by Katrina Cope
Jayden nodded. “What about the windows at night when the lights are on?” he queried. Satisfaction filled him as he thought he had caught Avando in an error regarding the invisibility of the building. It made sense, since lights always shine out at night, even through tinted windows.
“No, you can’t see it then, either,” Avando said as Jayden felt the smug look disappear from his face. “The darkness in the glass comes from a special chemical dye that turns the glass black when hit by electrically powered lights. You wouldn’t notice, though, since you’d think that you can’t see out because the mirroring is the light reflecting off the inside of the glass.”
They passed back through the common room and were entering the lobby. Full of large, overstuffed lounge chairs grouped in clusters, the room looked very comfortable and inviting. They walked through the lobby to the right and headed toward the glass door.
“Open, please, Scarlet.” Avando spoke to the air.
The door slid back, revealing a garden. Jayden recognized it as the same garden he’d seen earlier. Once outside, he saw a few smaller mountains as they walked over to the large rock pool with the six-foot waterfall. When they reached the pool, they turned around to look at the view. After all the shocks he’d experienced in the last twelve hours, Jayden thought that there’d be nothing that could shock him further. He was wrong. When he turned around, all that he could see was a magnificent mountain, with an even larger mountain overshadowing it. He couldn’t even see the door that they had just gone through to get there.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” he gasped, slapping his hand over his mouth.
- Chapter Five -
Kensington Youth Festival
It was the first week of the extended summer school holidays, and school was finished for another year. Glancing up at the cloudless, blue sky while enjoying the sunshine on his pale skin, Liam Honeywell tilted his head back and allowed the breeze to ruffle his short hair. He was relaxing after completing year seven and was out having fun with his friends Hayley, Dryden, Jarrod, and, regrettably, also his twelve-year-old sister Gemma. They were walking around gazing at all the sights at the best event of the year—the Kensington Youth Festival. There were live bands, as well as skateboarding and scooter competitions to watch—or to compete in. There were also free workshops for skateboarding and scooters, places to get temporary tattoos, and loads of other fun.
Today, Liam’s older brother Matt was competing in the skateboarding competition.
“What time is Matt competing again?” asked Jarrod, his gray eyes filled with excitement.
“Eleven thirty,” Liam replied, looking up at him. Jarrod was a little taller than everyone else. “I hope he does really well. He’s been hanging out for this for ages. He's practiced heaps and has gotten pretty good.”
“We’ll find out in about an hour,” said Hayley. Her freckles stood out a little more than usual against her pale skin, and her red, curly hair flowed freely around her shoulders.
The smell of the food vans and cafeterias wafted their way over. “Just enough time to eat. I’m starving,” Jarrod said.
“Me, too,” Gemma agreed. Her dark-brown hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, showing off her sky-blue eyes, which looked pleadingly at Liam.
“All right. Let’s get some food,” Liam responded. They followed the aromas and found their way to the food areas. For a fair, a large number of choices were offered.
“So what do you want—hot dogs, corn dogs, pizza, hamburgers, chips, Chinese, sushi, or Italian?” Liam pointed at each food booth as he named them. His mouth watered with each mention.
“Let’s have corn dogs,” Hayley said. “We can’t usually get them anywhere else.”
“Sounds good,” Jarrod agreed. “I’ll be happy with anything to kill this hunger.”
After receiving their food, they continued around the fair, biting off chunks of their dogs as they walked along and looked at all the different games and activities.
“Hey, there’s an unusual booth,” Jarrod said, pointing ahead. “Like anyone will take part in that one,” he added with sarcasm.
They all looked in the direction he was pointing. A few stalls away was an open booth with plain walls. It was set up with four tables and accompanying chairs. Pens, pencils, and paper had been put on the tables. In front of the booth was a banner with the words How Smart Are You?
“Yeah,” agreed Dryden, looking bored as he glanced quickly at the booth. “We’re on vacation, after all.”
“I’ll give it a go,” Liam said. “I want to see if I get the questions right.”
“You would,” said Jarrod, shaking his head. “You really are a full-time nerd. I’m surprised that you two other nerds don’t join him,” he said to Hayley and Dryden.
“Actually, I think I will,” said Hayley.
Dryden ran a hand through his mousy-brown hair. “If you will, then I guess I will, too.” He smirked at Jarrod. “It’s true—we do like nerdy challenges.”
They ate their corn dogs a bit quicker.
Jarrod watched in disbelief. “You guys are killing me. We’re on vacation, after all.” He held his thin arms out in a gesture of appeal. “We only just took our exams last week. Live a little, guys.” He looked at his three friends.
Liam couldn’t help smirking at him. “You know what we’re like, Jarrod. As Dryden said, we love a nerdy challenge.”
“You guys are nuts,” Jarrod said, shaking his head. “We’re supposed to be here to have fun. I’m heading over to put out the fire at the fire department booth. What about you, Gemma?”
Gemma flicked her long ponytail over her shoulder. “I’m going give it a go, too, Jarrod.”
“Jeez! Even the little sister is crazy,” he said and walked off. Liam thought he could hear him muttering to himself.
