Read Online Triskellion by Will Peterson - Free Book Online Page B

not even a sarcastic one. There was something very dark in Gary’s voice when he spoke.
    “How d’you know about that?”
    Now there was as much fear as there was anger; the air was crackling with it, and Adam wasn’t the only one who was scared. He knew that he’d said the wrong thing. Gary and Lee were suddenly looking extremely worried and now there was no way of telling how they would react.
    “We saw you, yesterday,” Adam said. His mouth was dry and he had to suck up spit before he could finish. “We watched them in the woods, punishing you.”
    Something like a growl came from low in the throat of one of the brothers and Adam felt tears springing to the corners of his eyes. He knew that his words had hit home.
    He also knew that a cornered animal was one that was liable to attack.
    Lee cleared his throat. “You saw something you shouldn’t have.”
    “That was a mistake,” Gary said.
    “Bad mistake…”
    As they talked at him, their voices getting louder, tumbling across each other, Adam felt the anger and the fear bubbling up together. He felt his fists clench at his side, his jaw aching as he ground his teeth together, holding his breath…
    “Should have hit you harder that first time.”
    Gary tipped his head back, then snapped it forward, spitting into Adam’s face. “
Much
harder.”
    “Maybe it’s
your
turn to get punished…”
    And Adam ran at them, springing forward with his head down, barging his way between the brothers who shouted and swore in frustration as they grabbed at him and missed. Adam kept running, wiping the gobbet of spit from his face, furiously rubbing his wet and sticky palm across his T-shirt as he ran back round to the front of the pavilion.
    And ran, and ran…

“W e can’t just disappear…”
    Rachel was still pleading with Adam as they stepped on to the train but her argument continued to fall on deaf ears as it had all the way from the cricket pitch. Adam had not said a word as they had raced back to Root Cottage; as they had grabbed their rucksacks from the bedroom; as Rachel had scribbled a hasty note in worn-out ballpoint.
    Don’t worry. We’ll call you…
    The sliding door of the empty carriage hissed shut and Rachel noticed, with pleasure, that the compartment was new and smelled clean and plastic. An electric sign scrolled the list of destinations across the West Country and, much as Rachel had her doubts about leaving, the newness of the train made her feel optimistic. It would whisk them quickly and efficiently across the country.
    It would take them back to the real world.
    The engine whirred into life and the train pulled slowlyout of Triskellion station. As the hanging baskets of pink geraniums floated past, Adam allowed himself a tight smile and glanced at his sister.
    Rachel smiled back sympathetically, but unable to conceal a little regret. Although the past couple of days had been unsettling and, on more than one occasion, downright scary, Rachel had begun to feel oddly at home in the village where her mother was born.
    “Gran’s going to be really mad…” Rachel said.
    Adam shrugged. “I don’t care. I’m out of here. This place is messing with my head. It’s like you’re not noticing any of this weird stuff any more.”
    “Maybe it just
seems
weird to us,” Rachel said. “Like the cricket, or whatever, because we’re not from around here. Have you thought that
we
might be the ones who are weird?”
    Adam didn’t look convinced. “I want to go home. And don’t worry about Gran. She didn’t seem to want us around anyway.”
    “Come on, that’s not fair.”
    Adam leant back, gazed out of the window. “I’m not sure anyone wanted us around.”
    Celia Root cleared away the tea things in the pavilion, stacking plates in the basket on the front of her wheelchair, trundling across to the serving hatch, where the other village women took them from her to wash.
    “Has anyone seen Rachel and Adam?” she asked no one inparticular. No