Campion's Choice

After his encounter with Niamh and her unpleasant cronies Jack wandered miserably through the village. Finally he reached the front gate of the Evans’ house.

‘So what if you’re watching me! I don’t care!’

He pulled his grandparents’ note out of his pocket, sat down on the doorstep and read it.

‘Jack. Very strange. Something your dad kept saying made me suspicious so I kept an eye on you for a while. Good job I’m an insomniac because, about a week ago, I saw an ambulance drive away from your house in the middle of the night. I followed it and saw some people take a lumpy, boy shaped, package to a grand old house in Hanston. Hmm, I thought, has Jack been kidnapped? I stayed there all night. No sign of you. Imagine my surprise, when I came back to Redemere the next morning and there you were, alive and well, at home having breakfast. Strange. So, not kidnapped? I told Nance and she couldn’t make head nor tail of it. She came up with the idea of stalking you! I hung out in Hanston and watched the house. She followed you to school. Persistence pays! It seems now that we have two grandsons! (Unless you have an identical twin that you haven’t told us about.) Very strange. Do you need any help? Love G and N.’

Jack grinned. So, these aliens weren’t that clever. Somehow Nance and Grampus had managed to breach their incredible security. They had found him.

Smiling he opened the front door. The first thing he saw was Mrs Evans sitting in the living room, staring out of a window. She worked in London, doing something in the Government, which meant that normally she was out all day.

‘Everything okay?’ he called and would have walked on but she said clearly, ‘I suppose this means that Petra will die.’

‘What?’

He wheeled into the living room and stood in front of the woman. Her normally bright eyes were red and wet with tears.

‘Has something happened to Petra?’

Mrs Evans smiled sadly.

‘Night Wood,’ she said simply.

‘Is Petra doing it?’

Mrs Evans nodded, took out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her cheeks. This was a puzzle. Okay, Petra being there meant another naked person in the wood but it looked pretty big and they could all keep out of each other’s way. What was all this talk about dying?

‘Well, I’m sure the three of us will be fine,’ he said.

’The nine of you. Petra and six of her Crow friends all signed up. We’re very proud, of course. It’s the first time in years any Crow has been so courageous. I suppose we should thank you. They admire you so much.’

‘Don’t mention it.’

‘But of course, they will die and that’s sad.’

The front door opened. In walked Bob Evans with wide eyes and hair standing on end.

‘I’ve just heard the news. It’s terrible. Why would Petra do that! Why?’ Bob said as he slumped on the settee, grabbed at his pipe and gabbled away.

‘Everyone’s getting together, tonight, in Crow Hall. I’m going with a couple of others to meet with Anax and the Council but there’s no way out of it. We’ll just have to say our goodbyes.’

A third member of the Evans family joined them: Michael, his face flushed with fury.

‘So, you’re here! What are you doing? Hiding, now that you’ve caused all this damage? I knew, if we ended up with a Chem, we would be in big trouble!’

The boy looked like he had been crying.

’What is a Chem? Jack asked. He was becoming seriously bewildered.

‘You are a Chem!’

Jack looked at the adults. Bob spoke up.

‘Michael, I know that you’re upset, but Jack is our guest. That is not a word we use in this house.’

He turned to Jack to explain.

’Chem is what some Nomas call humans because humans are made up of chemicals. It’s a fairly new thing. I think it started when Isaac Newton said something about a ‘bag of chemicals’, in an argument, in 1669.’

‘Dirty Chem!’ Michael muttered angrily, circling Jack with eyes that sparkled.

‘Michael!’ Bob warned his son.

Jack edged over towards the front door of the house. After reading the note from Nance and Grampus he was tempted to make a run for it. His grandparents had managed to get in and out of Hanston without any trouble. Maybe Anax and Ursula were bluffing and he could walk out anytime he wanted.

And now would be a very good time. Everything and everyone seemed to be going a little bit crazy. Michael started shouting.

‘You think you’re so great, don’t you? Everyone thinks you’re some kind of hero! But you’re not. You, and that stupid girl, Tia. Didn’t you stop, for one second, and think of the trouble you would be causing?’

Michael came across the room and squared up to Jack. He was at least a head taller. There was no way Jack was tangling with him.

‘It’s not my fault. I wanted to be alone. I didn’t tell anyone else to sign the stupid notice!’

