by M S C Barnes
entrance and bowled into the book-filled room. She stopped suddenly, causing Zach and Aiden to bump into her.
“What is it?” Aiden sounded frightened. “Is it the ogre?”
Scarlet’s reply was sharp and angry. “No it’s not!” She stepped sideways, letting the others into the room. They all looked to the right.
“Oh, Seb.” Zach sounded so disappointed.
They were facing a bank of high bookshelves, laden with books of every size. There was no doorway, no room even for a doorway. Seb’s shoulders sagged. His mind was in turmoil. Did I imagine it all? His hand was tingling and he pulled his glove away from his palm, staring at the silver lines enmeshed in the leafy shape. He felt a slight touch on his elbow and dropped his hand by his side.
Nat had edged close to him. She whispered, “Do you hear that?”
Seb looked up at her. She was concentrating, her vision fixed on a point near the window.
“What do you hear?” Seb strained to detect anything beyond the sound of the wind outside.
“Cackling, wheezing, laughing … can you not hear it?”
The others had walked over to the bookshelves and on Scarlet’s suggestion were pulling and tugging the solid structures and various book spines to see if there was a secret passageway or opening mechanism. Zach declared that she had read too many Famous Five books.
Seb gazed at Nat. “I can’t hear anything.” Then he felt prickles stand up on the back of his neck as he became aware of the cackling sound and the tingling in his palm grew stronger. “Nat, we need to get out of here!” The sudden urgency in his voice made the others turn towards him. “Now!” He darted out to the corridor.
Scarlet began to follow. “What, Seb? Where are we going? Actually, why are we going? I didn’t hear the bell.”
Seb’s heart was racing and the sound of cackling was louder as he stood in the doorway. In his mind he could hear Mr Duir’s words: You need to choose with care the places you go, Master Thomas.
Feeling panicky he took a few paces along the corridor and the others followed. Zach though, stopped outside the door causing Aiden, close behind him, to stop too.
“I thought we were looking for the door in the library. Where are we going now, Seb? The bell hasn’t gone and you’re acting really strange!” Zach laughed.
Seb was acting strange. He had a fearful look on his face and was looking from side to side. Scarlet slowed as Zach and Aiden stopped and she felt torn. Nat, close to Seb, was the only one who seemed to be keen to keep up with him.
She turned. “Seb’s right! We need to leave. Seriously.”
The others began walking along the corridor, looking all around for whatever it was that had spooked Nat and Seb. Behind them a sudden loud slam made them almost start running.
“Come on!” Seb called then beckoned frantically as, behind Aiden, a huge, dark shape emerged from the library. It shuffled quite slowly down the narrow corridor, but still gained on Aiden who, noticing the look on Seb’s face, glanced over his own shoulder. Looking back to Seb once more his pace didn’t increase. He looked confused, not frightened.
“Can’t you see it?” Seb shouted at him. “You really can’t see that? None of you?” He was nearing the end of the corridor where it turned right into the main stretch of the old building as Nat said, “They can’t, Seb. I can’t. But I can hear it!”
She stopped with him as they reached the corner allowing the others to catch up. Seeing them stop caused the three to lose their motivation and slow to a walk.
Seb, watching the hulking frame closing down on Aiden, the boy totally unaware of its presence, yelled at them, “Move! Don’t slow down!”
His shout made Aiden jump and he glanced behind again. Seeing nothing, he turned back towards Seb, looking worried. Nat bolted towards the exit door.
“Trust me, there’s something there! You can’t see it … I don’t know why, but it’s there – KEEP MOVING!” Seb shouted. And then he saw a door in the wall beside him, arched, with old, worn wood panels. He hadn’t noticed it before and it wasn’t the exit they had been heading for but in desperation he grabbed the silver orb-shaped handle. He twisted it and the door flew open. The fresh wind from outside blew into his face, like a blast from the Arctic.
“Here!” he shouted, and thought he caught a glimpse of Mr Duir at the far end of the corridor, before his view was blocked as the others reached him and dashed through the opening and out onto the sports field. Zach, the last through, yanked the door shut. They ran along the outer edge of the building, which bordered the PE field, the gravel on the pathway crunching beneath them. Reaching the main exit midway down the building, Seb slowed and the others followed suit.
