Nowhere Boys (20 page)

Felix shuddered. The demon had turned every dog in Bremin on them. He’d rather not think about what it could do next.

The boys made their way back along the bush track towards the shack. Felix hung back from the others. He needed time to think. If Phoebe was right about how to reverse a spell, he felt pretty confident he could get them home. He owed it to the others, but it sure was going to be hard to leave this world where his brother could walk and his mum wanted to feed him afternoon tea.

When they got back to the shack, Jake stood in the gloom holding out the piece of paper Bates had given them. ‘Guys.’

‘What?’

‘Check this out.’

The others gathered around him.

‘Permission slip for excursion to the Bremin Ranges,’ read Andy.

The boys stared at each other.

‘It’s the same excursion,’ whispered Sam.

‘It must have been postponed in this world,’ said Andy.

Felix stared at the slip. The same excursion, to the same place. The fates had spoken. The others were looking at him.

‘Do you think you can bring Alice home?’ asked Sam.

Felix smiled. ‘I can do better than that. I think I can get
us
home.’

jake:
we’re going on a wormhole hunt

Jake sat by the window of the shack. Outside, the sun was rising. The whole world was bathed in a soft, hopeful light. Jake leant his head against the window. He’d hardly slept all night. In his hand was the excursion form. He remembered how his mum had signed it on the fly, rushing as usual to get out of the house. She’d finished her last shift the night before and was starting a new one at eight that morning. She’d given him a kiss and told him to enjoy himself before rushing out the back door to avoid Real Estate Phil.

The sun rose higher in the sky. Jake could almost see the shadows of the trees shortening as he watched. The day was coming fast and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Did he really want his mum to go back to living a life of drudgery just because she’d made a decision to have him at eighteen?

‘It doesn’t work like that.’

Jake looked up. Andy was watching him from his bed.

‘Huh?’

‘In parallel universes, both realities exist simultaneously. It’s not one or the other.’

Jake stared at him. ‘How did you know what I was thinking?’

Andy shrugged. ‘Lucky guess.’

Jake looked away. ‘I was just thinking, you know – that if today is our chance to go back, then I’m not sure –’

‘I know,’ said Andy. ‘I sort of feel the same.’

‘Really? I thought you were desperate for your
nai nai
’s cooking and your dad’s three hours of extracurricular homework.’

Andy looked thoughtful. ‘Well, if I had to break down how I feel about being here, I 60 to 70 per cent hate it; but am 17 per cent … overstimulated, mainly because a girl likes me – or did like me. And it’s 13 to 23 per cent kinda fun.’

Jake smiled. Had he been in the bush too long or was Andy starting to actually make sense?

Sam sat up, rubbing his eyes. ‘My brothers hate me here and my parents replaced me. So I 110 per cent want to go home.’

They all looked at Felix who was snoring peacefully, one hand firmly grasping the talisman.

‘What about him?’ asked Jake.

‘He actually seems pretty happy here,’ said Andy. ‘His brother can walk. His family are always inviting him over.’

Jake watched Felix’s chest rise and fall. Of all of them, Felix seemed to have the best deal.

Felix must have felt their eyes on him, because he woke up. ‘What are you looking at?’

‘Come on, dude. You said it,’ said Sam, giving him a shove. ‘We’re going home today.’

‘Well, I’m not sure it’s quite that simple.’

‘Sure it is,’ said Sam. ‘We just retrace our steps.’

‘And find the wormhole,’ added Andy.

‘Exactly,’ said Sam. ‘Wait. What wormhole?’

‘The one that transported us here.’

The others looked at Andy uncertainly.

‘In this world, the excursion was delayed. So the wormhole was probably delayed as well. We just need to find it again.’

Felix rolled his eyes. ‘And you think
magic
is a long shot.’

Andy ignored him. ‘Repeat the same actions to get the same result. That’s the basis of the scientific method.’

Jake looked at him. That did actually make sense. And if his mum could exist in multiple worlds, then he would at least like to be in the world where she knew who the hell he was.

‘Magic. Science. I’ll believe in anything if it gets us home,’ said Sam.

Felix picked up his bag. ‘Okay, then. We’ve got a bus to catch.’

Jake was staring at the permission form. ‘Guys, wait. We need Phoebe to sign the slip.’

Without blinking an eye Felix pulled a biro out of his bag and scrawled
Phoebe Hartley
across the dotted line of all four permission slips.

‘That’s f-forgery,’ stuttered Andy.

‘Take me to the cops, then,’ said Felix, giving him his darkest stare and heading towards the door.

‘What’s up with him?’

Jake shook his head. ‘Dude, you stole his girl. He’s hardly going to be your best friend.’ He saw the shocked look on Andy’s face. ‘Come on let’s go hunt some wormholes.’

