Chapter Ten
It was after eight the next morning when Andy woke. Tim’s bed was empty. Andy went down to the kitchen and found Tim’s family having breakfast. Tim and his parents said good morning, but Lauren ignored him.
“You slept in late, sleepyhead,” said Tim.
Andy grabbed a piece of toast and started buttering it.
“Guess I must have needed it,” he said.
Carl Meadows looked over the top of his paper and spoke to the boys.
“What are you two going to do today?”
“It’s a nice day; I thought we might get the kayak out and have a paddle in the river,” Tim said.
“Good idea, but be careful. The water’s cold this time of year. Take your life jackets as well.”
By nine o’clock the boys had pulled Tim’s old kayak out from behind the woodshed and had dragged it through the back gate and across the walkway to the river. Tim’s dog Jake was bouncing around them.
“What’s the dog so excited for?’ asked Andy.
“Cause he wants to come as well. He loves it.”
“Going kayaking was a good idea of yours. We can go down to where I dropped off the Talisman and pick it up without any suspicion.”
“Yeah, I sometimes have the odd good one.”
The boys got the kayak down to the riverbank and slipped it into the water. Tim told Andy to get into the front first and then he got in himself. After some wobbling and a couple of near misses they were ready to go. Jake was running backwards and forwards barking.
“Come on then,” Tim said to the dog, as he grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the boat.
Without hesitating Jake pushed past Andy and stood directly in front of him with his tail wagging furiously in Andy’s face.
“Does he have to stay there?” Andy complained. “He’s blocking my view. All I can see is his butt.”
“He always stands there and barks at the ducks,” said Tim. “Move back a little.”
Andy turned and looked at Tim.
“You set me up didn’t you? So I’d have to sit here staring at your dog’s bum,” he said.
“Maybe,” said Tim smiling. “Now turn round and enjoy the view.”
After several minutes paddling Andy recognized the area where he’d buried the Talisman. They pulled the kayak up onto the shore and took a quick look around to see if anyone was about. Andy had no problems finding the tree. A minute later they’d swept the leaves aside with their hands and found the cake tin.
Andy pulled open the tin and reached inside to pick up the Talisman. He jumped as he felt it spring to life in his hand.
“Can you hear that?” he asked Tim.
“What?”
“A humming, like when you’re standing next to power lines.”
Tim listened for a second then shook his head.
“Nope, nothing,” he said.
“It’s sort of vibrating in my hand as well. Here you try it,” Andy said holding the Talisman out to Tim.
Tim backed away with his hands up.
“No way man. That thing is yours. I’m not touching it!”
Andy was about to speak when a branch snapped nearby. Jake, who’d been sitting scratching his ear, stopped and growled. Tim and Andy stopped and looked at each other. Andy quietly put the Talisman back in the tin and carefully closed the lid. Jake stood up and stalked towards the nearby bushes. He stopped, lifted his front paw and growled. It seemed to the boys as if the world around them had stopped. There was complete silence, except for Jake’s growl.
They waited as Jake crept closer. He stopped and raised his paw again. A second later he barked and leapt. There was a screech Andy had never heard before as a rabbit sprang out of the bushes straight at the boys with Jake hard on its tail. Tim yelled at Jake to come back but he’d gone after the rabbit, his growls changing to a high pitched yap.
“Whew, just a rabbit,” Tim said.
“You gonna go after him?’ asked Andy.
“Nah, there’s no point. We’d never catch him. Anyway, he’s always out here chasing rabbits and ducks. It drives Dad mad.”
Andy nodded towards the box.
“Shall we get back to this?” he said.
“Yeah, but not here. Let’s go back to my place. We’ll use the garden shed. Mum’s gone to netball with Lauren and Dad will be in his study writing his book.”
“He’s writing a book?!” said Andy in surprise.
“Yeah, I know,” Tim said a little embarrassed. “Who writes books these days? But Mum says it keeps him happy and out of her hair.”
