The RSPCA people and the teachers were only a few seconds behind Splitter, but the moment they turned into the alcove, they froze.
What’s going on now? Ben thought desperately.
Mr Archer marched further around the corner and out of sight whilst the other grown-ups stayed where they were, staring into the alcove. Within moments Mr Archer appeared, his hand grasped tightly around Splitter’s arm. Splitter was a boy again, back to his normal self. But judging from the nuclear look on Mr Archer’s face, Splitter was in a great deal of trouble.
‘I don’t know how you did it and I don’t care,’ said Mr Archer as he marched across the playground with Splitter in tow. ‘But you don’t bring a donkey to school and you don’t waste my time or any other teacher’s time with your foolishness and you don’t play stupid tricks with your pets.’
‘But, Mr Archer—’ Splitter began. He got no further.
‘I’m going to call up your parents and they can pay for the RSPCA people being called out on a wild-goose chase!’ Mr Archer continued.
Ben saw an RSPCA official come out of the playground alcove, take off his cap and scratch his head, very puzzled indeed.
‘Thank goodness for that.’ Steven turned his back on the window and slumped against it.
‘Whizziwig, are you all right?’ Ben opened up his shoulder bag.
There lay Whizziwig, her eyes closed. She was less than half her normal size, like a balloon with most of its air let out, and her golden fur was now a dingy, muddy colour.
Chapter Twelve
Thirty Voices, One Wish
‘WHAT HAPPENED?’ STEVEN asked, aghast. ‘Whizziwig’s exhausted. She had to use all her primary, secondary and tertiary energy to change Splitter back into a boy.’ Ben’s eyes were stinging. ‘And now she might never wake up.’
‘But she must,’ Steven said, shocked. ‘Do something.’
‘Like what?’ Ben snapped. ‘Don’t you think I would if I could?’
‘Wish for her to be well again,’ Steven said.
‘I’m not sure that would do it,’ Ben said slowly.
‘We’ve got to do something . . .’ Steven said.
A tiny seed of an idea dropped into Ben’s head.
‘Steven, you and me have to get everyone in our class together during the afternoon break. And in the next lesson we’ve got to write out thirty wishes,’ Ben said. ‘I’ve thought of something that just might work.’
And Ben told Steven his plan.
The afternoon clock ticked so slowly that Ben was sure it was doing it on purpose. Mr Archer wittered on about fractions, suspiciously glancing around the room from time to time because everyone was so quiet.
At last the buzzer sounded.
‘OK, everyone, we’ll carry on with . . .’ Mr Archer didn’t bother to finish his sentence. He was completely alone. He’d never seen his class beetle out of the classroom so quickly to get to the playground!
‘If only they showed the same eagerness for fractions,’ the teacher muttered to himself.
Ben was one of the last ones in his class to make it to the playground alcove. Steven stood guard to make sure that none of the teachers were nearby.
‘Have you really got an alien, Ben?’
‘Let me see . . .’
‘Show me . . .’
‘Shush!’ Ben quietened down the crowd around him. Slowly he opened up his bag. Whizziwig was now the size of a tennis ball and still shrinking.
‘Ooooh!’
‘Wow!’
‘Wait until I tell my sister tonight!’ said Charlotte.
‘Not much of an alien . . .’ said Paul, unimpressed.
‘Shut up, Paul. Are you going to help us or not?’ asked Steven crossly.
‘Yeah, of course,’ Paul replied.
‘Her name is Whizziwig and she needs your help,’ Ben said. ‘She used up all her energy changing Splitter the jackass back into Splitter the boy and now we’ve got to help her get her energy back.’
‘How do we do that?’ asked Charlotte.
Very carefully, Ben picked up Whizziwig and placed her gently on his bag in the middle of the crowd. Then he and Steven got out lots of bits of paper from their pockets and started handing them out.
‘I’ll count to three,’ said Ben. ‘And then we’ve all got to say what’s written on the paper all together, at the same time. It’s really important that we all speak at the same time. That way all thirty of us will make just one wish and it’ll be stronger.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Christopher.
