by Glenn Wood
Sophie wrinkled her nose as the stench of freshly dropped cow pats wafted through the air.
“Phew, that’s a bit ripe,” she complained.
“I thought it was you,” replied Callum, deftly ducking out of the way of a friendly punch. They both laughed but their good humour faded as they crested the top of the next hill.
A small group of runners stood in a huddle on either side of a wooden farm gate. The open gate provided the only access to the next paddock and the rest of the cross-country course. Wire fences stretched away on either side of the gate so avoiding it would require a serious detour. It was the perfect place for an ambush.
As Callum and Sophie approached, they recognised Cain, Lucy, Britney, Trent, Jinx and several younger students.
One of the kids spotted them and pointed, alerting the others. They all watched Sophie and Callum’s approach. Cain and Trent were in control of the farm gate and they swung it shut, blocking the trail. Jinx was nearby. He leaned against the edge of a deep circular feeding trough, which looked a bit like a swimming pool for animals. Fresh water pumped in and out of it with a low gurgle. Britney and Lucy stood beside Jinx; none of them moved and there was tension in the air.
Callum and Sophie had no option but to pull up in front of the gate.
Cain held out his hand. “You have to pay a toll if you want to go through here.” Several of the younger students laughed.
“Don’t be a jerk,” said Sophie, shooting a sideways look at Jinx, who hadn’t moved. The boy wouldn’t meet her eyes.
Cain opened the gate and waved Sophie through, like a police officer directing traffic. “Not you. You can go.” He nodded at Callum. “The toll only applies to vehicles.”
Sophie glared at him. “We know what you’re doing and …”
Callum cut her off. “Not now, Soph.” He wheeled closer to Cain, his footrests almost touching the boy’s shins. “You gonna move?” he asked quietly.
Cain’s hands formed into fists, his fingers curled so tightly that his knuckles whitened. “What if I don’t? You gonna hit me with your torch?”
Callum looked directly into the bigger boy’s eyes. “Won’t need it.”
The two boys glared at each other, neither prepared to give way.
Trent swung the gate open, breaking the tension. He stepped back, clearing a path for Callum. “We’re only kidding around. Aren’t we, Cain?”
The boy stood rock solid for a few seconds then shuffled aside. “Yeah, that’s right,” he said, laughing. “Some people have no sense of humour. At least that’s what Toby told us.” Cain glanced at the red-headed boy. “Isn’t that right, Toby?”
It took Callum a moment to work out that Cain was talking to Jinx. No one ever used his Christian name.
Sophie clearly felt the same way. She shot Jinx a surprised look. “Toby? You said you hated that name.”
The boy shuffled his feet. “I like it now.”
“I think it’s a nice name,” said Britney in a simpering voice.
Callum bit back a response. He took a deep breath and spoke calmly, “Well, we’re happy to call you whatever you want Ji–, Toby.”
Britney stepped closer to Jinx then addressed Callum and Sophie. “He doesn’t want either of you calling him anything any more. He wants you to leave him alone.”
Jinx said nothing. He stared at the ground.
“Is that right?” said Sophie through gritted teeth.
Britney squeezed Jinx’s arm. “Tell them, Toby.”
Jinx slowly lifted his head. He seemed under pressure. “Yeah,” he said a little too loudly. “I’m pretty busy now and …” He trailed off.
Callum knew there was no point in discussing it with the other kids around. “Why don’t we talk about it later?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” muttered Jinx. “Why can’t you do as I say? You just hung around with me coz you felt sorry for me, didn’t you? Well, I don’t need your pity.”
Callum and Sophie looked at each other in shock. It was Jinx speaking, but the words didn’t sound like his.
“We’ve never thought that. We’re your friends,” said Sophie.
Lucy joined Britney beside Jinx. She spoke for the first time, her voice hard. “Not any longer. He’s got new friends now. Eh, Toby?”
Jinx swallowed hard. “Yeah,” he croaked.
