Felix Jones and The Dawn Of The Brethren

by Julian Roderick

  The landing was rough - straight onto a hard tiled floor. The crowd in the museum didn’t bat an eyelid. Tom clutched Felix’s head, willing him to come back. Poppy turned in circles looking for help, but who could she tell what had happened? The medics in Berlin wouldn’t believe his face had just vanished into thin air! Tom laid Felix flat on the floor and turned to shake his head at Poppy. She slumped to her knees.

  “Ouch!” screamed Tom. A sharp object pierced his jeans and backside. He turned quickly and swung his sabre wildly, but all he hit was thin air. He thought he was going mad with grief when he felt a tug on his trousers.

  “Which truck hit me?” croaked Felix. The Keeper’s sword was gripped lightly in his hand. Tears streamed down Tom’s face, but now he was crying with joy. His old friend had come back from the dead. Poppy ran over and dived on Felix, smothering him with a huge hug.

  “Careful!” laughed Tom. “He’s only been alive two minutes!” Felix managed a strained smile. Tom and Poppy helped him to his feet and dragged him to the museum café. Felix was plied with bottles of water and cake to build his strength up.

  “What happened?” Felix asked. “Last thing I remember I was eating a pill in McDonalds!”

  “Nothing much,” replied Poppy. “We forgot the boiled sweets so you passed out!” Tom shrugged and nodded.

  “Well that’s strange, when I woke up I had no mouth,” laughed Felix.

  “We’d just stayed away a bit too long,” whispered Tom.

  “Why haven’t you disappeared then?” asked Felix.

  “We travelled back two days after you,” replied Tom. “You disappeared with Curly and we had to figure out where you’d gone.”

  “Jones! What are you doing here? Where is your cousin Matthews?” boomed Mr Taylor across the museum. The three children sat to attention and their brains started working overtime to come up with a reasonable excuse for the irate teacher.

  “Leave it to me!” smirked Tom. Poppy and Felix stiffened with fear, not knowing what nonsense Tom would come up with. Mr Taylor stood waiting for one of them to speak.

  “Well sir, it’s like this,” started Tom.

  “I’ll have none of your tall tales Matthews,” snapped the angry teacher.

  “I’ll tell you the truth then,” replied Tom cockily, and he began relating the real story of going to Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt to find Felix and bring him home.

  “Really!” said Mr Taylor sarcastically. “And what did we learn about Ancient Greece and Egypt then?” Poppy began reeling off a load of facts about what they had seen on their travels. Mr Taylor appeared to have forgotten about Luther.

  “OK clever clogs,” smiled Mr Taylor, convinced that they had actually been paying attention in the museum. “Make sure you look at the rest of this place, the Greeks and Egyptians only take up one floor. He patted Felix on the back and walked off to harass another table of students who weren’t working. An hour later they were all on the bus and travelling back to the hotel. The next day was spent sightseeing and listening to Mr Taylor go on and on about the Berlin Wall and how he’d been there when it was pulled down. It was a relief to Felix to finally be on the bus journey back to England.

  49

  Felix felt safe in his own bed. The Brethren and the Typhon were so far from his thoughts that he slept until the middle of the next afternoon. His mother, knowing that he had had a rough time, allowed him the day off school. At ten to four he made his way gingerly to the stump on the common to wait for Poppy and Tom. The school bell rang and the stampede to the gate began as teachers yelled in vain to slow the students down.

  Tom had his spare guitar case slung over his shoulder. Felix knew what was inside. He had his spare case grasped between his knees. Poppy was beaming as she approached. She once again gave Felix a huge hug.

  “Something going on I should know about?” giggled Tom.

  “Shut up!” snapped Poppy. Felix bright red with embarrassment punched his friend playfully on the arm.

  “Good to see you alive and well,” joked Tom. The three friends meandered up the common towards the High Street. They didn’t have to say anything to each other - they knew they were happy to be back together and in one piece.

  “Jones!” came the loud cry across the street.

  “Just what we need!” exclaimed Poppy. “That idiot and his gang.”

  Curly, Tubby, Lofty and the rest of their group of thugs were waiting for the traffic to provide enough of a gap for them to cross over and attack Felix.

