Invisible! (12 page)

Carrie shook her head. ‘We can't do
that
, Rosie. It's against the law to know about a crime and not tell the police, and we know about a
crime
and
who did it. We've
got
to do something. Question is, what?'

The buzzer sounded as she spoke, and Rosie pulled a face. ‘We'll talk about it tomorrow,' she said, ‘at the barbie.'

Three thirty-five. The twins, walking home.

‘Hey, Con?'

‘What?'

‘Old Kippax. He's got that yard near Sizzlers, right?'

‘'Course. What about it?'

‘Well, we've investigated his house but not the yard. It's piled up with all sorts of junk, and then there's the buildings. He could hide a flipping
elephant
there and nobody'd know.'

‘There's no elephants missing.'

‘You know what I mean, dummy. Those paintings might be there. I reckon we ought to take a peek.'

‘You could be right. Mention it to Rosie tomorrow night.'

Carrie shook her head. ‘I'm not talking about Rosie, Con. I'm talking about you and me. What's wrong with the two of us taking a look by ourselves?'

Conrad looked at her. ‘You mean like, go invisible without Rosie? Or would we do it visible?'

‘Invisible, you donkey. We'll use Inchlake Ring. It'll work just the same without Rosie.'

‘Yeah I know, but like … I prefer to have her around in case something goes wrong.'

‘Like
what
, for Pete's sake?'

‘Well, like if we went invisible and couldn't get back. You know – walked round the ring and just stayed invisible?'

‘It won't happen, and if it did I don't suppose there's anything Rosie could do about it. I say we do it today, straight after tea.'

‘I'd want to think about it first.'

‘Chicken.'

‘It's not that. I just don't like rushing into stuff.'

‘Chicken.'

‘Shut your face.'

‘Chicken. I'll go by myself.'

‘You can't.'

‘What'll you do, chicken-licken – tell Mummy?'

‘No.'

‘Keep me in an armlock all night?'

‘Don't be daft.'

‘Come with me then.'

‘I … oh, what the heck. All
right
, but don't blame me if we both end up invisible for ever.'

Carrie grinned. ‘You're a hero, Con. I always said so.'

It was dry, but a spiteful wind whipped the bleached grass round the feet of the ancient stones and drove flocks of ragged clouds across the sky. Conrad shivered.

‘Flipping freezing.'

His twin nodded. ‘Wait till you've no clothes on.'

‘Oooh, don't. Think I'll go invisible first,
then
strip off.'

‘Good idea.' There was nobody about. The pair positioned themselves and began walking backwards. ‘
Does
feel strange without Rosie. You were right about that.'

‘Want to change your mind?'

‘You wish!'

They completed the circle. Conrad looked down at himself. ‘Think it's worked?'

‘'Course it has, you turkey. Let's get our stuff off. It'll be dark in an hour.'

‘You start. I'm just going to take my clothes for a walk.'

‘What's the point? There's nobody to see.' ‘I don't care. I'll
pretend
there's someone. The Bee.'

‘You're a nut.'

Carrie crossed to the stone with the recess, unzipping her top. She was shrugging it off when she heard a cry. Turning, she saw her brother topple backwards, arms flailing. She was about to laugh, but then the back of his head struck the altar stone with a sound like an apple splitting. He slumped sideways and lay like a rag doll, one arm cocked against the sky.

‘Con? Conrad?' She ran towards him, her top flapping. He didn't move. She knelt, feeling his brow. ‘Con? Are you OK?
Say
something.'
Daft stuff you come out with when you're scared.
‘Con?'
Shake him. No, don't. Not supposed to move someone who's had an accident, right?
She wished she knew first aid, not just fragments picked up from the
telly.
He's knocked out. Dead, maybe. What the heck do I do?

Fetch someone. Go visible first, of course, then find an adult. Or a house with a phone. Yeah, that's it. A house with a phone. Ambulance. We were playing. Just playing, and my brother overbalanced. I'll say that to Josh, like on
Casualty.
He'll know exactly what to do. Clear the airway. Immobilize the head. All that. Yeah, but …

Invisible.
She
could go visible in a minute, but what about him?
She
could see him, but to anybody else there'd just be a set of clothes. What would she tell Josh about that?
Oh yes, he's invisible at the moment. We go invisible sometimes. There
is
a head though, somewhere, and it's bleeding …

Impossible. Can't fetch help and don't have a clue what to do myself. One thing. One possibility. If I carry him round the ring he'll go visible, won't he? Or have you got to be awake? Can but try. Then if it works I can get somebody. I know they say don't move the patient, but …

‘Come on, Con love. Up we go.'

