The Boy Who Dreamed of Dragons Page 5

  I sank onto my bed. I evidently needed locks and bolts on my bedroom door to keep all the wildlife at bay. I started picturing great iron bars like castles have – at which point I got a bit carried away and imagined myself a moat and drawbridge too.

  The next second the door burst open and Ted, Liam, Kat and Kai came barrelling in. So much for my castle defences!

  ‘I think your dad has gone officially doolally,’ Ted said. ‘We passed him crawling on the floor, smacking his lips like a goldfish.’

  ‘He doesn’t know what a bearded lizard sounds like,’ I said, suddenly too weary to explain any further. Weirdly that seemed to satisfy Ted.

  Liam moved a heap of Lego bricks out the way and sat down on the chair by my desk. The heap had been a Star Wars land cruiser that had taken me weeks to make.

  ‘You’re dead lucky,’ Liam said. ‘My mum would never let me have my room in this state. She’s on at me to tidy up if I leave a sock on the floor.’

  ‘We always thought it was Flicker making a mess,’ Kai said with a laugh, ‘but maybe you were just using dragons as a cover for your natural slobbiness.’

  I looked at Ted, who grinned and said, ‘I reckon it’s time you spilled the beans about your little visitor.’

  ‘You remember the little dragon I told you about?’ I said.

  ‘The one you trod on?’ Kai asked.

  ‘I didn’t actually tread on him,’ I said quickly. ‘But yes, him. Well, he didn’t exactly fly away after that.’

  I knelt down and pointed under the bed, showing them the nest of clothes.

  ‘He just kept turning up,’ I said.

  ‘So where is he now?’ Kat asked, peering into the nest.

  ‘That’s the thing,’ I said. ‘I don’t know. He’s not like Flicker. He just appears, and then he’ll disappear again.’

  ‘And when he is here,’ Ted said, ‘he can be a bit super-charged. Isn’t that right, Tomas?’

  I nodded and laughed. ‘He’s certainly a live wire. And he doesn’t seem that interested in ash either, which isn’t helping matters.’

  Kat got up and peered out of the window. ‘I hope he comes back. I’d like to see him before …’ She suddenly stopped talking and gave a little cough. ‘Before he … you know, goes north.’

  I noticed Kai giving her a weird look that involved some eyebrow wiggling. There had been a lot of these ‘looks’ between the twins recently.

  Before I could quiz either of them, Kat lifted up one of the pots from the windowsill. ‘So, how are the seedlings doing?’ she asked.

  I went over and took the pot from her.

  ‘I don’t know what I’m doing wrong,’ I said, ‘but they just keep dying. I managed to find another one yesterday, but it took ages and I didn’t see any more while I was looking. These could be all that’s left.’

  I told them about meeting Chouko and the advice she’d given.

  ‘I don’t know if it’ll work,’ I said. ‘But I’m ready to try anything. Of course, she might have been able to tell me more if I hadn’t just said it was a cactus.’

  ‘You were only trying to protect the tree from anyone getting too nosy,’ Kai said.

  ‘You can’t blame yourself,’ Kat said gently. ‘None of us have come up with a solution. You’re doing your best. And you’re not the only one to have had problems growing a dragon-fruit tree. We know how difficult it is. I mean Arturo never managed to get his seed to grow, did he?’

  ‘No, but Elvi did,’ Ted piped up. ‘Maybe she can help. Why don’t we look at her notebooks again, in case we missed something.’

  Through Elvi’s diary and notebooks, which we’d found hidden away under Grandad’s shed, we’d already learned some important things, like the fact that dragons and dragon-fruit trees love ash. We’d also learned that not only had Arturo never managed to grow a tree, more alarmingly, we had discovered that one day Arturo had walked into the Mexican forest and never returned. Ever since I’d heard that, I had always wondered what had happened to him.

  I couldn’t help hoping that perhaps he’d found something in the forest. Another tree maybe. And that he had stayed to protect it. And possibly to protect the dragons that grew on it. But maybe that was all just wishful thinking. He could have died in the forest for all we knew.

