Neville the Less

by Robert Nicholls

  * *

  Neville was, of course, clinging to an interpretation of what the Ragged Man seemed to have said. The Quiet Man’s mind would make it home, was one thing - probably - one way but hopefully not another. If only it could keep from getting swallowed up by the nastiness of the Things that’d come home with the rest of him from the war. Or something like that.

  And he had definitely said that the Things could be gotten rid of! And if they could be gotten rid of, then surely so could Shoomba! All you had to do was be brave enough to not get hypnotised by them - or him. It was all part of the same problem, really - the Things in Under, the Quiet Man’s mind being lost and Shoomba’s scornful dismissals. All part of the same thing. Probably.

  The problem, of course, was that it was all so complicated. Every time he thought he had all the bits nearly in order, they ran around and mixed themselves up again, which on this morning made his already bumped and aching head hurt more and start spinning faster. He cast his mind back to Apollo Dungeon and those final sea-and-scorpion whispered words. Something about a place to start. ‘Soon and Ava. The Folly. A strategy.

  He sorted them and pushed them about and almost, he thought, got them into sensible order before he was distracted and they once again scattered. The distraction was a tickle, whisking across the tips of the tufts of hair that stuck out above his bandage! His heart jumped up and his muscles froze, all but those in his eyes, which jittered about frantically. Sure enough, there was another shadow! But this time, not the looming, sneering one of Shoomba. This time it was the small and oh-so-wonderful one of Afsoon Rahimi!

  “Come out of there,” it whispered urgently. And he did, straightaway, without so much as a skerrick of hesitation.

  “Did you see him?” he croaked.

  “Yes! He’s gone home for something I think. But I’m sure he’ll come back. Is there room under your bed?”

  “He came in here, ‘Soon! Into the house! Into my room! I don’t know where Mum is!”

  “I do. She’s going ‘round the neighbours to tell about you - that you been sneaking out in the night, twice now. She’ll be ages. Raff is forcing peppermint tea into her for her nerves. Then when she gets to Cookie Camp, she’ll have to pray with Mrs Hughes ‘cause Mrs Hughes thinks you’re being abused. I heard her tell Raff this morning. When I heard what you did, I sneaked over here and hid in the Lilly-pilly, right under Shoomba’s big, shiny nose! He almost sniffed me out but when he looked at me, I made him think I was a little stump. He’s s’posed to be keeping an eye on you. He said he would, so he’ll come back for sure! I think he wants to know what you’re finding out when the Lightning Bug takes you! Why did you go without me! Did you go looking for Ava? Did you find the pirates?” And, lightly touching his bandage, “Did they attack you?”

  He threw the sheet off and got unsteadily to his feet.

  “I went to ask the Ragged Man on Apollo dungeon. About the Things and the Quiet Man! And he told me . . . he told me you were right all along, ‘Soon! C’mon. I think I got an idea!”

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  “And so the Ragged Man said maybe you were a little bit frightened but I said no, you weren’t frightened, you were a Hero and he said yeah, but sometimes even heroes have Things they aren’t brave enough to look at. And he reckons probably the Things in our Under are that kind of thing, from the War maybe, and that’s sort of what ‘Soon said too! He said they’re prob’ly only to do with you, not me or mum or Ava, so I should prob’ly ignore them but if I can’t, and if you can’t either, then they’ll keep on being there until they kind of get their way or something.

  “So I said what if I don’t ignore them and he said that might be very dangerous and could give them a chance to get bigger and be more! But he said maybe that’s why you wouldn’t tell me your plan, because heroes know it’s not fair to let other people do dangers that they don’t really want to do themselves, so they just keep all their Things locked up, even though that means the Things keep the Heroes locked up as well.

  “So first I thought, Okay, I’m only a kid and I get very scared so I wouldn’t be able to do much anyhow and you prob’ly know that but before Ragged Man faded away, he said, ‘Don’t be lonely!’ So then I thought of Ava and ‘Soon ‘cause they’re both real smart and brave and are my best friends. And ‘Soon’s been to your same War and she already said, even before Ragged Man, that if we knew more about your secret ‘n’ stuff then you might come properly home and even though you might feel real bad about that . . . I hope you wouldn’t. An’ then maybe you’d know how to help ‘Soon get Anosh back. And that might make her feel better and maybe you too!

  “This is ‘Soon here, if you don’t remember. So anyhow . . . I decided. To chase them away.”