Foxy turned away, muttering furiously.
‘Just get on with it,’ Beard shouted.
Sophie T, meanwhile, was now beginning to wiggle both feet, and her face was slowly melting to form a new expression. It was an expression of pure terror, but even that looked better to Amelia than the awful stiff blank her face had been before.
Foxy yelped with alarm, and for a second Amelia thought he’d spotted Sophie T’s gradual recovery. But he was staring at his scanner in amazement. ‘It’s here!’ he yipped. ‘The grawk. It’s –!’
‘Where?’ said Beard. ‘I don’t see anything.’
‘You won’t – oh.’ Foxy shook the scanner and knocked it with the heel of his hand. ‘There’s something wrong with it – this doesn’t make sense – it’s not –’
‘Stop gibbering!’ Beard bellowed. ‘It’s not what?’
‘Not possible!’ Foxy gasped. ‘Never heard of –’
‘What?’ said Spike. ‘What?’
Foxy only pointed into the bush, his face as contorted with fear as Sophie T’s. The two alien giants and three human children all looked.
At first there was nothing but the tangled black wall of the surrounding bush. No sound, no movement, not the slightest shiver of a clue of what was to come. And then two yellow saucers glowed through the undergrowth and a deep grinding noise rang out in the night air, filling Amelia with terrified joy as Grawk sprang into the clearing – as huge and solid and ferocious as a tiger.
It was Grawk all right, but a Grawk of nightmare proportions. His face was split into a vicious snarl, his sharp white teeth all bared and his eyes narrowed down to yellow slits. His head was lowered over his paws, and his broad black shoulders were braced and ready to pounce.
Foxy gazed at him with a kind of wondering fear, but Beard and Spike didn’t even blink – they drew their weapons from their thigh holsters and took aim.
‘Ready?’ said Beard.
‘No!’ Amelia scrambled to her feet and ran to stand between him and Grawk. It was only when she saw the barrel of his gun pointed at her that she realised what she’d done, but there was no backing down now. ‘Don’t hurt him, please.’
Behind her, Grawk’s growl rose again, and all the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She wasn’t completely sure whether the biggest danger was the gun in front of her, or all those teeth behind her.
‘We’re not going to hurt it,’ said Beard. ‘That’s a pretty little fortune right there. You, on the other hand, are totally expendable, so you might want to get out of the way.’
‘Or not,’ said Spike, and he shot Grawk from his angle instead.
A beam of plasma knocked Grawk to the ground, and Amelia spun around to see him lying stiff. No!
Beard walked over to Grawk, casually shoving Amelia aside, and shot him again. This weapon blasted an explosive net over the helpless animal, and as Amelia watched, thick fibres wrapped around him and began to shrink tight. In only moments, he was bound up like a parcel.
‘Right,’ said Beard, turning to Foxy. ‘Now we’ve got our grawk, no thanks to you, maybe you’d like to explain why it’s ten times bigger than you said.’
Foxy was now so excited, he seemed to have forgotten their argument. He trotted over to Grawk and scanned him again. Amelia stubbornly crept back to stand as close to Grawk as she could. The aliens ignored her.
‘Yes, look – I’m right,’ Foxy said. ‘He’s only six to eight months old. He isn’t due for his first growth spurt until his birthday, but – oh!’ He stepped closer again, almost dancing in his delight. ‘This is exactly what all my studies predicted!’
Beard growled, ‘Then why didn’t you predict it for us?’
Foxy waved away the comment. ‘I couldn’t foresee the specific results, but you take a creature from its home planet, expose it to different gravity, let it breath a different atmosphere, sit under a different sun, eat totally different food – well, of course, ninety-five percent of creatures in that situation will simply die. But that other five percent, oh my!’
‘Whoa,’ Charlie hissed to Amelia. ‘Grawk is Superman!’
‘This is great,’ said Spike. ‘Way beyond the buyer’s expectations. We’re going to have to increase the price.’
‘If it’s that simple,’ said Foxy, backing away from Grawk.
‘Money is always that simple,’ Beard chuckled.
‘Yes, but biology isn’t. How much did you blast him with?’ Foxy’s eyes flickered toward Grawk. Amelia followed his gaze, and her breath caught in her throat.
‘A single shot. Fifteen hundred centigrams,’ said Spike. ‘Why?’
Foxy scrabbled backward, his eyes wide with shock. ‘Because he’s already coming out of it. Watch out!’
‘Relax,’ said Beard – but he took a nervous step back all the same. ‘The netting will –’
He was silenced by an almighty shredding sound as Grawk heaved himself to his feet, flexing his shoulders, tearing the netting to tatters. Amelia was close enough to feel some of the fibres rain down on her head, but nobody else was taking any notice of her. Not even Grawk – his attention was fixed on Beard, with one ear cocked toward Spike.
Amelia took the opportunity to scurry back to Charlie and Sophie T, who was sitting up now and trembling all over – whether from fear alone, or the after-effects of that petrifying shot, Amelia couldn’t tell. Either way, she didn’t look up to any quick escapes through the bush just yet.
