The Awakening

by Paul Mason

  For Mia and Miles

  Contents

  Chapter One Danger!

  Chapter Two Fire

  Chapter Three Water

  Chapter Four Hallucination

  Chapter Five Questions

  Chapter Six Earth

  Chapter Seven Wind

  Chapter Eight Crash

  Chapter Nine Answers

  Chapter Ten Field Trip

  Chapter Eleven Practice

  Chapter Twelve Embers

  Chapter Thirteen Action

  Chapter Fourteen Firestorm

  Chapter Fifteen Flood

  Chapter Sixteen Hideout

  Chapter Seventeen Factor Four

  Chapter One

  Danger!

  Zaf stood at the edge of the deep split in the ground and stared in shock at the meter in his hands. The needle was jammed in the red zone. Jammed in the part of the dial that said ‘Danger’ in big, red writing.

  He tapped the glass a couple of times to make sure it wasn’t stuck. The needle didn’t budge. This was strange, really strange, and Mr Arturi was still back at the van. Maybe they shouldn’t have gone on ahead without him.

  Zaf called to the others further down the track. ‘Guys, you’d better come take a look at this.’ He pointed to the crack in the ground.

  ‘What’s up?’ Tara was the first over. April and Ian weren’t far behind.

  ‘This reading I’m getting. We’re nowhere near the hot spot and the machine’s going crazy. It must be broken, right?’

  ‘That’s odd.’ Tara looked at Zaf’s meter. She pulled her backpack off her shoulder and fished out her own meter. April and Ian did the same.

  The readers crackled into life. One by one the needles hit the top of the dial. The red zone.

  ‘I don’t think your machine’s broken,’ Tara said slowly.

  Now there was a rumbling from deep inside the ground.

  April’s eyes widened. ‘Guys, I think we should…’

  ‘RUN!’ shouted Ian. He pulled at Tara and Zaf, dragging the team away from the hole.

  Too little, too late.

  BLAM! An explosion blasted out of the ground like a bomb going off. Dirt and rocks burst high into the air. Water erupted from the hole.

  The four were blown off their feet, picked up and thrown to the ground like toys. Dirt and hot water rained down on them, a fountain of sludge.

  As suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

  Now a cloud of thick, yellow gas began to spill out of the hole. A blanket of smoke slowly wrapped itself around the helpless shapes lying on the ground. The four friends gasped for breath, choking, as the fog started to seep into their lungs.

  ***

  Ian was the first to come around.

  Everything was a blur. There was a mask strapped to his face, and his throat burned. His hands were wrapped in white bandages. He ached all over.

  He tried to sit up, but quickly gave up and sank back onto the bed. This must be hospital, he thought. Great. Just great. Some science trip that turned out to be.

  The monitor he was hooked up to started to beep.

  Ian’s eyes cleared a little and he was able to prop himself up on his elbows. The others were in the room, all asleep, or unconscious. Like him, they had bandages. And probably felt like they’d just gone twelve rounds.

  The door to the room swung open and a doctor rushed over to Ian’s bed, followed by Mr Arturi. He looked sick with worry.

  The doctor took Ian’s mask off and started looking into his eyes with one of those little pen lights. ‘How do you feel?’ she asked.

  Silly question, thought Ian but he just said ‘OK, I guess.’

  The others began to stir now and open their eyes. The doctor quickly checked each of them in turn. Mr Arturi let out a big sigh, as if he had been holding his breath this whole time. ‘Thank goodness, thank goodness,’ was all he could say, over and over.

  ‘You’re certainly lucky,’ the doctor added.

  ‘What happened?’ groaned Tara. ‘I remember a blast, and then nothing.’

  ‘It was a hydro-thermal eruption. A big one. Knocked all of you right out.’ Mr Arturi shook his head. ‘I should never have gone back to the van for more equipment. I should have been there.’

  ‘A thermo-hydro what?’ mumbled Ian.

  ‘Hydro-thermal,’ whispered Zaf, propping himself up slowly. ‘A combination of heat and water. From deep below the earth’s crust.’

