by James Erith
This was a small lightning storm with a bit of thunder. It would probably pass them by, or they’d have some heavy rain, but nothing like the deluge she was suggesting. That sort of thing never happened here in good old North Yorkshire.
A crack of lightning fizzed above. He noticed how the crowd were dispersing. How students flicked their eyes towards him.
‘Come on Upsall!’ he yelled. ‘Jolly good play, Allen. Give it to Daisy.’ He clapped his hands as the play moved from one end of the pitch to the other, Daisy narrowly missing to the right of the goal.
BOOM!
Solomon felt the ground shake.
‘Sir—’
‘The team need your support,’ the headmaster said, loudly.
Suddenly he noticed how the players were almost attacking each other.
Oh Lord.
Moving quickly, he headed down the touchline.
‘Coach,’ he shouted.
The coach swivelled on his heels and ran towards him. ‘For goodness’ sake, watch out for Isabella de Lowe. If anything happens to Daisy—’
They watched as the Newton boys set upon her.
‘Goodness. I’m quite tempted to get stuck in myself,’ the headmaster said.
‘Best you don’t, Headmaster,’ Coach said.
They both stared at the scene, their mouths open.
’Should we call it off?’ Coach asked.
‘No, no. It’s nearly over—’
‘Who’s that, yelling?’ Coach said.
‘Well I never. That’s Sue, isn’t it? Whatever is she going on about?’ Solomon said.
‘No idea. Something about it being their fault?’
‘Whose fault?’ the headmaster queried.
‘The de Lowe’s. If you ask me, I think they’ve all gone mad. Oh no, is that Archie? It’s not poss—’
‘Lord above. He’s beating them up! What has the world come to,’ the headmaster said. ‘Steel, Coach. Look! There! Isabella’s on the march. Be good fellows and grab her before this melee gets completely out of hand!’
Thirty-Nine
Direct Action
‘Stop it! All of you.’ Isabella screamed as she strode towards the players with a formidable sense of purpose.
The teams almost instantly ceased brawling. Isabella’s direct approach had that effect on people.
‘Pathetic, all of you,’ she shouted, pointing at various individuals. ‘It’s like a wrestling match for the Under 5s. Newton, you three especially, should be deeply ashamed of yourselves.’
Isabella scooped up the ball. ‘As for the refereeing. Twelve deliberate fouls totally unaccounted for and you haven’t even got the balls to book them, let alone send them off for repeated violent conduct.’
The football smacked into the referee’s hands. ‘You should be struck off—?’
Before she had a chance to finish, she was grabbed by Coach and Mr Steele. They hauled her off her feet and away to the side line.
The referee responded by pointing belatedly at Isabella.
‘You’ll be dealt with later by the authorities,’ he roared, blinking, trying hard to pull himself together.
Why couldn’t he remember the procedure for dealing with a brawl?
It felt as if his brain had emptied.
‘And along with that madwoman,’ he continued, ‘Upsall goalkeeper and number eight, and Sutton players five, seven and four,’ he said pointing at the players, ‘Get off this playing field!’
He waved his red card at Archie and the other players and scribbled in his book.
Another huge slap of thunder exploded almost directly overhead. The ground shook. A terrible feeling tiptoed up his spine, sending his hairs erect.
‘Direct free kick to red,’ he said, pointing to a spot just outside the penalty area. ‘And the quicker we’re out of here, the better.’
The ref studied his watch. ‘Last couple of minutes,’ he announced.
The girl was right, though. His had been a truly woeful performance.
Daisy dragged herself up and flicked a fleck of mud off her shorts.
What a crazy match! Her being kicked to bits, Sue screaming at Isabella, and Isabella going mad again and screaming at everyone else. Archie missed a total sitter and then beat up the opposition like a prize-fighter before getting sent off, while thunder crashed overhead, lightning fizzed, and everything was deafening.
Now, with the last kick of the game, Daisy had a chance to win the match. Boy, pressure kicks don’t come much bigger than this, she thought. Better make it a good one.
