The Amphiblets (10 page)

Bang! As Robert fired towards the burglars’ feet, they instantly dropped their guns. Robert was moving first. His friend lay wounded on the floor but before he could help him the burglars had to be prevented from hurting anyone else. Still aiming his gun at the two men, he reached for the pen device that Peter had used to subdue the first two intruders, which lay across the floor. He jabbed at the men’s shoulders with the pen.

‘Hey! What are you doing?’ they asked nervously.

But as soon as Robert pressed the button their voices slurred and their tongues hung from their mouths like Shanks’s tongue did, before they slumped to the floor.

Robert dashed to Peter’s side, pressing his neck to check his pulse.

‘Will he be all right?’ sniffed Will.

‘He’s got a pulse. I must phone for the doctor.’ Robert dashed to the phone and opened a small black book resting beside it. Although he had never needed to call the doctor before, and had never met the man, he proceeded to call Dr Raven. It was him whom Peter had always told him to call in an emergency. A woman answered.

‘Hello?’ her voice was soft.

‘Hello,’ replied Robert hurriedly. ‘I need to speak to Dr Raven urgently.’

‘Speaking,’ she replied.

‘My employer has been shot. His name is Peter Peed.’

‘I’ll be there in five minutes,’ she replied, and rang off.

Robert hung up, puzzled. Dr Raven appeared to know exactly where they lived and more startling was the fact that she said she would be there in five minutes. The nearest house was at least fifteen minutes away.

Will was kneeling between Peter and Shanks, holding on to them both, not wanting either to die. Shanks’s breath was faint but at least he was still alive.

‘She’ll be here soon.’

‘Will they be all right?’ asked Will, switching his frantic gaze between Peter and shanks, running his fingers through the dogs soft, warm fur.

‘I hope so,’ said Robert, gravely. He went to retrieve two warm blankets from the next room to cover both Peter and Shanks. He concentrated on Peter, talking to him and tapping his hand. ‘Keep with us. Come on. Squeeze my hand so I know you can hear me.’

But there was nothing. Will sat closer to Shanks and cuddled up beside the warm body. He continued to stroke the dog’s ears and nose.

Four minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Robert went to answer it. Dr Raven introduced herself. She was a beautiful woman with shoulder-length, black wavy hair. Standing beside her was someone else whom Will immediately recognised. He was speechless as Robert invited both the doctor and her smaller companion inside.

‘What’s with all the bodies?’ asked Dr Raven as she proceeded to step over them. ‘You been having a party or something?’

‘They’re burglars. They’ve been zapped with this,’ explained Robert, holding the device.

Scarlet nodded as if she knew what it was.

‘Hi, Will,’ said the young girl, who had long black hair and beautiful green eyes. She wasn’t surprised to see him there. It was as if she had been expecting to see him. When her eyes rested on the four men’s bodies, she was in awe. ‘Wow! What happened here?’

‘The burglars wanted two paintings. Peter was shot protecting me and Shanks was shot protecting Peter.’

‘So everyone was protecting someone else,’ smiled Ruby, kneeling next to Shanks. ‘Poor thing,’ she murmured, running her fingers along the dog’s spine and then towards the wound on his chest where she rested her delicate hands. She closed her eyes for a moment and then turned to Will.

‘Ruby,’ said Will. ‘I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.’

‘I was hoping I would though,’ she replied.

‘I moved here a few weeks ago,’ explained Will. ‘After I saw you at Professor Kyle’s house.’

‘And your brothers? Are they okay?’

‘They’re not here. Look, it’s a long story and I can’t think of anything except Peter and Shanks getting better.’

‘They’ll be fine now that we have arrived,’ said Ruby confidently, smiling at her mother.

‘It’s a good job you called us when you did,’ said Dr Raven, who already had her hand resting on Peter’s wound. ‘He’s going to be fine now.’

Robert and Will exchanged a glance and frowned. She hadn’t done anything. She hadn’t checked his pulse or anything. What sort of doctor was she? Suddenly, and at the same time, Ruby and her mother closed their eyes and a golden red light surrounded their hands. Both Robert and Will took a step back and watched in awe. The wounds of both patients were warming and turning red, glowing as if a red torch were shining from within their bodies. It was mystifying.

