Xinder Rises Read online

  Fitzpatrick chuckled. Two years ago, he’d found a dead rodent by the river and hid it in Olivia’s games bag. He waited. And every day he waited, getting more and more excited about the slowly decomposing rat. For the best part of a week, while everyone wondered what the terrible smell was, he waited. Then, on the afternoon of the school cross-country run, as Olivia put on her tracksuit bottoms, out plopped the remains, maggots spraying over her things like discarded rice.

  Dynamite.

  Danny sighed. ‘Look, Fitzy, if it means that much to you, I’ll do it, but only if you swear, on your life that you won’t do any more harmful, stupid, bullying things to Olivia, Sas, or Anika.’

  Fitzpatrick stuck out his jaw and moved it from side to side contemplating Danny’s request. At last, he nodded and said, ‘OK, I agree. But it ends when she gets me into detention again.’

  Danny nodded.

  ‘Come on then,’ Fitzpatrick said, ‘you say it first.’

  ‘Do I have to? I’m not five.’

  ‘Yeah, course you do – if you want me to do the same.’

  Danny rolled his eyes. ‘I swear, on my life, that I won’t tell anyone that you dropped the stupid barometer out of the window. Satisfied.’

  Fitzpatrick nodded. ‘Easy, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Now you do it!’

  Fitzpatrick looked him in the eye. ‘I swear on my life not to harm your sisters, and not to play any more silly tricks on them. There, that good enough?’

  ‘I suppose.’

  Fitzpatrick’s tone changed and he ushered Danny aside. ‘Look, sorry, Dan. You don’t have to say it ... I know, I know,’ he said putting his hands in the air. ‘I’ve been one massive tosser.’

  ‘You’re telling me!’ Danny replied. ‘Why, Fitzy? Why do you do it?’

  Fitzpatrick shrugged. ‘Dunno. Boredom. Can’t seem to help myself when I see your sisters—’

  ‘Look out!’ Jackson said, as he ran back into the classroom. ‘Steele’s on his way.’

  ‘Come on! Out of the window!’ Fitzpatrick said.

  They ran to the window and pulled up the blind.

  Olivia, Sas and Mrs Pike stared up at them.

  ‘Drat,’ Fitzpatrick said, under his breath. He smiled pleasantly back at them.

  ‘Fitzpatrick and Danny Delaux,’ the old teacher hollered. ‘Who would have guessed? What can you tell me about the mess down here?’

  Fitzpatrick opened the window. ‘Hello, Miss. Is there a problem?’

  ‘You know perfectly well there is!’

  ‘Sorry. I don’t what you’re talking about, Miss?’

  ‘This debris, here,’ Mrs Pike shrieked, pointing at the concrete.

  Fitzpatrick peered like a sailor looking down from deck, a quizzical expression etched on his brow. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ he replied. ‘Window’s been closed all along, hasn’t it boys?’ He shrugged. ‘What is it?’

  Olivia shrieked. ‘Fitzpatrick, you know perfectly well what it is!’

  ‘Glass?’ he offered. ‘A smashed Coke bottle perhaps?’

  ‘No, Fitzpatrick, it was Olivia’s barometer.’

  ‘A bar-hom-tier,’ Fitzpatrick repeated, thickly. ‘What on earth is that?’

  ‘Danny, did you see Fitzpatrick with it earlier?’ the teacher hollered.

  Danny stared at the floor.

  ‘Tell me, what happened?’

  ‘Dunno,’ Danny said, running a hand through his hair.

  ‘Danny, what do you mean, you "dunno"?’

  ‘Dunno,’ Danny said again, reddening.

  Fitzpatrick looked straight into Mrs Pike’s eyes. ‘Honestly, there’s been no one around. We’ve been chatting about fishing, life, and situation comedy—’

  ‘Great!’ Olivia stormed, addressing Danny. ‘Fitzpatrick’s made you swear not to tell or something childish like that, hasn’t he? You, Fitzpatrick,’ she said pointing at him, ‘you were the last person to have it. It must have been you.’

  ‘Then prove it,’ Fitzpatrick said, thrusting out his jaw.

  ‘I shouldn’t have to,’ she pleaded. ‘Danny, all you have to do is tell us what happened—’

  Danny shook his head.

  ‘Expel him!’ Olivia shouted pointing at Fitzpatrick.

  ‘But I haven’t done anything—’

  Olivia stamped her foot. ‘YES YOU HAVE.’

