Milo and One Dead Angry Druid (5 page)
Read Milo and One Dead Angry Druid Online
Authors: Mary Arrigan
K
eeping well in the shadows, I slipped along Main Street, the two stones rattling against my ribs. So far so OK. But when I looked around there was no sign of Mister Lewis! Had he deserted me? Had Amergin come early and swept him away? It was all too much. I couldn’t call out. I just wanted
to lie down and cover my head, but I knew I totally had to keep going to try to sort out Big Ella and Shane by myself. At any moment, I expected to feel Amergin’s icy fingers around my neck, or else hear the
wee-waa
sound of the cop car. It was tempting to go back and give myself up – after all, cops are human. But then I thought of Shane and Big Ella and I kept on going. I got as far as the Bella Patata chip shop.
A couple of guys were hassling Alberto, the owner, who was trying to close up for the night. There was nobody else on the street at this late hour to help him. You’ve probably guessed who they were. Yep, none other than Wedge and Crunch! Now I really wished I’d been caught and was locked up safely in a cell. Even Amergin wafting through the cell bars to finish me off would
be better than being caught by those two. Then they spotted me.
‘Well, if it isn’t Nerdy Milo,’ one of them laughed. The two of them switched their attention to me. I tried to ignore them and kept walking, but I should have known better. They got in front of me and crowded me so that I couldn’t pass.
‘Out so late?’ sneered Crunch.
‘Does your mummy know you’re out on the street?’ asked Wedge, pushing his face right up to mine.
‘Don’t hassle me,’ I said, backing away. Like, I needed this confrontation right now? Time was so scarce!
‘Or you’ll put manners on us?’ laughed Crunch.
‘No,’ I said, thinking so fast my brain was amazed. ‘Because I’m psychic. I have dead
friends who’ll come and get you.’
The two bullies laughed. I pressed my arms tighter around the stones in my jacket, hoping they wouldn’t notice the bulge and dump the stones in the river.
‘You little liar,’ snarled Crunch. ‘Let’s see what you’re hiding there.’ He put out his hand to open the zip. That was as far as he got. To my great relief, I heard a familiar sound coming from just beside Wedge’s ear.
‘OooOOOOOOOoo!’
Mister Lewis! I’d have hugged him if I could have seen where he was.
‘I’m coming for you, boy. Back from the dead. Mend your wicked ways. OooOOOOoo!’
With a wail, Wedge raced away. Crunch stopped trying to open my jacket and
looked at me. ‘How did you do that, you little worm …?’
With a swoop, Mister Lewis was at his side.
‘OooOOOOoo,’ he wailed into Crunch’s ear. ‘Bad, bad boy. You must come with meee. I have a nice burial chamber just for yooouu.’
Nice burial chamber? Cool! I had to laugh.
Crunch looked at me, his face ghastly white in the street light.
‘Told you,’ I said. ‘You want to watch it, you creep. That’s my dead pal. With fangs,’ I added as an extra.
That was enough for Crunch; he was off like a rabbit from a greyhound. Mister Lewis laughed. ‘I’ve never had such fun,’ he said as he loomed into sight again.
‘Right,’ I grunted. ‘But it’s held us back! Where were you?’
‘I, er, went back to give another little scare to those two men,’ he confessed. ‘Just a little bit of fun … I’ve never had fun. Ever.’
‘Yeah, well this is not the time for being jolly. I was the one who was scared,’ I muttered. ‘Come on. Some friend you are!’
‘Friend, Milo? You call me friend?’
I looked up at him as we ran. His face looked like a warmed-up omelette, and he was smiling.
‘Yeah. My best spook friend. Now, come on, we’ve work to do.’
As we made our way up the street, there was another wail. This time it really was the wail of a police car speeding by.
‘Sergeant Johnson must have phoned the next town for back-up,’ I laughed. With a
quick glance behind, I was pleased to see it chasing after Crunch and Wedge as they raced past the museum. They’d be spending the rest of the night answering questions about the break-in. Good. That meant that the Gardaí wouldn’t be searching the streets for a while.
