Brilliant (12 page)

“No,” said Ernie. “I'm a vampire, not a ladder.”

“Ah, Ernie.”

“Can I bite a few ankles on their way past me fangs?”

“No way, Ernie.”

Ernie sighed. “Not fair.”

He stood with his back to the zoo wall and bent one of his knees, so Raymond could start climbing.

He held out his hands.

“Come to Ernie.”

They all watched as Raymond climbed from Ernie's knee, to his hip, to his shoulders. Raymond rested his back against the wall. Then they watched as Paddy climbed from Ernie's knee, to his hip, to his head—

“Ouch!”

“Sorry.”

—to his shoulders, to Raymond's knee, hip, and shoulders. Gloria and Suzie and the new girl helped the little kids climb up Ernie, to Raymond's waiting hands.

Gloria nudged the new girl, Alice.

“That's my brother,” she said, proudly.

“Who?” said Alice. “The vampire fella?”

“No way,” said Gloria. “The other one. Rayzer.”

“Is he in charge?” asked a new boy, Damien.

“Yeah,” said Gloria. “Kind of.”

Some of the others nodded. None of them knew Raymond, but they liked him. They liked being near him. He made them feel braver, and a bit safer.

“Who's next?”

“Me!”

“No, me!”

Ernie grabbed the smallest kid, a boy.

“Come here, Snack.”

“Ernie,” Gloria said, warning him.

“Only messin',” said Ernie, and he held the boy up till Raymond grabbed him and passed him up to Paddy. The smallest kid was laughing. The others watched him climb up Paddy, holding on to Paddy's jeans and hoodie. He got on to the wall
and sat down. They laughed, and forgot they were frightened.

“Me next!”

They were all on the wall now, in less than three minutes. Gloria was the last to be delivered.

“Here we go,” said Ernie, and he held her gently under her arms.

Her feet left the ground.

“Thanks, Ernie.”

“No sweat,” said Ernie.

She climbed past Ernie—“Seeyeh, Ernie”—past Raymond—“Seeyeh, Rayzer”—and on, up to Paddy. She could see over the wall now, all the trees and the lake and the African section, way at the back of the zoo. The other kids made space for her and she sat down.

There was no one left except the three boys who'd been the ladder. Paddy lifted one of his legs from Raymond's shoulder. He looked like he was going to jump but he turned and grabbed the top of the wall. Damien and Alice helped him up.

That left Raymond and Ernie.

Paddy lay on his stomach on the top of the wall.

“Hold my legs,” he said to Damien and Alice.

Raymond did what Paddy had done. He stepped off Ernie, and turned. He held up his hands, and Paddy grabbed them. Then Raymond climbed the rest of the way, holding on to Paddy's arm.

Ernie was the only one left.

“How will you get up, Ernie?” Gloria called down.

“Haven't a clue,” said Ernie.

They heard a loud squawk and saw a big seagull fly down and land on top of a trash bin near the wall, then fly—nearly jump—off the bin, up over the wall, right over their heads.

“Hey, Ernie—”

“I know,” said Ernie. “I'll follow the seagull. Nothin' to it.”

They watched as Ernie walked away, back toward the trees. Gloria began to think that he was going home, when he turned and started to glide—fast. He was heading straight for the bin. Just before he got to it, he stopped gliding and started to run properly—fast—really fast. Then he jumped.

They gasped and cheered. Ernie's cape spread out behind him. It looked like he was really flying as he landed on top of the bin and jumped—bent his legs and pushed—at the wall.

“Uh-oh!”

He went right over it.

Gloria couldn't watch—but she did, she had to. She watched Ernie, in midair, as he reached back and grabbed the bottom corners of his cape with both hands and held them up.

Ernie's cape had become a parachute, and Ernie floated to the ground, inside the zoo.

He landed, fell, stood up, and shook his cape.

“Nothin' to it,” he said.

The kids on the wall cheered and clapped. It was the coolest thing most of them had ever seen.

Ernie stood with his back to the wall, and Raymond lowered himself on his shoulders.

“Wipe your feet,” said Ernie.

Paddy stood on Raymond shoulders, facing the wall, and the kids climbed and crawled down his back, to Raymond, to Ernie, to the ground. They were all less frightened now—the bigger kids too—inside the zoo.

Gloria landed, then Paddy, then Raymond.

They were ready to go.

But that was the new problem. Where had the Dog gone?

“Ernie,” said Raymond.

“Wha' now?”

“Can you see the Dog?”

“No.”

“Not from here, Ernie,” said Gloria, and she pointed at the nearest bin. “From up there.”

“Gotcha,” said Ernie, and he started to glide across to it.

“That's so cool,” said Precious.

They all watched as Ernie jumped and landed on the bin.

“See anything, Ernie?”

“Over there,” said Ernie. “The big things. The what're-they-called? The elephants.”

He pointed ahead, a bit to the right.

