Edmund Rice College Library

 

BY

 

ALLAN BAILLIE

 

“The kids at school think Megan is strange. But she has more important things to worry about. A baby brother whom she has to look after, a mother who is always tired and always shouting, and a father who has left them all. Strange?  Megan feels depressingly normal, with very ordinary problems.

But suddenly things are strange. Megan hears a desperate cry for help that no one else can hear, and extraordinary things start to happen. Two men are cruising her suburb and she finds a boy trapped in a ruined house.

Kel is strange. He has rare powers and he knows that Megan has them too.  Together they explore their powers, until Megan realizes that if she goes any further, she must give up everything she knows, for there will be no turning back.”

 

Chapter 1. Megan.

 

Megan is playing basketball after school and is about to take a shot to win the game, when she hears a voice in her head. “Help.”, she stops in mid air and they lose the game. Everyone is angry with her and Pam asks her if she is in fairyland again, but Megan knows she heard the voice.

 

Chapter 2. The Hunters.

 

Megan heads for home, angry with the voices because they never stop, she wonders if she is silly in the head. Megan thinks life is so unfair. A car pulls up beside her with two men wearing suits in it, they ask her if she has seen anyone strange in the area and because of the voice, she hesitates and the men become suspicious of her. The men leave her and continue to drive around searching. She picks up her baby brother Walter at the babysitters.

 

 

 

Chapter 3. Goblin.

 

Megan and Goblin (Walter) head for home; she sees all the familiar things in the neighborhood. Megan has 90 minutes to clear up the breakfast mess, feed goblin, and warm the house, get dinner and goblin ready for bed before her mother gets home, tired and cranky.  Megan puts two saucepans of water on the stove; one has rice in it, and starts to clean up. Goblin gets into the pantry and spills flour all over himself and the floor. Megan cleans everything up and just as she calls him for dinner, there is an almighty crash in the lounge room. Goblin is in the fireplace covered in soot and so is everything around him. Just then the voice comes again, “help me, please” and Mum arrives home.

 

Chapter 4. Flight.

 

Mum is very angry and yells at Megan, she is trying to find out where the voice is and when she tries to explain to Mum she slaps her face and tells her to stop her stupid games. She then discovers that the saucepans have boiled over. Mum tells her to clean up and she will bath goblin. Mum says she sometimes wishes her father was still there and Megan says so does she, they fight and Mum tells her to go find her father. Megan is upset and runs out of the house and down to the waterfront, it is different and scary at night, she should be at home and then she hears the voice again, very faint and distant, “Please.”

 

Chapter 5. Kel.

 

Megan whispers, “Who are you, Where are you.” The reply is like a tickle in her head. “I’m hurt: but the voice doesn’t know where it is. The conversation gores back and forth and she finally decides the must be in a partly demolished building, she goes there and stumbles across a boy, who is pinned under some fallen beams. She gets him out with great difficulty and they introduce themselves, he tells her he is “Kel, just Kel.” Megan tells him they will have to get him home and he says he doesn’t have a home and he has to find somewhere to hide. She asks him about the men looking for him and he tells her he will explain later. They find the old wool store but it is locked, he opens the padlock without touching it and she asks him how he did it and how he gets inside her head, he tells her “That’s what they want me for.”

 

 

Chapter 6. The Wool Store.

 

Megan goes home and is nervous about how her mum will be after running away. She is asleep at the table, but everything is cleaned up, when Megan wakes her she says she is sorry and she is glad she is back.  Next morning Megan gets the lunches ready and her mother comments that she is making a lot but Megan tells her she gets hungry in the afternoons. Her mum asks her if she is alright and not doing anything silly. Mum says she has seen enough silliness from her father which shows Megan her fathers leaving is still upsetting her mum. Megan runs to the wool store on the way to school and drops the lunchbox inside the door. She speaks softly “Hello, are you there? Breakfast.” She runs to school. In class Roger speaks to her and at the same time the voice in her head thanks her for the sandwiches, she gets into trouble for talking and the voice asks her, “what’s wrong, Megan.” After school she runs to the wool store and sneaks in when no one is looking. “Hello,” she calls out and not able to see where she is going in the dark, she falls straight down tumbling into the basement.

 

Chapter 7. Alcatraz.

 

Megan is battered and bruised and filthy dirty and wonders how she will be able to explain to Mum. She calls Kel and asks where he is. The voice replies, she says she wishes he would stop doing that, she finds her way upstairs to where Kel has set himself up, she has a splinter and is working at getting it out without much success. Kel asks her to bring him stuff like fruit, books and towels, she asks him again how he gets in her head and he says he is broadcasting and she is picking it up. He demonstrates how to throw a thought and things happen, he slides the splinter out of her finger without touching it. He tells her he ahs been doing that sort of thing since he was six years old. His mother took him to a doctor and he ended up being examined by scientist and researchers, they get him from his parents and take him to their “special school” which he calls Alcatraz, the only good thing there is a dog called Raffles. He tells her about all the experiments and what happens there and she tells him he should get his parents to come and get him but he tells her that his parents are scared of him and don’t want him around.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8. Trap?