The two stones rattled under my torn jacket as I ran. The streets became a blur. It was such a lonely, frightening feeling. As we got near to our road, I was so tempted to head for my own house, tear upstairs and throw myself into my parents’ room and beg for protection.
‘Mum, Dad!’ I’d shout as I leapt on their bed with the rattling stones. ‘Me and a dead man are being chased by druids who have Shane and Big Ella prisoners. Help!’
Nah. I brushed that image from my
worn-out
mind. Dad would grunt and mutter, and Mum would offer to get me a nice cup of drinking chocolate to soothe my nightmare.
And then the Town Hall clock began to chime. Midnight!
T
he scary hour had come! Now I really
did
want to turn back, but forced myself to run even faster towards Shane and Big Ella’s house, Mister Lewis wafting beside me, urging me to hurry.
‘It’s OK for you,’ I panted, ‘but I have real legs that don’t waft like yours.’ Not yet, anyway!
We’d just got as far as Big Ella’s gate when the clock stopped chiming midnight.
‘Shane!’ I called out as I ran past the house and down towards the stony place. ‘Shane!’
I almost fell down when I saw the shadowy figures standing in a half circle. And there, before them, were Shane and Big Ella. They were totally still, like in a trance. One of the shadowy figures broke away and moved towards them.
‘That’s Amergin,’ whispered Mister Lewis, his voice shaky with fear.
‘The stones!’ I said, pulling the two stone halves from inside my jacket. ‘I have them.’
Mister Lewis shook his head. ‘Too late, lad,’ he said. ‘No good now. Midnight has passed. All is lost.’
I watched, terrified, as Amergin moved. I couldn’t see his face. He wore long clothes
and had long hair that wafted about like a dirty cobweb. At a signal from him, the rest of the ghostly shapes also began to move towards Shane and Big Ella.
‘They’re going to turn them into half-ghosts – just like me,’ groaned Mister Lewis. ‘They’re doomed!’
That’s when I got really angry. I was not going to stand by and watch my best mate and his gran made into spooks.
‘Stop!’ I shouted, running into the circle. Shane and Big Ella were kneeling, their heads bent forward, like they were still in a trance.
‘Get away from my friends, you creeps!’ I roared.
Amergin drifted towards me. I could see his face now, all right, and it was not pretty. He had mad eyes that would bore holes in a
skyscraper. His voice shook the ground and made my bones tremble. I didn’t understand what he was saying. Terrified and angry, I yelled back at him, any rubbish I could think of to disguise my terror. His deep, earthquaky voice got louder. And then Mister Lewis was beside me. He was trying to pull me away, except that his hands kept going through me.
‘Don’t upset him, lad,’ he whispered.
But I wasn’t listening. I ripped off my jacket and hurled it, and the two stone halves, at Amergin.
‘There’s your crummy stones,’ I shouted. ‘We went to awful trouble to get them − me and Mister Lewis. And you can keep the jacket!’ I added, kicking it towards Amergin. Then I rushed over to Shane and Big Ella.
‘Get them out of their trance,’ Mister
Lewis’s voice shouted from behind.
I don’t know what I was thinking, but that was when I pushed Big Ella on top of Shane. She was a big lady and she squashed him like a frog under a tractor. If Amergin didn’t kill him, then Big Ella certainly would.
‘I’ve killed my best friend,’ was my last thought before the circle of foggy shapes began to close in and everything went black.
W
hen I woke up, I was lying in the long grass behind Shane’s house. It was still dark. I looked around in terror, expecting to see those spooks looming again. But there was nobody. Was it over? Was I dead? I kicked at a rock, expecting my foot to go through it. It didn’t.
‘Ouch!’ I yelped.
‘What did you do that for?’ It was Mister Lewis. He floated towards me, still a spook.
‘I thought I might be dead,’ I replied.
‘Dead?’ he laughed. ‘Not at all, my dear friend.’