As soon as the word left his mouth, there was a rumbling deep inside the water trough. The water on the surface vibrated and began to flow in a circle. Suddenly, the thumb on Jinx’s left hand started leaping around like a bumblebee tied to a rubber band.
“Oh noooooo …” he cried.
Panic flashed across Lucy’s and Britney’s faces. They jumped away from Jinx, leaving him alone by the trough.
The water had become a bubbling, swirling cauldron and it rose into the air, a ferocious wind growing as the liquid first became a waterspout then building into a tornado.
Callum and Sophie had moved as soon as they saw Jinx’s thumb dance, racing to get to him before it was too late.
Callum skidded as close as he dared to the expanding vortex and reached for his friend. “Grab my hand,” he yelled.
Jinx’s eyes were wide with fright as the swirling water and wind tugged at his body, threatening to pull him into its intensifying mass. He reached out and took hold of Callum’s hand, hanging on tightly. Callum used his other hand to operate his lap strap, fastening himself into the chair, and then he pulled Jinx to him with all his strength. He placed his friend’s hand on the chair’s push rim.
“Hold on,” he cried as the wind tried to snatch Jinx away.
Jinx’s feet were off the ground now as the tornado, still contained within the circumference of the water trough, grew in size and power. Somehow the terrified boy managed to get his other hand onto Callum’s push rims and he clung on.
Callum felt Sophie grab the back of the wheelchair.
“I’ll pull you clear,” she screamed.
Callum nodded and the wheelchair began to inch away from the shrieking funnel of wind. Then, with a howl that sounded like a chained beast being released from a cage, the tornado smashed free of the walls of the trough and rose further into the air, almost doubling in size and power.
Several things happened at once. The trough’s water pump shattered and the pipe that had eked out controlled amounts of water shot high-powered jets in all directions.
Callum was aware of Cain, Trent and their friends running away as fast as they could. Britney and Lucy were closer to the tornado and both were scrambling to get clear. As he watched, Callum saw Lucy trip and stumble to the ground. She was just rising to her feet when a powerful jet of water hit her in the head, low and hard. The liquid flooded into her left ear. The girl gave a start. Her head jerked, as if she’d been slapped, and for a split second the iris of her eyes were obscured by a violet haze. Her body shook, as if she’d grabbed an electric fence, then became still. She looked straight at Callum, but the girl behind the gaze wasn’t Lucy, the sullen, spiteful bully; this was an entirely different person.
“What the hell?” cried the girl. She began moving towards Jinx, genuine concern etched into her face. “Can I help–” Lucy’s body convulsed again and she stopped in her tracks. A final small tremor racked her body and then her expression snapped back to one of sneering indifference. She shot Callum a fierce glare before spinning on her heels and racing away.
Callum had a feeling he’d witnessed something significant. However, he didn’t have time to think about it as his wheelchair gave a sudden lurch and was wrenched out of Sophie’s grasp.
He and Jinx were jerked closer to the freak windstorm as the howling gale pulled harder at Jinx’s body.
Callum looked at Jinx and was astonished to see an expression of serenity pass over his face. Jinx smiled and in that instant Callum knew his friend was going to let go of the chair and sacrifice himself to the whirlwind. Acting quickly, he grasped Jinx’s hands.
Jinx roared over the w
ind. “Let me go!”
“No way,” said Callum with a firm shake of his head.
Then the tornado took what felt like a giant breath, and Jinx, Callum and the Thunderkit were sucked into the belly of the beast.
Eight
Sophie wasn’t quite sure what had happened. One minute she was pulling Callum’s chair towards her, the next she was flat on her back.
Gathering her wits, she pushed herself upright in time to see Callum and Jinx pulled into the guts of the growing tornado and disappearing from sight. To make matters worse, the tornado was moving away, heading across the open fields, gobbling fences as it went.
She knew she had to keep the storm in sight and be there when and if her friends were spat out.
She sprinted to Britney. The girl stood watching the tornado, wide-eyed and dumbstruck. Sophie shook her by the shoulders.
“Britney, I need you to run back up the track and get Mr Jarvis. Can you do that?”