  ‘PROVE IT!’ he yelled back.

  ‘You had it last! I saw it in your hands, admit it—’

  ‘NO! Innocent until proven guilty—’

  ‘I DID IT!’ Danny yelled, his voice cutting above theirs. ‘It was me.’

  The school bell chimed, the echo circling around their heads.

  ‘You?’ Olivia quizzed.

  ‘Danny?’ Mr Steele said.

  ‘Delaux?’ said Mrs Pike.

  ‘Yes,’ Danny sighed. ‘I was fed up with you two always getting at each other, so I thought I’d, you know…’ He bowed his head.

  Olivia looked from one to the other. ‘Oh great! You two have done a deal or something, haven’t you?’

  3

  Xinder, Wednesday

  With a swish of his hand, Xinder brushed off the top of the raised puddle. He had no idea if the boy stuck in the puddle beneath him could hear. But he liked to talk, nonetheless, for there was no one else; aside from his man-servant, Schmerger, and Schmerger’s strange, elven-like kind.

  ‘So, child, if I am not able to use force, how shall a union with a human be done?’ he said. ‘In another time, I would have snapped off a finger or two, or pressed hot oil into orifices, and, yes, they would beg to do my bidding. But, now, if I am to find a person to join me, they must wish to do it with their whole heart.’

  Xinder tapped his cane on a cobble, thinking out loud. ‘If these children are indeed the Sacrum as Guda claims, then how must they feel? Afraid? Fearful? Confused, possibly?’

  Xinder jumped up.

  ‘The prophecy! The First Dream! I must recall every detail,’ he said. ‘How did it go? If my memory still serves me, the dream states that they must solve three riddles in order to find three egg-stones. And these stones hold the clues to the one key of Genartus.’ Xinder floated onto his back, thinking. ‘They have one chance and all must survive. If they fail, Earth is destroyed and,’ Xinder smiled, ‘Halaria awakens.’

  Xinder shot into the air startling a bird.

  ‘Infants such as these Sacrum could never do it. Never!’

  Xinder clasped his hands and returned to the ground.

  I suspect that that boy, Xinder thought, has an overwhelming desire to put the images he’s seen in his dreams as far out of his mind as he possibly can.

  ‘It is quite simple,’ he said out loud. ‘To secure the boy, I must take away his greatest fear.’

  Xinder grinned.

  Love and fear, he thought, as the idea formed. The two greatest weapons of manipulation known to mankind. And I do believe I know where his fears lie.

  Olivia

  ‘You must think I’m a fool, Dan. It’s perfectly clear that Fitzpatrick put you up to this.’ Her tone softened. ‘Didn’t he?’

  Danny kept his eyes down.

  She sighed. ‘Have it your own way, Danny. I just don’t understand how you can be friends with him. I just wish you’d been honest with me, Dan. That’s what really hurts.’

  ‘I’m sorry about your experiment,’ he said, raising his eyes.

  Olivia pressed her lips together. ‘Don’t be. It kept bottoming out. Actually, I’ve researched a better idea. I’m going to make a Fitzroy storm glass.’

  ‘A Fitz glass?’

  ‘No, a Fitz-ROY storm glass. It’s a brilliant bit of kit, a kind of old-fashioned weather gauge, and, as a punishment for your behaviour, you can help me make it.’

  Danny smiled. ‘Why the craze about weather stuff?’

  ‘Well, if you must know,’ she said, ‘there’s a curious weather system developing. She hesitated a little. ‘This may sound a bit strang
e, but Sas and I have had a premonition; a dream about torrential rain, flooding, that kind of thing.’

  Danny reeled, and put a hand out to steady himself. ‘You’re always saying how unscientific things like dreams are, and that therefore they’re irrelevant—’

  ‘Nevertheless,’ she said, curtly, ‘dreams are viable mechanisms of the brain, Danny.’

  Danny cleared his throat. ‘Livi, do you dream a lot?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I never dream, well, not until recently. But I’ve got an intensely strong feeling about this one. So, I reckon there’s no harm in trying to find out if there’s any scientific substance to it.’

  Danny scratched his head and wondered if he should mention his appalling dreams, and Anika’s shouting in the middle of the night. Instead, he heard himself asking, ‘How does this Fitzglass-thing work?’