‘Not Superman,’ said Charlie. ‘Grawk is the Hulk! And they’ve just made him mad.’
‘What if you’re right?’ Amelia asked. ‘What if Grawk is like the Hulk, and he’s too angry to remember who he is? Who we are?’
‘Well, he knows who the bad guys are, anyway,’ said Charlie as Grawk lashed his tail and paced toward Beard.
Beard didn’t move; he kept his eyes locked with Grawk’s, but he growled to Spike.
Spike growled back, and dialled his plasma gun up until its tip glowed. He raised it, sighted along the barrel and took aim.
‘Run, Grawk!’ Amelia screamed.
Spike shot. This time the plasma was a burning streak through the darkness, but Grawk was gone by the time it reached its mark.
Beard roared in frustration, and Spike swung his gun toward the patch of bush Grawk had leapt to, but he had utterly vanished.
‘You did it!’ Charlie cheered. ‘He listened to you – it’s still Grawk!’
‘You did it,’ snarled Beard, snatching Amelia up and holding her in the air by the scruff of the neck like a puppy. ‘So now you can be the bait in our trap. The beast obviously responds to you.’
‘He doesn’t,’ Amelia choked out, no idea if she was telling the truth or not. She clawed at Beard’s hand, trying to wriggle out of his grip. ‘He’s forgotten me and gone feral. He just got scared when I yelled.’
‘Scared?’ said Spike. ‘That thing?’
‘Why don’t we do a little experiment and find out?’ Beard grinned. ‘Call him back for us, there’s a good human.’
Amelia’s faced turned purple as Beard squeezed her, but she wheezed, ‘No
. I won’t help you.’
‘Not even to save your own life?’ he asked, almost politely.
That was a horrible thought, but Amelia knew he’d rather be able to sell her as a slave if he couldn’t catch Grawk. That wasn’t exactly comforting, but it meant he was bluffing about killing her.
‘I don’t betray my friends,’ she panted.
‘Right. Thanks for the tip.’
Amelia gasped for breath as Beard’s grip on her shifted, and for a second the world swam groggily around her. Just when she thought he was going to turn her upside down, she realised he’d stooped to pick something up. He brought his hands in front of him so Amelia could see what it was. It was Sophie T.
‘Here’s the deal,’ said Beard. ‘Keep protecting the grawk, and I’ll do something very mean and unnecessary to your friend here.’ He shook Sophie T to underline his point. ‘Or,’ he grinned smugly, ‘save your fellow human and give up the feral animal you said yourself has forgotten you.’
It was an impossible choice, and not just because he wanted her to sell out Grawk. She probably should do that, because she couldn’t let any more harm come to Sophie T – but what then? She knew Beard and Spike would never let them go, no matter how much she cooperated.
‘Look,’ said another voice, calm and reasonable. ‘You’re doing this all wrong.’
‘I beg your pardon?’ Beard growled, eyebrows raised in disbelief. ‘Who asked you?’
‘Oh, no-one,’ said Charlie. ‘Sorry to interrupt. I was just trying to help.’
Sophie T swung her legs ferociously in Beard’s other hand, and Amelia stared at Charlie.
‘What would you do, then?’ said Spike.
‘Well,’ said Charlie, ‘it seems as though you’ve all forgotten about the wormhole you need to catch.’
Spike gaped at him, and then turned to Beard. ‘How long do we have?’
Beard grunted in grudging agreement. ‘We are cutting it fine.’
‘Right,’ said Charlie. ‘So wouldn’t you be better off setting your trap near the gateway? If you’re depending on Grawk to come to you anyway …’
Beard snorted. ‘And what do you expect to get out of this help you’re giving us?’
Amelia swivelled her eyes to see Charlie standing below her. He looked tiny beside the giants, but shrugged and sighed as if not particularly upset with the way things were turning out.
‘Look,’ he said. ‘Amelia there is a good person – she really cares about what’s right and wrong, and she’s never going to change. But me? Well, I’m much more practical. I can see you’re going to win in the end no matter what we do, so I figure: why not make it a bit easier for myself?’
Beard laughed. ‘Oh, there’s a pirate heart in the boy! Well done, lad – I like your thinking. Lead on. We’ll take the bait to the gateway as you suggest.’
‘Me?’ said Charlie. ‘Oh, sorry – I can’t do that. I’m totally lost out here. I was hoping you remembered the way back.’
Spike snorted. ‘A pirate heart, maybe, but no brain to go with it. Fine. You follow me, then.’
Spike slung both giant backpacks over his shoulders and strode out of the clearing, his plasma gun at the ready, with Foxy and Charlie jogging along to keep up. Beard brought up the rear, Amelia and Sophie T clamped awkwardly under his arms.
Amelia thought she understood what Charlie was doing. She hoped she did, anyway. Once or twice, she thought she saw a faint yellow glow through the bushes. Perhaps Charlie had seen it too.
It was a strange experience being carried through the bush, like flying a couple of metres above the ground, only much more uncomfortable and with a lot of branches and leaves whipping across her face. She wondered how Sophie T was coping with it.
