over her shoulder at the open doorway.
“Lisa and that little one,” said Ollie triumphantly.
“Charlie? The one who told me about football?” said Tom.
“Both of them. They were carrying bags and when they had disappeared into the machine it went away round the corner, and I couldn’t see it any more. Pretty good spying though, eh?” He sat back, beaming in triumph, and allowed Tom to give him a High Four. Emily and Alice looked at one another.
“I think the big machine might have been a… a ‘bus’,” said Alice thoughtfully. “Remember that story, Emily? In the book they gave us?”
“Of course it was!” said Emily excitedly. “And I bet they were going to School, like we’ve read about. Where they learn things and have fun all together. They were carrying their School Bags! That must have been a School Bus. Wow, Ollie, you’ve seen an actual School Bus! You are SO lucky! I wish I’d seen it…”
“Come out with me tomorrow if you like. It might come along again,” said Ollie, trying to sound casual, but obviously delighted with all the excitement he had caused.
It was obvious that Emily was seriously tempted. Alice looked horrified.
“Don’t be stupid! We can’t! You think you were lucky this time, Ollie, but you don’t KNOW some of the Humans on the bus didn’t spot something bright red in the undergrowth. What if they mention it and that wee Charlie lets something out about us? He might say ‘must have been a dragon!’ and Lisa would try to cover up and who knows WHAT the others would think. We might have search parties out in the woods. There’s no way we should risk it again.”
It was obvious that she was deadly serious. And angry. Tom looked from her to Emily, wondering how to break the tension building up in the small room. “I’m hungry,” he said. “Let’s go and find a snack.”
“Me too!” said Alice, and turned from the others to head upstairs. “Come on, Tom,” she added over her shoulder. Emily felt rather hurt and a bit upset by her attitude. After all, she had not taken Ollie up on his offer! But as she turned to follow them, Ollie touched her arm. “Find out all you can about School Buses from those books of yours,” he whispered. “Then we’ll sneak out and see it again. We’ll be careful. Don’t tell the others. Come on! You know you want to!”
He gave her a wicked grin before he headed upstairs, leaving Emily in a very muddled state of mind.
Things were rather tense between the four of them for the rest of the day. Ollie’s deliberately casual swagger was irritating Alice unbearably, and she was snappy with everyone and avoided Emily. Tom, obviously rather bemused by the atmosphere, practised Tail-Stane shots endlessly, annoying everyone, especially Aunt Angelica, who was never happy when the peace of her ‘castle’ was so rudely disturbed. Lily, sensing tension, decided to have a couple of her famous tantrums. Gwen was obviously still very worried, and Duncan was, equally obviously, itching to be back home in the glen. They all missed the cheerful presence of Des; nobody knew how long it would be before he returned, and there could be no news now that he was well outside the range of Huff signals.
For once, Emily was glad when it was bed-time. She hoped that Alice had got over her bad mood and would become her cheerful and sensible friend again. At first this seemed likely as they settled down as usual on their beds. But then Alice spotted the book that Emily pulled from under the hay.
“That’s the book about the children at school that Lisa and Megan gave us!” she hissed. “You’re reading up about School Buses, aren’t you? You’re planning to go out with Ollie! I can’t believe it! I know HE’S stupid, but I never thought YOU’D risk our freedom like that. I’ve a good mind to tell Mum and Dad!”
“I HAVEN’T said I’d go out with Ollie!” Emily protested.
“But you’d like to!”
“Yes I would!” Emily began to lose her temper. She felt that Alice was being unfair. “And if I do, and you tell, I’ll never speak to you again!” She turned her back on Alice and pretended to read her book, but she was so angry and upset that the words blurred on the page. She hoped that Alice would say sorry and promise never to tell, but after a few minutes of tense silence, she heard Alice flounce over in bed, turning her back as well. She found the pages that mentioned the School Bus and read all she could find. She would sneak a word with Ollie in the morning!
She read on defiantly, too irritated to sleep, until she realised that Alice was snoring faintly on the other side of the room. When she finally put the book away, having found out as much as she could, she still couldn’t sleep. She made up her mind, slid off her bed and tiptoed quietly across the cellar to the room where the boys slept. She would wake Ollie and make a plan with him now, while nobody could hear her!
At the arched doorway of the boys’ cellar room, she hesitated. In the faint moonlight shining through a tiny high window, she could see the humped shape of Tom, motionless in his bed, but Ollie was thrashing about in a muddle of hay and straw, swishing his tail and muttering. She heard a few blurred words – “Can’t move!” “No, NO...!” and realised that Ollie was in the grip of a nightmare. She knew what that felt like! She was just about to move in and wake him when he gave a final heave and a low cry and she saw that he had woken himself up. She held her breath, expecting Tom to wake too, but he just stirred and slept on. At the same time, Ollie, shaking his head and breathing heavily, realised she was there.
“Em!” he said, confused. “What you doing here? I...I...thought I...”
“It’s all right,” Emily whispered, moving into the room. “You were dreaming, I think. Are you OK?” She could sense him shivering.
“Course I am! Didn’t wake you, did I? Allie’s not out there too?”
“No. I wasn’t asleep. I’ve been reading the School Bus book. I came to say I’d like to go out to see it, if you’ll come too. Alice doesn’t approve, so could we sneak out without telling her?”
“Course we could! Great!” Ollie was recovering fast. “What have you found out?”
Emily sat next to him on the hay. “It happens twice every day. The bus picks up all the children from their caves – houses I mean - in the morning and takes them to the school-place. Then they go home in the afternoon. Except for two days they call the ‘weekend’. I don’t know what that means.”
“Not at night?”
“No.”
“Pity. Makes it more difficult for two of us to sneak out. We need to think about this. Can’t decide tonight, but good idea of yours to come and tell me. I’ll work something out. Better get back in case Allie wakes and notices you’re missing. Tom never does, fortunately!”
“I hope you don’t have another nightmare,” said Emily as she got up. “They can be horrible! Are you sure you’re OK?”
“I’m fine, honestly. Don’t say anything, will you? You know how they fuss!”
“I won’t. ‘Night.” She tiptoed across to her own room and fell asleep as soon as she hit the hay. Ollie lay down, took several deep calming breaths, stared into the darkness and tried very hard to stay awake.
