Otto Tattercoat and the Forest of Lost Things

by Matilda Woods

  As Heinz nursed his bruised hand, Helmut made a grab for Nim. Nibbles jumped on to his arm and scurried on to his face. He clawed at Helmut’s eyes. The boy threw Nibbles to the ground.

  “Stop your whining,” Helmut growled to Heinz, “and help me grab her.”

  Heinz slipped his truncheon into his belt and grabbed hold of Nim’s legs. Helmut grabbed her by the arms and lifted her into the air. Nim kicked and screamed but it was useless. She couldn’t break free, and Nibbles was too injured to help.

  Nim was hauled down the lane. When they reached the corner, the front door of the boot polish factory came into sight. Nim knew she couldn’t go back. If she did, she would never get out. They must have found out about the entrance to the cellar, and there was no other way to escape.

  “Please,” she begged. “Just let me go. I’ll do anything not to go back.”

  Helmut and Heinz laughed.

  “You can’t do anything for us,” they said.

  When her words failed to work, Nim tried to kick and punch the boys instead.

  “Grab your truncheon,” Helmut said to Heinz, “and give her a good whack.”

  Heinz let go of Nim and reached for his truncheon. But it wasn’t there.

  “I must have dropped it,” he said.

  A moment later, the truncheon whacked him on the head.

  Heinz dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. A boy stood behind him.

  “Blink?” Nim said.

  In a flash, Blink whacked Helmut behind the knees. The older boy dropped Nim and fell to the ground.

  “Come on!” Blink said.

  “What about Nibbles?” said Nim. She had left him lying in the alley.

  “Already got him.” Blink reached into the pocket of Otto’s stolen coat and pulled out a very stunned and confused rat. “Now, hurry. We don’t want those two catching up.”

  He grabbed Nim and together they raced off into the night. They were several blocks away when Nim pulled Blink to a stop.

  “We’ve got to go back,” she said, panic rising in her voice. “What if they snatched the others?”

  “What others?” Blink asked.

  “Skid and Roe.” They were the only other tattercoats who had planned to go back to the cellar tonight. The rest had returned to their chimneys. “Come on.”

  Nim dragged Blink back to the factory. They stayed in the shadows as they edged towards the alley. By the light trickling down from Frau Ferber’s study, they could see the lane was empty.

  “Maybe they made it into the cellar,” Nim whispered.

  Though she was scared, Nim knew what she had to do. With a quick glance up at the windows of the factory – no people appeared to be watching – she raced back down the lane. She pulled on the grate. It didn’t move. She pulled again. The grate had been glued shut. If Skid and Roe were inside the cellar, they wouldn’t be able to get back out.

  Nim ran back to Blink. She was just about to tell him the bad news, when Blink cut her off. He didn’t have to say anything. He just pointed up.

  Nim turned around and looked up at Frau Ferber’s factory. The window of the study wasn’t empty any more. They could see four people standing behind the glass: Heinz, Helmut and two children in tatty coats. One coat was far too large and the other was covered in faded suns. Skid and Roe had been snatched.

  “We’ve got to do something,” Nim said. “We have to save them.” This was all her fault. If she hadn’t convinced them to stay in the cellar they never would have been caught.

  “We can’t do anything about it tonight,” Blink said. “They’ll be on the lookout. We’ll come back later. I promise.”

  They left the boot polish factory behind and trudged through the icy streets of the city. Snow was falling for the first time in weeks. It landed softly in their hair as they walked.

  “Thanks for saving me, Blink,” Nim said.

  “I owed you one. I would have died in the coldstorm if you hadn’t let me stay in the factory.”

  The two of them continued to walk through the dark city. Eventually, they reached a road. One way led to Nim’s chimney and the other way led to Blink’s.

  “Can I tell you something?” Blink asked before they went their separate ways.

  Nim didn’t usually listen to anything Blink said. But considering he’d just saved her life she thought it only fair to listen to him tonight.

  “I didn’t do it.”

  “Do what?” Nim asked.

  “Steal Snot’s coat. Well, I didn’t steal it how everyone thinks I did.”