‘But what happened?’ I asked. ‘What about Shane and Big Ella?’
‘They’re back at the house,’ said Mister Lewis. ‘They’re safe. Look, my dear, brave Master Milo Ferdinand, I don’t have much time. I just want to thank you.’
‘Huh?’
‘For getting me away from this dreary place. Shush, listen,’ he went on as I started to ask questions. ‘You want to know what happened out here? I’ll tell you. I can only stay a few moments.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘Because I have a ticket to go somewhere better than this stony dump,’ he said with a smile. ‘When you pushed the big lady on to her grandson, it was the best move you’ll ever make in your life.’
‘But wasn’t Amergin very angry with me?’ I said.
Mister Lewis shook his head. ‘I thought so too,’ he admitted. ‘But then I heard a sound that I thought I’d never, ever hear.’ He paused, smiling at whatever he was remembering.
‘Yeah? Go on.’
‘It was the sound of Amergin laughing,’ he said. ‘Can you imagine? A powerful Celtic druid laughing. His whole body − at least his whole ghostly body − was shaking with laughter at the sight of Big Ella flattening her grandson. I haven’t laughed so much
myself since … since … oh, to tell the truth, I just never, ever laughed like that.’
‘Really?’ I said. ‘He actually laughed? The great Amergin?’
‘It really was amusing,’ said Mister Lewis. ‘And then he sent away the circle of druids and indicated to Big Ella to haul the lad back to the house.’
‘So, Shane never saw what went on?’ I asked.
‘No. He won’t remember any of this. You must not tell him.’
I didn’t quite agree. What was the point in going through all this stuff and not being able to chat to Shane about it? And make sure he’d always be grateful to me for the rest of time? But I nodded. I’d have agreed to anything because I was alive, and so were my best mate and his gran.
‘I must go now,’ went on Mister Lewis. He smiled again and rubbed his spooky hands together. ‘I’m all done here,’ he said. ‘My stone-guarding duties are over. The stone halves have been joined together and buried and,’ he smiled, ‘Amergin has freed me.’
‘To go where?’ I asked again.
Mister Lewis winked and shrugged his dusty shoulders. ‘That’s what I have to find out. But it has to be a better place than this dreary wasteland. It’s been great to meet you. So, goodbye, Milo, my friend.’
He held out his hand and I took it. It was surprisingly warm. At least, it left a warm feeling in my own hand and in my heart. In an instant, Mister Lewis was gone.
‘Goodbye, you old spook,’ I whispered. ‘I hope you’ll find harps and sunshine and get
to dance on fluffy clouds.’
There were lights downstairs in Shane’s house. I pushed open the back door. Big Ella was in the kitchen. She was painting a huge canvas. At this hour? How mad was this?
‘Milo!’ she said. ‘Mister Lewis told me to leave you alone, that he’d look after you.’
‘What are you doing?’ I asked. This was getting even crazier.
‘I’m doing what Amergin asked me to do,’ she laughed as she splashed on another swish with her paintbrush. ‘I’m painting a picture of the stone. That’s what he wants. He said it was so that people will never forget our ancient history.’
‘Where did he go, him and those other guys in frocks?’ I asked.
‘Amergin took the stones, still wrapped in
whatever you’d put around them,’ said Big Ella. ‘And they all simply disappeared. Just me and that nice Mister Lewis left. What a pity he didn’t call years ago. We could have chatted over tea and muffins …’
‘Where is Shane?’ I put in.
She nodded towards the ceiling. ‘He’s upstairs, asleep. Wow, he’s some weight!’
She suddenly looked serious. ‘He mustn’t know about tonight’s events, Milo,’ she said. ‘He couldn’t cope with all that’s happened. Mister Lewis promised me that Shane won’t remember any of it. You and I are the only ones who know what went on here tonight. Now, how’s about a warm muffin to help you get back to normal before you go home, eh?
‘Normal?’ I said. ‘What’s normal, Big Ella?’ Could I ever be normal after all this?