Hiding From Seagulls Page 19

We were back on the ground and just like everything else that had come before him. the Man of Christmas became a distant memory, just another dream breaking up in the light of the morning.

  We were left on a beautiful sandy beach looking upon water so blue it could have been drained right out of the school swimming pool. Well minus the patches of green that were in the school pool.

  Across the water, on the horizon. was the Duchess's castle. It looked like a grand sand sculpture, like damp sand, but I would bet that up close the walls were as solid as those in my house. Perhaps the chambers inside were as dingy, dirty, and bloody as those in the tower of London. I shuddered hoping that we would not have to find out. The tide had already begun to wash away revealing the road and Raheam's bus would soon be able to use it. We knew it was coming as we had seen it from the air.

  We did not speak much to each other. The ever-present feeling was that we had spoken enough and were now comfortable in each others silence. However with the silence also came the dread. We made our way to the bus stop feeling once more like strangers at a strange bus stop. The man bear followed us lagging sluggishly behind. There were a few seagulls circling the castle. I wondered if Sergeant Fifteen, whom we had met whilst we were in the caves, was amongst the Seagull Army on duty today.

  Time passed. Like before I couldn't tell you how much. Time passed differently here. I heard the roar of the bus engine and from around one of the cliff's Raheam's bus appeared. The brakes made an almighty screech as it stopped and once again the doors opened.

  "I do hope you are not expecting me to drive right up to her castle?"

  He waited a moment then seemed to answer his own question with a sigh.

  "All right jump in and hurry up. I am late as it is."

  "You know the white rabbit was always late," Madeline said as she climbed into her seat.

  "Yes," Raheam replied.

  "But the white rabbit did not have to worry about the small practicality of the tide. That road is only usable for an hour a day. It takes twenty minutes to drive up there and twenty minutes to get back and you have just wasted ten minutes talking about a darn white rabbit."

  I was already sat down whilst Madeline was talking but I saw Rob and Simon clambering quickly into their seats. Before they were sat properly Raheam had his foot on the gas bumping them about and was making his way to the road across the water leaving behind us a cloud of sand.

  Then there was a smashing sound as one of the bus windows shattered into a million pieces. The Army of Seagulls began to swarm in. Despite the speed of the bus, the Seagull Army had found us, and were protecting the sandcastle. They first began pecking at Ted as he warned them off with his stick. I ran to the open window and tried to push the invaders back with my bare hands. The seagulls beaks were razor sharp and there were so many that I struggled to keep them away.

  Then there was almighty crash as another of the gulls had done a kamikaze dive shattering yet another window. Rob went into full fight mode to try to keep them out but I heard another window crash, and then another, and another. It seemed the Duchess had an unlimited supply of troops in her army.

  “She was expecting you,” the man bear shouted waving his stick frantically in the air. He seemed elated, enjoying the battle. Behind him another window smashed and a flood of claws and beaks came in.

  “My bus,” Raheam shouted. “My wonderful bus! Look the sea is coming in, we will never make it in time."

  “Raheam,” Ted shouted, “Reverse the gear.”

  “What good would reverse do?” Raheam called back.

  “The other reverse gear.”

  Raheam put his thumbs up and moved his gear to a position I had never seen used on any car or bus and we picked up speed fast. It was harder for the Seagull Army to time their attacks and the crashes against the windows lessened. When I looked outside I saw that the bus was not travelling on the road any more. We were airborne.

  “Of course it does,” Simon responded in that same old sarcastic manner.

  Quickly I threw the sweets that Claws had given me out of the window and the Seagulls that were still inside the bus dived out of the windows or squabbled between themselves.

  “That was close. I had forgotten this bus had a sixth gear, the flight mode,” Raheam said wiping the sweat from his forehead.

  “Seagulls have a pretty good flight mode too.” Madeline mumbled, “and the thousands of them are up there waiting for us.”

  Raheam looked back at us. Then I knew what defeat looked like. His eyes rolled back and he shook his head. “Any ideas?” He asked.

  My head jerked back violently into the headrest and the world turned to black.