The Hidden Boy (4 page)

What will happen to us all
, Bea found herself wondering,
if we never see Theo again?

C
aptain Bontoc opened the door into the library and flicked on the lights. “Follow me,” he said. He passed between rows of silent books and hurried up a staircase that climbed the wall at the rear, with Ma following at his heels and the others close behind. At the top of the stairs the captain opened the door to a small office. The lights were on inside, and to Bea's surprise she could hear the clacking of an old typewriter.

“Someone's working late,” muttered Pa.

They shuffled in through the narrow door, all except for Phoebe, who could not resist sliding back down the banister, oblivious to the sheer drop beside it.

The office was a small room in the attic of the building. It had a sloping ceiling with wooden beams. Two desks stood side by side in the middle of the room, and
at the far wall was a long bench. A number of people sat there in the gloom. Most of them seemed to be asleep.

On one of the desks sat an iron typewriter that must have been at least fifty years old. A woman of around the same age was tapping away at it with fingers like dancing sausages. “Won't be a second!” she called out, without looking up. “I'm just typing up your cards.”

Captain Bontoc strode to the larger desk and unrolled a chart that lay on the desktop. He leaned forward, frowning, and began to trace the lines with a bitten fingernail. Bea looked at the chart with interest. As far as she could see it was an exact copy of the one that the brush-haired man had been filling out at the car wash. She was sure she even recognized some of the strange little annotations the man had made in between the planets. It seemed a long time ago.

“Will the chart show us where Theo is?” she asked the captain.

“The little tyke's gotten himself lost already, has he?” said the lady at the typewriter. She looked up and smiled. She had a double chin and gaps between her teeth. She seemed to know who Theo was.

“Not exactly, Miss 'opkins,” said Captain Bontoc. “Boy disappeared on the crossing.”

Miss Hopkins stopped typing and her smile grew puzzled. “
On
the crossing?” she repeated. “That's impossible!”

“Of course it's impossible,” snapped Ma. She turned to Captain Bontoc. “You said yourself the bus was sealed. He must have gotten off before we started. He's still at the car wash, and I demand you take us back at once.” She folded her arms and glared. “He's barely
seven
.”

Captain Bontoc looked up from the chart. “You're in luck,” he said with a nervous smile. “There'll be another crossing in three weeks.”

“Three
weeks
?” said Ma sharply.

The lady at the typewriter flinched, and those on the bench who were still asleep woke up with a start.

“Have you found him on the chart?” asked Bea.

Captain Bontoc scratched his head. “Afraid not, missy. I only know how to plot a crossing, really. Mr. Waxy's the one who interprets the chart. He'll find the boy for sure. Everyone has to be somewhere.”

“But we can't wait three weeks!” said Ma. “What will happen to Theo in the meantime?”

“Nothing, ma'am. Long as young…Bea can hear him we know he's safe.” He gestured at a shelf behind him, where another large jar perched among the dusty
books. “My parrot Trigger's still going strong after thirty years. I talk to him often. Can't tell me where he is, that's the problem.”

Bea could feel Nails the meerkat shifting in the backpack that she carried over her shoulder, and the guilty feeling in her chest shifted with him. She knew she should tell the captain that the meerkat had survived the crossing, but she could not pluck up the courage. She was afraid of what Granny Delphine would say to her, and more than that she dreaded facing her mother with the news that Bea herself might somehow be responsible for Theo's disappearance.

“Why don't you just phone him?” said Ma. “Mr. Waxy, or whatever he calls himself.”

“Phone him?” said Bontoc. “
Phone
him?” He looked at Granny Delphine as though for help, but the old lady's lips were thin and she appeared to be staring at the rafters. “There…er…isn't a phone line to the Other Side,” said Bontoc. He clapped his hands together briskly. “Now, if you'll just wait for a moment we'll sort you out with—”

He got no further with what he was saying. Without anyone noticing, Pa's face had been turning slowly redder, like an iron in the fire. Now it had reached a
rich plum color. He started toward the captain. Bea stepped hurriedly to one side. Pa had been famous for his bear hugs back in the days when he rode with the Flying Rascals Motorcycle Club. Legend had it that when Bald Mountain put the squeeze on somebody they came around very rapidly to his point of view. Indeed, there were many people who had found themselves a good deal thinner after a disagreement with Bald Mountain than they had been before.