They made rapid progress. Even though Charlie and Foxy’s legs were so much shorter, Spike didn’t slow for them, and in a few minutes Amelia thought she recognised the land. Surely Lady Naomi’s work station was over that way?
And then it was obvious they were close to the headland. Between the trees, Amelia glimpsed open ground and in the distance, the lights of the hotel itself. The ground dipped away here, and Spike led them into a narrow trench between two massive slabs of rock. This wasn’t the way they’d come into the bush, but Amelia had been here before, weeks ago, when she’d been exploring with Charlie. This fissure between the rocks went on for several metres, going around a couple of sharps bends, almost as perfect a labyrinth as the hedge maze.
The black silhouette perched on the crest of one rock was new, though. Amelia blinked, and it was gone. She could almost have imagined it.
Spike followed the path around the first corner, disappeared from view, and there was a heavy thump. Then silence.
Beard stopped dead and called out in his own language. There was no reply. ‘You,’ he said to Foxy. ‘Go and see.’
‘Me?’ Foxy quailed. ‘No, not me, I – oh, send the boy.’
‘Me?’ said Charlie. ‘On my own? Are you crazy?’ But he flicked a look Amelia’s way, and her heart beat faster.
‘Do it,’ said Beard. When Charlie opened his mouth to protest, he said again, ‘Do it,’ and shook Amelia and Sophie T at him for emphasis.
Amelia didn’t know how much more of this throttling she could take. Whatever was going to happen to them, she wished it would just hurry up and happen.
Charlie heaved a sigh, pushed past Foxy, and rather nervously picked his way around the edge of the rock wall. Amelia saw him pause for a second before his disappeared behind it, and then – nothing.
‘Boy!’ shouted Beard. ‘What’s going on?’
There was a flash of light reflected on the rocks – as if Spike’s plasma gun had been fired – and then: more nothing.
‘Boy!’ Beard called again, more uncertain this time. Then he barked at Foxy, ‘Now you look.’
‘Not a chance! Who knows what’s around that corner?’
‘Well, you would, useless, if you used that scanner of yours.’
‘Oh. Right.’ Foxy adjusted the controls and then, very reluctantly, approached the turn in the path. ‘Oh, my.’
‘What?’ said Beard. ‘Is my brother still there? Is he alive?’
‘Hm?’ Foxy looked up. ‘Oh, yes, he’s there. And alive. The human, too.’
‘So what’s the problem?’
‘Ah …’ Foxy stalled as if unsure of how to say it. Or unwilling. ‘I think …’ He looked up, but couldn’t quite meet Beard’s eyes. In fact, Amelia thought he was looking at her when he said, ‘I think you’d better check it out yourself.’
Beard grumbled, but put Amelia and Sophie T down at last. Both girls crumpled to the ground. Amelia’s legs were all pins and needles.
‘Look after these two,’ he ordered Foxy. ‘And if they get away, it’ll be taken out of your pay.’ Drawing his net gun, he glided along the path to the corner. It was spooky how quietly he moved. Amelia put her arm around Sophie T and watched as the alien stepped briskly around the corner, his gun held out in front of him, ready to fire.
Before he could, though, a bolt of plasma caught him square in the chest. Sophie
T flinched as he instantly locked solid and fell back with a ghastly, meaty sound against the rock behind him. He stayed propped there, like a ladder leaning against a wall, petrified.
What now? Amelia thought, but Foxy was already skipping ahead, calling, ‘Well done! Such quick think–’
He stopped abruptly and gulped.
Amelia stood up. ‘Charlie?’
‘All good,’ came his cheerful reply.
She didn’t bother with words then, but ran to stand beside Foxy. There, on the path beyond the blind corner, was Charlie. He was grinning with Spike’s colossal plasma gun in both hands. Spike was on the ground, his hands raised to shield his face, and had clearly been petrified too. Standing guard over him was Grawk, and Grawk was now staring at the shivering Foxy.
Amelia clapped. ‘Charlie! You did this?’
‘It was Grawk, mostly,’ he said modestly. ‘He’s not the Hulk, Amelia – he’s Batman: silent, brilliant, and out for revenge. He ambushed Spike by himself, and when I came round, all I had to do was get his gun and shoot him while Grawk pretended he was about to eat him. At least,’ he looked at Grawk, ‘I think he was only pretending.’
‘Thanks, Grawk,’ said Amelia, feeling oddly shy. Grawk wagged his tail slightly, though his gaze never wavered from Foxy. ‘And thanks, Charlie. I wasn’t sure what you were up to at first.’
‘Neither was I,’ he admitted. ‘Hey, but where’s Sophie T?’
‘I’m here,’ said a tiny voice.
‘Oh, hey, Soph!’ Charlie said happily. ‘Glad you’re all right. And look – we found Grawk!’
‘Excuse me,’ said Foxy, hardly daring to move his lips. ‘What about me?’
‘Right,’ said Amelia, stepping back to Beard’s petrified body and pulling his gun from his hand. ‘Well, why don’t you explain to Grawk how you were only trying to help him. We’ll let him decide if he agrees. And while you’re doing that, I’m going to shoot these two guys with the binding gun.’
The Dark Giants Page 6