It was unbelievably difficult. Flopping and lolling, the helpless Conrad felt like a tonne of mutton. It took Carrie more than a minute to drag him backwards, heels trailing, to the edge of the ring. She kept expecting somebody to show up and see her apparently struggling with a very heavy set of clothes.
What the heck am I gonna
say?
Oh, I just thought I'd take this stuff to the Oxfam shop but I seem to have come the wrong way.
Yeah, sure.

It was when she started trying to move the unconscious boy
forward
that it got really hard. She couldn't hook her hands under his armpits and drag him like before, because they'd both be
going backwards. She had to sit him facing forward, then haul him to his feet and sort of
push
him in front of her. His head rolled to and fro on his chest, his arms waved about and his feet kept getting tangled up with hers. She couldn't do it in one go, it was far too tiring. Every few metres she'd stop, let him slide down till he was sitting, and squat behind him panting for a few seconds, her head on his shoulder.
What if it doesn't work – if you've
got
to do it non-stop
? It was no use thinking about that, or about the harm she might be doing by lugging him about. Somebody could turn up at any minute.

She'd forgotten where she'd started, so it was only the appearance of their faint shadows on the ground which told her she'd succeeded. She'd carried him right round, and it had worked. They were visible. She glanced at her watch. Five past seven. It had taken her nearly twenty minutes. Her twin was still unconscious but she could feel him breathing, which was a relief. Now she must leave him and seek help, though she was exhausted enough to fall down on the grass and sleep. She cradled his head and gazed into the pale, still face. ‘Con, I've got to
leave you now, get help. You'll be OK, won't you, till I get back?'

There was a farm just off the footpath near the bottom of the hill. A farm
house
anyway – it wasn't a working farm any more, but the people would have a phone. She paused between two great stones, glanced back at the small figure in the grass, then started running. The sun was setting over her left shoulder. Soon it would be dark.

Carriage lamps mounted either side of the door came on as she slammed the knocker. Footsteps beyond the iron-studded door, which opened on a chain. A slice of face in the gap.

‘Yes?'

‘Please can I use your phone? My brother's had an accident, up the Ring.'

‘What sort of accident? You're not doing drugs or anything, are you?'

‘No. We were playing and he fell. Hit his head on a stone. He's knocked out.'

‘OK, just a sec.'

There were three people. One woman, two men. They sat her down, fetched her tea while one man phoned. She wrapped her hands round the hot beaker and stared into the fire. She
hadn't noticed till now how cold she was. The warmth was making her drowsy.

The ambulance came in fifteen minutes and she had to go out, get boosted into the high cab, show the way. It wasn't Josh; it was two women. When the headlights hit the standing stones it was nearly dark. Con didn't seem to have moved. They piled out. The women, herself, one of the men from the farm. The women bent over her brother. One of them said, ‘Conrad, can you hear me? Can you say something? It's all right. You're going to be fine.'

They stretchered him into the ambulance, which bounced down the path, stopping briefly to let the man off at the house. Carrie nodded. ‘Thanks.' She was scared for Con, but half asleep too. She hardly noticed when the vehicle reached the road and accelerated. The siren stitched a thin blue thread of light across her dream.

As the twins were being rushed to hospital, a really terrific idea popped into Charlotte's head. She hadn't seen the others for a few days and was sitting on her bed, wondering whether they were having invisible adventures without her. She could hear a siren somewhere in the distance.
Some poor soul off to hospital, God love 'em. I could go to school invisible.

Just like that. What an ambulance siren had to do with going to school invisible she'd never know but that's how it happened, and the more she thought about it the more fun it promised to be. In fact she hardly slept that night, she was so excited. Friday morning she left home half an
hour early and went the long way round so she'd pass Inchlake School. The yard was still deserted so she ran onto the field. The ring of little toadstools was exactly where Rosie had told her it was. She stepped in, walked carefully backwards and went invisible. Undressing quickly, she checked to see she was casting no shadow. Then she stuffed her clothes in her sports bag and hurried to the hawthorn hedge which bordered part of the field. Kids were drifting into the yard. She put the bag down, kicked it right under and piled dead leaves and rubbish in front of it. When she was satisfied it wouldn't be seen she straightened up and strolled back, wondering what the kids would think if they knew there was a girl with nothing on in their midst.