Invitation to a Stranger (12 page)

 

There had been of weeks of heavy rain and then suddenly it felt like spring. The warmth in the sun pulled all the bulbs into flower. The shrubs and the fruit trees all had blossom on them.

Ronnie wasn't sleeping well. Her mother and father were getting worried and talking about post-traumatic stress and that she should see a counsellor, but Ronnie refused.

“It doesn't feel right,” she had confided to Katie and Jasmine. “I keep having nightmares that I can hear someone creeping around, and the rustle of oversize bat wings.”

“That sounds like post-traumatic stress,” Katie said. “We did go through a bad time believing that the Demento mob were vampires.”

“I still am not sure,” Jasmine said. “My grandmother believes that the family were vampires.”

“I think they might have used the fluids taken from living bodies to survive on,” Ronnie said. She had heard odd whispers from what Jasmine had heard from her Dad about the biology of stuff in that laboratory. “But that doesn't make them vampires.”

“Only to our collective subconscious,” Katie said.

“So anyway I don't know if my nightmares are some sort of warning,” Ronnie explained.

“The Dementos are well gone, and their kinfolk won't be welcomed in our district again,” Katie said. “Everyone in the district would immediately know what's happening if any kids, animals or adults go missing again.”

“That's what Drake keeps saying, but I still have nightmares,” Ronnie complained.

It was after school one Friday. Life had a feeling of freedom to it with the free weekend in front of them. Katie, Jasmine and Ronnie were up in the tree house having donuts for afternoon tea.

“I'm starting to miss your mother's cooking,” Jasmine said. “Anything happening with Jamie and Herbie?”

“Just the same,” Ronnie reported. “Mum spends all her time in the hospital nagging them to try something else. At least they're not on the intravenous drips anymore.”

“Starting to get dark,” Jasmine said. “Grandmother is still funny if I get home after dark.”

“The days are lengthening out, but it must be about dinnertime,” Katie agreed.

They were moving over to the rope ladder, when a voice stopped them.

“Three white mice,” it whispered in the penetrating way they all remembered. “Invite us on to your property.”

Katie and Jasmine had expressions of horror on their faces. It was either Jeraine or Brod waiting in the next tree, or even both of them. Ronnie recovered first, clutching for her mobile phone, which she belatedly remembered was down in the study being recharged.

“No invitation to any of our properties is issued to Brod or Jeraine. Go away before we call the cops.” Katie the quickest-witted, had answered.

“A bargain I have for you, three little white mice,” the whisper came. “Invite us on to your property and we will wake the two boys from their child-time sleep.”

“And what else do you bargain for, Brod or Jeraine?” Katie whispered back.

“Two lives for one life. Give me the unsuccessful son and we will rouse the two boys.”

The unsuccessful son. That was Drake, Ronnie thought. Why did the other two boys want him, and for what?

“The answer is no,” Jasmine said.

“The answer is no,” Katie said.

“You have something to reverse what has happened to the two boys?” Ronnie asked.

In the rapidly deepening dusk, the other two girls turned horrified eyes on to Ronnie. Ronnie looked at them, shame-faced. She didn't want to use Drake's life as a bargaining tool but what about Jamie and Herbie?

“For an invitation on to your property, little white mouse,” the voice whispered. “What is your decision?”

 

“Come back tomorrow night, Brod or Jeraine or whoever,” Katie ordered. “We will give a decision then.”

She pushed Ronnie towards the ladder. Ronnie shook herself, swung over and clambered down, the other two girls after her. Once down they hurried into the house.

“What are you thinking of?” Katie snarled at Ronnie as soon as the back door slammed behind them. “Would you really have any dealings with those two deceitful creatures?”

“Drake has been the one who helped us survive and helped you rescue the rest of the district. What were you thinking?” Jasmine scolded.

“About Jamie and Herbie and Mum and Dad,” Ronnie said, trying not to cry.

“What time is Drake due home. We'll have a council of war,” Katie said.

“I'll have to get straight home,” Jasmine said.

“Not by yourself with those two around,” Katie said. “We'll walk you home.”

“Back to this again,” Jasmine grumbled.

“Just to be on the safe side,” Katie soothed.

“Then you have to get home again,” Jasmine worried.

“I'm going back to Ronnie's and will ring Will to collect me, so don't worry,” Katie decided.

Jasmine paused at her front gate, and her dark mournful eyes watched Ronnie. “Don't make a decision by yourself. This affects all of us.”

“Okay,” Ronnie agreed. She felt very bad about even thinking of betraying Drake, but her little brother Jamie, and his friend Herbie didn't deserve what had happened to them.

“We'll have a council of war with Drake when he gets in,” she promised. “He's got school today, so should be back very soon.”

As it happened, he was already home eating scrambled eggs when they got back to Ronnie's place.

“G'day,” he drawled as they walked into the kitchen. “Need some afternoon tea?”

“Something more important,” Katie said. “We need advice.”

