The Fire Bay Adventure

by Fleur Hitchcock

  “Me!” yelled Josh, whipping past Aiden as he avoided a family with a pushchair.

  “No, me!” yelled Aiden. By charging past the rest of the people and getting to the front of the crowd they managed to get really close to the second group – or at least in reach of the trail of sparks they were leaving.

  “Mind out!” said Aiden, yanking Josh back. Two runners were taking it slowly, occupying the whole width of the high street, their barrels shooting flames all over the crowd.

  “Can’t get past,” panted Josh.

  “This way,” shouted Aiden, and the two of them dived down one of the alleyways that led to the quayside, still racing, bouncing off walls and leaping steps through the gloom until they could run along the quayside. There they stopped, looking back up at the village as the first three waves of barrels came down, each surrounded by flaming torches that reflected the mass of watching faces.

  “Wow!” said Aiden.

  “There’s Ava,” yelled Josh, dodging round some lobster pots and heading towards the hotel where some kind of fire dance was taking place with the first three runners.

  Josh shot off ahead and joined his sister just before the hotel.

  Aiden caught up a second later. Ava was doing really well, but her barrel was burning through. In fact, it wasn’t really barrel shaped any more.

  “Fire! Fire!” chanted people around them. “On to the bonfire!” they shouted, Aiden stopped as Ava rolled her barrel on, shoving its remains into the bottom of the pile. Everyone went quiet. For a moment nothing happened. Someone murmured alongside him. “Just wait, just wait – it’ll go.”

  It took almost a minute, but then the little flames left the barrel and crept along the lengths of driftwood surrounding it. The fire spat and crackled and soon it leaped to spread across a whole side of the heap.

  “Hurrah!” shouted the crowd. Then another four barrels were bowled across the shingle. Small flames burst across the wood, and when another three barrels arrived, at least half the pile was alight.

  “Yay!” shouted Josh, watching the sparks shooting high into the sky.

  Someone dropped their barrel a long way before the fire and it took ages to roll all the way there, so long it had practically extinguished, but it made it before more arrived.

  “There can’t be many more left,” said Aiden.

  Josh glanced up the street. “I can see six more.”

  Just then Chloe and Bella arrived. By the light of the fire Josh could see the excitement on Chloe’s face. “Isn’t it fantastic? So many people,” she said. “How was it, Ava?”

  “Hot,” said Ava, stepping back from the bonfire and shaking off her hood and giant mittens.

  “You were really brave,” said Chloe.

  “I’d have done it quicker,” said Josh.

  “I’m not even joking, Josh – no way. There were all these people in the way – babies and pushchairs and that. I didn’t want to kill anyone!” Ava shook her hair out from the hood and some fragments of charcoal cascaded on to the pebbles.

  “It looked amazing!” said Chloe. “The whole thing. But…” She paused.

  “Not all the barrels have come down,” said Aiden.

  “So?” said Ava.

  “And I saw the woman – the Xarca woman. She’s definitely here,” said Chloe.

  “And Mushroom-head – she saw Mushroom-head,” said Josh.

  “They’re definitely up to something, they wouldn’t be here otherwise – they’d be waiting for their shipment. Oh! The shipment! Ship-ment,” Chloe paused. “You don’t think…?” Ava stared at Aiden. Aiden stared at Chloe. Chloe stared at the bonfire.

  “Did the big ones with the crosses on come down? I never saw them go past, I don’t think,” said Aiden.

  “I know it was really chaotic back there, with people dancing round outside the hotel, but…” said Chloe, “I’m pretty sure they’re still in the church.”

  “The three heavy ones – they’re heavy because they’re full of stuff,” said Ava. “Let’s tell the police.”

  Chloe shook her head. “They aren’t here – the fire officers are, but there are no police at all, I checked with Pearl. She said they were busy searching the moor for dodgy virtual-reality headsets. There’ll be one or two later on.”

  “Oh no!” said Ava. “But that’s going to be too late.”

  “We need to get back up there,” said Aiden. “We’ll have to find a way through the people.”