‘Come on, Upsall. Come on, Daisy de Lowe, you can do it,’ roared the small section of crowd still remaining. They continued their chant.
“Oh, Daisy, Daisy. Daisy, Daisy, Daisy—A-A-Daisy-iii”.
Daisy rubbed her tired, bruised legs, and drew her hands through her muddy blonde hair. She fixed her boots and selected a slightly raised patch of turf on which she carefully placed the ball.
She stood back and studied her route to goal. Twenty, twenty-three yards perhaps? Perfect. Just as she’d practised time and again with Archie.
She rubbed her eyes and concentrated hard. It was now or never. Everything she’d ever played for came down to this one shot.
She sucked in a large mouthful of air, her eyes focusing on the ball so intently that she felt she could see its entire trajectory and the precise spot on the leather where she aim her boot.
The whole atmosphere of the crowd, and the rumbling sky seemed to disappear for a moment, leaving behind a strange hush.
The referee blew.
Daisy exhaled. It was time to step up.
Forty
Sue Discovers a Note
There was more, Sue thought, but she’d finally said what needed to be said. Thank goodness she’d had the presence of mind to scribble down her dreams the moment she’d woken up.
‘GO! Run! Run… all of you,’ she screamed at the spectators. ‘It’s going to break. The storm’s going to break.’
Thunder rolled.
She sprinted up the slope towards the buildings.
As she passed the top end she spied Gus leaning on the lamppost, near to the leaning houses. She headed directly towards him. ‘Gus. What are you doing?’
‘Following Kemp. He’s been acting weird all afternoon. Are we winning?’
‘Listen, Gus,’ she said as she caught her breath. ‘Rain,’ she panted, ‘like you’ve never seen... get out of here... fast. You’ve got to believe me.’ Her hand touched some paper in her pocket and she pulled it out. She remembered; it was Isabella’s note.
Gus rolled his eyes.
She read it out loud.
‘Sue, there’s a boat in the old shed. Key under a pot by door, oars on the side. Think there’s a canopy in cupboard... just in case. Love you. Be safe, Isabella.’
Sue kissed it in relief. Clever, brilliant Isabella.
Gus grabbed the note. ‘What is it with you two?’
‘Look at the sky, Gus. When that "thing" bursts it will rain harder than you can possibly imagine. In minutes, the water will flash flood. I’ve had a premonition. I’ll tell you about it’
‘A premonition? Blimey. Cool. You sure?’
‘Absolutely. No one has a chance. Can you drive? Do you have access to a car?’
‘Of course not!’
‘Me neither,’ she fired back. ‘Some of the kids have gone but I’m being picked up later, after the music concert.’
‘Same,’ Gus said, trying to keep pace with her.
‘Then we’re stuck, Gus. Properly screwed. There’s no way out.’
‘Screwed? What are you talking about, Sue? Why should we be stuck?’
‘Look up, Gus,’ she said. ‘That massive black thing up there. I promise you I’m not crazy. I’m being absolutely deadly serious. That cloud isn’t holding an ordinary storm and when it lets go the result will be catastrophic. Come on, keep up.’
Gus frowned. ‘You’re really serious, aren’t you?’ he said, the
smile slipping off his face.
‘Never more so.’ She stopped to catch her breath. ‘Please, Gus, I need your help. Will you help me? Please?’
Gus scratched his nose. He liked Sue, and he’d certainly never seen her quite so animated. ‘Okay. I’m going to have to trust you on this one. Where do we start?’
‘Oh, great! Thanks, Gus,’ Sue said, moving in and bear-hugging him. If she was going to do this, better to do it with big, strong Gus Williams than by herself.
‘First off, provisions. Food: high-energy snack bars; chocolates; lemons; dried fruit; tinned food like tuna and baked beans; sweetcorn; a couple of lighters and firelighters; bottled water,’ Sue rattled off, ‘and blankets—’
‘Blankets?’
‘Anything you can get hold of.’ She urged him to keep up. ‘You’re a Scout leader, aren’t you? Grab stuff we can survive on.’