He stepped around behind Captain Bontoc with surprising nimbleness. He picked the captain clean off the floor in his massive tattooed arms, and he began to squeeze. Bea winced. Ma looked triumphant, as though she expected the solutions to all their problems to be squeezed out of the captain like toothpaste. Bea stole a look at Granny Delphine and so she missed what happened when Bald Mountain achieved maximum squeeze. From the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of the captain giving a mighty wriggle. A croaking sound escaped him. His shiny skin and whiskered face gave a fleeting impression of a plump seal escaping from a trawler net, and a moment later he was free.

There was chaos in the room. The typewriter woman
let out a delayed shriek. Captain Bontoc, now standing several feet away from Pa, shook himself back into shape. Pa was hugging himself, a surprised look replacing the anger on his face, and there was a nervous rumble from the people on the bench.

It was at this point that Granny Delphine took command. “
Enough!
” she said in a shrill voice.

Everything stopped.

“There's nothing more we can do tonight.” She swept the room with her owl eyes, and even the strangers fell silent. “It seems that Theo is in no immediate danger. In the morning we will organize a proper search, and in the meantime Captain Bontoc will show us where we are to stay.”

“Ah, yes,” said the captain. He turned to the typewriter lady. “If you please, Miss 'opkins?”

Miss Hopkins opened a drawer in her desk. She took out a small wooden box, placed it carefully on the corner of the desk, and opened it. The people on the bench shifted nervously. One of them, a stooped man in a shapeless felt hat, stood up hastily and addressed the typewriter woman. “Beg your pardon, Miss Hopkins. I'd like to be excused from the line. Just remembered I've got to get the plumegranates in this week.”

“Aye,” said a woman sitting at the end. “And I've got to get my ears adjusted on Tuesday. I'll volunteer another time.”

“Nonsense!” said Miss Hopkins brightly. She tapped the box with a pudgy finger. A large striped grasshopper appeared, first his long curling antennae, then a triangular green head with eyes like coffee beans. He climbed out of the box in a leisurely fashion and surveyed the row of people on the bench. The man in the hat sat down quickly. The people shrank slowly into their collars, and Bea had the distinct impression that they were all trying to avoid catching the grasshopper's attention. The insect made up his mind. He jumped suddenly and flew across the room with a clatter of wings, landing squarely on the felt hat of the man with the plumegranates. The man muttered something under his breath. The rest of the people looked relieved.

“Mr. Miller,” said Miss Hopkins. “You're the lucky host!”

Mr. Miller stood up. A reluctant smile broke across his wrinkled face, and he walked forward and stuck out a large bony hand. “Welcome to Bell Hoot,” he said. The grasshopper was still perched on his hat.

Ma looked at him blankly, her eyes rimmed with
tears. Bea shook hands with the man instead.

“You'll be staying with the Millers until we get you settled,” said Captain Bontoc.

Ma and Pa said nothing. It seemed the fight had gone out of them. Ma looked tired and pale, and there was a thin streamer of pond weed glued to Pa's cheek.

They filed out through the narrow door and down the wooden staircase, following Mr. Miller out into the warm, chirping night. Bea thought about the peculiar animals she had glimpsed on the brochure through Granny Delphine's spectacles, teeming in the undergrowth. A thrill of excitement made her forget for a moment about Theo. She ran a few steps to catch up with their host.

“Are there any big animals here?” she asked in a loud whisper.

“Some,” said Mr. Miller. He held up a lantern that cast a pool of light around them. His head turned from side to side, peering into the darkness between the trees. He seemed distracted.

“Where are we going?” asked Bea. “Is it a sort of guesthouse?”

Mr. Miller shook his head. “It's our home.”

“Do you normally have lodgers?”

“Nope. It's our turn, is all. You'll get your own place by and by.”

“We're only here for three weeks.”

