The Amphiblets (13 page)

As the two of them stepped on to the landing, Peter and Scarlet were climbing the stairs.

‘And where do you think you’re going?’ asked Scarlet, raising her eyebrows at Ruby and Will. ‘I thought I told you to remain in your bedroom.’

‘To the toilet!’ they both blurted.

‘What? Together?’ said Scarlet, giving Ruby a warning glance as if to say ‘Don’t you dare talk back to me!’

Ruby watched as Will and Peter went downstairs together.

‘Come with me,’ said her mum. ‘I’ve got some things to tell you.’ She put an arm around her daughter and led her to her bedroom.

Will’s mind was racing. What was going on? Why wasn’t Ruby allowed to be with him? What had happened? Who was the stranger?

Peter faced Will, close to the living room door. ‘This is going to come as a bit of a shock to you. Someone has come here to see you. He’s come a long way and is extremely tired.’

‘Who is it?’ asked Will in a whisper, as he wondered who was on the other side of the door.

‘Hugo.’

‘Hugo’s here?’ gasped Will in surprise. ‘He’s here?’ His face broadened into a smile and his body began to shake. Peter held his shoulders more firmly.

‘You don’t have to do this,’ he said.

‘But I want to!’ said Will. ‘I can’t believe it!’ He bit his lip and took a deep breath. ‘Can I go in by myself?’

Peter nodded. ‘Sure. I’ll be waiting here if you want me’ He tapped Will’s shoulder.

Will opened the door to the living room, wondering how Hugo had found him. Had the Professor told him the truth? Hugo was standing with tears in his eyes. Will leapt towards him and Hugo embraced the youngster, lifted him off the floor, and swung him around, knocking Will’s feet against the table lamp and toppling it to the floor.

‘Will!’

‘Hugo! You found me!’ squealed Will in delight. ‘You look so tired.

‘I’ve been walking for days.’

‘Have you slept at all?’

‘No, I was too scared.’

‘You can stay here tonight. Dad and Scarlet won’t mind.’

‘Is Peter your dad now?’

Will nodded. ‘I’ve been living with him for eight years now. You know the Professor sold me, don’t you? He was never my real dad.’

‘I didn’t know that.’ Hugo frowned. ‘But I know he lied to me! I knew you were still alive.’

‘How?’

‘I heard him talking to someone on the telephone a few days after you had gone. He mentioned a place called Pondweed Manor, and I’ve been searching for this place ever since. But I can’t read or write, you see, so it hasn’t been easy.’

‘I’m glad you found me,’ said Will, his face burning with the memory. ‘Although I’ll never forgive the Professor, he did do me a favour. Peter became my dad and later married Scarlet who became my mum. I’ve got a sister too, called Ruby. You’ll like her. Are my brothers okay?’

‘They’re fine,’ said Hugo. ‘But it’s not been the same ever since you left.’

‘I didn’t want to leave,’ said Will. ‘I was drugged and brought here.’

‘Why didn’t you ever come back?’ asked Hugo.

‘The Professor told Peter he would kill me if I ever returned home. I did go back once, after a few weeks, but you had moved.’

‘He said he moved because there were too many memories of you in the home.’

Will laughed bitterly. ‘No. He moved so I would never find you – that’s the truth. He left a note telling Peter he suspected he would bring me back to see you all again. He couldn’t risk it.’

‘The Professor lied to me!’ Hugo sat and covered his face in his hands. ‘He lied to us all!’

‘Yes, he did. He’s very good at lying. We all believed he was our father and had no reason to doubt it. How are my brothers? What do they look like now?’

Hugo pulled a wallet from his pocket and passed it to Will. Inside there were many photographs of his brothers. Will studied each one carefully. Over the years, his brothers had grown as he had but Will still recognised them. Riley was a good three inches taller than Ed with the same dark hair and eyes, whereas Ed still looked like Will, with blond hair and blue eyes, though his face was narrower and his smile wasn’t so wide or mischievous.

Will repeatedly flicked through the photos, placing the one showing the Professor to one side. He didn’t want to see that man ever again. As if reading his mind, Hugo grabbed hold of the picture, tore it in half and threw it on the fire, as Peter entered the room carrying two steaming drinks on a tray.

‘Hot chocolate with cream on top!’ said Will. ‘I only have this on special occasions.’

‘Today is a special occasion. Tomorrow we’ll take Hugo back to see your brothers. Hopefully, the Professor will still be away and we can bring them back here to stay.’