‘To the shop, then,’ Gus said, smiling his keen smile and feeling rather important.
‘I’ve got about twenty pounds from the footie snacks and drinks. I’ll pay it back later.’ Sue did some calculations in her head. ‘Actually, that’s probably not enough. Have you got anything?’
Gus shoved his hands in his pockets and pulled out some change. ‘Just short of four quid.’
Sue grimaced. ‘In that case, Gus, I hope you don’t mind but you’re going to have to steal. Come on, there’s not a second to lose. When we get in there, grab some bags and start filling them. Don’t hesitate or stop, understand? When it’s done, I’ll drop the money on the counter and we run. Got it?’
‘Blimey, Sue. What if we get stopped?’
‘We won’t. Oh, and if necessary, use force.’
Gus nodded, and handed over his money. His eyes were bulging with surprise. ‘Where are we going afterwards?’
‘The boat shed.’
‘Boat shed? What boat shed?’
‘By the river.’ She waved her hand in its rough direction. ‘We should have time to sort out some kind of cover and find survival things, then we’re going to have to hope for the best. I don’t know what we’ll find when we get there, but, right now, it’s our only chance.’
Gus smiled. He loved a girl who meant business. If there was to be some weird catastrophe, at least this girl had the whole thing planned.
Forty-One
Archie Finds Kemp
Archie ran.
He had to find out what Kemp was up to, and fast. If he was right, there wasn’t much more time left.
His stomach churned, and darkness seeped into his bones.
Thunder crashed and boomed as spectators began to flee to their cars and the school buildings.
Archie sprinted and scampered up the steep bank, pulling himself up on the longer tufts with his hands and using his studs to give him grip. At the top of the bank he caught his breath.
Another dramatic roll of thunder rattled the ground as Archie watched Isabella being marched off the football pitch. People were streaming away, pointing skywards.
Wow. What a mental couple of minutes. He couldn’t believe his strength.
He shook his head and smiled. Was it from the strange glass of water left by the ghost?
He spied the alleyway and ran over, the studs of his boots clacking on the stone beneath him. He thought for a minute about taking them off but really, was there any point? This ghost, he thought, couldn’t really exist, could it?
He peered down the alleyway and saw two shapes.
A sudden burst of lightning brought the pair to light and he could make out Kemp’s hair, as well as another figure beside him wearing a long coat and a kind of wide brim hat. Archie’s heart pounded. They were moving towards him.
OMG. Wrongo. So, the ghost did exist and Kemp had got there first.
Archie shrank down, wiping rivulets of sweat off his forehead.
Cain was blind, wasn’t he? He’d gone on about the fact that he didn’t have any eyes, like the Ancient Woman, so perhaps the ghost couldn’t see Kemp.
So, what if the ghost thought Kemp was him?
Archie stood up from behind the wheelie bin so that only his head might be seen. Kemp was about ten paces away and Archie could definitely make out that the figure next to him was a ghost by the simple fact that he didn’t have any feet and his face was mostly covered by a scarf.
A crackle of lightning fizzed above them and, from the light it momentarily threw out, Archie saw Kemp’s face.
And his expression was one he’d never seen before on his friend.
One of pure terror.
Archie gasped.
Kemp’s eyes widened as their eyes met.
Now, he could discern the ghost’s words, like ‘power’ and ‘magic’ and ‘strength’.
Archie was stunned. This spook, Cain, really did think Kemp was him!
The ghost held Kemp around his left arm. So was Kemp moving them closer, or was it the other way around?
He listened harder as they came to a stop just on the other side of the wheelie bin.
He heard Kemp’s quivering voice. ‘Tell me again about the Prophecy. I need to be absolutely certain before I make my final decision.’
‘Did you not listen, Archie?’ the ghost complained.
Archie reeled. What was Kemp playing at?
Why was he asking Cain to tell him about this Prophecy one more time? It seemed a pretty odd thing to do.
Was it for his benefit?