“The other two cousins are lurking in the tree next to the tree house and want to be invited into our territory to get at you.”

“In return for what?” Drake asked, his grin fading.

“Something to reverse whatever has happened to Jamie and Herbie,” Ronnie said.

“They called it the child-time sleep,” Katie said.

“I was scared of that,” Drake confessed, looking miserable. “That's how we are formed. They take boys and put them into the child-time sleep and then they are wakened up to be turned into family members over some very long years.”

“So you're all just sort of adopted into that family?” Katie asked.

“Really?” Ronnie said. “Weird!”

“Very weird, but I don't know how to reverse what has been done to the two boys,” Drake said. “I'm just so lucky you rescued me.”

“So what is or isn't happening to Brod and Jeraine now they haven't got the family to complete their transformation?” Katie asked.

Ronnie spared a look of gratitude at Katie. She was the smartest, quickest-witted girl Ronnie had ever met. She never would have even thought about what had happened to the two boys now the Demento olds were no longer around.

“The two are still around, but as they have been hanging around here to get revenge on me they wouldn't have had any proper nourishment. Usually my father and grandfather were the scientists who organized—” Drake winced and kept his voice flat and ordinary, “the chemical supplements they required. They will have to start eating ordinary food like I have. They will have lost all their super strength and stamina. Remember how I knocked Jeraine out and he used to be much stronger than I ever was.”

“I reckoned they would be vindictive and out to get even,” Kate mused. “We have to somehow turn the tables on them.”

“What about Jamie and Herbie?” Ronnie protested. “Would they really be able to reverse whatever has happened to them.”

“Jeraine might,” Drake said thoughtfully. “He was very into biological sciences, although not supposed to have learned all the secrets until after the ceremony.”

There was a glum silence. Drake straightened up as if he had made a decision. “You will have to invite them on to your territory.”

“You mad?” Katie squealed.

“After they have reversed the process on the two boys. I can look after myself.” Drake looked at Ronnie. “I give you permission to do so, but only after everyone is sure the boys are going to be all right.”

“You think they might try something temporary on the boys?” Katie asked.

“Wouldn't put it past them,” Drake drawled.

“What are their weaknesses?” Katie asked.

“They are arrogant, and still think they are as strong as they were. They both still won't be able to handle much heat.”

“Hum,” Katie said. “Do you reckon that the theory the doctors had that heating up people somehow caused some drug to dissolve and get passed out of the body?”

“Or regurgitated. It is a theory that has some merit,” Drake admitted.

“We need a way of incapacitating them when they arrive,” Ronnie said. “We can't use alcohol. What else works?”

“Jasmine suggested garlic?” Katie said.

“We have always been warned about how dangerous garlic is,” Drake admitted. “With the stuff already in their system it is supposed to react and maybe cause drowsiness, but there is no way you could actually get them to ingest any.”

“Hum,” Katie said again. “I'll ring Will to collect me, and catch up with you tomorrow.”

“Right,” Ronnie said gloomily.

She still felt very bad, and she kept on feeling bad long after Will collected Katie. Everyone ate more take-away and she went to bed. She didn't want to betray Drake, who was the reason the entire district had survived. Yet she couldn't think past Jamie, still in a coma in hospital, and her mother, with her dark shadows under her eyes and her pinched worried face when she returned from visiting him every day.

Whatever choice she was going to make was going to cause her to feel as if she was being torn apart, and yet what could she do?

 

The next day, closeted with Katie and Jasmine in Katie's bedroom, she started to feel more positive. Katie had spent the night thinking things through.

“Right!” Katie said. “Your invitation is a once only and only then if Jamie and Herbie have had reversed whatever has been wrong with them.”

“Drake seems positive he can handle his two cousins,” Jasmine said. “But we will have Mike, Will and Jeff in the house with us as well.”

“Very good,” Ronnie agreed. “What about our parents?”

“I'm willing to bet that somehow they won't be there at the same time,” Katie brooded. “Drake is not to turn up until two hours after Brod and Jeraine come into your house.”

“I will explain it to him,” Ronnie agreed. “The nasty thing is, we won't know when they are coming until Jamie and Herbie start getting better.”

“Lend Drake your mobile,” Katie suggested. “You can always ring him from mine or even your land line.”

“The next thing, the invitation is only as far as the sunroom of your place.”

“Fat lot of good that will do,” Ronnie grumbled.

“Also we are going to be hospitable,” Katie continued.

“Hospitable!” Ronnie echoed.

“Feed them as much garlic as we can,” Katie said.

“Supposed to be good for vampires,” Jasmine agreed.

“So how do we get it into them?” Ronnie asked.

“We'll offer them salty crisps to make them thirsty,” Katie said. “And then offer them plenty of drinks.”

“Can't see anyone wanting to drink garlic juice,” Jasmine worried.

“Lots of pineapple juice with parsley and mint chopped up in it and fizzed up with soda water,” Katie said. “I've been told that parsley disguises the taste.”

There was a thoughtful silence for a while.

