months old; Christmas gifts that had been blitzed through, some in a single sitting. Out with the old and in with the new; Ryan’s thumbs needed a new challenge.
Just as he was finishing his mum called him for dinner, having finally prised the phone away from her ear. She’d cooked him a fresh pizza from scratch, which was one of his favourites. The bases she made always tasted awesome and she had seen fit to stack it with as much meat as possible. Ryan couldn’t help but admire it. To him it was a work of art. Sadly, in his hands it was destined to have a very short life span.
The meal did not last long, but it was the first time they had eaten at the dining room table since Easter and, though very little conversation passed between them, it was time well spent. His mum had made herself a more vegetable-orientated pizza and Ryan politely waited until she had finished it before leaving the table. Neither of them had room for pudding, but Ryan was told that there was ice cream in the freezer for when he fancied it.
It had been a good evening. Neither of them had tried too hard to push the reconciliatory process any faster than had it wanted to go. Both had made mistakes and both had come through them with a new-found respect for the other. That night, as Ryan turned in for bed with the tub of ice cream half eaten, he felt a remarkable sense of peace wash over him. Life wasn’t so bad really; troublesome teen by day, adventurer by night. Everything appeared to be going swimmingly for him. A week or so of detention was just a smudge on an otherwise perfect picture. It was all good.
15
Once again the rugged landscape of the Dream Isle began to form in Ryan’s mind. He watched as it lazily drew itself onto the canvas of his sub-conscious, fascinated by how familiar the different features of the terrain were becoming.
Hang on a second, he thought as the sandy beach started filling in around his shiny feet. I don’t want to be here. It’s quite a hike up to the Spire.
Almost as soon as he’d thought it the image shifted, erasing what had been drawn and sketching out a different landscape, depicting a spectacular view out across one side of the island. As Ryan turned his head he saw the sheer outer wall of the Spire rising up behind him.
That’s more like it, he thought. Much better than walking up, even though I do seem able to run around here without getting tired.
He let the picture finish itself off and savoured the glorious vista for a few moments, marvelling at the simplistic beauty of the vast sea surrounding the bleak island. Then he headed into the tower.
He found his class in the same training room as before, located in the yellow octant of the Spire. Most of the students were already there and he made a mental note to get more early nights so that he didn’t miss out on any of Tristram’s teachings – such a train of thought would have been unheard of at school.
‘Ah Ryan, good to see you,’ said Tristram, as he sat down on one of the benches.
Ryan nodded his acknowledgement.
‘As I was saying,’ said Tristram, picking up his previous thread. ‘Since most of you are starting to get the hang of Morphing we’re going to move on to our second lesson, which involves a technique that is known as Dialling In.’
Ryan looked round at the group. Daisy and Moira both gave him a wave. Earl gave him a nod. Billy ignored him as usual.
Where’s Soph? he thought. She was the only remaining absentee.
‘It’s a weird name, I know,’ continued Tristram. ‘But trust me; though it may not be the most exciting thing you learn to do here, it’s certainly one of the most useful. The basic idea is for you guys to be able to control whereabouts on the island you appear, so that you don’t have to hike up the hill every time you arrive. I understand this will be more useful to some than others, but once it becomes second nature you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it.’
‘He’s right,’ said Ryan nonchalantly. ‘I did it just now and it was much quicker than running up.’
Every pair of eyes turned on him; some surprised, some impressed and one pair in particular, cynical. He looked round the group and began to wish he had kept quiet. No-one liked a smart-arse at school.
‘What?’ he shrugged.
‘Did you Ryan?’ asked Tristram. ‘Did you really just Dial In to here?’
‘I don’t know. I think so. It was very similar to what you just said anyway. I saw that a beach was appearing in front of me and I decided that wasn’t where I wanted to be, so I ended up outside the tower.’
Tristram’s eyes grew almost as wide as the smile on his face.
‘That’s it Ryan! That’s exactly it! You just Dialled In to the Spire without even being taught it. Wow!’
Ryan gave a doubtful smile as several admiring glances were thrown his way.
You think that was impressive? You guys didn’t see my hockey stop earlier today, he thought.
