Shapeshifter 5: Stirring the Storm by Ali Sparkes

Author:Ali Sparkes [Sparkes, Ali]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192757302
Publisher: Oxford University Press Children's Books
Published: 2011-05-04T14:00:00+00:00

16

Spook Williams was at it again. The git. He was thumping him in the chest. Really hard this time. They’d had some nasty scraps over the years, but even though Dax was a head shorter than Spook he had won more often than lost. Spook never did land much of a punch.

Until now. Dax was so winded by the force of the fist smashing into his lower chest that he could make no noise. He just rolled onto his side and threw up—mostly cold water. He must be ill again—he was shivering so hard he couldn’t even see properly and Spook looked, for all the world, like a strange man in a white coat. Mr Eades was peering over the man’s shoulder, looking greyer than ever, and absolutely furious. Dax’s eyes blurred and he felt as if he should sleep, in spite of the violent trembling.

‘You cretin!’ spat Mr Eades, with more passion than Dax had ever heard in him before. ‘You ocean-going, jewel-encrusted, fur-lined excuse for an imbecile!’

‘It’s all right! He’ll be OK. He can’t have been under for more than a minute,’ replied the excuse for an imbecile, but his voice was shaky and he was clearly terrified.

‘The government says it sends me the cream of the cream and I get a snivelling little test-tube scrubber like you!’ went on Mr Eades. ‘If Jones has so much as a sniffle this time tomorrow, you’re off the project! In fact there may not be a tomorrow for any of us. We may have to speed everything up now. Damn, damn idiot!’

‘It was an error,’ admitted the scientist. ‘We read him as fox, not falcon. We need to recalibrate. It was lucky he was over the lake, really—it cushioned the fall.’

‘Shut up!’ snapped Mr Eades, as someone else approached. ‘Do not say another word if you value your job! Ah—’ The note of his voice changed abruptly to mild concern. ‘Mr Hind, one of your charges played a little close to the edge of the ice, I’m afraid.’

Dax heard Owen swear under his breath and felt a rough thick blanket being wrapped efficiently around him.

‘Good job Hinton and I came by when we did. The boy wasn’t under for long. Don’t think there’ll be any long-term damage. Perhaps you’d better get the healer girl.’

Owen carried Dax swiftly back into the lodge and up to the medical room. In a daze, Dax was dimly aware of being deposited, fully clothed, into a warm bath. Then Mia arrived and rested her hands on his head and chest and within a minute he was regaining the use of his senses. Owen and Janey stood back against the white-tiled wall of the medical suite bathroom, looking mightily relieved as he blinked and coughed and shook his head.

‘How are you doing now?’ smiled Mia, resting back on her heels.

‘OK. I think.’ Dax pulled himself up into a sitting position, the rippling warm water very odd around his jeans, sweatshirt, socks, and trainers. ‘Wet, at any rate.

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