“We've got plenty of garlic at home,” Jasmine said. “I'll crush as much as I can with our fancy crusher and bring it around.”

“I'll make up a fruit cup with the pineapple juice and the chopped parsley and mint,” Ronnie decided.

“Once they get dopey, you turn the central heating up full tilt,” Katie continued.

“Except it stabilises once it hits twenty-five degrees,” Ronnie complained, understanding what Katie was on about. “We're never going to get it to go over forty-five degrees.”

“Maybe Will can fiddle with the thermostat,” Katie suggested.

“So what do you expect to happen?” Ronnie asked.

“If the garlic causes drowsiness maybe we can get them unconscious long enough for the heat to work, it might dissolve whatever makes them so...” Katie paused. “Unique, I guess.”

“You are so clever,” Ronnie said. “Have we covered everything?”

“The last thing,” Katie warned. “It's all up to you, Ronnie. You have to sound desperate and reluctant, and willing to do anything to get your brother and Herbie back to normal. They must not suspect anything.”

“Trust me,” Ronnie promised.

Ronnie went home and told Drake of Katie's plans for the garlic flavoured fruit cup.

“She sure is a smart kid,” Drake agreed. “She seems to have covered everything pretty well.”

After that Ronnie went to netball. The team won their game, much to their coach's pleasure. Later that afternoon just on dusk, the three conspirators sat up in the tree house drinking hot chocolate and waited.

“Well, my three little white mice…what is your decision?” The penetrating whisper came from the screen of foliage of the other tree.

“Once the hospital says that Jamie and Herbie are all right, I suppose I will have extend an invitation to you both.” Ronnie tried to sound grudging and reluctant.

“Very good,” came the whispered reply.

“Revoked if Herbie and Jamie don't stay all right.”

“Very good,” came the whispered reply.

“The invitation is only for you two to enter our back sunroom, and only for the one time.”

“Very good,” came the whispered reply. “And what about the unsuccessful son?”

“He will also be there,” Ronnie said and gulped.

It sounded so much as if she was betraying Drake, and yet Drake, Katie and Jasmine were sure everything was covered, and everything would turn out all right.

“Very good,” came the whispered reply. Ronnie wondered which of them was acting as spokesman and then decided it didn't really matter.

Sunday Drake went off to play soccer with Will and Jeff. Ronnie made him take her mobile phone with him. Her mother took the car and went into the hospital to sit by Jamie as was her custom.

Mike dropped in with a thermos for Ronnie. “Jasmine sent it over,” he said and took off again.

Ronnie shook the thermos flask and took off the lid. She sniffed. It certainly smelled like garlic. She poured it into a large jug, tipped two tins of pineapple juice in, chopped up the mint and parsley from her garden and poured in a bottle of soda water. She sniffed. The smell of garlic was gone completely. She stirred in several ice blocks and put the jug in the refrigerator.

The boys were still missing late on Sunday afternoon when the phone rang.

“What?” Mr. Campion yelled. “Calm down I can't understand a word you're saying. What!” he repeated again. He put down the phone. He was beaming with happiness. “Your mother said both boys are out of their coma and eating a substantial dinner. Jamie recognized her and Herbie recognized his Dad. They're going to be all right.”

He turned back to the phone. Ronnie heard him ring for a taxi. “I'm going straight in this minute,” he said. “Want to come in with me?”

“I'll be all right,” Ronnie said. “I'll ring Will and Drake to come straight home, and ring Jasmine and Katie to spend the evening with us. Don't worry, Dad. Just head off and give Jamie and Herbie my love.”

The taxi tooted, and Mr. Campion rushed off. Ronnie rang Drake and told him the news and then rang Katie.

“Jasmine and I we'll be around in the next five minutes,” Katie said. “I'm bringing the crisps around.”

“Dad left lots of pizzas for dinner,” Ronnie said. “So we shouldn't starve.”

She was putting them in the oven to heat up, when she heard the back door open.

“Pizzas will take five minutes to heat up,” she called.

No one replied. Suddenly scared, she opened the door and switched on the light in the sunroom. The two tall thin boys with long black hair pulled back into ponytails were sprawled on the sunroom furniture in their black tee shirts and jeans, watching her out of cold black eyes.

“You did extend an invitation as far as your sunroom,” Brod or was it Jeraine whispered?

Ronnie just stared at them. None of Katie's plans had allowed for the fact that Drake's two dangerous cousins would reach and enter her home ahead of the others.

“And where are the other two white mice?” one of them whispered.

“And where is the unsuccessful son?” Brod whispered. Ronnie knew it was him by the hatred sparkling in his black eyes.

“They will be here in a few minutes,” Ronnie said and sat down as though her legs would no longer support her.

Her heart was thumping so loudly she was sure the boys could hear it. She clenched her fists together to stop them shaking. She hadn't even had a chance to put on the central heating, she raged to herself. None of Katie's plans had made allowances for the fact that the two boys would reach the house ahead of them.

She decided she was really scared.