  “It’s too slow – they’ll be gone by the time we reach the church.” Ava pointed at the crowd, which stretched up the hill and into the narrow high street.

  “We know a way, don’t we, Bella?” said Chloe. “Follow me.”

  Chloe led the way towards the arch at the end of the beach. They had to skirt past the crowds, but no one was watching them. The bonfire was too spectacular.

  Bella seemed to know exactly where they were going and took Chloe over the rocks, dodging around the bushes and boulders in front of the entrance. There was no need for a torch – the bonfire lit the cliffs beautifully – but the inside looked awfully dark. It was cold out on the beach, but Chloe could feel a draught from the entrance to the tunnel that was even colder. A spidery, mouldy draught.

  “C’mon,” she said to Josh, and stepped into the entrance. Then she stopped. Even though Bella seemed quite comfortable and was straining to get further, Chloe couldn’t see a thing.

  “Dark,” said Josh. “Er… Are you sure?”

  “Aiden? Ava?” Chloe called over her shoulder.

  “Torch, sis?” said Josh.

  “What? In case there are any ghosts?” asked Ava.

  “Shut up,” said Josh, sounding, thought Chloe, genuinely nervous.

  “There aren’t any ghosts – there’s nothing to be scared of. Honestly.”

  “’Cept spiders,” said Aiden quietly.

  A bright light came on suddenly behind her, and Chloe felt the phone pressed into her hand. She shone the torch into the tunnel. The spiders’ webs garlanded their way forward, but this time with a black hole through the middle.

  “Run,” said Josh, practically hugging her. “Go.”

  Chloe went, ducking her head right down into her shoulders, her mouth clamped shut, trying not to think about the millions of spiders hanging around her head and neck. It took a minute to reach the steps, and then she began to climb.

  Her legs started to ache, but she hung on to Bella’s lead and kept on stepping, round and round, and higher and higher, Josh’s breathing getting louder all the way. Her thighs were burning with the effort. Not much further, she thought, and then quite suddenly Bella stopped and Chloe saw the back of the door and felt the space of the pulpit open up above her head.

  “We’re here!” she shouted, shining the torch around until she found the metal hook in the wall that she knew should open the door. Reaching up, she slipped two fingers through and gave it a yank. It grated on the stone but nothing happened.

  “What?” said Chloe. “Why didn’t it open?”

  “Try again,” shouted Aiden.

  “Are we trapped?” asked Josh. “Oh no, I can’t walk through that spider tunnel again.”

  Chloe pulled on the hook. Again, nothing happened.

  “Ugh, these spiders!” Ava’s voice came up the stairs and Chloe heard her feet stamping on the stone.

  “Wait!” said Josh. “’S’cuse me.” Chloe ducked as he brushed past and banged on the door, which creaked open. “Yay!” he shouted, bundling into the church, frantically beating and brushing at his head and his sides. “We’re outta there!”

  “What the—?” A man stood in the doorway of the church, one of the three huge barrels in front of him.

  “Oh!” shouted Josh, and Chloe realised that this was mushroom-head man.

  “You!” The man pointed at Josh. “And you!” Chloe turned. The man was pointing at Ava.

  “What is it?” said a female voice, and the blonde-haired woman who had been selling the mobile pho
nes appeared in the doorway. “It’s those kids!”

  Chloe backed towards the pulpit, Josh right at her side, while Bella growled.

  A third person, a man Chloe had never seen before, appeared behind the other two. “Who are they?” he said.

  “The man in the photo,” muttered Aiden.

  “Was he on the boat?” Chloe said quietly, her voice hidden by Bella’s growling.

  “Think so,” said Aiden.

  “Hello!” said Chloe brightly. “We were just going for a walk.” It sounded ridiculous, but it was worth trying.

  “What? Here in the dark?” asked the new man.

  “No you weren’t,” said the woman. “Get ’em!” she shouted, and the men sprang forward.

  Josh vanished down the tunnel, Ava followed. Aiden waited for Chloe and then they pulled the door shut behind them.