After a few more minutes, Dr Raven and her daughter took a deep breath and withdrew their hands from their patients. Shanks’s tail began to wag, gently at first but then more strongly with every second. Soon he was sitting and licking Will’s face before dashing off excitedly to visit Robert and then Peter, who was resting on his elbows as if he had woken from a peaceful sleep. Robert, who was disconcerted, restrained Shanks from knocking Peter back down. He was speechless. Neither Robert nor Will had any idea of what had taken place here. It was perfectly ordinary to both Ruby and her mother but there had definitely been something miraculous going on.

Dr Raven was smiling. Will noticed she was clenching her hand as if she were holding something. He turned to Ruby, who had her fist clenched too.

‘Well, stranger. I haven’t seen you for a while,’ she said, helping him onto his feet.

‘What happened?’ asked Peter, rubbing his temple.

‘Someone very nearly killed you, my dear,’ she said, planting a kiss on his cheek. ‘Luckily, your friend here,’ she pointed to Robert, ‘called for assistance and
voila
– here I am! Thank goodness you had the sense to mention me to your friend, even though you didn’t have the sense to ever marry me.’

‘Oh, Scarlet,’ smiled Peter embracing her. ‘What would I have done had you not come when you did?’

‘Died,’ she said matter-of-factly, with her arms wrapped around him. ‘That’s five times I’ve saved your life now.’

‘Can someone please explain to me what is going on?’ cried Robert, raising his hands in the air. ‘How can someone who has been seriously wounded suddenly stand up as if nothing has happened and hold a sensible conversation?’

‘Robert,’ said Peter. ‘I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you quite so flustered.’

‘You’d be flustered if you’d seen what young William and I have witnessed!’

‘We did that healing thing,’ Scarlet explained to Peter. ‘Waved our magic hands over your body.’

‘They turned red,’ whispered Robert.

‘And we removed the bullets,’ said Ruby, stepping over a burglar’s body to hand Peter a brassy shell.

‘How on earth …’ quizzed Robert, wrinkling his face.

Peter grasped hold of his friend’s hand. ‘Your quick thinking helped to save our lives. How can I ever repay you?’

All this time, Will had been staring at Peter. Ever since he had opened his eyes Will had been unable to look away, yet no one else noticed anything strange about Peter’s appearance. Will stood stiffly as Ruby went to talk to him.

‘Are you okay. Bet you haven’t met anyone who can heal quite like us, eh?’

‘Never,’ whispered Will. ‘Who are you?’

‘You know my name,’ smiled Ruby, giving Will a curious glance.

‘Yes, but are you human?’ he asked.

‘Well I don’t have three heads or anything? Isn’t that enough!’ pouted Ruby, who hated discussing her heritage.

‘You look human but where did your powers to heal come from?’

‘My mother. Her name is Scarlet,’ she replied.

‘Where did she get her powers?’

‘From her mother,’ said Ruby, who was beginning to find this conversation boring. She noticed that Will’s attention had turned to Peter. He couldn’t take his eyes off the man, who was laughing together with her mother. They got on well. Shanks kept licking her fingers as if grateful for her saving his master’s life. ‘It’s cool that you and Peter being related in a weird kind of way, isn’t it?’ she said, after a brief pause.

‘What are you talking about?’ asked Will, wrinkling his face.

‘You and Peter are like long-lost relatives, aren’t you?’ She smiled. ‘See how similar your eyes are?’

This was too much. Not only had Peter recovered from his near-death experience, but when he had woken his eyes were frog-like and coloured like Will’s own. Will frowned. Peter was like him. So why hadn’t he mentioned it before? Why had he kept it a secret behind the sunglasses he had always worn?

So it was inevitable that Will did what he always did when he couldn’t think straight and his emotions were threatening to overwhelm him. He took off through the front door.

‘Where’s Will going?’ asked Peter.

Ruby shrugged. ‘He ran off.’

‘What did you say to him?’

‘I commented on your eyes being the same,’ said Ruby, her lip trembling. Had she said something wrong? Everyone was staring at her.

Peter reached for his glasses. ‘They must have fallen off when I fell,’ he said.

Robert placed his hand over his mouth. ‘With all the excitement, I clearly forgot, sir.’

‘So did I,’ said Peter gravely.

‘Can someone please explain to us what’s going on?’ asked Scarlet.

‘ I’ve been hiding my identity from Will,’ said Peter.

‘What?’ gasped Scarlet, in disbelief. ‘After all that you’ve told me, after all the child’s been through, you never thought to mention it. Why not?’ Her face reddened and her eyes were stern. ‘You’ve been lying to him for the past few weeks. What a way to find out. I’d run away too if I discovered that someone who I thought was a friend had told me gigantic lie!’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ insisted Peter.