‘I need to be sure,’ Kemp croaked.
‘Very well.’ Cain tipped his head to the sky as though sniffing it. ‘But we are running out of time.’
Archie stole another look at Kemp from around the corner of the wheelie bin. When he caught sight of Kemp’s face, tears were streaming down his cheeks.
Why was Kemp crying?
He crouched down and listened to Cain’s deep, powerful voice. ‘There is a great shift that occurs every now and then in the way of the universe, Archie,’ the ghost began.
‘When this happens, the world changes. There is a change in the world’s relationship to its surroundings, the infinite and beyond. The process of these movements have been given to you in the form of dreams. These dreams are the Prophecy of the Garden of Eden and they are given to three people who are known as Heirs of Eden,’ the ghost paused. ‘You and your sisters are the Heirs of Eden. You are the anointed ones, charged with undertaking the tasks that have been shown to you.’
Archie’s gut turned. WOAH! Anointed ones! Blimey. The strange creature above Daisy had been feeding her dreams.
The ghost coughed and carried on. ‘It is complex. This is not the time to tell you the ways of the universe. All you need know is that the Heirs of Eden face fearsome challenges. The first of which begins with a terrible storm aimed entirely at you. If any of you do not survive the storm, it will rage for forty days and forty nights. It will wash away the world, bit by bit.’ Cain paused. ‘When the waters recede, there will be a different world and a new beginning.
‘I tell you now. You children stand little chance. There is no ark to save you, nor any place you can go where you will not find yourselves shot at by lightning or washed out by torrents of rain. The earth will slip down hillsides, the rivers will swell, and trees will crash down. There is nowhere you can hide. I do not tell you this with any joy, but the storm was designed when men were strong, lived long, and knew how to fight with nature through other means such as magic. You are about to enter a time you are not equipped to cope with. Do you understand?’
Kemp nodded and his eyes bulged. ‘Why?’ he croaked.
‘Young man, the Prophecy is a measure; a test, if you like, to see if the people on this planet are equipped to move into a new age. It was designed to test the strength, courage, intelligence and skill of mankind.’
Cain stopped for a moment and chuckled.
‘You and your sisters, the Heirs of Eden, are now the measure of human life on Earth. Together you must survive until sundown and locate the cave of riddles.’
�
��Then what?’ Kemp stammered.
‘Then, the destructive force of the storm will cease and the Heirs of Eden must look for the clues that will open the Garden of Eden and save Earth, as you know it today.’
Cain sniffed the air. ‘There is no more time,’ he barked. ‘It will break in a few moments.’ The ghost faced him. ‘Now boy, you must willingly make a choice.’
Forty-Two
Gus In The Shop
Gus hurried after Sue, his arms nearly dropping off with the weight of the shopping bags.
In the shop, he’d rushed round and shovelled everything he could find into three carrier bags, much to the proprietor Mr Ranji’s increasing curiosity. Sue was on the other side doing the same, before she ran up to the counter and literally threw money at the shopkeeper. Notes fluttered through the air like leaves and coins sprayed the counter. Sue spun on her heel and fled out of the door with Gus right behind her, burning with shame.
‘Come back here!’ Ranji shouted. ‘Stop! Stop them! Thieves!’
Gus bit his lips and shrugged his shoulders, as a sort of apology, then ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. He headed down the hill, hoping like mad that a thunderbolt wouldn’t get him.
When he took a little breather, he spotted Kemp in the alley looking nothing less than utterly terrified.
What the hell was he up to?
There wasn’t time. He ran to the boat shed following Sue.
Sue’ fingers shook so much that she couldn’t lift the plant pot under which the key sat. Eventually Gus put his bags down and calmly tried it for her. The old and rusty key stuck in the lock, turning only fractionally. Gus forced it first one way and then the other, loosening it gradually until it clicked and let them through.
If that was the condition of the lock, he thought, then what sort of state will this boat be in?
The door whined open, as another crash of thunder and lightning crackled in the sky overhead. Gus shivered and brushed away a few old cobwebs.