  “Shall we run?” asked Tom calmly.

  “Not this time,” smiled Felix. “I’ve had enough of running and anyway, I still feel like I’ve been hit by that truck!”

  Soon Curly and his minions surrounded Felix, Tom and Poppy. Close behind followed the Barbies, cooing over the seemingly hard men.

  “Hi Emma,” whimpered Tom.

  “Hi Tom,” she replied coyly. Curly gave her a look that said, ‘Really!’ and he followed that by giving Tom a withering stare. Before Tom could reply Curly had set Bingo and Tubby on him. He reached for his guitar case but he knew he shouldn’t use his sabre in a fist fight. He hurled a few punches back but Lofty joined the onslaught. Tom threw his guitar case to Poppy and curled up in a ball. Felix walked slowly towards Curly. The gang stopped their assault on Tom to watch how things would develop.

  Felix walked right up to Curly and whispered in his ear. Everyone strained to hear what was said. Curly punched Felix in the stomach, but the Keeper didn’t flinch. Instead Felix leaned forward and whispered again. Curly turned beetroot red and punched Felix harder. Felix just smiled and whispered once more. This time Curly stepped backwards. He punched Felix one last time, then led his gang away to the common.

  “Bye Tom,” said Emma as she stared into his eyes. Tom tried to say something romantic and manly but all that came out were unintelligible noises. He sounded like a winded baboon. Felix and Poppy burst out laughing at the pain their love struck friend was going through. To their surprise Emma stepped forward and kissed Tom on the cheek before running off to join Curly’s mob.

  “What did you say to him?” asked Poppy.

  “I just reminded him who had saved his bacon on more than one occasion,” smiled Felix.

  “But what about the second time?” asked Tom.

  “I reminded him about how scared he’d been in Egypt!”

  “And the third?” laughed Poppy.

  “I told him that if he hit me and walked away I wouldn’t take out my sword and chop off his bits!”

  50

  At school the next day Curly kept his distance from Felix. It was a quiet normal day until lunchtime. Rumours were flying round the playground that Tom had kissed Emma near the shops the previous evening. It was only a matter of time before one of Curly’s oafs relayed that information to their glorious leader. Felix knew all hell would break loose when Curly finally found out.

  Felix started a counter rumour, which was supported by both Emma and Tom. Chinese whispers said that she had checked how he was after the beating, and that was all that had happened. It seemed to be doing the trick and there was no sign of Curly coming to deliver ritual humiliation to Tom. The afternoon went peacefully. Emma stared at Tom throughout their Science lesson and Tom returned her attention with bashful smiles of encouragement.

  After school Felix, Tom and Poppy met, as usual, at the stump.

  “Well at least we found out where The Brethren come from,” said Tom. “And I’d love to read the report when the archaeologists dig up a guitar and its case!”

  “We didn’t stop them though.” Felix looked angry that once again he had failed on his mission.

  “We went back to destroy them and The Book of Words so that we don’t have to put up with all this nonsense.”

  “Health and Safety would have a fit. All these kids running around with swords and travelling without seatbelts. Somebody might get killed!” joked Tom.

  “We had no chance!” said Poppy.


  “We know where the Book came from and we now know what it’s meant to do. All we have to do now is find a way to stop any of this happening,” whispered Felix.

  He had learned so much but it would have been suicide to try and fight The Brethren army and Seth. The same question swirled round in his brain, ‘How was he ever going to defeat a monster like Seth who had come from somewhere in space called Sky? That must be why we call the sky the sky!’

  “What do we do now?” shouted Felix in frustration.

  “We’ll figure it out,” winked Poppy. “And if we don’t we’ll keep on fighting.”

  “But we’ll do it in less than seven days next time,” sighed Tom. “I don’t like the McDonalds of the future though!” Poppy and Felix nodded in agreement.

  “You do realise for Luther to become The Keeper I must be dead!” exclaimed Felix.

  “Comes to us all in the end!” Poppy put her arm around his shoulders.

  Just then a large rock hit Tom on the side of his head. Blood began pouring down his face. Curly and his gang were throwing whatever they could get their hands on at Felix, Tom and Poppy. Stones, soil, branches and traffic signs all flew at them.

