Chloe to Jordy, ‘we might as well go down and face the music sooner rather than later.’
Jordy went first.
Just before Chloe followed him she took one last look into the dimness. Lo and behold, out of the half-light came her first and last dust sprite. It dashed out of the darkness of Attica, into their personal attic space, and right up to her. A grey, featureless being the size of a squirrel. Then before her eyes it went puff and fell to the boards as a cloud of motes.
The attic taunted, and teased, then it finally showed you what you wanted to see.
‘Goodbye, spirits of the attic,’ said Chloe grimly. ‘I don’t think I shall be back again.’
They descended the ladder and turned to face their parents, expecting to be chastised or overwhelmed with emotional greetings after so long an absence. Instead, Ben looked at his watch and said, ‘I don’t know, we go out for the afternoon and you all disappear. What are you messing around up there for? Aren’t you supposed to be doing some homework today, Jordy? And where’s Alex? Is he with you?’
‘Ah, Alex,’ began Jordy in a faltering voice, ‘yes, well,’ and though Jordy had intended to be entirely honest with his parents, at the last minute he chickened out. ‘He’s – he’s up there. He won’t …’
CHAPTER 19
Voyage over the Great Water Tank
The bortrekker and the board-comber helped Alex build the raft out of plastic bottles, wood and cord. When it was finished it looked like a jumble of junk, but it was serviceable. It floated well, bore his weight easily and sported a mast with a square sail made out of a bed sheet. All three boat builders were pretty pleased with themselves. They held a celebratory dinner before Alex set sail. The two young Attican pioneers gave the sailor some provisions before he set out, for which he was most grateful.
‘Stay clear of the Removal Firm,’ said the bortrekker, shaking his hand for the last time. ‘They’re ugly brutes, they are.’
‘And if you do happen to see …’ began the board-comber.
‘… any Inuit soapstone carvings,’ finished Alex with a smile, ‘yes, I’ll gather them up and leave them here, on this spot for you. Oh, that reminds me, of course, this is for you. I pinched it from my sister’s backpack. I doubt she even remembers she had it.’
Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out the soapstone walrus, handing it to the board-comber. The board-comber’s eyes widened under his mask. He took the carving reverently and stroked it. Then it disappeared into the folds of his many-coloured, many-layered clothes.
‘Thank you,’ replied the bundle of rags before him, ‘and the bat says thank you, too.’
The last thing the two attic-dwellers did was give Alex a bag full of beautiful paperweights, to trade with any creature he might come across.
Alex set sail at about the same time as Chloe and Jordy were climbing up the ladder of the tank, hauling their hang-glider behind them. He too managed to miss the Removal Firm by a very short time. They stood on the shore and shook their fists at him. Alex replied with a rather crude gesture which he knew would have shocked his mother. However, any shame he felt was crowded out by a feeling of triumph. He had beaten the Removal Firm and what was more had drawn them away from the bortrekker and board-comber, to allow those worthies to escape back into untrammelled regions, where they would be safe from these human ejectors.
Then there was the final shock of seeing Chloe and Jordy, flying high above him. He thought at first it was an attempt to get him back, but then Alex realised they were not after him. They were simply using the warm air above the water to carry them high up into the attic’s atmosphere. He watched them sweep through dusty shafts of light, waved when he realised that Chloe had seen him, then adjusted his sail and sped on. There was a heavy swell on the surface of the tank and very soon he had sailed down into a trough of water and the hang-glider was lost to his sight.
‘Bye, sis!’ he called, wondering if she could hear him. ‘Bye, Jordy!’
Then his craft called for all his attention, as he started to climb up out of the trough and on to the heights of the swell. He soon dispensed with his heavy coat and hat, and took off his