by M S C Barnes
thing.”
“Wish I could say the same about mine.” Zach opened his hand to reveal the slight scorching on his fingers. “Do you think we’re blood brothers now?” He looked at Seb’s worried face. “Oh come on, Seb. It’s not that bad!”
Seb looked at his friend. “I was already embarrassed by my birthmark, now I feel like a real freak with this!” He thrust his palm up towards Zach who had a grin on his face.
“Seb, it’s really, really exciting!” Scarlet jumped in. “I would love to have something like that.” She pointed to his hand. “I’ll bet you’ve now got some sort of power. That firework display in the playground was awesome.”
“Yeah, maybe you are some alien or ancient god reborn and now you’ve got superpowers!” Zach was as excited as Scarlet.
“Seb, try and do something,” Scarlet suggested.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Seb closed his fist.
“Try and move something with your mind,” Scarlet said, not put off.
Zach leapt off the bed and grabbed an Uglydoll from the floor. He placed it on the bunk in front of Seb. “Yeah, try and move this just by thinking about it,” he said.
Seb looked at the doll. Its one red eye stared blankly back at him. Shrugging, he thought hard, focusing on the doll, willing it to move. Nothing happened.
“Wave your hand over it,” Scarlet said.
Seb waved his palm across the top of the doll, again willing it to move. Nothing.
“Maybe you need to shine something on the leaf.” Zach jumped off the bed and grabbed a head torch from a drawer. Putting it on, he hunched forward and yanked Seb’s wrist. “Open your fingers,” he said and shone the torch light on the birthmark, casting a bright reflection from the silver lines onto the face of the doll. Nothing. Zach pushed Seb’s arm aside. “Okay, well maybe you can read minds. Try and think what I’m thinking.” Zach stared into Seb’s eyes. “Come on, Seb!”
“Don’t be daft, Zach. Anyone can work that out – you’re thinking: What’s for tea?” Scarlet chuckled.
Zach shoved her.
Seb laughed, “I don’t think I have any special powers.”
Zach shrugged. “I wonder what is for tea.”
Fed and changed, they were dropped off at the Boyd Field Scout site. This evening they were to build a campfire within a clearing surrounded by tattered old wooden benches, and then they would sit and sing campfire songs.
They were all dispatched to collect firewood by Nicholas, the shaven-headed, lanky, ill-dressed Explorers Leader.
Scarlet disappeared with a friend, Emily, as Seb and Zach wandered off together, venturing into the thicker part of the woods. The yelps and shouts of the other Explorers echoed around them. A couple of crows came to roost in the branch of the tree above Seb as Zach, on his knees, lifted leaves and stones, searching for bugs and beetles. He was thrilled to find a small lizard, lazy and cold in the plummeting evening temperature. Seb knelt beside him to see but overbalanced. He put out his left arm to stop himself falling, scraping his hand against a thorny blackberry branch as he did so. His fingerless glove caught on the thorns and snagged, tearing a small hole. The fabric laddered across his palm towards his fingers, exposing the hidden birthmark. A glimpse of silver peaked through. He closed his fingers over it.
After a successful forage, the boys had their arms full of sticks and Seb was tramping along a narrow pathway ahead of Zach. His palm, where the glove had been ripped, was tingling. He guessed the thorn had also scratched the skin. A crow cawed in the branches above them and flapped away as Seb stopped in a patch of evening sunlight to adjust his load. He had balanced the branches across his forearms and he shook his wrists, which were getting tired, to improve the blood flow. As he did he glimpsed something shimmering. Zach, with his head down, bumped into Seb’s back.
“Hey Seb, watch it!” he said. Then, seeing the shimmering, stopped and stared. The dim evening light, cast by the half-set sun, revealed a grassy area clear of bracken and undergrowth within which was a small ring of creamy beige mushrooms – a fairy ring. Hovering above the ring was a halo of silvery sparkles, glinting and dancing in the ebbing sunlight.
Zach shouted, “Nicholas. NICHOLAS!”
Seb watched the dancing sparkly patch as it grew to a column of shimmering speckles as Nicholas, hearing Zach’s shouts, joined them.
“What in the world— ?” He placed his own collection of bonfire fodder on the path.
“What is it, Nicholas? Is it magic?” Zach was so excited his voice had gone up about three octaves.