  Whatever had happened to him though, we were now facing the same struggles he had. And I wished we could find out more about what he’d learned, so we could avoid making the same mistakes. Maybe Ted was right and there were things we had missed. From Elvi – and maybe even from Arturo.

  ‘I vote we spend tomorrow digging,’ Kat said.

  We all looked at her sceptically.

  ‘Digging for information,’ she explained. She smiled at me. ‘My bet is, there is a whole lot more Elvi and Arturo can tell us. And I want to find out what that is.’

  You know sometimes it can feel like best friends actually read your mind. The superhero squad were always doing that. I grinned back and nodded eagerly.

  That night my dreams flickered, vivid and bright. I was standing in the forest where Elvi and Arturo had ventured. The air thrummed with the buzz of insects, the wild song of exotic birds and the loud calls of howler monkeys.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. I spun round and caught the glinting scales of a tail disappearing into the greenery. I stumbled after it, but the trees plucked at my sleeves and stuck out their roots, tripping me so I landed in the litter of leaves. I scrabbled to my feet and searched again, desperate now. But the gleam of dragon scales had vanished.

  The next day after school, we all met at Nana and Grandad’s. At the news the superhero squad were coming, Nana had gone into baking overdrive. There were multiple plates of jam tarts, a whole Victoria sponge cake, tiny salted caramel muffins, sugary shortbread triangles, gooey chocolate brownies and even some peppermint fondant sweets.

  Ted went dreamy-eyed when he walked into the kitchen and saw everything spread out across the table.

  ‘Yup, definitely adopting your nan,’ he said.

  Everyone loaded their plates and, thanking Nana, headed upstairs.

  ‘You’re the best,’ I said, giving her the squeeziest squeeze.

  Kat was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. ‘So where’s Zing?’ she asked.

  I shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I expect he’ll turn up though. And there’s plenty of time. We can look for him in the garden later if you like.’

  She looked a bit disappointed. ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Or Ted will eat that whole extra plate of muffins he took up!’

  Joining the others in the room I shared with Lolli, we started unloading boxes, pulling out Elvi’s diary and the heaps of notebooks. We hadn’t managed to read even half of it since I’d found it all hidden under Grandad’s shed – mainly because of Elvi’s handwriting, which was tiny and almost indecipherable in places.

  I started rummaging and found the bundles of photos too. I flicked through some. It always made me happy to see Elvi and Arturo on their journey into the rainforest, and excited too, knowing what they were going to find at the end. I wanted to run through the tangled paths towards them and shout, ‘Keep going. Keep going. You’re nearly there.’

  Then there were the photos Elvi took later, back in her garden. When the seed she’d brought back with her had finally grown into the dragon-fruit tree. Ten years she’d patiently waited. So I could only imagine how excited she must have felt when the tree finally started producing fruit – and dragons! I pored over the pictures of the little dragons perched on her hand or captured flitting among bushes. And then I put them to one side and picked up Elvi’s diary.

  For a long time there was just the sound of munching and pages being turned as we read.

  Then Grandad came in, wondering if he could help. He ended up by helping himself to cake and biscuits!

  Ted, licking his lips, suddenly nodded to Kai. ‘What have you got there?’

  Kai had been riffling through a box and held
up a small black canister. ‘I don’t know.’ He prised the lid off and shook out the contents.

  ‘It’s a roll of film,’ Grandad said. ‘From back in the olden days,’ he added, with a grin and an eye-roll when we still looked flummoxed. ‘Don’t suppose you’ve ever come across one of them. Now you’ve got cameras in your phones and watches and whatnot. Hold the film up to the light – you’ll be able to see better what the photos are of.’

  Kai unravelled the roll of film and squinted at the little squares.

  ‘Hey, I think it’s Elvi in Mexico. And there’s Arturo too.’

  We crowded round, taking it in turns to peer at the film.

  ‘January 1978,’ Grandad said, reading a date from the bottom of the canister. He laughed and shook his head. ‘And already feels like an antique.’

  ‘Hang on,’ I said, quickly flicking back through Elvi’s diary to something I had just read. ‘What was that date?’

  ‘January 1978,’ he replied.