  Mr Arturi nodded. ‘It must have been building up.’ He shook his head. ‘I had no idea this would happen, there were no warnings. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Hey, Mr Arturi.’ April smiled weakly. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’

  Mr Arturi took her hand. ‘Am I glad to see that smile of yours, April.’ He turned to the others. ‘I’ve called all your parents, they’re driving up. They’ll be here soon.’

  ‘Just one question,’ said Ian with a grin. ‘Does this mean we get to miss school?’

  Chapter Two

  Fire

  Back at school, word quickly got round about the explosion, and how Mr Arturi had carried the four friends to the van to rescue them. The rest of the class stared at the bandages the four were still wearing, the burn marks on their arms. Everyone wanted to know the story.

  ‘Why don’t you take a photograph, it’ll last longer,’ Ian told a boy sitting at their table in the dining hall.

  ‘Just ignore him,’ April sighed, rolling her eyes. ‘Ian’s had a blow to the head, poor child.’

  Ian laughed. ‘I’m only kidding.’

  Tara picked up her tray. ‘Don’t forget, you two, we’ve got to meet Mr Arturi after school to go over the readings from the site – Zaf says the data from the meters is off the chart.’

  ‘I’ll be there,’ said April.

  ‘No can do,’ said Ian. ‘Track practice. It’s only a week before the big meet and I need to get in shape. Sorry, Miss,’ he teased.

  ***

  Ian was pounding the track on his own, getting in a few extra laps. He needn’t have worried that the explosion had taken it out of him. He was doing well. In fact he was doing better than ‘well’: he was cruising. This feels good, he said to himself, checking his watch as he crossed the lap marker.

  Ian pushed himself even harder. His legs and arms were pumping, his feet flying down the track. He became just a blur. But he still felt like he had more to give. He picked up the pace. There was an energy flowing round his body. Something new. The soles of his feet felt like they were burning up the track. It was getting hot. Really hot.

  Ian glanced down at his legs. Fire!

  With a scream of terror he fell over and started slapping at his feet. They were on fire! Fire! Orange flames were all over his skin. Ian rolled around, trying to put the fire out.

  Then all of a sudden, the flames were gone. Just like that.

  Panting, Ian ripped off his smoking shoes and socks and threw them away. The skin underneath was untouched. Not even reddened. Ian rubbed his head in amazement.

  ‘Mr Arturi has just got to see this,’ he said out loud.

  Chapter Three

  Water

  While things were heating up on the track, April had decided to cool off at the beach. The meeting with Mr Arturi had been really long, and all those numbers had given her a serious headache.

  She dumped her stuff in her room, quickly slipped into her costume, and grabbed a towel. She ran through the kitchen, waving at Mum. ‘I’ll be back for dinner!’ she yelled.

  The beach was pretty much empty when April got down there. Just a few families packing up further down the bay. It was still hot even though the sun was going down, and April gasped as she stepped into the cool water. She let the water reach
just above her knees, then she dived in. The sea sent a ripple over her skin and she burst to the surface with a smile on her face.

  April swum further out to sea, away from the beach. Soon she couldn’t touch the sand. She dropped down beneath the surface and somersaulted lazily in the water. She twisted and turned like a fish. April loved being in the ocean. It felt like home.

  It was then she noticed the fin.

  At first she thought it was a wave. But it turned round, and headed straight for her. Cutting through the water like a razor. A cold, grey razor.

  Shark!

  The fin sliced lower into the water now, and vanished into the dark.

  April knew she should to stay still. She wanted not to panic, not to draw attention to herself. But she freaked. She kicked out with her legs. I have to get to the beach! She clawed at the water with her hands, her arms slapping and splashing. There was no way she could outswim a shark.

  Then it happened. Not the feeling of jagged teeth grabbing hold of her skin - but something else.

  She vanished.

  April had totally disappeared. Her arms, her legs, her entire body. She couldn’t see herself at all. Just an empty swimsuit. One moment her legs and arms were churning up the water. Then they were gone. Just gone.