The four of them walked into the booth. Behind the first table, a man sat with his legs up, reading that day’s newspaper. When he heard the kids approach, he lowered the paper. Liam thought he looked like he was in his late thirties. He wore a blue T-shirt with beige cotton shorts that reached down to his knees, and his thick hair was slightly tousled. He took his feet off the table, pushed his glasses back, and smiled.
“Hey there! Are you here to see how smart you are?” he asked.
“Hi,” Liam said glancing around and assessing the room.
“What do we have to do?” asked Dryden. “And is there a prize?”
The man stood. His tall, thin frame towered over everyone in the group. “This activity doesn’t cost you anything to participate, so there’s no prize given today. But if you do well, you will get a prize later, in the mail.”
“In the mail?” Hayley asked. “Why in the mail?”
An amused look flickered across the man’s face. “The reason is that if you’ve done well on the quiz, then we like to double-check your answers before we reward you, since the reward is so special.”
“What’s the reward?” asked Gemma.
“That, young lady, is a big surprise that only the smartest will discover. So, are you ready to take the challenge?”
“Might as well,” Liam said, shrugging.
“Okeydokey.” He reached for the forms and put them out on the tables. “I need to ask each of you to sit at a table by yourself.”
Once everyone was seated, he continued. “You have thirty minutes to answer all the questions,” he said. “Don’t forget to put your full name, date of birth, the school you’re attending, and your mailing address so that we can reach you if you’re shown to be one of the smartest ones.”
“All right.” He gazed around the room and saw that they were ready. “Now remember—this is just for fun. This isn’t school, so if it’s too hard or if you change your mind halfway through, feel free to leave. There’s no pressure.” He smiled and looked at his watch. “Best of luck! Time starts now.”
Liam focused on the questions before him. They all seemed too easy—but then again, he never did have much trouble
with schoolwork. He looked around the room and noticed the looks of concentration on the others’ faces. I wonder how they’re doing? he thought. He looked at his watch—only five more minutes to go. Better finish up.
“Okay, pens down,” the man said thirty minutes later as he walked around the room and collected the papers. “Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this test. I hope you all did well. Please look forward to your results in the mail. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
While muttering their thanks, the group filed out of the booth.
Liam glanced at his watch. “We have just enough time to find Jarrod and go and watch Matt’s comp. We better get moving.”
They found Jarrod still at the fire department booth, putting out fires.
“Jeez, Jarrod. You’re not very good at it,” Liam teased him.
Jarrod turned the fire hose toward Liam and sprayed him.
“I was just kidding,” Liam said with a chuckle. “Come on—we’ve gotta go if we’re going to make it in time to watch Matt.”
They made their way through the crowds to the skateboarding park and arrived in time to see the last few tricks of Matt’s archrival, Steve Grundy. Steve’s performance was cut short, however, after he did a board slide down the railing of the staircase, missed, and landed on the tender spot between his legs. The whole crowd cried out in unison, “Ow!” Then it was silent as the medics raced over to help him.
Gemma giggled. “What a way to finish.”
The others giggled in agreement as they watched him being helped away from the skate area.
Now it was Matt’s turn. The muscular sixteen-year-old started with the board and slid down the railings of the stairs without looking the slightest bit unbalanced. He then followed through with all sorts of complicated tricks, like a big spin at the top of the ramp, a kickback, and other impressive moves. By the time he finished, he had increased the pressure on the competitors who followed. He flicked the shaggy, brown hair out of his eyes then gave a shy grin toward the crowd.
“Wow,” exclaimed Jarrod. “He’s awesome. Wish I could do that.”
“Yeah,” said Liam. “If you lived, ate, and breathed skateboarding, you might be that good, too.”
Matt saw Liam and his friends and headed over to see them. He asked Liam, “Dude, where ya been? I was startin’ to think that ya weren’t comin’.”
Jarrod indicated the others with a jerk of his thumb. “Would you believe that these geeks have been playing school? They went into some booth and took an exam. You would’ve thought that they’d had enough of exams after the horrors of the last few weeks at school.”
“Whoa, dude! You need to chill. What’d ya do that for?” Matt asked Liam.
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” Liam rolled his eyes and then grinned at Matt. “Let’s just say it was some kind of competition.”
“Well, I don’t care what kind it was, ya would never get me spendin’ more time in school than I have to,” Matt said, shaking his head.
They stayed to watch the last few competitors. When everyone had finished, all twenty competitors were called back to the middle of the concrete skateboarding area to wait for the announcement of the winner. There was a three-level platform to display the first three winners.
A fit-looking man in his forties stood in front of the microphone at the center of the concrete area. “The third place for today’s competition goes to Caitlin Pretoris,” he announced.
Everyone cheered as a tomboyish young woman went out to the front to accept her trophy from the announcer. She then took her place on the lower level of the platform.
“Second place goes to Timmy Ramshorn.”
Again, the crowd cheered as Timmy went forward to collect his trophy. Liam bit his fingernails. The announcer hadn’t called Matt’s name yet. He glanced at Matt, and Matt winked at him. He wondered why Matt didn’t look nervous when his own insides were churning. He turned back to watch the awards ceremony.