Mr. Miller gave Bea a strange look. He seemed about to say something, then thought better of it.

“That's enough questions for now,” said Granny Delphine at her shoulder.

Bea heard her mother's voice from the darkness behind. “I have a few questions of my own,” she muttered, “and there had better be some answers.”

T
he Millers' house was perched among the spreading branches of a massive plane tree. It looked like a collection of boxes wedged into the tree wherever they would fit, topped with slanted roofs that jutted out in all directions. A broad verandah stretched along the front of the house, overlooking the small clearing that separated it from the path. The verandah was about fifteen feet from the ground and was bathed in the warm light of a couple of lamps dangling from the overhanging roof. Bea could see no obvious way of reaching it.

Mr. Miller stepped through a gap in the encircling bushes and looked up at the house. “Ladder,” he said quietly. Nothing happened. He put his lantern down carefully at his feet and placed his hands on his hips. “Ladder,” he said again. The end of a ladder inched out
from the verandah and stopped. “Come on!” said Mr. Miller impatiently, and Bea wondered if whoever was pushing it minded being spoken to so abruptly. The ladder inched out farther, then tipped and unfolded suddenly in a series of hinged sections. The last section thumped to the ground at Mr. Miller's feet. “Follow me,” he said over his shoulder, and began to climb.

He led them from the verandah into an odd-shaped living room with a large table in the middle. The table was spread with a white cloth, on which a teapot and a stack of plates stood.

Mrs. Miller bustled in from the kitchen at that moment with a dish in each hand and another perched precariously on her head. She had a long neck and fine narrow features like bone china. She smiled when she saw Bea and Phoebe. “Well, well, how nice to have company. I'm Mrs. Miller, but you can call me Gladys. You must be worn out. Here's your mother now. Hello, dear, I'm Gladys; welcome to our house. I'm sorry it's a bit of a pigsty; we're never sure whose turn it will be. This must be your husband. It's a pleasure to meet you. What a magnificent beard, if you don't mind my saying so…” Mrs. Miller produced a constant stream of words without seeming to take a breath, all the while
dealing out dishes and cutlery like an expert cardplayer, and scurrying in and out of the kitchen with plates of cooked meats and fruit and biscuits and steaming vegetables. She straightened pictures and cushions and replaced books on their shelves as she swept past them. When her hands were already full things seemed to straighten themselves at a mere nod from Mrs. Miller.

“Sit, everyone, please,” she said as she swept back in, ducking slightly to avoid a thick branch that passed through one corner of the room. The Flint family seated themselves around the table. Mr. Miller came in from the verandah dusting his hands.

A puzzled look came over Mrs. Miller's porcelain face. “Let me see,” she said, “one, two, three, four, five, six, Captain Bontoc, how are you? Mr. Miller and myself, of course, that's nine. Now, who are we missing?”

“Boygone,” said Clockwork Gabby, and this time everyone heard her. There was a stunned silence.

“She spoke,” said Pa.

“Is that unusual?” asked Mrs. Miller politely.

“Hasn't said a word in years,” said Pa, running his hand over his scalp with a puzzled expression.

Mr. Miller put his hand on his wife's arm and said something quietly in her ear. Mrs. Miller's eyes opened
wide. “On the crossing?” she said. She looked at Ma sympathetically, and for a second even she was lost for words. “I'm sure he'll be found,” she said when she had recovered her tongue. “I don't know much about it, but he must be on the chart, mustn't he, Captain? Have a little bite to eat; it will keep your strength up. Some potatoes, dear? Who'd like a slice of pie?”

“How about you, Gabby?” said Pa with a wink. Gabby said nothing.

Mrs. Miller served everyone around the table at a spectacular pace, and though she had only two hands and a couple of large serving spoons, Bea was sure that most of the food distributed itself under Mrs. Miller's instruction. “More soup?” she said, and the soup level in Pa's bowl rose while the level in the tureen fell a little. Dollops of steaming cabbage leaped onto the plates as soon as they were offered, and when Phoebe wrinkled up her nose at the sight of it, her dollop jumped back hastily into the dish. Bea lifted the cloth and looked under the table to see if there were magnets or pulleys or something. She saw only knees. She looked at the empty chair across the table from her, and suddenly she was too tired to wonder about it anymore.