‘Really?’ Will was so excited he wrapped his arms around Peter as soon as he had put down the tray of drinks. ‘You’re the best dad ever!’

Will woke very early the next day. He had been too excited to sleep properly. His dreams had been full of attempts to visit his brothers that always ended in failure. To make matters worse, Hugo was still sleeping at nine o’clock the next morning when everyone else was awake.

‘You didn’t drug him, did you?’ asked Will at the breakfast table, picking at his omelette with his knife and fork and cutting it into tiny pieces.

Peter spat his drink in surprise. ‘I certainly did not!’

‘Hugo has been walking non-stop for days with hardly any sleep,’ Scarlet reminded him. ‘You must understand that he’s in a terrible state. He hardly drank or ate anything on his journey. He was lucky he arrived here at all. I’m sure it won’t be long before he wakes and when he does he can have something to eat before we leave. But we certainly aren’t going to wake him before he’s ready.’

Ruby ate her breakfast quietly, studying Will out of the corner of her eye. She had the feeling that everything was going to change soon and she didn’t like it. She had grown used to having Will as a brother, she didn’t want to share him with anyone else. But she knew she had no choice and soon, whether she liked it or not, changes were going to happen.

Will spent the morning sitting by Hugo’s bedroom, waiting for him to stop snoring, which he didn’t. And for the rest of the day, Will grew grumpier and grumpier. Everyone kept out of his way for he was in a foul mood. He had wanted to see his brothers so desperately and the only thing that was stopping him was Hugo. He knew the giant needed some rest but why couldn’t he sleep on the journey? It wasn’t fair.

At one point, Ruby came along the corridor and paused.

‘He’s still asleep then?’ she commented.

‘What do you think?’ snapped Will.

‘That was a great impression of a crocodile.’ Ruby placed her hand on her hip. ‘And by the way, that sort of attitude won’t win you many friends.’

‘I have all the friends I need,’ snarled Will, gritting his teeth.

‘Do you want to come for a swim? Peter’s going to get the horses ready.’

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ said Will. ‘Hugo will wake soon. I know he will.’

Ruby approached the door and stuck her head through it. A few seconds later, she emerged once again. ‘He could be there all day after what he’s been through.’

‘What do you know?’ snapped Will once more, hugging his knees and squeezing himself into a ball.

‘Just trying to help, grumpy pants! Can’t you see that doing something – anything - than has got to be better than sitting here growing roots!’ she snapped and stormed off a few feet before disappearing through the floor.

‘Go away and leave me alone!’ shouted Will.

‘I will!’ screamed Ruby from downstairs.

‘Good!’ shouted Will.

‘Good!’ screamed Ruby.

Soon the afternoon had passed and the sun was setting and Hugo was still asleep. Ruby smiled as she sauntered past Will, who was still slumped in the corridor, with his cheeks rested on his fists.

‘Had a good day, then, sitting here on your own and being boring?’ she asked.

Will snarled and tried to trip her but her legs passed straight through his own.

‘Grow up, Will!’ she muttered and slammed the door to her bedroom.

‘No! You grow up!’ Knowing it was too late to go anywhere now, Will stomped off to his bedroom in a huff and slammed his bedroom door. That evening he refused his evening meal and went to bed in a worse mood than ever.

The following day Will woke as usual to the sound of voices. He dragged himself out of bed, feeling rough after another sleepless night. He peered through the window; on the lawn he saw Ruby and Hugo playing a game of tag. They were laughing and Will felt a pang of jealousy towards Ruby. Hugo was his friend – not hers!  Then, as if realising something, he glanced at the clock. It was late morning. He had overslept! He hurriedly dressed, feeling somewhat foolish after his impatience with Hugo the day before.

Shanks was sleeping in the hall but immediately sprung to his feet when he heard Will. But Will had no time for Shanks that morning, and leapt high over the dog (to its bewilderment) as he sped to where Peter and Scarlet were watching Ruby and Hugo.

‘Good morning, Will,’ greeted Scarlet. ‘It’s not like you to oversleep,’

Will blushed and said nothing apart from the usual morning greeting. He dashed to where Ruby was playing with Hugo.

‘Hi, Hugo!’ beamed Will, who then bashfully uttered a quick hello to Ruby, who was standing with her arms crossed and staring hard at him.

‘After yesterday, I think I deserve an apology,’ she said.

‘Yeah, sorry,’ apologised Will, turning to Hugo. ‘You slept all day yesterday.’

‘Did I? I can’t remember,’ smiled Hugo. ‘I must have been asleep.’

