Nowhere Boys (19 page)

The boys made their way out the main entrance. Felix noticed the quad was covered in muddy paw prints. Everywhere he looked were paw prints, big and small. They ran over and around each other. Felix stared at them – they looked strangely familiar. There was a pattern, a logic.

Jake nudged him. ‘Felix, look over there.’

Felix looked up. Standing amongst the ring of cypress trees at the edge of the oval was Phoebe. She was staring intently at the quad. She pulled a book out of her bag and studied it. She looked back at the paw prints.

‘That’s the Book of Shadows,’ said Felix.

‘What’s she doing with it?’

‘I don’t know.’ Felix pushed the others back out of sight, behind a pillar. What
was
Phoebe doing at the school? Was she doing some sort of spell?

He felt his skin go cold. Maybe all along it was Phoebe that was attacking them. She had been in the forest the day they’d gone missing. The bees had come to her shop. She’d been at the shack when the crows came and now she was here when the dogs attacked. Surely it was too much of a coincidence.

He watched her carefully. She had made her way to the quad and was bending down to scrape at a muddy paw print. Weird.

‘So we just go and ask her for her book, right?’ said Sam, eager to get on with it.

‘It’s not that simple,’ said Felix.

‘Sure it is,’ said Sam.

‘It’s not,’ snapped Felix. ‘I’ve tried that already.’ He watched as Phoebe placed some mud in a vial, then snapped the book shut and headed towards the school gate. She hadn’t seen them. That was good. ‘We need to follow her. See what she’s up to.’

‘I thought you said she was helping us,’ said Jake.

‘I’m not so sure,’ muttered Felix. ‘Come on.’

Phoebe turned left at the gate. The boys quickly crossed the quad and followed her. Felix looked back and his stomach leapt. With a bit of distance, the paw prints formed very clear patterns. The same spiral patterns he’d seen outside the shack after the storm. The spirals twisted and turned, and led towards the front of the school – towards them. Whatever was after them, it was getting stronger.

‘Felix, come on. She’s just turned down Dickens Street,’ called Jake.

Felix turned and jogged to catch up to the others. Phoebe was out of sight. They turned down Dickens Street and saw her disappearing around the corner into Elm Grove. That was Felix’s street. Was she going to his house? Was she planning an attack there against Oscar or his parents? He quickened his pace.

Phoebe disappeared up the driveway of number eleven. Felix’s house.

‘Quick, up here!’ Felix led the others into Ellen’s driveway and they crept along the fence line. They squatted beside some broken planks in the fence and Felix peered through into his garden.

‘It would be a hell of a lot simpler to just ask her for the book,’ grumbled Sam.

‘Shh,’ said Felix.

Phoebe was standing under the elm tree. She had the book open again and was studying the bark carefully. She put it back in her bag and got out a small metal file. She scraped at the bark and placed the shavings in another glass vial.

‘She’s collecting ingredients,’ whispered Felix.

‘What for? Bark pie?’ said Sam.

Satisfied, Phoebe headed back down the driveway.

Felix hesitated. What to do? They should really follow her and see what she was going to do next. But what had she done to the tree? If she was casting some spell on his family, he needed to know about it.

Without consulting the others, he leapt over Ellen’s fence into his front yard.

At the elm tree, Felix froze. There, on the bark, was the same pattern again. Spirals twirled up the bark of the tree towards Oscar’s window. They looked like they had been etched into the bark.

The bees! thought Felix. That mark was made by the bees. But why would Phoebe be interested in that? It didn’t make any sense.

He heard the sound of a car and turned to see a green Volvo coming up the drive. Bugger. It was his mum.

She parked and stepped out of the car.

‘Hello, Fergus. Oscar’s not home from school yet.’ She sneezed violently, then looked puzzled. ‘Shouldn’t you be at school too?’

‘Er, yeah,’ Felix thought fast. ‘But I had a free period so I thought I’d come and hang here until Oscar gets home.’

It was a lame excuse but his mum didn’t question it. She seemed to just be happy that Oscar had a friend. She pulled a tissue out of her handbag and blew her nose.

‘You can come and wait for him inside if you’d like. I’ll make you some afternoon tea.’ She sneezed again, and her eyes started watering. ‘Sorry, it’s my hayfever playing up again.’

Felix was tempted. Really tempted. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had his mum’s full attention. And he’d give anything to eat her home-cooked food. But he caught sight of the other three, staring at him from the other side of Ellen’s fence. ‘Ah, that’s cool. Actually, I’ve got some homework to do so maybe I’ll come back later.’

A flicker of disappointment crossed his mum’s face. ‘No problem. I’ll tell Oscie you came around. I’m sure he’ll be sorry he missed you.’

Felix watched her go inside. It was kind of strange that despite being in a wheelchair, Oscar was a whole lot more popular at home than he was in this world.

He made his way back to the others.

‘Dude, you could have invited us all in. I’m starving,’ said Sam.

‘Got no time. We’ve got to find Phoebe.’ He looked around. ‘Where’s Andy?’

‘I think he’s writing Ellen a love note.’ Jake laughed.

Andy was slipping a note under Ellen’s front door. He caught Felix’s eye and suddenly became very interested in doing up his shoe.

Felix felt a surge of anger. Here he was, doing everything he could to get them home, and Andy was poncing around like a love-struck idiot. ‘Come on,’ he called. ‘We have to find Phoebe.’ He stormed off down Ellen’s drive.

Andy jogged up beside him. ‘I was just trying to explain that my feelings for Viv are and will only ever be brotherly –’

‘Save it for someone who cares,’ Felix hissed. There was no sign of Phoebe on the street. ‘We’ll go to Arcane Lane. Wait for her there.’