  “Run,” shouted Felix. “Before I really do get my sword out and do as I promised.”

  They ran across the common towards the fair that was setting up. Curly and co were in hot pursuit. As they reached the first of the trailers carrying part of a rollercoaster, five figures in black suits stepped out from behind the lorry towing it. It was Curly’s dad and the Typhon.

  “What now? We’re trapped!” shouted Tom.

  “We can always give up and go through it all again,” suggested Poppy.

  “I think that may be our only chance.” Felix was resigned to being locked up in The Railway Pub until The Brethren came to take him back to Seth.

  “Here he is the most wanted man in the world!” shouted Higgins senior. “You won’t talk your way out of this one.”

  “OK!” said Felix quietly. “We give up.” Tom and Poppy looked disappointed that they weren’t going to fight the Typhon.

  “Hope you’ve got that book Jones,” cried Curly as he charged. Felix looked up and saw Curly winking at him. He couldn’t believe it! The bully was about to help them out of a massive hole!

  “Hold my hands,” whispered Felix to Tom and Poppy.

  “There’s lovely,” laughed Basher Higgins. “Holding hands like all weaklings do!” The Typhon all chuckled at his lame attempt at humour.

  Before Basher could utter another word Curly had smashed headlong into Felix and The Guardians. The four tangled bodies flew through the air towards the trailer. Basher was beaming with pride at his son’s demolition of the three trapped schoolchildren. Mr Higgins was blissfully unaware that Curly had another plan in mind.

  Just as they were all about to hit the side of the lorry Curly let go and fell to the ground. He looked up and smiled. His plan had worked.

  Felix, Tom and Poppy had gone!

  Felix Jones and the Treasure of the Typhon

  A Felix Jones Adventure

  In their fourth adventure, Felix and his Guardians, Tom and Poppy, stumble across some similarly alarming historical facts.

  Are they coincidence or is there a more sinister explanation? The common link worries the gang into wanting to investigate further.

  The Book of Words throws up some new tricks as Vikings, Aztecs and a strange Victorian gentleman help the time travellers solve the mystery.

  Will Felix finally be able to live in peace away from the threat of the Brethren and the Typhon?

  Greenfield Primary School

  Shelfield, Walsall West Midlands

  The pupils in Year 6 at Greenfield Primary School used The Felix Jones Adventures as the stimulus for a piece of creative writing on the historic period they were studying. The writing competition was greeted with great enthusiasm and their stories about Felix and Tom in the realm of the Vikings show some of the talented writers we have in our schools.

  The winning entry – Lorna Ward

  Late one blissful night, Tom had invited Felix over for a guy’s night. As always, Felix had brought The Book of Words with him. He would never know if the Brethren would come and steal the Book for their own. After a lot of loud laughter and goofing around, Tom found under his old wooden bed was a tatty Viking helmet, that he got as a present when he was younger.

  “Look at this piece of junk,” whispered Tom to Felix. He was only whispering because next door to him was his father fast asleep from a day’s hard work. The athletic super star, Tom, placed the helmet on his head and rushed over to the mirror. “Suits me don’t you think,” said Tom sarcastically.

  “Yeah, of course it does” Said Felix secretly not paying much attention. He was too interested in the game called ‘Minecraft’.

  Later on that night, Felix soon turned off the console and decided to join Tom in playing dress up. In the corner of his eye he could just about see a plastic sword. He reached for the sword and shouted, “en garde.”

  “Shhhhh,” whispered Tom trying to tell him to be quiet. Tom wanted to play along so he used an imaginary sword and they had a sword fight. Felix accidently pushed Tom, and instantly he grabbed his hand, they both toppled over into the closed door but seemed to transport through it. They knew that they would be travelling through time. Pictures, once again, flew past astronauts, Victorians, Tudors, Vikings and then it just came to a stop patterns of all colours came to a stop. They just instantly fell to the dry damp grassy ground in front of the mossy stone castle.

  “Not again, we have travelled back in time Tom” Stated Felix. What were they going to do?”

  In the far distance, the two best friends could just about see a village.