‘It just felt natural,’ he said out loud. ‘I didn’t want to be where I was being put so I chose some place else. It’s no big deal.’
‘You’re right; it’s not,’ said Tristram. ‘At least, not to someone who has been ‘weaving for a while. For you to do it of your own accord though, that’s incredible!’
Ryan was beginning to feel like he had the first time he’d taken a pee standing up; so much praise for something that was really not that interesting. Daisy, in particular, was wide-eyed with admiration and smiling as if it was the last use her facial muscles were ever going to get.
He shrugged again.
‘Okay, so I rock. That’s hardly news, is it?’
Billy rolled his eyes and turned away in disgust, but Tristram chuckled.
‘Well, yes, in this instance, I guess you do,’ he smiled.
He opened his mouth to say something further, but at that moment the door to the training room opened and in strode Ulysses Rockwell. They had been expecting Sophie, so to see his burly, beclawed form came as quite a surprise. He cast the briefest of looks around the room and then fixed his stern gaze on Tristram.
‘Ainsworth; a word, if I may,’ he said curtly.
Tristram got up without reply and headed to the door. The two of them spoke in whispers for a few moments and then Rockwell disappeared as quickly as he had arrived. For a moment Tristram appeared at a loss; torn between his class and some pressing matter beyond his control. Eventually he came to some sort of decision.
‘Guys, I’m really sorry about this, but I am needed elsewhere urgently so we are going to have to suspend the lesson. The hilltop dream is still circulating in the pool, so if you could all head there and continue your Morphing practice, I’ll get back as soon as I can.’
There were downcast looks from several members of the group; the stick exercise was starting to become quite tiresome.
‘I’m really sorry,’ said Tristram again. ‘Honestly, I’ll be back ASAP, I promise.’
With that he left the room and closed the door behind him. Without a moment’s thought, Ryan got to his feet and made to follow.
‘Where are you off to, Butler?’ asked Billy, the scathing tone of his voice cutting into Ryan.
‘Isn’t it obvious?’ he snarled, rounding on him. ‘This is about your sister and I’m going to help.’
Billy looked at the others incredulously.
‘Okay firstly, how in God’s name could you possibly know that?’ he scoffed. ‘And secondly, what could an imbecile like you do to help these people? You’ve got nothing to bring to the table.’
Ryan fought desperately to quell the raging beast that erupted inside him, begging to be set free and tear Billy apart.
‘Right Bambi, first off I would rather be proved wrong about this than be right and done nothing about it. I don’t need to explain myself to you. I just know, okay? Secondly, I just Dialled In without even being taught. I’ve got skills you couldn’t even dream of, so I’m going to make use of them. I know you don’t get on with her so I’m not expecting your assistance. In fact, I’d rather not have it.’
With those words he flung open the door and headed out into the
corridor. Heading out onto the wide balcony he cast around to see where Tristram had gone. He peered over the railing, but there was no sign of him in the terraced courtyard below.
Bugger, he thought.
Then he caught sight of a winged shape heading out almost directly above the main gates.
Double bugger, he added. How the hell am I supposed to keep up with that?
He dashed back into the corridor and almost ran straight through Daisy in his eagerness to catch Tristram up.
‘Ryan!’ she cried. ‘I’m coming with you, but you’ll have to carry me otherwise I won’t be able to keep up.’
He looked her waif-like form up and down.
‘Jump on and hold tight,’ he nodded.
Heading back out onto the balcony, he decided to put to the test a thought that had been growing in his mind for a while. With barely a pause to consider what he was doing, he grabbed the railing with both hands and vaulted it in one clean movement.
‘Ryan!’ squealed Daisy, squeezing him hard, though he barely felt a thing.
The drop lasted a fraction of a second and he hit the ground with a satisfying crunch. There were no complaints at all from his metallic limbs.
Cool, he grinned to himself.
‘Butler!’
The sound of Billy’s voice from above caused him to turn.
‘Not now Bambi,’ he shouted.
‘I’m with you on this,’ came the reply.
‘Only if you can keep up,’ said Ryan, and he started running.
Tristram’s form had already diminished to little more than a speck, so Ryan knew that