Owl and the Lost Boy by Amy Wilson

Author:Amy Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

16

‘We told you to have a duvet day!’ Mallory splutters as Alberic takes a piece of cake with long fingers, cramming it into his mouth.

‘Phlumb,’ he says, shaking his head.

‘Pardon you?’

He swallows, and stares at us both. ‘I’ve decided I won’t be doing so much of what other people tell me any more. If you could just tell me how you managed to get to Time, I’ll be off.’

Mallory snaps her mouth shut, and gives me a sideways look.

It’s good to see a spark in his eyes again. Reminds me of the old Alberic, who could be a pain but knew what he was doing – most of the time. However, if he thinks we’ll be letting him go alone . . .

‘What’s the plan, then?’ I ask. ‘How did you get in last time?’

‘I followed after him,’ he says. ‘He barged through like an old elephant, and the air warped after he’d gone, so it was easy. A lot easier than it will be now, from what you’ve said. But you managed it once, and so I’m sure we can do it again. I’m going to find him, and fix this incessant summer,’ he says. ‘I’ve just been to the court to try and get back that way, but it’s lost. The air just got thicker and those horrific plants are poisonous – I had to get out of there!’ He shows us the insides of his arms, swollen and red.

‘That happened to Owl too,’ Mallory says. ‘You’re both allergic.’

‘To summer,’ I say with a nod. ‘Which makes sense.’

‘So how did you get to Time?’

‘We used the incantation, with a little bit of power from the Green Man.’

‘You woke him up? I couldn’t get anything out of him.’

‘Well, we held on to him and said the words, and it worked.’

‘So let’s try that again. There’s no time to lose – we need to get the Earl and sort this out, now,’ he says.

‘OK,’ Mallory says, biting her lip. ‘Or . . . you could give autumn another try?’

‘No,’ he says. ‘I’m not him. I never will be.’

I take a slow breath, staring between them. ‘You never would be, Alberic. Even if you had all his power, you’d never—’

‘Well, we’ll never know,’ he says as the bell sounds for end of lunch. ‘Because we’ll be bringing him back to sort it out. I’m ready to face Time. I’ve already battled my way back into school – they seemed to have forgotten I even go here – so I’m sure I can do this too.’

The light in his eyes wavers, just for a second, and I realize it’s mostly just bravado. He’s decided to fight. He’s just not sure he’ll win.

‘What changed, Alberic?’ I ask in a low tone, heading for maths after we say goodbye to Mallory. ‘You’ve got a bit of your power back – I could feel it in the breeze in there.’

‘You came for me,’ he says. ‘And then . . . I was at your flat this morning, and I realized I never had that.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.