‘It was exactly like that,’ said Scarlet, her expression softening. ‘The truth is the most important thing and we should never abuse it.’

Peter nodded. ‘Okay, so I made a mistake. What should I do?’

‘Start building those bridges,’ smiled Scarlet. ‘You need to explain why you did it and help him understand. Don’t treat him like a child. Treat him like an equal. He will appreciate that.’ Seeing her daughter was about to burst into tears she knelt and said, ‘Ruby, you have done nothing wrong. This is not your fault.’

Peter nodded in agreement. ‘Will you still be here when I come back?’

‘If it’s okay with you both, I’d like to stay a while,’ said Scarlet. ‘But first we need to get rid of these bodies. They must have a car nearby.’

‘There’s a lane a short distance away. You’ll probably find their car there. Robert knows the way,’ said Peter.

‘Then Robert can show me,’ smiled Scarlet, winking at the old man and linking her arm with his.

Once outside, Peter began his search for Will, taking Shanks with him to help track down the boy. Robert watched as they ran across the lawn, calling Will’s name.

‘I saw Peter at the convention a few weeks ago, when Will and his brothers were being paraded like circus freaks,’ Scarlet confessed to Robert. ‘He said hello and that was it. I thought he didn’t want anything to do with me any more but today I can see I was wrong. We still have that spark between us.’

Ruby made a face. ‘That’s yucky talk!’

‘No, dear,’ smiled her mother. ‘That’s life.’

‘He had a lot on his mind that day,’ Robert recalled, expecting to see the vehicle in which Scarlet and her daughter had arrived, but he saw nothing other than his own car parked outside. 

‘How did you get here?’ whispered Robert.

Scarlet and her daughter exchanged a smile. ‘In a way that you couldn’t possibly imagine,’ she replied.

Will had run barefoot and leapt until his legs ached. Now, as he paused beside Soapwater Lake, he suddenly thought to dive into it. He could sit on the bottom of the lake and no one would find him. But, on the other hand, he was wearing all his clothes and didn’t want to get wet. So instead, he climbed the tallest tree and sat on a comfortable branch dangling his legs.

He was confused. He reflected on what had happened. He had jumped from the ceiling and had almost caused Peter’s death. It had been his fault. Will wiped his angry tears away. Shanks had been wounded. Then the impossible had happened. Ruby and her mother had healed them both with their bare hands, as if nothing had happened. How could they do that? It was spooky. Will didn’t understand and it was this lack of understanding that generated a growing fear. He stared into space, his eyes focused on nothing, as his thoughts continued to race.

Peter’s sunglasses had fallen off. It had been an accident. Peter hadn’t wanted him to see his eyes. He had said they were sensitive, but he had lied. He had used his sunglasses as a cover-up, but why? He didn’t understand. He thought Peter had liked him. Was Peter ashamed of his appearance? Was that the big secret? It must be. But if he was ashamed of his appearance then he must also be ashamed of what Will looked like.

Many such notions came and went. Then Will recalled the moment when he had first noticed Peter’s eyes and felt as if he were looking into a mirror. Their eyes were the same shape and colour.

Certain things began to make sense. Like the way Peter understood how Will felt about his appearance and how he had bought him gloves and sunglasses so he could mix with people in the so-called real world, people from whom he’d be hiding for so long. And it also explained how Peter had been able to gain access into the tree house when they had gone to Will’s old home. He hadn’t climbed – he’d jumped!

After half an hour, Shanks’s barking interrupted the silence. Will had known it wouldn’t be long before Shanks found him, and in a way he was relieved. He had hoped it would be Peter who would find him because it was him he needed to speak to most.

‘Will!’ It was Peter’s voice.

For a brief moment, Will hesitated to reveal his whereabouts as he was still angry and wanted an explanation. But Peter was the only one who could give it to him.

‘Will!’

By the time he heard Peter call again, Will responded. ‘I’m here!’

In the clearing, Shanks was continuously barking like mad, with his paws scrabbling on the same tree in which Will was resting. Despite his annoyance, Will was relieved that Peter had come after him.

‘There you are!’ said Peter, who tilted back his head to look up at Will. He was no longer wearing his sunglasses and gloves. He bent forwards to untie his shoes and slip them off, along with his socks. ‘I’m so sorry you found out the way you did. I was going to tell you earlier when we were in the gallery, only we were interrupted.’ 