  ‘It shows what’s going to happen to the weather through the liquid in the glass. A reflection of what’s going on outside, I think. So, if the liquid is clear, the weather will be clear. If small crystals form, then snow is on its way—’

  ‘And if there’s a storm…?’ Danny asked.

  ‘When a thunderstorm is coming, the liquid should be cloudy with small star-like crystals in it, and so on.’

  ‘Nice.’

  ‘First, I’ll need a few ingredients – and this, bro, is where you come in.’

  Danny nodded.

  ‘First, go and bat your eyelids at Mrs Culver. Ask for ten grams of camphor; she’ll have some for food flavouring. Tell her you need some in Chemistry to show how a compound can burn without leaving an ash residue. If she starts asking questions, mention oxygen in a scientifically related question. For some reason, Mrs Culver can’t bear the word "oxygen".

  ‘Then, go and find Mr Pike in the Maintenance Department. Ask him for distilled water. Fill a large, plastic bottle if you can; he keeps some for his forklift batteries.’

  Olivia scratched her forehead thoughtfully, making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. ‘Have you got that? Camphor and distilled water. I’ll find some ethanol and the other bits from Chemistry later on. Shouldn’t be too difficult,’ she added, almost as a reminder to herself.

  ‘Where shall we meet?’ he said.

  Olivia smiled. ‘The science labs are free straight after lunch. One thirty. I’ll see you there.’

  Fitzpatrick

  When Danny arrived, Olivia was talking animatedly to Sas. They reminded Danny of nurses in an operating theatre.

  Sas threw a lab coat at Danny. ‘Gotta look like you mean it, Danny,’ she said.

  Danny handed over the camphor and Sas filled a beaker with distilled water, which she began to heat.

  In silence, as Danny and Sas looked on, Olivia added each component until the beaker was half full. The ethanol and camphor were poured in last. When these had dissolved, Olivia asked Danny to find a large test tube sealed with a stopper. She exchanged the liquid into the test tube and filled it almost to the top, and capped it off.

  Danny put the test tube upright in a holding device on the desk.

  ‘Danny,’ Olivia said. ‘Wash those beakers while we put everything away.’

  Danny headed to the far corner of the laboratory, but, just as he was about to place the beaker in the sink, the door swung open.

  Instinctively, Danny ducked under the table.

  ‘Aha! There you are,’ Fitzpatrick said, with big smile. ‘Been looking all over for you girls.’

  ‘GO AWAY!’ they shouted.

  ‘Whoa! Calm down. I’ve come to apologise.’ He looked down at the desk. ‘What’s all this then? Doing some illegal experiments, are we? That’s terribly exciting. Creating a bomb or some poisons or a wee bit of chemical warfare—’

  ‘It’s none of your business, Fitzpatrick. Leave us alone.’

  ‘Biological warfare?’

  ‘SOD OFF, Fitzy!’

  ‘Mustard gas? Come on, I’m offering an olive branch. I am sorry about earlier. Got a little out of hand, didn’t it? Actually, have either of you seen Danny?’

  Olivia caught Danny staring at her from behind one of the desks, out of Fitzpatrick’s eye line, and shaking his head vigorously.

  ‘Er, no. Sorry. No idea,’ she said, brushing an imaginary speck off her lab coat.

  Fitzpatrick regarded her suspiciously before his eyes moved to the test tube on the desk.

  ‘This is your experiment, is it? A test tube full of cloudy potions. Cor. Brilliant.’

  ‘Thanks for your interest, Fitzpatrick,’ Sas said, in the most condescending manner she could. ‘But, to be honest, this is a very dull investigation we’re doing, dealing with the creation of crystals using camphor, ethanol, distilled water, and a couple of other things you probably wouldn’t understand.’

  But Fitzpatrick was like a dog chasing after a scent, and his tone changed. ‘So, if it’s so boring, why are you doing it in lunch break?’

  ‘As I said, Fitzpatrick, it’s a simple experiment—’

  ‘I don’t believe you.’ He stepped closer. ‘It doesn’t add up.’

  ‘Please, go away, and leave us alone,’ Olivia said, as sweetly as she could, remembering Danny’s advice.

  Her words fell on deaf ears. ‘Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing?’ Fitzpatrick quizzed.

  ‘Why should we?’ Olivia snapped.

  Fitzpatrick smiled back. ‘Cos, otherwise I’ll smash it—’

  ‘You wouldn’t dare.’ Olivia lunged for the test tube, but Fitzpatrick was too quick.