“Glow worms, I think,” Nicholas said uncertainly.
Seb was silent, watching the display and feeling the tingling sensation in his palm. He waggled his hand, hoping it would stop the pins and needles. The silvery sparkles danced and he thought he could see a shape within the bright column. The tingling in his palm, instead of fading, became stronger.
Nicholas, in a confused voice continued, “But glow-worms would more likely be on open ground, not under a covering of trees, and they normally glow greeny-yellow, not silver. Look how they are all staying within the mushroom ring.” He took a step towards the sparkling shower.
Seb was transfixed as the shape within the display became more defined. It was arched, with a pointed peak. He could make out irregular perpendicular lines running across the width of the arch, like planks of wood, and to the right he could make out a circular shape like a … he gasped … like a doorknob. The image was of the door in the library!
Stunned, he stepped back and dropped his collection of wood. His arms fell to his sides and instantly the silver shower was snuffed out. The grassy clearing was enveloped in the natural evening twilight and the fairy ring was barely visible among the solid oak trunks, standing like guardian sentries around it.
Nicholas and Zach groaned. Three Explorers and another leader came bounding along the track towards them.
“Nick, you okay? We’re all ready to light the bonfire.”
The three boys were running on and off the track, singling out Seb and Zach and flashing their torches in their eyes as Nicholas described what they had seen. Seb, listening, wondered why Nicholas didn’t say anything about the door. Still chatting, Nicholas led them back to the benches. The bonfire was crackling in no time and the boys and girls happily sang their campfire songs and waved their torches around in a laser-light-type display. Seb, having checked his hand to find there was no scratch, listened to the singing but didn’t join in.
Zach was animated and vocal on the journey back, talking about the glow-worms. Scarlet was envious she hadn’t seen them.
Back home after Explorers, while their mum was getting The Taz to sleep, Seb sat with Scarlet on the sofa and filled in the details of the library door apparition.
“Seb, do you think you imagined it?”
Seb wasn’t sure. He was disappointed that she suggested it and now doubted his memory. But in some ways he hoped it was just his imagination.
Labyrinths and Doors
Tuesday morning and Scarlet noticed how withdrawn Seb had become. She pushed him to say why. The truth was it was PE that morning and Seb couldn’t work out how he was going to stop the teacher from seeing his birthmark. The prescribed kit of the day was polo tops – short-sleeved! He wouldn’t get away with his gloves. Scarlet suggested a plaster on his hand but Seb pointed out that would lead to questions as to how he’d hurt himself which could lead to the teacher asking to see the injury.
After pondering for a while Scarlet decided the best thing was for Seb to say he had forgotten his polo shirt and wear his rugby top, which had full-length sleeves and was way too big for him so would cover his hands to his fingers. He would have to accept it if he got a report slip for not having the right kit.
Seb hated PE anyway, particularly outdoor team sports like football, rugby, cricket. But sport was a big deal for the Oakwood faculty and the school’s pride was to have won the inter-schools championships in every eve
nt, with the exception of cross-country, for the last 6 years. The talk over the last few days had been about the potential champions among the new Year Nine cohort. Teachers speculated aloud as to who their footy stars and rugby elite would be in this intake. Seb knew without doubt he would not be in their number. Zach stood a good chance though; he was immensely good at most sports.
As Seb and Scarlet got out of the car, Zach came bounding up to them. “About time! Me and Aiden have been waiting for ages.”
Aiden appeared from behind the car, sheepishly joining them, uncertain he was accepted as part of the group, especially now his treasure, which had been the cause of their interest in him, had gone. A smile from Seb and Zach’s arm around his shoulder reassured him.
It was another sunny day, though a crisp, biting wind whipped the branches and leaves of the trees above their heads. Seb’s mum got The Taz out the car and he was thrilled to walk with them all to the school entrance. They collected Nat on the way. She had been gazing fruitlessly into the branches and kicking around the grass beneath the oak tree where Aiden had found his leaf, trying to find more treasure. Together they wandered through the main gate, but not until The Taz had had a hug from everyone. Suffering yet another cold, he managed to leave a smear of mucous on Seb’s jumper which Scarlet and Zach found hysterical.
After the phone deposit they travelled the ogre corridor and Seb was relieved when they managed to reach the exit