Britney nodded and headed off, moving as quickly as she could.
Sophie turned to Trent, Cain, Lucy and the other kids.
“Are you going to help?” she snapped.
Cain shrugged. “Not my problem.”
Trent appeared to be in shock. “I thought that whole bad luck thing was over,” was all he could mutter.
Lucy sat on the ground, her elbows on her knees, head down. She didn’t even look up.
Sophie could see none of them was willing or able to assist her, and she had no time to waste. She fired a withering glare at Cain then ran after the tornado. Looking ahead, she tried to catch a glimpse of her friends within the whirlwind but could see nothing in the dark mass.
She picked up the pace, feeling a burst of adrenalin as she tracked the whirlwind. Following it was easy as the churning air had cleared a path through the fields. Sophie knew the boys had a chance of surviving the tornado as long as the wind didn’t pick up too much rubble. Their biggest danger was being injured by flying debris. She also knew that, in the past, Jinx’s bad luck caused calamity all around the boy, but he usually emerged relatively unscathed. It was Callum she was worried about; he didn’t share Jinx’s perverse bad luck/good luck fortune.
A chunk of rock the size of a gorilla whizzed past Callum’s cheek, close enough for the jagged stone to scratch his skin. His hands ached from gripping Jinx’s wrists and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold on. Callum leaned as close as he could to his friend and bellowed to be heard above the deafening wind.
“We’ve got to get out of here; if we get hit by any of this rubble, we’re dead.”
Jinx looked puzzled. “How can we do that?”
“My grappling hook,” replied Callum, loudly, nodding at the Thunderkit’s armrest.
“Dunno about you,” yelled Jinx as the vicious wind spun them around like a gigantic tumble dryer, “but I have no idea if we’re up, down, or sideways.”
“We fire blind. We’ve got nothing to lose.”
Callum started to release his grip on Jinx’s arms but the other boy stopped him.
“Let me fire it,” cried his friend.
Confusion showed on Callum’s face.
Jinx continued. “Just trust me.”
Callum nodded. He grabbed Jinx’s hand and pulled it towards the ignition lever under his right armrest.
Jinx paused for a second, closed his eyes and pulled the lever.
The grappling hook blasted from the armrest, pierced the swirling wind and disappeared.
For a moment nothing happened, then the grappling hook caught around something and the wheelchair abruptly stopped. The tornado didn’t, it carried on.
Without the gale to support their weight, Callum, Jinx and the Thunderkit dropped like stones. They hadn’t been blown to a great height, but they were certainly high enough to smash their bones if they fell on something hard. They didn’t, they fell into the middle of a haystack. Or at least Callum did. Jinx let go of Callum’s chair just before impact and he landed on the edge of the hay, breaking his fall. But then tumbled off the side into a large steaming cow pat face-first.
Sophie arrived in time to see Callum release himself from his wheelchair. He rolled off the stack, covered in hay. He landed with a thump beside Jinx. The unlucky boy was sitting up, wiping handfuls of cow dung from his eyes, nose and mouth. He spat and broke into a wide grin.
“I knew my stupid luck wouldn’t let us get badly hurt. I’ve never been so happy to taste poo in my life.”
Callum laughed with relief and let out a whoop. “Whoa! What a ride!”
They looked after the tornado and saw that, without Jinx’s presence, it was rapidly dissipating. Within minutes, all that was left was a light puff of wind and a long trail of debris.
Jinx sighed and pulled a plug of dung out of his ear. “I guess my bad luck’s back. Serves me right for being such a butthead.”
Sophie smiled and climbed onto the haystack to retrieve Callum’s wheelchair. “No argument from me,” she said.
“I didn’t really want to stop being your friends, but the others … well, they wanted me to choose. Guess I got it wrong.”
Sophie and Callum let him talk.
Jinx carried on. “It’s just … they made me feel popular. I’ve never felt like that before and I liked it. But none of them came to help me, did they?”