‘You say that now,’ said Will. ‘But how do I know you weren’t going to tell me something else?’

‘You don’t,’ said Peter. ‘I’m not keen on shouting like this. Do you mind if I come up?’

Will shrugged. Peter took this as a ‘yes’ and proceeded to climb the tree as Will had done, only a little more quickly.

‘Why didn’t you tell me when you first met me?’ asked Will. ‘Why the big secret?’

‘You had so much to deal with,’ said Peter. ‘I didn’t know how to tell you and that’s the truth. One day you discovered your father sold you, then you learnt he wasn’t your real father, and then the Professor had moved, taking your brothers away, so you can never see them again. You were going through so much. I had no idea how you would react. I didn’t want to push it. I was scared I was going to lose you. I didn’t want you to leave, Will. I’d miss you so much. You’re like a son to me. I’d lay down my life for you.’

Will smiled. That was true. ‘You proved that today.’

‘Yes, I did, didn’t I,’ smiled Peter. ‘I suppose I wanted you to get to know me first.’

‘If you had told me who you were, I’d have got to know you a lot quicker. Think of all the fun we could have had. Swimming together instead of you watching me.’

‘True,’ said Peter. ‘I guess you’re a lot wiser than I am. There are not many people who know my true identity. Apart from you, the only other people who know are Robert, Scarlet and Ruby. You have been through so much recently I guess I was waiting for the right time. I wanted to tell you on our first visit to the lake but it would have been too much for you to take in, after everything else that I’d already told you.’

‘Yes, but that’s the whole point, isn’t it? He isn’t my father, is he? He never was,’ Will corrected him. ‘You’re my dad now.’

Peter smiled and nodded. ‘I am if you let me be.’

‘Of course, I will. So who is Sir Ivan Pondweed?’ asked Will.

‘Well he was my grandfather. By the way, my real surname is Pondweed. I used the first letter of the surname followed by the last three. I didn’t want people to make the connection.’

‘Why not?’ asked Will.

‘My grandfather was never accepted in society. Apart from the man who experimented on him, his wife, and his child, no one else knew his secret. And I’m the only one alive today related to Sir Ivan Pondweed,’ said Peter. ‘Well, I used to be.’

‘Huh? How come?’ Will’s nose scrunched up.

‘You and your brothers are related to him as well in a strange kind of way,’ said Peter. ‘And that makes you and me related. When Professor Snipes created you and your brothers he gave me relatives.’

‘So we are related. We’re family!’

Peter nodded. ‘Yes, we always were. Why did you think I wanted you and your brothers so much? I wanted you to feel safe here with me and not to feel like freaks. Instead I want you to see yourself as related to one of the most mysterious people in history – Sir Ivan Pondweed. A most eccentric old fellow, wherever he happened to come from.’

Will smiled. This news had come as a shock but a pleasant one. He knew he was safe and would be happy living with Peter, but it didn’t remove the pain of never seeing his brothers or Hugo again. In some ways it was as if they had died. But instead they were the ones, believing he was dead and would never come back.

‘So who are Scarlet and Ruby?’ asked Will.

‘Possibly more family,’ said Peter. ‘How do you fancy having a sister?’

‘What? Ruby?’ Will was astounded. Having another child around would be fun. He was used to having brothers after all.

‘I would like to marry Scarlet. She asked me once a few years ago but I declined her offer.’

‘How come?’ asked Will.

‘Well, until you came into my life I couldn’t see how anyone would want to marry someone like me. But you helped me realise how much fun it is being different. You made me see we are special and gifted. Before I ever knew about you boys, I always felt odd and never fitted in. Now I realise it was my problem all along. As soon as we go back, I’m going to ask Scarlet to marry me. What do you think?’

‘Do it!’ said Will. ‘Having a sister would be nice too, I expect.’

‘Are you ready to go back yet?’

‘Not until we swim first,’ smirked Will.

‘What a good idea,’ said Peter, immediately undressing himself on the branch and flinging his clothes on to the ground below. With a mammoth leap he somersaulted towards the calm water, and dived in with an almighty splash.

‘Wow!’ whispered Will, who immediately undressed and did the same thing. Peter was as brave as he was. Will knew they were going to have lots of fun from now on.

‘Yippee!’ he yelled as he did a triple somersault and dived into the water.

For the first time in a long while, he was actually excited what the future held for him.