  “Quick! Run!” shouted Aiden.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  It sounded as if the people above were bashing the door in. Something splintered.

  “Hurry!” shouted Aiden behind her. Chloe almost fell headlong over Bella, who was just the faintest of white blobs in the almost complete darkness.

  Smash. The air pressure changed, and light came down from above.

  “They’re through!” shouted Chloe, expecting feet on the stairs behind them at any second, but instead she heard dragging, followed by a match striking.

  Oh no.

  “Quick everyone – get off the ground!” she shouted, grabbing Bella and with Aiden’s help stuffing her on to a ledge above her head.

  “Walk up the walls,” he said. “Like this!”

  She copied him, using the narrowness of the tunnel, one leg on either side, creeping up until her head was pressed against the ceiling, leaving what she hoped was a big enough gap under her feet.

  It took maybe a minute, but then the barrel came through. It was small, like the one that Ava had carried, but it was well and truly alight. As it tumbled down the staircase it lit the draped cobwebs on either side, little flames racing up and dying all around it, sparks bouncing up against the walls, showering Chloe’s feet but luckily not burning them. She saw it race past.

  “Ava! Josh!” she yelled.

  There was shouting below, and then silence, just the distant sound of the bonfire.

  “Shhh,” said Aiden. “Wait.”

  Ava and Josh had no idea what was coming their way. They were nearly at the beach when Josh heard Chloe shout, turned and saw the flaming barrel bounding down the passage towards them.

  “Jump!” yelled Ava.

  Josh threw himself sideways and into the air, grabbing his sister and hoping to jump clear of the flames. Instead, they fell through a curtain of cobweb into a void – a huge empty cave that was hidden at the side of the tunnel.

  “Argh!”

  “What? Seriously, Josh – what is this?”

  The barrel crashed against the entrance, and for a moment burning cobwebs lit the void. All Josh could see was dark shapes in a dark space, and although part of him was saying there’s no such thing as ghosts, quite a big part of him was telling him to get as far away as possible.

  “I don’t know,” he said quietly.

  “Nor do I,” said Ava. “But I think we need to get back up above the church if we’re going to stop those guys getting away. They’re probably still at the top of the tunnel. No one else is going to do it – it’s up to us. We’re going to have to stop them.”

  Ava ran. She knew that the barrels would have to leave in a vehicle, and that there was only one way out of the village if someone was driving. They would have to go up the hill, past Clifftoppers.

  With Josh behind her she ran out of the bottom of the tunnel, across the beach, and headed up a path that ran parallel with the high street. She quickly realised that she wasn’t going to get to the farm in time. And even if she did, she couldn’t think of a way of blocking the road. There was nothing big enough to stop someone getting past. Slowing for a second, she took a tiny alley that joined the high street below Clifftoppers and above the church. Feet thundered behind her, and she held up her hand, stopping Josh just before he ran on.

  “Shh,” she said. Creeping forward, she listened. A strange barrel-rolling sound was coming from down the hill.

  “We’re ahead of them,” whispered Josh, “but we gotta block the road. How?”

  She looked up the hill. A road-mending lorry was parked in a lay-by.

  “I wish I knew how to drive,” Ava muttered.

  “I can,” said Josh.

  Ava ignored him. “I know how it works,” she said, “but I can’t drive. We need Aiden. We need to get them out of the church.”

  Aiden and Chloe waited for what seemed like forever.

  “Can you hear anything?” whispered Aiden.

  “No,” replied Chloe, her fingers clamped round Bella’s jaw.

  “I’m going to risk it,” Aiden said, tiptoeing up the staircase and picking his way over the splintered wood and across the church.

  Bella let out a tiny whine.

  “C’mon,” he said, approaching the open church door. “There’s no one here.”

  “Does that mean they’ve got away?” Chloe whispered and then scuttled across the church, jumping at every shadow.

  Aiden didn’t answer, he just stepped out into the night air. Bella growled but she didn’t bark, and luckily there was quite a bit of noise coming from the bonfire celebrations. Someone was now playing the bagpipes. Perfect.