  I grabbed the film from a surprised Kai, my eyes darting down the tiny pictures. It was definitely Arturo. Everyone was looking at me now so I must have been jiggling like Lolli when she gets excited.

  ‘This is Elvi and Arturo in Mexico. In 1978. So that photo was taken three months after Arturo went missing,’ I explained, pointing to the date on the diary entry.

  ‘So you mean he didn’t just disappear into the forest, never to be seen again?’ Ted said.

  ‘No,’ I said with a grin. ‘No, he didn’t.’

  ‘Elvi went back and found him,’ Kat said delightedly.

  ‘But there are no more letters from him,’ Kai said, motioning to the piles of papers. ‘Surely they’d have kept in touch afterwards, so where is it all?’

  ‘That,’ I said, ‘is exactly what I want to know.’

  Elvi had hidden these notebooks under the floorboards in Grandad’s shed. But maybe that wasn’t the only secret hiding place she had?

  We were all jiggling now. Who knew what else we might find?

  ‘Let’s start looking straight away,’ I said excitedly.

  Grandad chuckled and got up. ‘I think I might leave you lot to it,’ he said. ‘Just don’t go pulling the house to bits while you’re hunting.’

  I looked around at the others, but everyone had gone a bit quiet.

  ‘Sorry, Tomas,’ Liam said. ‘I’ve actually got to get going. Dad’s expecting me to help clear the allotment. And Ted said he’d help too,’ he added, looking at Ted. ‘You know, given that it’s for Sunny’s benefit.’

  Ted gave me an awkward shrug. ‘You know what Sunny’s like,’ he said. ‘I want some fruit and veg for him when he visits. Our garden’s too small.’

  ‘Oh, right,’ I said, wondering when they had been planning to tell me about this.

  ‘So just us then,’ I said, turning to Kat and Kai.

  Kat gave Kai one of the looks that had been passing between them all week.

  ‘What is up with you two?’ I said, letting the disappointment at being left out of Ted and Liam’s plan squirm its way out of me. ‘Is there something going on we should all know about?’

  Kai gave Kat a little nod. ‘I think it’s time we told them,’ he said.

  ‘Told us what?’ Liam asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Told us what?’

  ‘The thing is …’ Kat said looking nervous.

  ‘We’re moving to China!’ Kai blurted excitedly.

  He was grinning now, as if relieved that the secret he’d been keeping was finally out in the world.

  There was a moment of stunned silence while Kat and Kai looked expectantly at us.

  ‘Mum’s been offered this amazing job,’ Kat explained quickly. ‘In Suzhou, near Shanghai.’

  ‘And Dad can work anywhere,’ Kai continued.

  ‘And best of all, we’ll get to meet loads of Dad’s family – even he hasn’t met some of his mum’s relatives. Năinai left a sister behind when she married Grandpa Jack and moved here.’

  ‘Mum and Dad decided it’s too good an opportunity to miss. We’re all going to live there, probably for a year or two, maybe more. It’s going to be epic!’

  ‘So, what do you think?’ Kat asked.

  I was too stunned to answer, but Ted and Liam were on board quick as a flash.

  ‘Sounds amazing!’ Ted said.

  ‘Awesome!’ added Liam.

  Kat looked at me. I felt considerably less bouncy. More like a whoopee cushion that’s been sat on and deflated.

  ‘Yeah, great,’ I said feebly.

  I felt as if I’d gone from the top of a roller coaster to the bottom in a split second. And now my stomach was left trying to prise itself off the floor.

  ‘You OK, love?’ Mum asked as she kissed me goodnight later on. She felt the back of my neck. ‘Not feeling too well?’

  I gave a little shrug.

  She sat down next to me and stroked a finger down my nose, like it was a tiny ski run. She landed it on the quilt and started doing a two-finger jig of victory.

  ‘Kat and Kai are leaving,’ I said quietly.

  She gave me a squeeze. ‘I know, love. Their mum told me a few days ago. But she said the twins were trying to find the right time to tell you. Not really a right time to hear that though, is there?’

  Her fingers skipped up to my chin and tickled it. ‘China feels a long way away. It’ll be weird not having the twins popping in every five minutes.’