A few minutes later the boys were paddling with the current back to Tim’s house. They wasted no time in dumping the kayak and heading into the garden shed. Andy took the Talisman out of the tin.
“What’s it set to?” Tim asked.
“Don’t know if it’s been changed,” said Andy. Let’s have a look.”
They both stared at the dials on the Talisman. The first two were the same and the last two were different. Andy reached into his pocket.
“Luckily I thought of bringing these!” he said and making a show of pulling out the notes he’d made about Mayan symbols.
Tim sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Yes, well done. Now open them up so we can have a look.”
A quick look at both the notes and the Talisman confirmed that it was still set at 0.0.7.3.
“What are you going to do now?” said Tim.
“I’m going to put it on and see if it works,” Andy said.
He sounded confident, but he didn’t look it.
“But won’t you arrive back in time to crash?” said Tim.
“No, I’ve been thinking about that,” said Andy.
“So what if it does work and you travel back to that bloke on the island? What are you going to do then? Just say ‘Sorry about the plane mate; no hard feelings. I can’t actually get you off this island because I’m just a kid. Oh, by the way, you’re going to die of a horrible painful leg infection in five weeks.’ I’m sure that’ll put his mind at rest.”
Tim was right and Andy knew it.
“Look,” he said. “Let’s just see if it works first shall we?”
“OK,” Tim said. “Way you go then.”
Andy put the Talisman over his head. He closed his eyes tight and braced himself. After a few seconds he heard a ghostly hollow voice.
“Andy... Andyyyyyy. Open your eyes you looserrrrr. It hasn’t woorrrked!”
It was Tim talking into an old kettle he’d picked up while Andy had his eyes shut. Tim was laughing. It made Andy grumpy and embarrassed.
“Yeah, really funny,” he snapped. “It should have worked.”
Tim, still laughing, put the pot down.
“I believe you,” he said. “But what’s changed?"
“Nothing. It’s still set on seventy-three just like last time.”
“Yes, but what exactly were you doing when you last used it?”
Andy took the Talisman off. He put it in the old cake tin again and sat down on an old stool. Leaning back against the workbench behind him, he tried hard to think about what he was doing immediately before he used the Talisman at the museum.
Tim tried to break into his thoughts.
“Well, what were you doing?” he asked.
“Keep your knickers on!” said Andy. “Let’s see; I went over and had a look at the display, read the caption thing at the front and then had another look at it.”
Tim broke in again.
“What happened then?”
“Hang on, I’m getting there! I couldn’t believe they had the actual items from the crash, so I stepped over the rope and had a look at the wax pilot. Then I took his diary out of his hands.”
Tim made a face of mock horror.
“That was naughty,” he said.
“Yeah, but what are you gonna do about it?” said Andy. “Stop interrupting me will you. Anyway, I was looking at his diary when I saw the Talisman, so I pu
t it on. Then I was in a plane with an angry pilot who crashed and now I’m in a shed with an annoying twerp.”
Tim pulled a face at Andy.
“So where’s the diary?” he asked.
“Don’t know,” said Andy. “Hang on! I dropped it to brace for the crash. As soon as I did that I was back in the museum!”
Tim jumped up so suddenly it frightened Andy.
“It’s a key!” he said.
“What’s a key?” asked Andy.
‘The diary’s a key!” said Tim who was pacing up and down waving his arms.
Andy grabbed Tim’s arms and looked him in the face.
“What do you mean by a key?”
“What year was the diary?” Tim asked.
“1936,” said Andy.
“And who did it belong to?”
“You know as well as I do,” said Andy. “It belonged to that Spencer- Brown fella. Get to the point will you!”
Tim sat down next to Andy.
“I just think that you need something from the time you want to travel to or belonging to the person you want to travel to, to activate the Talisman.”
Andy thought about what Tim had said.
“So we’ll need to go back to the museum and get that diary.”
“If it’s still there,” said Tim.