  “Stealing from another tattercoat is never OK,” Nim said. “And stealing a coat of all things, when you already have one of your own, makes it even worse. It’s unforgivable.”

  “Is it still unforgivable if Snot asked me to take it?”

  “What do you mean? Why would Snot have asked you to do that?”

  “That night was the coldest night we’d ever felt. You know Snot had always been sick: coughing and sneezing and rubbing gunk from his nose. But during the coldstorm he was sicker than usual. Remember?”

  Nim thought back to the last time she had seen Snot. It had been two days before he died. He had looked more unwell than normal. His coat had hung off his body, his eyes had been sunken and green snot had dripped from his nose like a tap.

  “What does that have to do with you stealing his coat?”

  “Snot was already sick that night and the cold was making him sicker. He said to me that if he died during the night, he wanted me to take his coat. I told him I wouldn’t do it; he was my best friend. But then it happened. He stopped sniffling and sneezing and shivering beside me. He just stopped all together.

  “I saw Snot freeze to death, Nim. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. He just stopped moving and went cold and blue. I keep having this dream. I dream that Hodeldorf keeps getting colder and colder until one day it’s so cold that all of us end up like Snot: lying frozen and still in the street.”

  Nim shivered. She’d often had a similar dream.

  “I still didn’t want to take his coat,” Blink said. “I didn’t take it for hours. But I was getting colder and colder, and I didn’t want what happened to him to happen to me. I was scared, Nim. I was scared I was going to die. So, I took his coat. And it worked. When the sun rose, Snot was still gone, but I was here.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Nim asked. If he had told the true story, he might never have been kicked out of the tattercoats.

  “I tried,” Blink said. “I tried to tell you all the truth. But no one would listen. You just expelled me and said you’d never speak to me again. Besides, I felt like I’d done the wrong thing too, even though it was what Snot had asked. I was his best friend, Nim. I shouldn’t have taken anything from him. Not even when he was dead.”

  Nim felt sorry for Blink, but she was also confused.

  “That doesn’t explain why you keep stealing coats.”

  “I was thrown out of the tattercoats, so I don’t have to follow the code any more. When I get cold, I steal another coat to keep warm.”

  “I wish you hadn’t stolen Otto’s coat,” Nim said.

  At the mention of Otto, Blink realized the boy was missing.

  “They didn’t snatch him too, did they?”

  Nim shook her head. “He’s gone into the woods to find his mother.” In the past, Nim would have left it at that. Who needed to know the whole truth? But she cared about Otto. And she was too worried to stay silent. She had to tell someone the truth. “He asked me to go with him, but I said no. I was too scared. But I’m still scared, even just staying here. I’m scared that Otto isn’t going to come back. I’m scared he’s going to die like Snot. I’m scared it will be my fault. I’ve broken the code, Blink. A tattercoat was in need, and I didn’t help.”

  Blink thought about what Nim had just said. “Maybe there’s still time. When did he leave?”

  “About an hour ago.”

  Blink smiled. “We’re the
two fastest tattercoats in the city. If anyone can catch up to him, it’s us.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Nim said. She was still scared.

  “Come on, Nim. It’s what a true tattercoat would do. We’ll save him, and then we’ll figure out a way to save Skid and Roe.”

  Nim knew Blink was right. Otto needed her help, and they couldn’t do anything to help Skid and Roe right now. She couldn’t let Otto down. So, instead of going back to her chimney, she followed Blink to the edge of the city.

  21

  THE OLD TREE STUMP

  When Nim and Blink reached the gates of Hodeldorf they stopped. The forest loomed before them. As Nim stared at the giant trees, a fresh wave of fear washed over her. She knew every street in Hodeldorf. She knew which ones were safe to pass through during the day, which ones you could slip along at night and which ones you should never enter at all. In the woods she wouldn’t know anything. This was a very bad idea.

  Before Nim could turn away, Blink pulled her towards the trees. They left the city behind and stepped into the woods. A deep shadow fell over them. Nibbles left Nim’s shoulder and scurried into her pocket.