“They're goin' a bit mad,” said Ernie.

“Come on!” said Raymond.

“Come on!” said Damien, who didn't see why he should do everything Raymond told him to.

“Come on!” said Alice, who didn't see why she had to do everything two skinny boys told her to.

“Come on!” said Paddy, who thought Alice was lovely.

They all ran together. They felt bigger together, stronger, and their feet made big noise on the path. There were no clouds now; the sky was clear. So they could see where they were running.

They ran past the meerkats.

“Go get him, kiddos!”

“Who said that?” Gloria asked Suzie.

“Don't know,” said Suzie.

They kept running.

Damien wanted to go faster, to pass Raymond and be at the front. And Raymond wanted to pass Damien. But they had to let the other kids stay up with them, especially the little ones. There weren't sure why, but they knew they needed as many kids as possible to catch the Dog and capture the funny bone. But it made their legs sore, having to run slowly.

Raymond decided not to hate Damien and, immediately, running slowly became easier.

“What's your name?” he asked.

“Damien.”

“Mine's Ray.”

The kids dashed past the lemurs and spider monkeys.

“I'm glad I'm not paying for this,” said Paddy. “It'd be a terrible waste of money.”

Alice laughed, and Paddy was delighted. He was thrilled and all-powerful. He was going to punch the Dog so hard, he'd send him into the middle of next week. Or last week—he wasn't sure which.

Alice was happy too. She thought Paddy was massive, and she'd decided in her head that they were on their first date—and
her
very first date.

“Oh, look,” she said. “The snake house.”

“Not interested,” said Paddy.

There was no way he was going to look at any snakes.
But he felt terrible, like a coward. He could imagine punching the Black Dog in the nose, but he couldn't look at a snake, or a building that had a snake in it.

They ran past the lake and the pink flamingos standing beside it. But they didn't stop to look.

“This is a zoo—hellohhhoh?”

“Who said that?”

“Don't know.”

Gloria was running with Ernie.

“Is it good being a werewolf, Ernie?”

“Couldn't tell yeh,” said Ernie. “I'm a vampire.”

“Oh yeah. Is it any good?”

“It's all righ',” said Ernie. “It's a bit borin'.”

“You like drinking blood, though, don't you?”

“I'll tell yeh one thing,” said Ernie. “It beats orange juice.”

“I hate orange juice.”

“You're nearly a vampire yourself, so.”

“Deadly.”

Gloria was feeling almost happy. The woods and the evil whispers were far behind her. They had the Dog on the run, and she knew they'd be able to beat him.

They were off the main path, and they were running along a forest trail, getting nearer and nearer to the elephants. They couldn't see as much now because the trail was bendy and the trees were close, leaning over, like a green and brown roof above them.

Paddy was still running beside Alice. He took a deep breath and spoke before he could change his mind. “It would be cool
to come back and see the zoo properly. Together, like, another time. Wouldn't it?”

“No,” said Alice.

All the breath left Paddy and he nearly fell down. He felt even worse now. He wanted to turn and run away. But he remembered why he was there.

Paddy could see his da sitting at the kitchen table in his dressing gown, looking sad. He could see him trying to smile, like he was trying pick up a hundred-pound weight, as if his lips and mouth were too heavy. So Paddy kept running, but he picked up speed and ran ahead of Alice.

Alice tried to keep up with Paddy. But she couldn't. She'd wanted to say more to him, but she'd run out of breath after she'd said “No.” She'd been going to add, “But I'd love to go to the pictures instead.” Because Paddy had seemed to think the zoo was boring, the way he'd said, “Not interested” when she'd pointed out the snake house. But Paddy had run ahead of her before she'd had the chance.

Alice wanted to cry. She felt so tired and far from home, she just wanted to stop and walk away. But she kept running, because of her big brother, Luke. The Black Dog had been at Luke, stopping him from sleeping, stopping him from laughing and making Alice laugh the way he used to. The Black Dog had changed Luke—she'd heard her mammy say that—and Alice wanted the old Luke back. So she kept running.

The kids were still together, a big bunch of heads and elbows and knees. They ran past the red pandas and river hogs. There was a lot of noise in the air. The animals were waking up.

“The children are here!”

“Who said that?”

“Keep going. Come on!”

They were nearly at the elephant enclosure. They just had to run around one last sharp bend in the trail. The sudden corner made some of the kids laugh and bump into one another.

“Got yeh!”

“Got yeh back!”

“Got yeh back back!”

They got around that last corner. And then there was the shock.

The Black Dog was there.

Waiting for them.

They heard his howl before they saw him. It was a howl that ripped the zoo apart. Everything was gone. There was just the howl. A howl that stayed and became a word that hung there, like poisonous gas.

“USELESS!”

The fright made them quickly tired, exhausted. It seemed to suck up all the air. They'd been up all night. They'd been running for hours.

“USELESS!”