  I didn’t answer, in case all the mess of feelings inside leaked out.

  ‘That’s the great thing about technology though,’ she added. ‘You can chat to someone on the other side of the world.’

  I shook my head, remembering the excited talk that had come after the twins’ revelation. The awesome plans they had for once they were living there, showing us pictures of places they would visit and explaining about time differences.

  ‘Not when they’re eight hours ahead,’ I said sadly. ‘When I get back from school, it’ll be the middle of the night for them. We’ll only be able to talk at the weekend, and that’s if they’re not off “having adventures”. It’s the end of the superhero squad.’

  Mum bent down and kissed me.

  ‘There’s more to the superhero squad than geography, my love.’

  I think from my silence she knew I wasn’t convinced.

  ‘We’ll talk about it some more in the morning. Sweet dreams.’

  My dreams weren’t sweet though. They pinched and poked at me, making me toss and turn. I saw Kat and Kai waving from an aeroplane, Ted and Liam laughing as they ran away together, me standing alone, watching. Let’s face it – if my brain had its own weather forecast it would’ve been ‘gloomy with gales and heavy rain’.

  I woke up with a shiver and peered into the darkness of my room. The curtains were billowing in the breeze from the window I’d left ajar.

  Suddenly there was a flash of light and a huge shadow filled the wall. I scrambled out of bed, threw back the curtains and flung the window wide open, joy bubbling up inside me, like the forecaster had just thrown little suns across the weather map.

  ‘Flicker!’

  He pushed his head in through the window and I wrapped my arms around him, his warmth spreading through me.

  I climbed out onto Flicker’s back, already picturing flying through the star-sparkling night. I knew that the heaviness of my tired arms and the messy tangle of my dreams would quickly fall away and leave me feeling clear-headed and weightless.

  Flicker paused and gazed back into my room, I turned to look. Zing. I’d completely forgotten. He’d rocketed back in through the window just before I’d fallen asleep. I’d been too weary to even get up and deal with the mug of water he’d sent flying. I’d just watched him disappear into his nest under my bed, but now he’d woken up and was spinning in circles round the room. Flicker blew a smoky breath that spread like a guiding path and the little dragon flew out of the dizzy loop he was spiralling in and followed the smoke trail towards us.

&
nbsp; It was a cloudy night, and as we flew higher I scanned the sky for the other dragons. But there was no sign of them. As we left the village it was soon clear that for once Flicker was on his own. He soared higher and we burst out into the star-pricked midnight-blue night. For a while we just flew. Flicker’s wings beating slow and steady, his scales settling into a turquoise gleam. I breathed deep and reached out my arms as if I could touch the stars.

  Zing darted over Flicker’s head and then started flying in a corkscrew loop down the big dragon’s body, getting faster and faster as he approached the end of his tail. He definitely seemed excited to see Flicker. When he did finally settle on the very tip of his tail, Flicker flicked the little dragon into the air, only to swish his tail and catch him again. Zing seemed to love this, letting out crackles and sparks as he spun through the air. I guess it was like us bouncing on a trampoline.

  Flicker dipped his head and roared, unleashing a mighty blue flame. And I smiled and clung on as we sped through the night.

  However magical it was flying with Flicker though, somehow it just wasn’t the same without all of us there. And by the time we finally flew home and I climbed back in through the window, I felt chilled despite Flicker’s warm scales.

  As Zing darted in and disappeared under my bed, I turned and stared into Flicker’s diamond eyes. Colours danced and fragmented as I felt his gaze reaching into the heart of me.

  ‘Kat and Kai are leaving,’ I blurted. And then, in more sob than words, I added, ‘There’ll be no more superhero squad without them.’

  And the whole sorry story tumbled out. When I eventually ran out of words and all that was left was hiccupy sobs, Flicker let out a deep low rumble that went on for the longest time. It shook the tears right out of me, until I finally felt my body relax.

  Flicker blew a puff of smoke that crackled with blue sparks, lighting up my room. Then he leaned his head against me and nudged me towards my bed. I crawled under the covers and lay there watching the sparks dancing and twinkling above me. He let out another puff, his gaze fixed on me, warming me.