 

Megan walks through the neighborhood on her way home, everything is so familiar but everything now feels different, because there are things out there that she knows about but most people don’t. She picks Goblin

up and takes him home just as the blue car goes past again, looking for Kel. She thinks about things that have happened to her and thinks perhaps her head is funny and she should be in Alcatraz.  Mum arrives home and Megan hasn’t got dinner ready, she starts to explain but Mum says she has bought pizza and to put the rissoles back in the fridge for tomorrow. Megan doesn’t understand her mother’s mood swing but thinks it might be a trap, she suddenly asks her where she went last night, and questions her. Then she announces that her father has rung and wants to see Megan, but Megan doesn’t want to see him, Mum says she might have to in the future but Megan remembers the desolation of coming home and seeing his empty wardrobe and the note to say he had gone. Mum starts to talk about normal stuff.

 

Chapter 9. Tiger.

 

Kel is much better and not as stiff and bruised, he is very happy with his hide away but Megan tells him maybe he should move on because the men are still looking for him. Kel thinks she doesn’t want him around and says it is always the same; he may as well be back in Alcatraz.  They talk and decide that maybe he should go out and stay with his Nan who understands him; she is an old tribal woman. Megan gives him some money and tells him to write, he thinks it is because she wants her money back. He says they can communicate through their heads. They walk up the road and as they pass a games arcade, Kel goes in because he can’t resist. He plays on a rocket machine and with his special powers is doing amazing things, soon everyone is watching him. Suddenly the hunters are there, it is so noisy Kel can’t hear her warning him, so she transmits, he looks up and suddenly the screen he has been playing on becomes a huge tiger, everyone is distracted and they manage to escape. Kel tells Megan, “You can do it too’ because she was able to transmit to him.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10.  The Nail

 

Kel explains that she was able to transmit to him without talking. She is worried that everyone saw them so they will be questioning her about Kel and she is not good at lying. He takes her upstairs to the roof and shows her some tricks he can do with nails and shows her that she can do it too. She feels a sensation like a hair being drawn across her temple – from the inside.  It is scary.

 

Chapter 11.  Raffles.

 

Megan explores the new feeling in her head for awhile and the amazing things she can do with her mind. Finally she gets a headache which Kel tells her that you do at first because you haven’t worked that part of your head before. Then she starts to worry that she is a freak or a monster. Kel tells her his Nan said that he was just natural. It’s just a gift like people with ESP, different parts of the head. Kel tells her about Alcatraz and the tests they do on the brain and how they did tests on his friend Raffles the dog who panicked and ran out onto the road and got run over and died. He blames the people at Alcatraz for that. They compare some of the names they have been called, Kel suddenly thinks he shouldn’t have taught Megan those tricks because now she will be an outcast like him.

Kel tells Megan she would be better not to come back and she thinks he will run away.

 

Chapter 12. Roger.

 

Megan leaves the wool store and runs into Roger, he asks her what she is doing and she feels guilty but he is only making conversation. He tells her that her Mum is looking for her. He talks about the tiger in the machine at the games arcade and she pretends she doesn’t know what he is talking about and then he asks her about the kid. She pretends she only saw him there and knows nothing about him. Roger is just worried about her and she thanks him. He asks her to go fishing and she starts to shake her head and then agrees much to his shock and delight. She thinks Kel won’t be there by tomorrow anyway so why not. When Megan arrive home one of the hunters are there and starts to question her about Kel, she pretends she doesn’t know him but the hunter says she was seen running away with him. He asks where he is and she tells him she doesn’t know. He keeps questioning her and threatens her with the police but Mum gets angry with him and tells him to get out. Megan tells her Mum she was fantastic. She hopes Kel has left and she will forget him and go fishing with Roger.

Then she decides to transmit a message to Kel and warn him not to go near the station, he replies that he is resting. After making tea for her mother and making the kettle lift and pour without touching it, she goes back to the wool store with some food and asks Kel what sort of freak she is.

 

Chapter 13. Caterpillar.

 

Kel thanks her for not dobbing him in and tells her he will show her what sort of freaks they are but warns her she might not believe it, she says after the kettle lifting she can believe anything. He shows her how to concentrate on a flower and see the caterpillar; it is magnified to the size of a freight train by them looking at it. She feels a magnetic pull and realizes she is actually out of her body. She looks back at the wool store and can see her body like a dummy and stared at herself. The magnet pulls her back and she comes back into her body with a thud.

 

Chapter 14. Ancient Secrets.