“Had enough?” said Mrs. Miller, who missed nothing. “I'll show you where you'll be sleeping. The beds
have just been made up fresh. Up the stairs with you, this way, watch your head.”

Bea was almost too tired to undress. She expected to fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, but sleep didn't come so easily. The bed was softer than she was accustomed to, and the mattress sagged under her in an alarming way. Strange squeaks and hoots came from the forest outside her window, punctuated by the slow, rhythmic
creeeak…squik…creeeak…squik
of the house as it swayed gently in the treetop. She held Theo's backpack close to her under the blanket. She had opened the zipper slightly to give the meerkat air, but she was afraid to let him out.

The events of the night swirled around and around in her head. The busmarine, the car wash, the awful sucking pop of her little brother's disappearance, the unwelcoming welcome committee in the office above the library, Mrs. Miller and her obedient supper. She almost felt angry at Theo for spoiling what should have been an extraordinary start to a holiday, but as soon as the thought entered her head a lump appeared in her throat and she had to squeeze her eyes shut. She hugged the backpack closer, and drifted into a restless sleep.

She found herself at home in her familiar bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed. The room was smaller
somehow. The floor felt soft and spongy beneath her feet.

“What am I going to do now?” said Theo's voice. It sounded just as she had heard it from the Squeak Jar, but without all the background noise.

“Theo?” she said. “Where are you?”

“Here.”

“Are you hiding under the bed?” said Bea. She was afraid to look between her ankles. “It's not funny. Everyone's looking for you.”

“What would I be doing under the bed?” said Theo. She could tell he wasn't lying, and she got the uncomfortable feeling that he might be somewhere outside the window, even though they lived on the third floor. Or was it the thirtieth? She couldn't quite remember.

“Are we going back to the busmarine soon?” said Theo's voice. “I left Nails there.”

“Nails is with me,” said Bea. She had a flash of inspiration. “If you can tell me where you are I'll bring him to you.”

There was a pause. “Is this a game? Do you have him hidden?”

“Yes,” said Bea. “Nobody else knows. Can you tell me where you are?”

“Ummmm,” said Theo, “on holiday?”

Bea felt frustration rising in her. She didn't seem to be getting anywhere. “What does the place look like? It's not like a…like a big glass jar or anything?”

There was a splutter of laughter from Theo, followed by an angry shout of “
Never?
” The shout came not from Theo but from Ma, and it dispersed Bea's dream like a puff of smoke. She could feel the bedsprings bouncing beneath her, so suddenly had she jerked awake. There were voices from the verandah below her window. She could hear Ma's voice, and Granny Delphine's, and another voice that must have been Captain Bontoc's. She could not make out what they were saying.
I bet it's not as important as what I was asking Theo
, she thought.

“Phoebe?” she said. “Are you asleep?”

“I would be if you weren't talking to me.”

“I dreamed about Theo.”

“What did you dream?” said Phoebe.

“Besides the obvious, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“I dreamed I was in my room back home. I could hear Theo but much clearer than…than from the jar.”

“What did he say?”

“I was trying to find out where he is, but I woke up before he could tell me.”

“Why did you do that?”

“I didn't wake up
deliberately
! I heard Ma shout. I think she's having a fight with Granny Delphine.”

She heard Phoebe's bare feet land on the floorboards.

“Where are you going?” she said.

“I'm going to see what they're talking about.”

Bea got out of her bed too without a word. She quietly closed the zipper on Theo's backpack and put it over her shoulder. She could see Phoebe's silhouette as she slipped out through the door. She crept down the stairs after her. It was an unfamiliar staircase, so she did not know which ones might creak. Phoebe was skipping every second step, but the ones she did choose let out loud creaks anyway. Bea carefully stepped on the ones her friend had avoided, which creaked just as loudly. Together they sounded like a pair of giant crickets walking a polished corridor in new shoes.