  ‘Give it back, immediately!’

  ‘No way. Come on, what’s in it?’ he said, inspecting it. ‘A lethal poison, a nerve agent, a deadly virus—’

  ‘Don’t be stupid.’

  ‘From where I’m standing, I’m not the one being stupid,’ he said.

  Olivia huffed. ‘If you must know, it’s a Fitzroy storm glass—’

  ‘Well, well, well,’ Fitzpatrick said, slowly. ‘You’re not still going on about this bleeding storm? When will you two grow up and do what everyone else does?’ He shook his head. ‘Watch the weather forecast on this thing called the telly. Oh, hang on, don’t tell me; you’re so far up in the hills that you haven’t got one!’

  ‘Of course we do,’ Olivia raged.

  Fitzpatrick raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure I believe you. Thing is, you Delauxs are so backwards I wouldn’t be surprised if your mum has to shave Neolithic hair off her body. We’d never know, though, because she seems to have disowned you.’ He cocked an eye at Olivia’s puce face. ‘And that old woman who looks after you, with whiskers coming out of her face like a cat!’ He opened his eyes wide theatrically. ‘Hey! I know exactly what you should make,’ he paused, holding the test-tube in front of his eyes. ‘A potion for hair removal! You’ve got customers in your very own home!’

  Fitzpatrick brushed aside Olivia’s howls. ‘Now, clever clogs, let me fill you in. Last night the man on the TELLY,’ he said in a deliberately loud voice. ‘He said that there might be a storm over the next couple of days, but not a big one, and certainly NOT one with WHITE WATER RAFTING.’

  Fitzpatrick marched to the corner of the room, near to where Danny was hiding under the table.

  Olivia gasped lightly.

  ‘I tell you what,’ Fitzpatrick continued, ‘I’m going to do you a favour, and put you out of this ridiculous weather fixation once and for all. I’m going to spin this tube thing like a spinning top. You do know what that is, don’t you? By the time you get over here, it’ll either be in bits on the floor, or, by some miracle, you may have grabbed it. But, if and when this happens, I’ll be long gone out of the door. Then you can go and do what everyone else does, and watch the weather forecast on the box.’ He grinned. ‘You’ll find it comes directly after the news.’

  Fitzpatrick, with the test-tube in the palms of his hands, drew them quickly apart. The tube spun fast and straight, and, while everyone in the room momentarily fixated upon it, Fitzpatrick strode through the door, turning th
e lights off after him.

  The sound of the latch clicking seemed to accentuate the wobbling of the glass. Instantly, the girls rushed over in near darkness, but, in their haste, they careered into the lab furniture. The noise of scraping chairs and upturned tables filled the room.

  As the crashing receded, the test tube wobbled to its conclusion, followed, moments later, by the tinkling sound of breaking glass.

  Luna

  The large Animais studied each of her delicate, long, slender fingers one by one, as if paying homage to them for their service. For the first time she noted the wear and tear; the way so many fingers had turned grey when once they were bright white. She noticed how her slender slithers of knuckles and joints were now worn down to thin, hardened bone.

  As Luna seamlessly morphed each finger from a pincer, to a needle, then back to a long finger again, a deep sense of foreboding filled her.

  What if these Sacrum do not understand?

  She shivered at the possibility. Putting the thought aside, she sent vibrations from her rapidly moving fingers to the waiting Animais, the Elders of the Animais population: Sola, Juno, and Guda.

  ‘The First Dream comes with a gift for each Sacrum,’ Luna said, as she dipped three long fingers into her infiniti and withdrew some microscopic granules, studying the ends. ‘These gifts are physical talents designed to assist each one to whom the prophecy has been given. They are known as the Gifts of Genartus.’

  ‘Then the stories are true,’ Sola vibrated.

  ‘Yes. These crystals were passed to me by my mother, as once they were handed to her. If the Sacrum succeed in the tasks set before them they will open the planet of Genartus to life once more,’ she said. ‘Dream powders will be replenished. Wondrous times may begin afresh for all life.’

  A strong vibration cut through the air.

  ‘Why do we meddle?’ Guda said, his fingers moving quickly. ‘If you had not spun the First Dream, who is to say that life would not have continued just as before. Besides, the First Dream has been given to Sacrum who are but children of man. They are not equipped to tackle what lies ahead; the storm alone will tear them to pieces—’