho chick?” yells Justice, still in pain. Taylor floats directly above him.

  “Justice, you have broken your leg in two places,” she says. “Dylan, your left radius is shattered.”

  “You got x-ray vision or something?” I ask. Taylor smiles. Her face is friendlier than before; there is warmth in her eyes. I hate to admit it but when she smiles, it kind of makes me feel … good.

  Taylor says nothing. She sticks her hand out towards us, just like she did with the dingos. The warmth in her eyes surrounds our bodies. My arms and legs start to tingle. Slowly, our bodies float gently off the ground. We should be freaked out but we’re not. The tingling has now gone all the way to our heads. Even if we wanted to be scared, we couldn’t be. It feels a bit like the gas the dentist gives before you get a filling.

  “Whoa, it feels like I’m floating, man,” exclaims Justice, looking around the cave. His eyes are wide and his voice is slow.

  “That’s because you are,” I say.

  Taylor leads the way and we glide closely behind her. White beams of light shine brightly from the far end of the tunnel. I can make out the shapes of two people. They are hovering just above the ground, like us, but they look bigger than Taylor.

  Finally Taylor turns to us, lifting her hand again.

  “You’re both doing great, but I have to do something before I take you inside.”

  “Inside where?” asks Justice. He looks past Taylor. “Is that an operating room?”

  I follow his gaze and see two hospital beds. They are surrounded by machines with blinking lights and metal claws. The nice tingling feeling is starting to wear off. When the two other people step forward, panic sets in. But before I can say anything, Taylor’s hand does its magic. We are about to become science experiments and there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s beddy-byes for us.

  CHAPTER 31

  MEET THE PARENTS

  Justice’s voice wakes me from my sleep. “Get me out of here! My hands, I can’t move my hands!” We are both lying on a hospital bed, our legs, arms and feet firmly strapped. The only thing I’m wearing is my ripped board shorts.

  Justice’s screams bring Taylor running. She puts out her hand and he stops yelling.

  “Whoa, it feels like I’m floating again,” says Justice calmly, looking over at me.

  “Well, you’re not,” I say nervously. “You’re tied down to a hospital bed somewhere underneath Dreamworld and you look like a human lab rat.” Justice smiles peacefully. His eyes are half closed.

  “Oh, you’re so big and muscly, Deadly D,” he says sleepily.

  I know I won’t get any sense out of Justice now, so I turn to Taylor. Standing next to her are a man and a woman. The woman looks like an adult version of Taylor: her hair is long and black and her skin is soft and pale. She looks at me curiously with greenish-blue eyes. She is wearing a white lab coat over shiny blue clothes. The man next to her is in the same outfit. His hair is short and is the same colour as the woman’s. He looks strong. Not as big as Deadly D but big enough to be a challenge.

  “Mother and father, please go now,” says Taylor. They hug their daughter and step forward. The man unties my straps, allowing me to sit up. My broken arm has healed! I rub it carefully, checking for pain but it feels great. The man and woman bow deeply towards me, almost as though they are worshipping a god. They look back at Taylor and smile, and then they leave the room. This is too weird.

  The walls behind Taylor are covered with hundreds of photos and scribbled sticky notes. The writing looks like another language but that’s not what freaks me out. The scary thing is that most of the photos are of me – as both Dylan Conlan and Deadly D!

  I leap out of bed and rip one of the photos off the wall. It is a picture of me camping in the backyard. I am peeing against the fence and Justice is shining his torch on me. I look over at Taylor. She giggles and shrugs her shoulders. Even in my Deadly D body, I go red from embarrassment. In another photo, Deadly D dives into the water, racing to pull those kittens to safety. The next picture is of Justice bending over to give them mouth-to-mouth. His pants are falling down a bit and you can see the top part of his bum crack. It’s pretty funny. Taylor has been a very busy girl. Shame!

  I’m about to check out the photos at the other end of the wall when something grabs my attention. It’s another picture from under the bridge but it must have been taken before we saved the kittens. Taylor has snapped the man who dumped them. It’s a close-up of his face. You won’t believe it but the man is Bruce Sharp, that horrible reporter from the Brisbane Daily. Why would he want to hurt those little creatures? Taylor steps forward.

  “Some people want to show the world who you really are, Dylan,” she says. My life flashes before my eyes. Mum, my family back in Mount Isa, playing for the Broncos – if my secret is uncovered, everything will change. A sudden rage bubbles inside me.

  “Well, stop taking photos and help me!” I growl, tearing a pile of photos off the wall.

  “Chill pill and a large burger meal for Deadly D, please!” calls Justice happily, still strapped to the bed. Taylor begins to pick up the pictures.

  “You don’t get it, do you?” she says angrily. “The only reason I’m here is because of you. I am trying to stop your secret from getting out!” I think about what she says. I bend down and start to help her clean up my mess.

  CHAPTER 32

  WHO’S THAT GIRL?

  I’m beginning to believe that Taylor is on my side but I have so many questions to ask her. I want to know where she comes from, why she’s here and, most importantly, why she’s been following me. So I decide to test her out.