Ruby and Will exchanged a knowing glance and laughed. Hugo smiled.

‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ asked Scarlet. ‘Are we ready to go or not?’

‘But Will hasn’t had his breakfast yet,’ Ruby reminded her.

‘Good job I made him a snack for the journey then,’ said Scarlet.

Ten minutes later, Robert was waving to them and holding firmly on to Shanks. Hugo sat in the front of the jeep beside Peter to give him enough legroom, whilst Ruby sat between Scarlet and Will.

It was a jolly journey; everyone was singing. Both Peter and Will wore their sunglasses and gloves. Hugo showed them a map he had taken from his house before he had left and on which he had their destination, which was a four-hour journey away.

Will grew increasingly talkative as his excitement mounted. He was a completely different person to the one he had been the day before and Ruby was definitely pleased by the transformation. She hated it when she and Will argued. They were the same age and had a lot in common. As well as being brother and sister they were also become best friends, which is why she was anxious to meet Will’s two brothers again. He wouldn’t need her any more, not when he had his brothers in his life again. Throughout the journey, her mother would squeeze her hand as if knowing how she felt, in an attempt to reassure her daughter.

They arrived at Hugo’s home at 3.00 o’clock. Will was the first to exit the car but felt reluctant to knock on the door. After what had happened last time, he didn’t want to repeat the experience. So he stayed by the car, watching Hugo dislodge a brick from the wall of the house and retrieve a key. Seconds later, the door was opened. Will hung back, afraid to step closer – afraid of disappointment.

Scarlet and Ruby remained in the car while Peter accompanied Hugo inside. The floor of the house was covered in a thick layer of dirt, but that wasn’t what made Hugo stop dead in his tracks. No, it was the fact that his house appeared to have been struck by a tornado that had swept up every piece of furniture and thrown it across to the other side of the room. Hugo stared in disbelief, with his jaw hanging.

‘What’s happened in here?’ he whispered. ‘Riley? Ed? Are you here?’

There was no answer. This time Peter tried instead.

‘Riley!’ he called loudly. ‘Ed!’

But still there was no answer. Peter was worried. He stepped forward. Wooden tables and shelves lay splintered on the floor. Books had been ripped open and torn to shreds. The chairs and sofas were ripped as if several dogs had attacked them. Claw and teeth marks could be seen on the wooden furniture and doors. As they proceeded further into the house they could see that the back door had been smashed in and was lying on the ground, having been torn from its hinges. A pane of glass in the door had been broken and there was blood around it. There were no other sounds to be heard. An atmosphere of foreboding permeated the house, created by whatever had broken in and caused all this damage.

‘Where could the boys be?’ asked Peter.

‘In the tree house?’ said Hugo, shrugging his shoulders.

‘Let’s go back and tell the others what we’ve found. They could be in danger,’ said Peter, leading the way. ‘We should all stick together.’

Half an hour later, after Ruby and Scarlet had checked the other rooms, they knew that the boys were definitely not hiding in the house. However, on entering the locked attic they had come across disturbing evidence that the Professor was experimenting again – elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Peter and Hugo were in the kitchen waiting for news that the house was empty of danger, of whatever kind. The news that Scarlet had for them certainly wasn’t what they had expected to hear.

‘Here look at this!’ Scarlet passed several pieces of paper to Peter. ‘Professor Snipes has left numerous scraps of information and sketches of an infant. But is that a monkey? Or is it a baby?’

‘Oh, no! He’s done it again,’ mumbled Peter. ‘He’s created another new species. He’s mixed a human DNA with that of a monkey. He’s got to be stopped!’

Will peered over his shoulder and frowned. The baby was cute. There was something else too. Something not so obvious to anyone else but Will spotted it straightaway. The baby had huge, sad blue eyes.

Despite looking everywhere for the boys, the four found every possible hiding place vacant. Everyone was fretful. What had happened to Ed and Riley? Were they hurt? Feeling despondent, Will sat on the front doorstep, kicking at the dirt on the ground.

Feeling helpless, Peter made the decision to return home and wait for any further news.

‘But we can’t go!’ cried Will, his hands forming into fists. ‘Not until we find them.’

‘We have no choice. Something or someone has ripped this house to shreds and could possibly come back tonight. I don’t want to risk anyone getting hurt. We’ll go home and leave a note with our phone number on it.’

Will protested several more times but to no avail. Peter’s decision was final. If only Hugo hadn’t eaten so much for breakfast he might have been inclined to peer into the bread bin. But he wasn’t hungry, so he didn’t look.