  I must be dead, April thought in a panic. The shark must have got me. This is just a weird out-of-body death thing. But she felt alive. In fact she felt more alive than ever before. She stopped swimming and lifted her arm out of the water. It was the shape of her arm, but it was like it was made of water. It was the same colour as the sea. It was the sea. Her other arm too. What was going on?

  Then something even stranger: the shark barrelled past her, tail carving through the water. Right next to her body, so she could even feel its skin, see its shadow, feel the might of its tail. She yelped.

  But the shark had gone right past her. How could it have missed her? Because I’m made of water, April thought, heart pounding.

  The shark gave up. April saw its fin break the water’s surface and then it headed back out to sea, wondering how it had lost its prey.

  April raced back to the shore – except it felt more like she flowed there. As she stepped onto the sand and walked out of the water, her body changed back in front of her eyes, from water into flesh. She looked around the beach to see if anyone else might have seen, but she was alone.

  A grin broke out on her face from ear to ear. She didn’t know what was going on, but whatever it was, it felt good.

  April grabbed her towel and dried off. She was late for dinner. She wouldn’t tell Mum and Dad why, though. Not until she had figured out what was going on.

  Chapter Four

  Hallucination

  ‘You’re not going to believe this guys. What I’m going to tell you will blow your socks off. For real!’ Ian was bouncing up and down in Mr Arturi’s lab.

  Zaf shook his head. ‘Is this another of your stories – like the time you saw a bigfoot out in the bush?’

  ‘Or the time you were sure you had found buried treasure,’ laughed Tara.

  ‘Ha, ha, ha. Nothing like that. This one’s for real. I swear it is.’

  ‘Give him a chance, you two,’ Mr Arturi smiled.

  ‘Don’t ask me how or why,’ Ian dropped his voice to an excited whisper, ‘but I can control fire.’

  ‘We all can,’ chuckled Zaf. ‘It’s called matches. Is that it?’

  ‘Not like that, you idiot. I mean, I can make fire happen from my body. I was out running round the track yesterday and whoosh! Flames shot out from my feet!’

  At this Zaf and Tara burst out laughing. Even Mr Arturi was finding it hard not to join in.

  ‘Ian, I know your feet stink, but this is the limit!’ Zaf howled with laughter. Ian’s face turned red.

  ‘I’d listen to him if I were you,’ a voice said from the doorway.

  It was April. She closed the door and sat down.

  ‘After what happened to me at the beach, I’d believe anything. Only I didn’t have flames like Ian. I turned into water.’ She saw the look on Zaf and Tara’s faces. ‘Yes, water.’

  Mr Arturi took off his glasses and gave them a rub. It was one thing for Ian to come up with crazy stories, but April?

  ‘Explain this to me,’ he said, ‘both of you. Start at the beginning and leave nothing out.’

  ***

  Ian and April told their stories, describing just what had happened. The others had lots of questions. Zaf and Tara were no longer finding it funny. At the end, Mr Arturi cleaned his glasses again while he thought about what they had said.

  ‘It must be something to do with the hydro-thermal explosion the other day,’ he said at last. ‘The impact. The gas you were exposed to is causing you to have hallucinations. Tricks of the mind. We ought to get all of you checked out by a doctor.’

  ‘This was no trick, Mr Arturi,’ said April. ‘I swear it was real.’ Ian nodded.

  ‘Hallucinations can feel very real,’ said Mr Arturi. ‘I’m taking you all to the hospital, right now.’

  Ian had heard enough. He pushed his stool back and kicked off his shoes, then peeled off his socks, and stepped into the middle of the room. He closed his eyes, and concentrated.

  Nothing happened.

  ‘Ian...’ said Mr Arturi. He sounded worried.

  Ian’s feet burst into flames.

  The others yelped and jumped back. Mr Arturi dropped his glasses and stood up, jaw hanging open.