Jack threw open the door and bolted. He ran into the road. He ran down the High Street. He ran past the church and the school and soon he felt the sweat beginning to sting his eyes. As he approached the village sign, on the edge of town, he listened for the sound of pursuit, for angry shouts or for the echo of running feet. But the village was silent and with relief he slowed to a breathless walk.

Blinking the stinging sweat from his eyes he was startled to see Tia sitting on the side of the road.

He stopped and was still panting heavily when he slumped down on the dusty verge. Tia didn’t move. She stared between her legs at long brown burnt blades of grass. Once he could breathe Jack said, ‘Let’s get out of here.’

Tia stayed silent.

‘Come on. I don’t believe anything will happen to us if we cross the line. Look,’ he said, jumping up and walking towards the village sign.

‘Stop.’

Tia’s voice was high and plaintive.

‘It’s okay. We’ll be fine. Now’s our chance to escape,’ jack argued.

Tia shook her head.

‘We have to go to Night Wood. We have to go with them. It was our stupid fault that they signed up. We can’t leave them. Are you just going to leave Petra to die?’

For one agonising moment Jack felt the pull of the road ahead. He wavered but finally dragged himself back and turned to face her.

‘There must be something we can do to stop it,’ he said hopefully.

’There isn’t. I went to see Ursula. It’s their law or something. She said ‘your signature binds you’ or something like that.’

‘Well, maybe we could go back to see the other Crow. Mister Evans said they’re having some kind of meeting tonight. Perhaps we can persuade the parents that they have to stop this. They don’t want their children to die.’

‘Of course they don’t.’

‘Then let’s talk to them.’

Jack held out a hand but Tia ignored the gesture and stood up, dusting herself down.

‘We can try,’ she agreed and began to walk back towards the village. Jack hurried to keep up and spoke quickly.

‘It’s just a wood. No one’s going to die. It’s because they’re all frightened of Anax and his thugs. We should stand up to him and the whole bunch of Huras. They’re just bullies.’

But Tia wasn’t listening. As the sun sank overhead and the air became sticky it felt, to Jack, like he was wading through warm blood.

Tia stopped in front of the Village Hall.

‘Bob Evans said they’re meeting at the Crow Hall,’ Jack said.

Tia rolled her eyes.

‘This is the Crow Hall. Don’t you know anything? The Gamelin have their place in the old Red Lion Inn. That’s called Gamelin Hall. The Huras have a huge barn that’s medieval or something and that’s where they meet. That’s called…’

Jack interrupted.

‘I don’t want to know what it’s called. They can call it Buckingham Palace for all I care. Is this where the Crow are meeting?’

‘Yes.’

‘Thank you.’ He moved towards the covered entrance and peered through the open doors.

‘What the …’

It looked like a fancy dress party. There were colourful shirts and grass skirts, necklaces made of flowers and strange things done with coconut shells. The theme seemed to be ‘Caribbean Beach Party’.

‘Why is everyone wearing costumes?’

‘That’s what the Crow wear when they get together. It’s like their uniform. Jeez. Don’t you know anything?’ Tia said angrily.

Jack was about to step forward, into the hall, but an adult, wearing a palm tree patterned blazer, closed the door. There was a loud click. They were locked out.

‘We should go home and sleep. It’s an early start tomorrow,’ Tia sighed.

‘What?’

‘We go into the wood, at six in the morning, and stay for twenty-four hours. We have to be there at five-thirty!’

A clearly exasperated Tia turned to leave but a blaze of flashing lights suddenly came out of a window at the side of the Hall. They flared brightly, lighting up the night and then disappearing.

‘What was that?’ she whispered.

Jack took her hand and together they crept along the whitewashed side of the building.

He ducked down beneath the first window and Tia crouched by his side. They could hear the murmur of voices and waited, both too nervous to move. Finally, with a silent nod of agreement, they inched upwards and peered into the large room.

Inside adults and children, all dressed in the brightest of colours, mingled and moved about, shaking hands, hugging, crying. No one spoke or smiled.

There must have been a silent signal because in an instant all the Crow in the room stood still. A single strange light, not bright but like a coloured cloud, drifted towards the wall above the stage. Another, a different coloured cloud, spiralled upwards. Then, suddenly, a kaleidoscope of colours burst forth, spiralling, spinning, winding their way, like exotic tropical fish in a tank, round and around the room.

It was hypnotic. Jack moved his hand and there, in mid air, he felt Tia’s searching fingers. Standing together, side by side, hand in hand, wide eyed and open-mouthed, they were entranced by the Crow’s strange, beautiful, spectacular light show.