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Authors: Gill Arbuthnott
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by it. She didn’t mind thunder and lightning at all – liked them in fact – but just thinking about
this
thunder and lightning made a shudder run down her spine. For some reason it made her worry about her family, her friends. She couldn’t throw off a feeling of foreboding, even when the lights went back on at last.
It wasn’t until they met up again at lunchtime (emergency sandwiches because of the power cut) that she found it had had the same effect on David.
“Cats are meant to know when there’s going to be a storm,” said Kate. “Maybe this is the same sort of thing, but in reverse, sort of. There are ions or something in the air and we’re sensitive to them.”
“Mmmn …” David didn’t sound convinced.
The feeling had passed by the end of school and they dropped round to Mr Flowerdew’s on their way home as planned, to water the plants and drop off some food for Erda.
There was no sign of her, which was not unusual, but it brought the sense of foreboding back into Kate’s mind.
“I’m sure she’s okay, but we can come back tomorrow before football and check,” said David.
“What time’s your match?”
“Ten. What about you?”
“The same, but it’s just a practice.”
They locked the door behind them and headed home.
***
He stepped into a small room in another house, brighter than Tisian’s. There was a large window with thin white curtains, a chair, a big wooden cupboard and a bed. He went to the window and moved the curtain aside to look out. There were houses all around him, some three or four storeys high and a street below the window with the strange smelly vehicles he recognised as cars from his few previous visits to this place and time.
He let the curtain fall back and sat down on the bed, his head in his hands, overwhelmed again. He was so tired. He lay down for a moment before he went out in search of Erda and exhausted and sick at heart, was asleep in seconds.
The spider let itself down from the bed on a silken thread and a few seconds later Erda stood there, watching Morgan in silence. She took the little hawk that Thomas had made and laid it beside him on the bed.
What have I done
? She asked in the silence of her mind.
What am I
?
You are the Stardreamer
, the house said.
FIRST AID
“What have you got?” asked Kate when she met David the next morning.
“Milk, rolls, eggs and a sweatshirt of Christine’s out of the washing pile.”
“Mmmn … nice. I’ve got cereal and pasta and mushroom sauce and more underwear.”
They walked down the hill. It was already hot although it was only quarter past nine. “Glorious summer in prospect”, said some of the comments in the papers, while others talked glumly of “irreversible climate change due to global warming”, all because for once, Kate’s dad said, they were having a decent spring.
They let themselves in and picked up a couple of letters that had arrived for Gordon. In the hall, the big grandfather clock that had stopped on Mr Flowerdew’s death looked down on them soundlessly.
Usually Erda came right away from wherever she was to see them when she heard them arrive, but today there was no sign of her and no sound. Kate called her name and a few seconds later heard noises from one of the bedrooms.
***
Morgan opened his eyes and was baffled at first by his surroundings. He lay still, waiting to remember and when he did, wished he could forget again. He sat up slowly, with some difficulty. His whole body felt stiff and battered, buffeted by the blast of power that had killed Thomas. He could hear voices coming from somewhere else in the house. How long had he been asleep? His hand brushed against something and he looked down. Thomas’s hawk lay on the cover of the bed beside him. It took him a moment to put things together and realise that Erda must have been here.
The voices came again from somewhere below. He went to the door and opened it, wondering if he would find himself looking at the
this
thunder and lightning made a shudder run down her spine. For some reason it made her worry about her family, her friends. She couldn’t throw off a feeling of foreboding, even when the lights went back on at last.
It wasn’t until they met up again at lunchtime (emergency sandwiches because of the power cut) that she found it had had the same effect on David.
“Cats are meant to know when there’s going to be a storm,” said Kate. “Maybe this is the same sort of thing, but in reverse, sort of. There are ions or something in the air and we’re sensitive to them.”
“Mmmn …” David didn’t sound convinced.
The feeling had passed by the end of school and they dropped round to Mr Flowerdew’s on their way home as planned, to water the plants and drop off some food for Erda.
There was no sign of her, which was not unusual, but it brought the sense of foreboding back into Kate’s mind.
“I’m sure she’s okay, but we can come back tomorrow before football and check,” said David.
“What time’s your match?”
“Ten. What about you?”
“The same, but it’s just a practice.”
They locked the door behind them and headed home.
***
He stepped into a small room in another house, brighter than Tisian’s. There was a large window with thin white curtains, a chair, a big wooden cupboard and a bed. He went to the window and moved the curtain aside to look out. There were houses all around him, some three or four storeys high and a street below the window with the strange smelly vehicles he recognised as cars from his few previous visits to this place and time.
He let the curtain fall back and sat down on the bed, his head in his hands, overwhelmed again. He was so tired. He lay down for a moment before he went out in search of Erda and exhausted and sick at heart, was asleep in seconds.
The spider let itself down from the bed on a silken thread and a few seconds later Erda stood there, watching Morgan in silence. She took the little hawk that Thomas had made and laid it beside him on the bed.
What have I done
? She asked in the silence of her mind.
What am I
?
You are the Stardreamer
, the house said.
FIRST AID
“What have you got?” asked Kate when she met David the next morning.
“Milk, rolls, eggs and a sweatshirt of Christine’s out of the washing pile.”
“Mmmn … nice. I’ve got cereal and pasta and mushroom sauce and more underwear.”
They walked down the hill. It was already hot although it was only quarter past nine. “Glorious summer in prospect”, said some of the comments in the papers, while others talked glumly of “irreversible climate change due to global warming”, all because for once, Kate’s dad said, they were having a decent spring.
They let themselves in and picked up a couple of letters that had arrived for Gordon. In the hall, the big grandfather clock that had stopped on Mr Flowerdew’s death looked down on them soundlessly.
Usually Erda came right away from wherever she was to see them when she heard them arrive, but today there was no sign of her and no sound. Kate called her name and a few seconds later heard noises from one of the bedrooms.
***
Morgan opened his eyes and was baffled at first by his surroundings. He lay still, waiting to remember and when he did, wished he could forget again. He sat up slowly, with some difficulty. His whole body felt stiff and battered, buffeted by the blast of power that had killed Thomas. He could hear voices coming from somewhere else in the house. How long had he been asleep? His hand brushed against something and he looked down. Thomas’s hawk lay on the cover of the bed beside him. It took him a moment to put things together and realise that Erda must have been here.
The voices came again from somewhere below. He went to the door and opened it, wondering if he would find himself looking at the
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