  “Let us go to the village” Insisted Tom

  “NO! We won’t blend in,” replied Felix. The two gazed around looking for a solution.

  “Maybe if we know what time period we are in we could know how to blend in,” said Felix scratching his head. Tom nodded but he wasn’t really paying attention. Felix pointed out a long ship and animals inside houses. He just knew where he was.

  Felix started “We are in…” “TUDORS,” yelled Tom.

  “NO!” yelled Felix. “Did you listen in class today? We are in the period of Viking.

  The boys decided to wander about the village eventually and people started to stare and wonder who they were. Soon enough they were stopped by a young man with blonde straw like hair.

  “You are not from here are you?” asked the man. Felix was too scared to even look, he hated strangers, especially strangers from the past. With a little amount of fear, Tom shook his head to say that he was not from the time period that he was in.

  “Follow me I’ll get you some suitable clothing,” insisted the stranger. The boys had no choice but to follow. They thought they would be killed if they didn’t. They were very confused as to who this stranger was. They were led to a similar looking building that they had seen in school.

  “Wait here,” stated the stranger. The boys were very impatient to wait, so they followed him inside. Hastily Tom ran into the building, but it was not how they expected. It was very modern like beautiful shining white walls. Felix did not remember learning this in class. The Guardian soon came down stairs with an angry face. “I TOLD YOU TO WAIT OUTSIDE!” screamed the stranger. “You saw nothing?”

  Skilled in running, Tom dashed out of the building but Felix stood in shock but soon followed Tom outside.

  “Here wear these” The strange looking man said whilst passing the clothes to Felix. The sheep skin clothes were not the most comfy clothes in the world but they would do. Tom did not want to wear them at first but with persuasion he eventually did. Once the boys were dressed, they wandered around the village to find the stranger and they thought they saw him but it was just a man carrying a large gem stone sabre.

  “Was he a Guardian?” asked Felix.

  “Really, I don’t care,” moaned Tom. “L
et’s have fun.” Felix was too scared if the Brethren would come for the Book of Words that he kept in a little pocket on his short sleeved jacket.

  Tom saw a jaw dropping beautiful lady and was distracted. Darting towards the lady, both Tom and Felix were lost in a large crowd. Felix was calling for Tom but there was no sign of him but before he knew it the neck of his t-shirt was grabbed and was dragged into what seemed like an archery class. Searching for Tom, Felix soon spotted the dark hair that was Tom’s. In the corner of the room, was what looked like the stranger that they saw earlier. Felix still wondered who the man was. Was he the Guardian he needs?

  But on the bad side of the stick, the two boys were stuck in a building learning how to do archery. Joyfully Tom grabbed a bow because he loved doing archery, however Felix did not even know how to hold the bow. After what seemed like hours of hard work, the class was soon over but next was going to be difficult because the lesson was COOKING!!!

  A horn was blown by a teacher and the boys were transported to a cooking class. Strolling towards the two boys, was a plump man carrying a wet, dead fish. “Chop it up lads,” the fisher man growled.

  Felix hated sea food and it always made him sick whenever he touched and ate. Tom grabbed a knife and started to chop, whilst Felix held the fish so it didn’t move trying not to be sick. Not too long after, they were dragged out of class by a familiar face. It was the stranger that they met earlier.

  “Who are you?” Asked Felix.

  “A Guardian!” replied the man. Felix and Tom were gob smacked that they were actually with a living Guardian.

  Other good writing from Greenfield Primary School:

  Early next morning it was raiding day and the crew and them set sail much never happened apart from thunder storms, lightning bolts, and sea serpents approaching dropping the anchor everyone leapt off the long ship and charged at the Anglo Saxons Tom thought he could kill over one hundred Saxons and ran off but Felix saw four brethren’s and shouted on the top of his voice ‘’Beowulf JR’’ and in all of a sudden he stepped in front of Felix and whispered ‘’I am a guardian’’ he charged at the four brethren’s but the brethren’s slaughtered him before he could slaughter them. Arrows were flying over the horizon piercing the eyes of the Saxons with screams of agony blood was dripping into their open mouths. A portal opened in front of Felix and he shouted Tom and he came swiftly down the hill and they instantly went through. Matthew