  “What do you actually know about me?” I ask, scooping the photos off the floor with my giant hands. I spot one picture that might come in handy later on, so I quickly stuff it down my shorts.

  “I know more about you than you think,” says Taylor. “You were born in Mount Isa to a loving mother and father. You believe you are cursed. When you can’t control your anger, you turn into a rugby league superstar. You and your mum have kept it a secret since you were a baby.” She recites the list so matter-of-factly. I’m speechless. I look over at Justice. He’s still in la-la land. I hand the photos back to Taylor. She’s locked and loaded, ready to give me more information. “Your mother keeps the bath filled, just in case you need to dunk yourself under the water and turn back into a normal kid. The only other person who knows your secret is your best friend over there,” she finishes, pointing to Justice.

  “And now you,” I say. She nods and puts the photos onto a shiny white table. “But what I really want to know is, how does my secret affect you?” I ask.

  “Because,” explains Taylor, “if Bruce Sharp from the Brisbane Daily discovers that an eleven-year-old kid can turn into a fully grown man, then he will learn about my secret, too.”

  I look around the room. Floating parents, hidden caves, spy cameras and my
sterious healing powers. Man, she even got Justice to shut up! This chick’s got plenty of secrets – but where do I start? Then I spot a photo that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. It’s a photo of Lake Moondarra in Mount Isa. The lake Dad was fishing in when the meteorite hit. I point to it and look Taylor in the eye.

  “It’s your turn to share some secrets,” I say. “Start here.”

  CHAPTER 33

  TERRANDIA

  “Dylan, you were only a baby when the meteorite landed in the lake. The meteorite came from my home planet, Terrandia. One day many years ago, there were terrible volcanic storms. One of our biggest volcanos blew huge molten boulders into the sky with such force, they were sent into space. Eventually, one of the boulders entered your galaxy and picked up speed. It turned into a meteorite and landed in the lake.

  “I come from a family of scientists. My father was instructed to find where the rock had landed and return it to Terrandia. Our leaders were worried that the rock could be traced back to our home planet. We are a peaceful civilisation and do not want visitors bringing war or disease. My father has found the rock but there is a tiny piece missing. We believe you have it. In fact, that tiny piece of stone has turned you into Deadly D. You have had the stone close to your skin since birth and this has caused your cells to mutate. Your body will return back to normal – but the stone must be taken away, forever.

  “While my father has been looking for the meteorite, my mother and I have also been working. We have built this lab to study the native animals of your country. They are amazing. With Dreamworld just above us, we’ve had so many incredible creatures to look at. I have used Terrandia’s technology to heal some of your planet’s sickest animals. We are also trying to boost some your native animals’ population levels. The bilby remains endangered but we have bred many of these beautiful creatures in this very laboratory. We have then introduced them into the wild. I have used Terrandia’s technology today on your arm and on Justice’s leg. We are so much more advanced than Earth in this area, but Earth has something that we do not. You call it ‘sport’. This is something I wish to learn more about.

  “Dylan, you must give us the final piece of Terrandia’s rock. Once we have this, our job here is done. Our planet can live in peace without the risk of being invaded. Please return the stone – it belongs to my people. My family and Terrandia will be very grateful.”

  CHAPTER 34

  ALIEN LIFE FORM

  “So you’re an alien?” This is not what I expected. Aliens are supposed to be slimy little creatures with big black eyes. Taylor is smart, intelligent, sometimes annoying, but also kind of nice – for a girl.

  “I gave everyone a clue but no one guessed it,” she laughs. I think back to everything she has said and done at school. Nothing comes to mind. She sees me scratch my long, shaggy hair. I can tell she’s getting impatient. “You give up?” She doesn’t even wait for me to answer. “Have you ever looked at my last name closely?”

  “Neila? Nope.”

  “Well, you should,” she says. Before I can answer, there’s a voice behind us. It sounds like Justice is back to normal.

  “C’mon, bro, you’re the spelling champion,” Justice chimes in. “Neila spelt backwards is alien!” I can’t believe it. How could I have missed that? I walk over to Justice and untie him.

  “Big-noter!” I whisper. He pokes out his tongue. My mind races back to my father’s stone. “Please return our stone – it belongs to my people,” Taylor said. I know what she means. My nan used to tell stories about the land that belonged to my mob, the Kalkadoon people. But returning the stone won’t be easy. It’s the last thing Dad gave me before he died. When I hold it, it’s like I’m holding part of him. Also, once I give it back to Taylor, Deadly D will be gone for good. I need time to think about this. “How are you and your parents planning on getting home?” I ask Taylor. It’s not like they can catch the bus.

  “Our ship is stored safely close by,” says Taylor.

  “Nice. You got a big-as spaceship, sis?” asks Justice.

  “Yes.”

  “You got a stereo in your spaceship?”

  “We have something like that,” replies Taylor.

  “You got electric windows in your spaceship?”

  “No. If you pulled the windows down, you’d be sucked into space.”

  “You got a rocket booster in your spaceship?”

