Alex nodded, hard. ‘I have to find the watch first though, for Mr Grantham. I promised. I can’t go back on a promise.’
‘If you have to.’
‘Yes,’ said Alex, ‘I do – it’ll be my last human act.’
‘Oh, Alex,’ cried the unhappy Chloe.
Seeing that strange shining in her younger brother’s eyes, she despaired for him, knowing she was losing him, had probably already lost him. And at such a time, with an emergency on, when she couldn’t give him her full attention. Unfortunately, Jordy needed her more at the moment. She went to look for the package which would help save Jordy’s life.
CHAPTER 18
Rafter Kings and Rafter Queens
Chloe approached the place and saw a long large kit of some kind, wrapped in plastic.
A tent? It looked like a tent.
Dropping to her knees with her torch in her hand she shone it on a label which was visible through the transparent wrapping. Her eyes widened. Not a tent. A kite of some kind. She wiped away the dust from the covering and stared hard at the illustration. Not a kite either. A hang-glider. Her heart began beating faster. She picked it up, gathering it in her arms. It was quite light, despite the bulkiness.
When she arrived back at the edge of the lake, Jordy was alone, nursing his injured arm.
‘Has he gone?’ she asked. ‘The bortrekker?’
Jordy was staring angrily into the middle distance.
‘And Alex?’ she added. ‘Where’s he gone?’
‘Don’t ask,’ growled Jordy. ‘He’s a nutter. He’s gone off his rocker.’
‘I’ll find him in a minute,’ said Chloe.
Jordy suddenly became interested in what she had in her arms.
She put it on the ground.
‘I know what that is,’ he cried, gritting his teeth as his excitement exacerbated the pain in his arm. ‘It’s a hang-glider.’
‘Have you done it? Can you do it?’
‘Hang-gliding? Natch, I did it with the army cadets, before my dad married your mum.’ His voice took on that old swaggering tone. ‘I was pretty good at it. I flew like a bird.’ He saw her expression, adding lamely, ‘You know.’
‘Can you do it with a broken arm?’
Despair registered on his face. He looked down at his sling.
‘No, of course not,’ he said, crestfallen.
A determined look appeared on Chloe’s face. Jordy stared at her.
‘Oh no,’ he said. ‘You can’t, Chloe.’
‘Yes I can. I’ll have to. And you must help me. I’ve seen them on TV. You can do it with two people. The person who’s guiding the glider goes in the harness and the passenger’s slung underneath. They do it when they’re teaching a novice. We’re not even adults. We’re quite light, considering. Our combined weight is probably that of one adult. A largish one, admittedly.’
‘Yes,’ protested her step-brother, ‘but you’re the novice and I’m not exactly an expert. I know what I said before, but I’ve only done it a few times. We’re sure to crash, Chloe, then you’ll end up with something broken too.’
Nelson appeared and rubbed up against Chloe’s leg.
‘And we’ll have to take Nelson with us.’
‘Oh, my lord,’ muttered Jordy. ‘The girl’s serious.’
‘Of course the girl’s serious.’
‘And what about Alex?’
Chloe said, ‘Once I’ve taken you to our house, I’ll come back for him. I’ll be good at it then. I’ll have had practice.’ This time she didn’t sound too sure of herself. ‘He can wait here, by the tank.’
‘He won’t, you know.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Here he is now. Look at him.’
Alex was walking towards them. Chloe was surprised to see he had rid himself of all his old clothes, the silly oversized overcoats, the scarves and all the other excess clothes. If there had been no other change, Chloe would have been delighted by the alteration. It would have meant that her brother had given up his ideas about being one of those collector things that infested the attic. One of those people who had turned from a human into a dust-living creature obsessed with gathering one or another of the attic’s treasures.
But now Alex looked even worse. He had on a wide-brimmed hat, a coat with many capes, big boots. He strode like the tall youth they had just come to know. He walked with great confidence in his step. There was in his expression a new look, a look which chilled Chloe to the bone. She did not know this brother, this new Alex. He was a stranger.
‘He’s dressed like the bortrekker,’ she said.
Jordy murmured, ‘That’s what he thinks he is.’
‘That’s what I am,’ corrected Alex, coming up to them. ‘I’ve always had it in