The door to the verandah stood open. Ma, Granny Delphine, Captain Bontoc and Pa sat on cane chairs in a pool of lamplight. Pa had nodded off. There was no sign of Clockwork Gabby or the Millers. “I
couldn't
have told you,” Granny Delphine was saying. “You wouldn't have come.”

“You're darn right I wouldn't!” said Ma angrily. “And we're going right back, just as soon as we find Theo. I've done nothing wrong.”

“That won't make any difference to the Gummint, love. You know that.”

Bea followed Phoebe, tiptoeing across the darkened dining room toward the table where Mrs. Miller had served them supper. The Squeak Jar stood in the center of the table, reflecting the yellow glow of the lamplight outside. Captain Bontoc's listening horn lay beside it. They sat down quietly to eavesdrop.

“They can't arrest
all
of us. We've never had anything to do with Mumbo Jumbo,” Ma was saying.

“They can and they will. Whole families disappear every day. Most are never seen again. The Gummint sees Mumbo Jumbo as a danger to society. They're afraid of it.”

“Mrs. Walker's right,” said Captain Bontoc. “It's said they carry out experiments on their prisoners, trying to find out ways to eradicate Mumbo Jumbo altogether. Once they suspect someone of being a Pearlseed they'll arrest the entire family. They sent men to pick you up
last night. You got out just in time.”

Ma shook her head slowly. “I'll find my boy, and we'll all go home on the next crossing.”

Captain Bontoc sighed. “If I know the Gummint men there'll be nothing left of your home. They've never been able to discover where Pearlseeds escape to, and they'll tear the place apart looking for clues. It'll look like a plague of locusts held their annual jamboree there, believe me.”

“I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in hiding,” said Ma. She wore a stubborn look. “You'll just have to bring us back.”

“Impossible, I'm afraid, ma'am,” said the captain. He took a gulp of rum and set his glass down on the low table in front of him. “‘Sky black, moon blue, nine souls go through.'”

“What's that supposed to mean?” asked Ma.

“What it says,” said Captain Bontoc. “When the moon turns blue on the Other Side the crossing is open. Nine souls can go through, no more, no less.”

“The moon is still blue,” said Ma.

Captain Bontoc looked up at the sky. “Course it is, ma'am,” he said patiently. “It's always blue on this side, except when it turns blue on the Other Side, of course.
Then it turns yellow here, if you follow me.”

“And we were only seven,” said Ma.

“Right again, ma'am. Seven passengers, myself, and Captain Fuller making the reverse crossing. Seven arriving and two driving makes nine.”

“We'll still be seven on the way back. Six, if my mother decides to stay here.”

Captain Bontoc pursed his lips. “There'll be more coming through,” he said. “Crossing's only open once in a blue moon, and not for long at that. We bring a family through every time, and it's still not enough. There are no return trips.”

“You can't
do
that to us!” said Ma. “We came here on a holiday!”

Captain Bontoc smiled cheerfully. “Window dressing, ma'am. Blue Moon Once-in-a-Lifetime Adventure Holidays is a cover story. Helps to keep our operation under wraps, as well as persuading the…er…reluctant traveler. It did say ‘the holiday of a lifetime' in the brochure.”

Granny Delphine reached out and put her hand on Ma's knee. “I'm sorry,” she said.

In the darkened living room Bea looked at Phoebe in astonishment. She could see Phoebe's eyebrows raised
too. Granny Delphine was Always Right, and an apology from her was even rarer than a blue moon.

“It was the only way,” said Granny Delphine. “We were all in danger, but you would never have let me persuade you.”

“And what about Theo? What about Phoebe?”

“Theo would have been taken by the Gummint anyway, along with the rest of us. He's safer where he is. If Bea can hear him, she can help us find him. She just needs some training. As for Phoebe…” She blinked behind her big round spectacles. “That wasn't an easy decision, but I take full responsibility.”

Ma sat up straight in her chair. “You've made us into kidnappers, that's what you've done. And as for your so-called training, we've been through this a hundred times. You're not filling my daughter's head with Mumbo Jumbo. It's brought us nothing but trouble so far.”

“It may be the only way,” said Granny Delphine, “to bring Theo back.”