The boys walked towards Bremin High. Outside, a bus was idling.

Jake looked up at the sky. A few dark clouds were threatening an otherwise cloud-free sky. Exactly like last time.

Out of nowhere, a football came flying towards him. On instinct, Jake reached up and caught it. There was a burst of applause as Trent and Dylan cheered him.

‘Wasn’t meant for you, dude, but pro mark,’ said Trent, clapping him on the back.

Jake turned to see who it was meant for and saw Felix scowling.

Oh yeah. He’d forgotten about that.

He passed the ball back to Trent.

‘You know we need another halfback on the footy team?’ said Trent as he handballed it to Dylan.

Jake grinned. ‘Sure, that sounds awesome.’

‘You’re in.’

A black BMW pulled over next to the bus and Bates hopped out of the passenger side wearing a freshly ironed mauve V-neck jumper.

Jake’s smile faded as his mum got out of the driver’s side. Together, she and Bates opened the boot and started unloading a pile of orienteering markers. Jake watched their easy conversation. The pile unloaded, Bates turned and gave her a kiss on the mouth.

Jake turned away.

‘That’s totally gross,’ said Sam, who was standing next to him.

‘Told you,’ said Jake. He pulled the excursion form out of his pocket.

Right. Any doubts he’d had about leaving this world were gone. He was on the next bus out of here.

‘Take your seats, ladies and gents. Nature waits for no-one.’ Bates was at the door of the bus collecting permission forms.

Jake slammed his form into Bates’s hand. He boarded the bus and slid into a seat next to Sam.

‘Next stop, home.’ Sam grinned. His enthusiasm was infectious.

‘Yep, next stop,’ Jake agreed.

The bus revved its engine and started to move. Jake looked out the window. Goodbye, weird alternate world Bremin, and hello, real world.

A soft pink sparkly toy flew over Jake’s head and landed with a thump in the aisle. There were loud jeers from the back of the bus. Jake turned to see Trent, Dylan and the rest of their gang pulling Mikey out of his seat.

‘Aw, poor bubby’s lost his little toy,’ said Trent.

‘Don’t worry, he can suck his little thumbie instead.’ Dylan shoved Mikey’s thumb hard up towards his face.

‘
Trent. Dylan
. In your seats
now
,’ yelled Bates.

Trent and Dylan high-fived each other and collapsed into the back seat. Jake watched them. Were they really once his best friends? He looked at the unicorn lying in the aisle. Its glass eye stared at him resentfully. He hesitated for a moment, then leant over and picked it up.

‘Oh, good one, Jakey, chuck it here,’ yelled Dylan.

Jake turned and walked slowly down the aisle. Trent was cheering him on.

‘In your seat, Jake,’ called Bates.

But Jake kept walking. He walked all the way down the aisle and handed the unicorn to Mikey.

Trent and Dylan’s jaws dropped wide open.

Jake walked all the way back down to his seat and sat down.

Felix gave him a little smile, but Jake knew what that smile meant. He didn’t need Felix to acknowledge his past self was a total jerk. It was bad enough realising it himself.

Bates was midway through his explanation of the excursion. ‘On arrival you will be assigned into groups of four. This exercise is about team building and learning to work collaboratively with your peers.’

Andy leant across the aisle to Jake and whispered, ‘See? The pattern is repeating.’

After what seemed like an eternity, the bus pulled into the Bremin Ranges car park and everyone spilled out. Just like last time, Bates laid out maps and worksheets on a picnic table.

Ellen came over to Andy, who was standing next to Jake.

‘Andy, I got your note,’ she said.

‘You did? Did it make sense?’

Ellen shook her head. ‘None at all.’ She leant towards him. ‘But it was kind of sweet.’

Andy suddenly reached for her hand. ‘Well, just in case I don’t come back, I wanted to … ’ He leant in and kissed her on the cheek.

Jake noticed Felix becoming very interested in his shoes.

‘Okay people,’ Bates called into his megaphone. ‘Form groups of four as I read out your names.’ He was looking down at a piece of paper. ‘Mike, Sam, Tammy and Trent.’

Sam looked at the others. ‘That’s not right.’

‘Andy, Myles, Hugo and Dylan.’

‘None of us are together,’ Andy whispered. ‘It should be the same as last time. Everything else is.’

‘Can’t you do a spell or something?’ Sam urged Felix.

‘It doesn’t work like that,’ said Felix. He’d gone even paler than usual.

Jake thought fast. If none of them were together, there was really only one option.

‘Jake, Sammy, Oscar and Mia,’ called Bates.

The other students were moving into their groups but none of the boys had moved.

‘Come on, boys,’ said Bates. ‘The other year tens won’t bite.’

‘
Run!
’ yelled Jake, and the four of them sprinted off down the forest path.