  The forest was dark and quiet. Trees loomed up around them. All sounds of the city faded away. The branches were so thick they blocked the snow from falling. This place didn’t feel like any place in Hodeldorf. It felt wild and dangerous. While they couldn’t see anyone else, it felt like there were thousands of things all around them, watching silently as these new visitors entered their world.

  Nim and Blink walked deeper into the trees. The city fell out of sight. A worn path led them further into the woods.

  “I guess we should follow the path, right?” Nim said. “If we don’t take a break, maybe we’ll find Otto tonight.”

  “What makes you think he followed the path?” Blink asked. The sun was beginning to set. The purples and oranges of sunset trickled through the branches and fell across the forest floor.

  “Well, I don’t know for sure,” Nim admitted. “But it’s a good place to start.”

  Nim soon realized it was going to be a lot trickier than that. A second path appeared, branching off the first, and then a third twisted off between the trees. Soon, they’d passed over twenty different paths and searched down several of them in the hope of finding her missing friend.

  “Otto?” Nim called for what felt like the hundredth time. “Otto, where are you?”

  “Forget where he is,” Blink said. “What about us? I think we’re lost.”

  “We’ll just have to keep walking,” Nim said. “If we walk for long enough, we’re sure to find something.”

  Two more hours passed. The sun set and the moon rose. Blink pulled a lantern from his bag to light the way. Nim was very glad he’d stolen that. The light shone on the giant trees around them, but cast everything else into shadow. As the lantern swayed in Blink’s hand, the trees seemed to move. The shadows seemed to move as well, as though someone or something was following them.

  Nim and Blink continued to trek through the woods. No matter which way they walked the trees all looked the same, and no matter how loudly they called out his name, Otto never replied. Eventually, Nim noticed a change up ahead. In amongst the large forest trees was an old stump.

  “What are you doing?” Blink asked when Nim sat down on the stump.

  “Taking a break. My legs hurt.”

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Blink said. “Why’s there a tree stump in the middle of the woods?”

  “It was probably cut by one of the woodcutters.”

  Nim had just remembered the woodcutters only felled trees on the edge of the wood, when the stump trembled and rose into the air – all while Nim was still sitting on it.

  “What’s happening?” Nim said as the stump continued to grow.

  “I think it’s magical,” Blink said.

  “Magical things don’t exist,” Nim yelled. By now she was so high she could barely see Blink.

  The stump stopped growing. Nim hoped it would shrink, but as the minutes ticked by the tree stump didn’t move. She was stuck.

  Nim peered down and gulped. She had never been afraid of heights. Once she’d even danced on the Vidlers’ roof when they went out for dinner. But she was now ten times higher than the Vidlers’ roof. If she slipped, she wouldn’t survive the fall.

  If Nim wasn’t scared enough, a crack appeared at the top of the stump. A little green vine began to creep out. It reached across the old wood and wrapped itself around Nim’s shoe. It spun itself around Nim’s foot three times and then began to pull. To Nim’s horror, a small hole appeared in the trunk beneath her feet and began to grow wider. It was like the tree was trying to eat her.

  “Help, Blink!” Nim screamed into the night. “Help! It’s going to eat me!”

  Nim’s screams trickled down to the forest floor. Blink couldn’t see what was happening but knew it wasn’t good. He searched his bag for something that would help. He couldn’t find anything in there, but he did own something else.

  For years Blink had stolen coats. Now he might have a use for them. He took off his coats and laid them on the ground. As each one fell away, cold leached into his bones.

  Blink had taken so many coats he couldn’t remember most of the steals. But he could recall the thrill of getting his hands on the finest green coat he had ever seen; the shame and sadness and desperation of taking Snot’s coat; and the pride he had felt when he stole his first one many years ago and was welcomed into the tattercoats.

  Blink wouldn’t survive without a coat. So he kept the newest and warmest one – Otto’s emerald green one – and used a small knife to cut the other coats into strips. He started tying the strips together, and when he was finished, he had a rope made of broken coats.