Scarlet began to laugh. “Well what on earth was all that about, my crazy brother?” The adrenaline coursing through them made them feel euphoric and they began to giggle.
Nat linked arms with Scarlet as the bell went. “There was something. I could hear it, Scarlet!”
“Really Nat, there was nothing there.” Scarlet laughed.
“Well, that was fun!” Zach stated, a look of exuberance on his face. “Mad, but fun! C’mon Aiden, Seb, joke’s over – let’s get back to class.”
Seb felt upset at Zach’s inference that this had all been a joke. Looking back down the length of the building he stopped, totally baffled, and then stepped out onto the grass that edged the path, trying to get a better view. Still confused he heard Zach shout, “What are you up to now, mortal? You’ve really lost it …”
Seb trotted back. “The door’s gone. The door we went through – it’s gone!”
Zach continued walking with Aiden. “Don’t be stupid, Seb.”
Seb knew there was no time to go back, and then his heart sank as he remembered that the next double lesson was PE.
Cross-country
The changing room was already packed with one half of the Year Nine boys as Seb and his friends arrived. Some, the sporty ones, were talking excitedly, others were more subdued.
They squeezed into a spot in the corner that was littered with mismatched shoes, trainers, socks and so on as all the boys jostled to get changed as quickly as they could.
Seb changed his bottom half and then went to the toilets. He took his rugby shirt with him and closed himself inside a cubicle. As soon as he had closed the door he heard a heavy bang on the outside. He could see a pair of purple trainers in the gap at the bottom and one foot in a blue trainer next to them.
“You going to cheat at this too, Thomas?”
Seb recognised Dan’s voice. To his horror he heard a loud clatter. The purple trainers disappeared upwards. Seb glanced at the top of the door and saw fingers curling over the edge, then Dan’s face appeared. “Are you, cheater? Going to cheat at PE too?”
Seb realised he was now the target of this thuggish boy’s attention.
“Why have you got your rugby shirt? You know it’s meant to be polo shirts for PE unless we’re actually doing rugby … which we’re not, idiot!”
A second voice interrupted, “Oi, Dan! Watching boys in the toilet? That’s just plain warped!” Zach’s thunderous voice echoed around the room and carried through to the main changing area. Seb heard shuffling as a few other boys ventured in to see. Instantly the face and fingers were gone and the purple trainers reappeared below the door.
“Shut up, Orwell. Your mate’s the warped one. Steps in The Lake, pees his pants, gets pooed on by a bird, and now we find out he’s a cheat.”
“At least he’s not spying on people in the toilet. That’s gross and somewhat disturbing.”
Thank god for Zach. Seb was relieved. He used the opportunity to quickly change tops and within seconds had opened the cubicle door. He saw Dan push past Zach who stood with his arms crossed, a satisfied look on his face, Aiden beside him looking nervous. The blue trainer and its matching second trainer were attached to the feet of another boy in their class. Seb couldn’t remember his name. He wandered over to Zac
h.
“Thanks. You know we really didn’t cheat— ”
“Yeah, and he really is going to keep going at you, mortal.”
Aiden looked down at his own PE kit. “I didn’t know it was rugby today.”
Seb smiled at his worried face. “No, I forgot my polo shirt.” He pulled up his left sleeve to show his fingerless glove and as he peeled the glove off Aiden glanced at the glinting silver lines in his palm. Seb pulled the sleeve down to his knuckles, hiding the birthmark.
“Oh, of course!” Zach smiled, realising.
Aiden scratched his cheeks. “Good idea, but you’re going to get into trouble!”
The boys trooped out to the foyer at the front of the gym. Staring through the glass doors, Seb could see the Old School House. He located the main exit door with its pathway stretching along to the left. He saw the shingle pathway extending right towards the library wing but, where’s the door? There is no second door. Tugging Zach’s arm he pointed to the building.
“Zach, where’s the door gone?”
Zach glanced across and Aiden looked too, searching the fascia until their vision was blocked as someone stepped in front of the door and, accompanied by a strong blast of cold wind, entered the foyer.
The hubbub died instantly as the tall, muscular man let the door close and stared around at this new intake.
“I am Mr Carter and I will be taking you for outdoor sports this term.” His head moved slowly as he gazed from one side of the expectant crowd to the other. “Now,” he continued in a ferocious tone,