  “Yes. Six of them. Three on each side.”

  “Three on each side? That sounds sick as.”

  “Does ‘sick as’ mean good?” asks Taylor.

  “Sick as means sweet as, bro,” Justice explains. Taylor looks confused. I decide that it’s time to leave. We need to get back to the school bus on time. Plus, I need to turn back into Dylan without anyone seeing.

  CHAPTER 35

  GOLIATH

  Changing back into Dylan is usually a pretty easy task. I can simply hop into the bathtub or jump into the nearest creek. But Dreamworld’s waterpark is very busy and full of my classmates. Besides, everyone will recognise me as Deadly D the Broncos player; I might get mobbed. The only other nearby water is the crocodile exhibit.

  While Justice stays behind as lookout, Taylor walks with me to the reptile display. Goliath is a 1000-kilogram croc; his girlfriend, Matilda, weighs more than 300 kilograms. I tell Taylor I can’t do it but she promises I’ll be safe. Without thinking, I ask her what planet she’s from. Ignoring me, Taylor explains that Goliath and Matilda only eat a couple of times a week and have already been fed today. In other words, they’re full.

  “I’ll only hop into their tank if you put them to sleep.”

  She sticks out her hand and tells me, “They’re knocked out.” They are lying completely still, so I scramble up the fence and work up the courage to jump into the water below. I’d better do it quickly before her trick wears off. I dive into the deep blue water, kick a few times, and then turn and look behind me. Goliath hasn’t moved. Neither has Matilda. Like a rubber band that has been stretched and let go, my body shrinks back to its eleven-year-old shape. As fast as I can, I paddle back to the edge, pull myself out of the water and jump back over the fence to Taylor. As the cool water drips into my eyes, I look at her and she looks at me. We understand each other. I know what I have to do. She needs my help to return to Terrandia. I will give her the stone tomorrow night – straight after the Broncos play the Rabbitohs.

  CHAPTER 36

  TACOS. YES, TACOS.

  Mr Barwick is waiting for us at the bus, a security guard on either side of him. They don’t let him out of their sight until the bus starts it engine. It’s a quiet trip back to school. Everyone is exhausted; a few kids fall asleep. Justice puts his headphones on and I stare out the window. All I can think about is giving away Dad’s stone and being a normal kid. I’ve never been normal. What is normal, anyway? What about the Broncos? What about my teammates? What about my fans?

  When we arrive back at school, Justice wants to kick the footy at the park but I tell him I need to get home. He can sense that I need to be alone for awhile. When I arrive, Mum is waiting at the front door.

  “Big day? How many Queensland players did you meet?” she asks.

  “Heaps,” I say, trying to sound cheerful as I walk down the hall.

  “Dinner’s on. Tacos tonight!” she calls after me. I am already in my bedroom.

  Right now, tacos are the last thing on my mind. I reach into my bottom drawer. I’m going to sleep with the stone tonight – one last time.

  CHAPTER 37

  OFF WITH THE FAIRIES

  “Dylan? Dylan?” Mr Barwick is waiting for me to answer. I stop gazing out the window and look at him instead. “How do you spell it?” he asks.

  “Sorry, sir, spell what?”

  “California.”

  “C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A,” I say. He gives me a strange look before moving on to the next word. I catch Taylor watching me from the front of the room. She smiles. Not a happy smile but almost as if
she’s apologising. She can tell how much the stone means to me.

  At lunch, Justice and I get stuck into some tucker. I am having leftover tacos, fuelling up before the big game tonight – my last for the Broncos. Justice is munching on a bag of Rashuns – they’re chips that his nan has brought back from New Zealand. He’s not saying much, so they must be pretty good. I see Taylor walking towards us. I’m not sure what to say, so I stick half a taco in my mouth. When she reaches us, I try not to choke on it, playing it cool.

  “Meet you behind the tree on the oval in five minutes,” she says.

  “Mmmf,” I say, trying not to spit taco on her. She walks off towards the oval. Justice has his mouth stuffed with chips. He gives me the thumbs up.

  “Nithe one, bro,” he grins. He has a half-chewed chip on his chin.

  I walk to the oval alone. Taylor is waiting for me behind the big gum tree. I check to see if there is any leftover taco between my teeth. I’m starting to get nervous. My palms are sweaty and I am breathing quickly. How can a girl do this to me?

  “Thanks for coming,” she says.

  “No worries.” I try to lean casually against the trunk of the tree but my hand slips on the bark. Shame!

  “I just wanted to say thanks, Dylan.” She smiles. I like her smile. I wish she wasn’t leaving.

  “It’s OK. You have to do what’s best for your family and your people.”

  “It means more to me than you will ever know.”

  Then, Taylor does something I wasn’t expecting. She grabs both of my hands. I don’t know what to do. She pulls me closer to her. I’ve never been this close to a girl – except my mum. Please don’t let me think about Mum now. Taylor puckers her lips. She wants a kiss! What do I do? I’ve got two choices – chicken out or give her a kiss. Unfortunately, someone else makes the choice for me.