  “Don’t worry, Nim!” he called up to the girl trapped in the night sky. She had been screaming this whole time. “You’ll be down soon.”

  “Hurry!” Nim yelled.

  Blink held one end of the rope and threw the other into the sky. It rose halfway up the stump before falling back down. He threw it up again, but it failed to reach Nim. He realized he couldn’t do this on his own. Luckily, someone came to help.

  Using the bark for grip, Nibbles scurried down the trunk. He grabbed one end of the rope in his teeth and jumped back on to the stump. Weighed down by the coats, he slowly climbed back up to Nim, then wrapped the coats around the top and threaded them together. He nuzzled into Nim’s neck for a moment, as if telling her it would be OK, and dived back into her pocket.

  By now the vine had wrapped itself halfway up Nim’s leg, and the hole in the trunk was large enough for her to fall through. She used her hands to rip apart the vine. But each time she tore a strand away, another would take its place.

  Realizing Nim needed help, Nibbles left her pocket and began to nibble at the vines. Together, they were able to cut the plant so quickly the vines didn’t have time to grow back.

  Nibbles dived back into Nim’s pocket and with shaky hands, Nim grabbed the rope. She lowered herself over the edge and slowly began to climb down. Very carefully at first, but then a little quicker as her confidence grew, Nim edged down the giant tree stump, and less than two minutes after leaving the top, she was at the bottom.

  The moment Nim’s feet touched the ground, the tree stump shrank, and within five seconds, it looked as small and innocent as it had when they had first seen it.

  “I told you I had a bad feeling about it,” Blink said as he untied the rope of coats and stuffed the strips in his bag. “And I told you it was magical.”

  “It was very odd,” Nim admitted. “But that doesn’t mean it was magical. It’s probably just a rare type of tree.”

  “A rare type of tree that’s magical,” Blink said, emphasizing the final word.

  While Nim refused to agree on that point, she did agree to something else. “It might not have been the smartest thing to do. But it did have one positive. I could see all the way across the woods from u
p there. There’s a clearing nearby. Hopefully we’ll be safe there tonight.”

  And with that, they set off in the direction Nim had spotted.

  22

  THE YELLOW COTTAGE

  Darkness lay thick upon the forest by the time Nim and Blink reached the clearing in the woods. The moon lit up a bright yellow cottage in its centre. Nim hadn’t seen it from above, but she was very glad to see it now. Puffs of friendly smoke rose from a chimney on the roof.

  “We could sleep next to that tonight,” Nim said.

  A white fence ran around the cottage. They opened the gate and tiptoed over to a window. Blink had just stepped on to the windowsill and was about to climb on to the roof when the door to the cottage opened.

  “Who’s there?” said an old lady. Her face was twisted like an ancient tree. Her body was too: her back was bent, and her fingers were so swollen they could barely clutch her walking stick. A coat, at least three sizes too large, kept her warm.

  “Err…” Blink jumped down from the windowsill. “We were just, um…” He looked to Nim for help.

  “Looking for a place to sleep,” Nim said truthfully. “We were going to sleep on your roof, if that’s OK. We’ll be very quiet, and we’ll leave at dawn. You won’t even know we’re here.”

  “Of course you can’t sleep on my roof,” the woman snapped. “I’d never let a child sleep outside at night. It’s dangerous. You can sleep in here with me. The fire’s nice and warm tonight.”

  Nim’s eyes lit up. She’d never been allowed to sleep beside a fire before. She peered behind the old lady. The cottage looked warm and bright. A fire blazed in one corner and colourful rugs covered the dirt floor. They would be a lot more comfortable to sleep on than roof tiles. She began walking towards the front door, but Blink pulled her back.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Blink whispered. “Just like I had with the tree stump. I think we should go.”

  “Oh, boohoo,” the old woman said to Blink with a scowl. She must have overheard him. “You’re no fun at all!” She turned to Nim and smiled. Most of her teeth were rotten. “What harm is there in staying here for one night? There are two of you and only one of me. You are young and strong. I am old and weak. Come to think of it, I should be the one more scared of you. Best be keeping on your way.”