The announcer continued. “Now, for the winner of the thousand-dollar skateboard gear voucher. First place—and the big trophy goes to…Matt Honeywell!”
Liam and his friends cheered twice as loudly as the rest of the crowd. Liam’s stomach stopped churning as Matt collected his trophy and took his place at the top of the platform. The three winners posed for numerous photos for the Kensington Youth Festival website.
The announcer continued, “All three winners are automatically entered into the state skateboarding competition, which is coming up in a couple of months.”
When the ceremony was over, Matt came over to Liam and his friends.
“Congrats, bro!” Liam beamed at his brother.
“I knew you were awesome when I watched you,” Jarrod said, slapping him on the back.
“Thanks, dudes!” Matt said after everyone had congratulated him. “I’m gonna go over to my friends now to hang and check out what’s here—now that I’ve finished the comp. So, check ya later when the fair is finished.”
“Yep,” Liam said. “We haven’t seen enough, either.”
After Matt had left to join his friends, the others set off toward the rides. On the way, Jarrod stopped to get a large hot dog with the works and scarfed it down.
“Do you really think it’s wise to be eating so much, and so fast, just before going on the rides?” Hayley asked him.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Jarrod snapped at her.
“Well, I guess only time will tell.” Her green eyes sparkled.
“Hey look!” Dryden called. “There’s the House of Horrors. Let’s go in there.”
“I’m up for it,” Hayley said, her face shining.
“I don’t know,” argued Liam. “Remember that we have my little sis with us. She might get scared.” He smirked at Gemma.
“Will not!” Gemma snapped, and her blue eyes turned to stone.
“Okay, okay.” He raised his hands in mock resignation. “If you think you’ll be fine with it, sis, then let’s go in.”
They entered a dark room and walked through the corridors of the house. Various scary objects hung from the ceiling such as spider webs with enormous spiders and ghosts. There were black fabric walls that swayed in the fake breeze that blew eerily through the house. Figures stuck their heads out of holes in the wall, making scary sounds—some loud, and some soft. Throughout all this, Gemma put on a brave face. She seemed to be doing well, until one of the actors dressed in black crept up in the dark and stood silently next to her—very close, but without making a sound. As Gemma moved, her hand brushed up against the actor, who also jolted at her. That did it. Gemma screamed at the top of her lungs and ran to Liam, clinging to him for safety. The four older children laughed.
“Still not scared?” Liam teased her.
“Shut up!” she yelled as she pouted, distorting her thin, attractive face.
“Just teasing. We’re at the end, anyway,” Liam said.
Once they were outside, Gemma announced, “My pick next.”
“Okay, sure,” Liam said as the others nodded. “What’s your pick?”
“The Octopus,” said Gemma. Her face was hopeful.
“Let’s do it,” Hayley agreed.
The Octopus had four carriages to each arm, and they all climbed into one carriage each. The ride started with a slow rotation of the four carriages on each arm and continued to move faster as the arms rose and tipped the spinning carriages in many directions.
After this tilting, spinning, and rotating had continued for a few minutes, Liam glanced over at Jarrod and noticed that he was turning green. He heard a laugh and looked over to see Hayley, who was also looking at Jarrod.
“How’re you feeling, Jarrod?” she called to him. “How’s the hot dog sitting now?” She looked smug as his face turned white. Liam saw him turn his head toward the side of the carriage and be sick. Jarrod managed to spray several people waiting for their turn on the ground. Hayley’s laughter filled the air as she observed the horrified expression on t
he people’s faces. Liam was grateful he wasn’t one of them.
Hayley called again to Jarrod. “That hot dog is sitting really well, right? I mean on the people waiting down below, that is?”
Jarrod’s squinting eyes sent her a warning as he attempted to keep the rest of the contents of his stomach down.
When the ride stopped, they all met at the exit. Hayley turned to the group with a smile on her face, while making sure Jarrod could hear, and said, “Wow! That ride made me really hungry. Hot dogs, anyone?”
The four of them watched as Jarrod covered his mouth with his hand and raced off to the nearest bushes. Hayley laughed. Liam shook his head as Dryden and Gemma looked at Hayley, puzzled.
“Why don’t you ask the people waiting in line?” she suggested. When their faces remained uncertain, she continued. “I tried to warn him that he shouldn’t eat that hot dog.”
Dryden’s and Gemma’s puzzled looks soon changed to looks of comprehension and disgust.
After the gang had taken a few more rides with Jarrod sitting on the side, it was getting late, and the sun was setting.
“Feeling any better, genius?” Hayley teased Jarrod again.
“Hardy har har!” His voice was full of sarcasm as he narrowed his eyes at her.
“I wonder what the prize for that competition we entered earlier is?” Dryden asked, trying to change the subject. “It’s strange that he wouldn’t tell us.”
“I don’t know,” Liam replied, “but if the prize is awesome, I hope we did well. I guess we’ll just have to wait.”
“It’s getting dark. Have you guys had enough of this fair?” Jarrod asked. His voice was laced with hope.
They all nodded.
“Let’s get going. You can all stay at our place for a bit, and then we can call your parents to come over and get you,” Liam offered.