The boys made their way through town and up the back steps to Arcane Lane. The sign on the front door said
OPEN
.

Felix cupped his hands to the glass and saw Phoebe sitting behind the counter with the vials and the Book of Shadows open in front of her. If she was trying to harm them, they’d probably walked right into a trap.

But he had the talisman, didn’t he? He knew it worked. And if they were all together and Phoebe attacked, they’d be protected, right?

He took a deep breath and flung open the door.

Phoebe glanced up from the glass vials. ‘Oh, so you actually decided to keep your word this time,’ she said, nonchalantly.

Felix was taken aback. ‘Um, yeah.’

Phoebe put down the vials and looked past Felix to the others. ‘You didn’t have to bring the boy band.’

‘Actually, I did,’ said Felix boldly. ‘If something is threatening us, we need to stay together or the talisman doesn’t work.’

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. ‘Is something attacking you now?’

‘Well, no. Not right now. But I’ve reason to believe that you are behind the attacks.’

Phoebe laughed out loud. ‘
I’m
behind the attacks?’

‘Well, we saw you,’ said Felix, feeling less certain. ‘At the school and at my house.’

‘So, tell me,’ said Phoebe. ‘Is the talisman glowing right now?’

Felix pulled it out from under his shirt. It just looked like a dull brown stone.

‘So, what were you doing then?’ he asked, annoyed at his own oversight.

Phoebe turned the Book of Shadows towards him. It was open at the page Felix had seen earlier, showing the spiral patterns that perfectly matched the ones left behind after the attacks.

‘This is the demonology section,’ Phoebe said darkly.

‘Demonology?’ said Andy. ‘Oh, this gets better and better.’

Phoebe fixed him with a glare. ‘I’ve been trying to work out what’s been attacking you, and I think I’ve found the answer. You boys have a demon after you. A bona fide, hell-bent-on-murder demon.’

Sam’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. ‘What?’

Felix moved towards the book and started to read. ‘So,’ he said finally, ‘these elemental attacks. They’re all the same demon coming at us, but in different forms? What kind of demon is it?’

Jake looked dismayed. ‘There’s more than one kind of demon?’

‘This here,’ said Phoebe, pointing at the spiral, ‘is the signature of a restoring demon.’

Felix read out loud, ‘Created to restore the natural order after a magical disturbance.’

‘What’s a magical disturbance?’ asked Sam.

‘I’m thinking that’s …
you
?’ said Phoebe. ‘You boys got something to tell me?’

Everyone’s eyes turned to Felix. He took a deep breath. If Phoebe really was trying to help them, there was no harm in telling her the truth. Well, at least some of it.

‘Um, well …’ Where could he even start?

Luckily, Sam jumped in. ‘There was this school excursion, right? And we got lost in the forest, and when we found our way back to Bremin, nobody remembered us anymore. So we need you to help us get back to our real world because let me tell you, this world totally sucks.’

Phoebe’s eyes lit up. ‘I thought as much. So you’ve completely disappeared from your own world?’

‘I guess,’ said Felix.

Phoebe picked up from the counter a framed photograph of a young woman. She took a deep breath. ‘This is my sister, Alice. Ten years ago she disappeared. The police searched for months, but they never found a trace.’

‘There must be people searching for us like that in our world,’ said Sam.

Phoebe nodded. ‘I’d say so.’

‘What do you think happened to her – to Alice?’ asked Felix tentatively. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Phoebe looked at him intently. ‘Magic, Felix. Alice was a witch and she cast a powerful spell, but something went wrong. Of course, when I told the police that, they thought I was crazy.’

Felix looked away. He knew more about powerful spells going wrong than he wanted to admit.

‘Which brings me to our deal, Felix.’

‘I’m – I’m not sure how I can help you,’ he faltered.

‘Okay then, I’ll have the talisman back.’

Felix was backed into a corner and he knew it. There was no way he could give Phoebe back the talisman. This restoring demon was going to keep coming at them and the talisman was the only thing protecting them. They needed it until he could work out how to get them home.

‘Do you know what spell she cast?’ asked Felix.

Phoebe shook her head. ‘That’s what I need you for.’

‘But if you’ve been trying to work it out for ten years, what chance have I got?’

‘You know what the difference between you and me is, Felix?’

Felix looked at her. Plenty of things were coming to mind.

‘You can do magic and …’ she looked away.

‘You can’t?’ asked Felix. He suddenly realised why he was so important to her.

‘I’ve studied magic all my life, but I’ve never had any ability. Alice was the witch in the family. The only real witch I’d ever met. Till you.’

The other boys stared at Felix.

‘Dude, you’re a witch?’ asked Jake.

Felix tried to brush it aside. ‘Well, I’ve read some books, been to some websites. But that’s what goths do.’

‘You made Alice’s talisman work,’ said Phoebe. ‘Only a true witch can harness the power of the elemental talisman.’

‘So, if he helps you, can you get us home?’ asked Sam, eager to get back to the matter at hand.

‘If he helps me find Alice, she can get you home.’

‘Okay, it’s a deal,’ said Sam.

‘Wait,’ said Felix. ‘How am I supposed to find Alice and bring her home, when I can’t even get us home?’

‘You find the spell she used. Cast again, in the same way, in the same place, the spell will be reversed,’ said Phoebe simply.

Felix took that in. Was that really all he had to do? If it was that simple he should be able to get them all home.

‘Felix?’

‘Sure. I’ll give it a try.’

‘I’m counting on you. And in the meantime, be careful. The demon is building strength. It will take some time to regroup after today’s attack. But when it comes back, it will be stronger than ever.’