 

Kel tells her what they are doing is called remote viewing and she worries that she might not get back into her body but Kel tells her that the magnet is her body pulling her back in. She asks him how far can you go with the remote viewing but he says he doesn’t know he has only done about a kilometer. He says the scientists talked about him being able to go to the stars and travel through space, they say there were ancient people who did it because it was the only way they could have known about the solar system back then. Kel says he didn’t want to see if he could investigate space to please the scientists but now it is different and he asks Megan does she want to go. Much to her own shock she agrees to go and they agree to go to the moon.

 

Chapter 15.   Dusty Sea

 

Kel says “All right, Let’s Go. Megan is shocked and says we are not just going to the corner shop you know. She thinks they had better go no before she is too scared to go anywhere.  Kel says we will aim for the middle of the moon.   “I’m off! Catch Me!” Megan stares at the moon and finds herself moving, they are heading for the Sea of Serenity because the Americans have landed there. It is actually a rock crater, she has to look away to be able to land. They move around looking at the moon and find the flag and moon vehicle that was left behind from Apollo 17 lunar mission. Megan feels the pull of her magnet and she is whisked back into her body, before long Kel is there beside her, he says how great it was and how funny that the Americans and Russians spend billions to get there and they only have to concentrate. She remembers that that is what Alcatraz wants Kel for. Megan tells him he will have to leave soon or be caught. He says he will leave after tomorrow night because they have to go again. She finally agrees and says they have got to do it again.

 

Chapter 16. Fishing.

 

Megan is asleep and dreaming about the moon when her Mum is waking her up, she has slept in and has forgotten her fishing date with Roger, he is there waiting.  They go fishing and don’t catch anything, Roger asks her if she is sorry she came and she says No. Roger was an easy person to be around, not like Kel. They talk and Pam comes along, she mentions a play that Roger is in Megan is impressed and says she will come and watch him. While they are talking Roger tells her the men in the blue car are watching her and that “that kid” is getting her in trouble. She tells him it will be okay after tonight.

 

Chapter 17. Ice Rings.

 

 

Megan leaves the house and is amazed at how easy it is to lie to her mum now. She heads down the road and realizes the blue car is following her, so she doubles back and loses them. She heads for the wool store and slips in, Kel is on the roof and tells her he will leave tomorrow and go to the bush but he thinks his Nan is gone because he can’t feel her. They take off again and head for the stars and planets, she catches up with Kel at Saturn and they have fun playing around the rings of Saturn, they are having a wonderful time and Kel suggests they don’t go back.

 

Chapter 18. Megan’s Star.

 

Megan is amazed at the millions of stars and up close how different they all are, like humans. Kel tells her to pick a star and they will go there. She does and they head for that star, Megan thinks they will be able to go back and tell people about it but Kel says if they do, they will be locked up in Alcatraz for ever. As they fly towards the star Megan feels a strange sensation, a strange and cold pressure on her mind.  Something was in her head.

 

Chapter 19. Strangers.

 

 

Kel asks what the matter is but he seems far away, it is like someone is in her head shuffling like cards, through her mind. She screams for it to stop and it let go, and drifted away. She is not rushing now just floating. Kel says she was screaming for a long time and she tries to explain to him.  “Hello,’ like a heavy footprint in her mind, she asks Kel if it is him but he says No. and says Hello back.  A conversation follows from a being who says they are from many light years away and don’t know earth but are pleased to find intelligent life. They talk about what they look like where they are and all sorts of questions with no real answers. Kel decides to go with them and Megan feels a slight magnetic tug. She hesitates because she doesn’t know how they are going to get back from so far away. The alien tells them they will never be able to get back as it is too far away. They must make a decision, do they want to back to the same old, same old or a new adventure. Balin Dock or the Universe, leaving everything she knows for the unknown. She decides to go back and Kel decides to go, she is left floating alone.

 

Chapter 20. Alone.

 

Megan is stranded in a strange midnight sky and is terrified because she can’t feel the pull of the magnet; suddenly she is being reeled in like a fish, back toward earth. Too fast, too fast, she is thrown back into her body and as she does she hears a door splinter and realises that the hunters are there and she escapes.  They get to the roof and realise he is not there but that he has been there. The hunters decide to give it up. Megan checks the roof where their bodies were and there is just a little swirl of ash.

 

Chapter 21.  Message.

 

Life is getting back to normal for Megan and things are actually improving. Mum has agreed to her not having Goblin all the time, she has actually seen and half waved at her dad but the neighborhood is changing. Roger and she are friends; he asks her whatever happened to her funny friend. I don’t know she said he just disappeared. She tries to talk to Kel and suddenly she gets a very faint message, “Meg, Meg, it’s not a planet. Nothing like that….a city in the stars. ” The voice fades away. She opens her eyes and the old man is smiling at her in sympathy, the man who saw the past and the girl who saw the future.