  ‘Is this real enough for you?’ Ian asked. He clicked his fingers and the flames were out. ‘I already ruined two pairs of shoes,’ he said, grinning. ‘Mum is going to have a fit when she finds out.’

  Mr Arturi was in a state of shock. He held on to his stool. If he didn’t, he thought he might just fall off. ‘You’re right,’ he said finally, ‘that’s no hallucination. I can’t believe what I just saw.’

  ‘Me neither,’ muttered Zaf. He looked at where Ian had been standing. There was a burn mark on the floor.

  ‘We need to find some answers and find them fast. I’ve got to go back to the mountain and take samples.’ Mr Arturi shook his head. ‘There has got to be an explanation. In the meantime, keep this to yourselves. If word gets out about this, you’d become the biggest lab rats in the world.’

  ‘Mr Arturi,’ said Zaf slowly, ‘if strange things have happened to both these guys, then it can only mean one thing…’

  Tara nodded. ‘That you and I are next in line.’

  Chapter Five

  Questions

  After what had happened last time, Mr Arturi was leaving nothing to chance. Wearing a thermal radiation suit with a hood and breathing gear, he crept closer to the blast site. He kept his eyes glued to his meter.

  He hadn’t got much sleep the night before. In the end he had given up trying to lie in bed, and spent the night at his desk, checking and rechecking the information he had downloaded from the machines, trying to find some answers.

  It had been no ordinary hydro-thermal blast. This had come from way down in the earth’s crust. Almost like a major volcano going off. Somehow the eruption must have created a mixture of chemicals – the yellow gas he had found the kids choking on. Elements that had combined with the kids’ DNA, unleashing some unknown energy force.

  He had never known anything like it. How on earth did Ian create fire like that? And when April had taken them all to the pool, dived in and vanished into water, her swimsuit the only thing visible, Mr Arturi had practically fainted.

  A line of wire had been strung up around the edge of the crater, stopping anyone from getting too close. Mr Arturi ducked under it. Wisps of steam leaked out of the hole in the ground. Inside the suit, Mr Arturi began to sweat.

  Out of his back pack he took out a sample probe and hooked it up to a container. Then he snaked the probe down into the fissure, as far down as it would go. The container began to fill up. If any of that strange gas was still down there, maybe he could find out what was going on.

&
nbsp; Before things got really out of hand.

  Chapter Six

  Earth

  Tara came up with her own theory about what was going on.

  It had nothing to do with science, or numbers. It had to do with dancing. Her parents’ dancing, to be exact: that awkward, arm-jerking, feet-clomping, hand-clapping thing they did on the living room floor. (Tara was sure they only did it to embarrass her.)

  There they were, after dinner, bopping about. She’d walked into the living room, covered her eyes and turned right back around. ‘Hey, come and dance with us,’ her dad had called after her. ‘This is Earth, Wind and Fire – the best funk band ever!’

  ‘Whatever,’ Tara called back as she left the room. She had big things on her mind, not old-school 70s music. But something Dad had said rang a bell. Earth, wind and fire – she had heard that phrase before, and there was usually one more that went with that as well, wasn’t there? Water.

  Tara flipped open her laptop and quickly did a search. There it was: earth, wind, fire and water. The classical elements, the four things the Ancient Greeks thought everything in life was made up of.

  Tara pushed away her computer, head spinning. Was the explosion the other day something to do with those elements?

  Ian was obviously fire, and April was water, so that left earth and wind. Which one was she?

  Tara wasn’t going to sit around and wait for it to happen; she was going to find out right now. She crept down the hallway, past her sister’s room, and out into the garden that backed onto the park. Her parents were still grooving away. She could hear the thump of the bass all the way at the bottom of the garden.

  Right, she thought. First up, let’s try wind.

  Tara wasn’t sure how to do this. She puffed out her cheeks and blew. Nothing. She closed her eyes and really concentrated. She imagined wind and hurricanes and gales. Still no dice. Then she flapped her arms and tried to make a breeze. Now she just looked plain ridiculous.