  They crept out of the churchyard until they could see up and down the hill. The white van sat just a little further up the road, engine running. Three figures were struggling with something. Probably a big barrel.

  “Too heavy – why don’t we just take the stuff out?” came a hoarse voice. Frogwoman?

  “Nah – this way if we get stopped you can’t see it,” said a man.

  Chloe couldn’t see him clearly enough, but it might have been Mushroom-head. There was also the third man. Bearded and big, he was lifting a barrel into the van on his own while the other two were struggling. Bella strained at her lead and Chloe dragged her backwards. “Shh, Bella.” Luckily the three people were too busy to notice her and Aiden, but they were going to be ready to go soon.

  She looked up the street beyond the van. Was that Josh’s silhouette she saw crossing the lane? And was that Ava, beckoning them round to the lay-by?

  The window of the lorry was slightly open. Ava gave Aiden a leg up and he slithered through the gap until he was sitting in the driver’s seat. But, of course, there were no keys.

  He put his hands on the steering wheel. The lorry felt awfully big. It seemed far too high and he wondered if it was at all the same as his dad’s car. He looked at the slight slope. It ought to be enough if he just took off the handbrake.

  “Aiden?” Ava looked up at him through the window. “All you have to do is jam it across the road. There are walls on both sides, they can’t get anywhere.”

  “I can do this,” he said, sounding braver than he felt.

  He clicked the little button on the end of the handbrake and nothing happened. He pulled it up again. He looked down to the right. The white van was still sitting there, lights on and engine running.

  He did three deep breaths in and out, trying to calm himself, but his heart was beating like a bird’s.

  Of course. It was in gear. He needed to depress the clutch. Easier said than done, as although Aiden was tall, he was obviously much shorter than the lorry driver. Having thrust his leg down, he found the pedal and pressed at the same time as fighting with the enormous gearstick to his left. “The middle,” he said to himself. “I need to find the middle.”

  “Aiden, hurry,” said Ava.

  “I’m going to get out of the way,” said Josh, vanishing. Then Ava and Chloe vanished too.

  Aiden found the middle of the gearbox, put the lorry in neutral and tried the handbrake again. This time, much to his delight
and terror, the lorry rolled forwards. It headed silently and steadily towards the other side of the road, straight for a brick wall. Aiden frantically pulled the handbrake and the lorry slowed to a stop a few centimetres from the other side.

  “Yes!” he shouted, jumping from the driving seat just as the engine revved on the hill below.

  “They’re coming!” shouted Ava.

  “They can’t get through,” said Aiden.

  The van headed up the hill towards them, gathering speed. The driver didn’t spot the lorry until the last possible second.

  Screeeech!

  The driver jammed on the brakes and reversed.

  “They’re going to go back down the hill!” shouted Chloe.

  “But they can’t get out,” replied Ava.

  “We’ve got them!” said Josh. “Unless…”

  The doors of the van burst open and three figures ran for the sides of the road, one towards the low stone wall of Clifftopper Farm, one towards the lighthouse, and one back down the hill.

  “Right!” shouted Josh, already in pursuit of the one who was heading towards Clifftoppers.

  Aiden followed him, leaping the low wall. “You can’t get anywhere!” he shouted, but the figure didn’t stop, ploughing on towards the house.

  “Chickens – head them off towards the chickens!” hissed Josh.

  Not having the faintest clue why, and a little slowed down by not being able to see a thing, Aiden ran towards where he hoped the chicken house was.

  The figure ran straight towards the chicken house, Josh hot on their tail. And then suddenly they seemed to stop. “Ow!” A woman shrieked. “What the—?”

  “Electric fence,” said Josh.

  She had run into the tangle of wire, which was invisible in the dark, and now she was getting the full fury of Grandpa’s ancient fox-prevention system.

  “Get me out of this – ow!” shouted the woman. “Ow! That really hurt!”

  “Quick!” said Aiden. “Tarpaulins – from the shed – the ones with the chicken poo on them.”