Sophie dragged the Thunderkit out of the haystack and traced the grappling hook to a fence post. She freed the hook, retracted it and then placed the chair beside her friends. “Perhaps they’re not as stupid as we are,” she said.
“Hey!” cried Callum. “Speak for yourself.” He picked up a handful of straw and threw it at Sophie. It hit her on the head. She threw a bigger handful back at him.
“Nah, they weren’t proper friends,” said Jinx. He hesitated before continuing. “I didn’t mean any of that stuff I said before. I’m sorry.”
Callum reached over and gave his friend a pat on the arm. “Forget it, Toby. We’re cool.”
“Don’t call me that; it’s a stupid name. Jinx is way better,” he said with a shudder.
“It does suit you,” Callum grinned. “Good to have you back.”
“Good to be back,” said Jinx, seconds before a rat leaped from the haystack and bit him on the knee.
“You’re not going to believe this,” gasped Sophie. The light from her computer screen illuminated her face, type reflected in her eyes.
She and Callum had gone to her workshop after school to look at the data downloaded from Lucy’s and Cain’s phones.
Reports of Jinx’s tornado had caused a minor furore. The teachers had received a watered-down version of events, and after checking that there were no injuries (aside from a nasty rat bite) had quickly swept the incident under the mat. They had long since worked out that the best way to deal with occurrences involving Jinx Patterson was to pretend they hadn’t happened.
Callum moved closer to his friend and looked eagerly at the screen. “What?”
Sophie pointed to a line of text. At first Callum thought he was reading a paragraph from a children’s book. The text rambled on about three characters – Tin Man, the Princess and Red Riding Hood. It made no sense.
“Aren’t Cain and Lucy a bit old for fairytales?”
“That’s what I thought, so I checked all the entries and the same three characters appear in heaps of emails on both phones.” Sophie pressed a key and several more unusual messages appeared. “In this one Tin Man gets caught in a forest fire, in another the Princess is drenched in a rainstorm.”
Callum was puzzled. “What’s it mean?”
Sophie brought up another story. In this tale, Tin Man was accused of setting the forest alight and was banned from the kingdom. Suddenly, it became clear. Callum tapped the titanium frame of his wheelchair. “I’m Tin Man. And the forest fire was in Mr Drummond’s classroom.”
Sophie nodded. “And I’m the Princess. I’m guessing the rainstorm was when Lucy drenched me in the girls’ bathroom or hit me w
ith a water bomb.”
“Makes sense. So who’s Red Riding Hood then?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t found many references to her so far,” said Sophie with a frown. She punched up another screen. “In this one, the big bad wolf tricks her into thinking her granny is a witch. He turns Red against her.”
“Oh!” cried Callum. “What if Red Riding Hood isn’t a girl?”
“Of course. Jinx! And the wolf is probably Cain and he’s turning Jinx against us.”
Callum couldn’t help but smile. “Jinx isn’t going to be very happy with his codename, is he?”
Sophie gave a small laugh and shook her head.
Callum returned to business. “Who sent the emails?”
Sophie scrolled down the message. It was unsigned. She returned to the top of the page. “The sender’s address is blocked.”
“Can you unblock it?”
Sophie brought up a new screen on the computer and selected a programme called Address Mole. “I can try,” she said.
Callum did his homework while Sophie tried to crack the code. An hour later, Sophie slapped her workbench in frustration. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her tired eyes.
“It’s too well encrypted. I can’t trace it,” she said.
“Okay. Did you find out anything else from the phones?”
Sophie shook her head. “Not really, no. Looks like we’re stuck.”
Callum thought for a moment. “Something weird happened when the tornado hit though. Did you see Lucy get sprayed with water?”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah, she flipped out for a minute. What do you think that was about?”
“I dunno,” said Callum. “It was almost as if the water did something to her. I think we need to see that reaction again.”
Sophie snorted. “How? We can’t just hold her head under a tap, can we?”
“We have to do something. It’d be too risky to try anything at school. I think we need to bring her here for a chat.”
Sophie looked nervous. “Are you suggesting we kidnap her?”