‘No,’ Ben admitted. ‘But we’ve got to do something and Whizziwig did say that she got her energy from wishes.’
‘Only this time we’re going to make a wish for her,’ Steven added.
‘Stand back, everyone, and join hands,’ said Ben.
Soon everyone was standing in a circle, their hands joined.
‘One . . . two . . . three . . .’ Ben counted.
And everyone said, ‘We wish Whizziwig would get well again!’
Ben looked down at Whizziwig anxiously. Nothing was happening.
‘Everyone say it again,’ Ben called out.
‘We wish Whizziwig would get well again! We wish Whizziwig would get well again!’
It happened so slowly that at first Ben wasn’t sure if he was seeing things.
‘Something’s going on . . .’ Steven whispered from beside him.
And sure enough Whizziwig began to get BIGGER and BIGGER and BIGGER.
‘Keep wishing!’ Ben called out excitedly.
‘We wish Whizziwig would get well again!’
When Whizziwig was the size of a football she started to hover very gently off the ground. Her fur began to glow strangely. Whizziwig continued to float upwards until she was about level with everyone’s head. Then she opened her eyes. A few of the boys took a hasty step backwards. A couple of the girls gasped. Ben dashed forward.
‘Whizziwig! Are you OK?’
Whizziwig turned around in mid-air to face Ben. The others in Ben’s class moved slowly forward.
‘Wow! She’s real!’
‘A real live alien!’
‘She doesn’t look anything like in the films . . .’
‘Whizziwig, are you . . .’ But Ben got no further.
Before everyone’s eyes, Whizziwig smiled and with a sudden POP! she vanished like a soapy bubble.
Chapter Thirteen
Whizziwig Says Goodbye
BEN NEVER KNEW how he got through the rest of the day. He had a horrible pain in his chest that wouldn’t go away, no matter what he did. Steven and Christopher did their best to cheer him up but it was no good. Ben wanted to run away and hide from everyone. He had failed . . .
When at last it was time to go home, Ben couldn’t even speak. He felt that if he moved his mouth, even a little bit, his whole face would crumble and fall apart.
‘Shall I walk home with you?’ asked Steven.
Ben shook his head. He didn’t want any company – ever again. Ben swung his bag over his shoulder. Without Whizziwig it felt strangely light and empty. He walked up to the school exit, his head bent. He was aware that others in his class were talking about him.
‘Ben, she was a very pretty alien – even if she didn’t last very long,’ Charlotte said.
Ben couldn’t answer. He wanted Whizziwig back. He wanted to say he was sorry for causing all her energy to drain away and he wanted to ask her about her home planet and he wanted . . . he wanted more time. Which was the one thing he didn’t have. Whizziwig was gone.
Ben carried on walking.
It took longer than usual for Ben to reach his house, as he didn’t exactly race home. The moment he stepped foot over the front door, Tarzan came bounding up to him.
‘Down, Tarzan. Down!’ Ben ordered.
Tarzan lay down immediately. Ben stroked the fur between the dog’s ears.
‘Hi, Ben,’ Mum shouted from the living room. ‘How are you?’
‘OK . . .’ B
en called back, before running upstairs. He didn’t even want to talk to his mum. Ben pushed open his bedroom door and – WOW!
The whole room was filled with a dazzling golden light that lit up every nook and cranny and corner. And there, hovering in the middle of the room, was the Oricon.
‘Whizziwig!’ Ben exclaimed.
In about two seconds flat, Ben was in the middle of the room and hugging Whizziwig as hard as he could.
‘I had one wish left to grant when you and your friends wished that I would get well again.’ Whizziwig smiled. ‘It was very kind of you. All of you wishing for the same thing made it happen.’
‘Oh, Whizziwig, am I glad to see you. I thought . . . I thought . . .’ Ben didn’t want to think about what he’d thought.
‘I’m fine. My ship is outside your window, fully repaired. Come and see,’ said Whizziwig.
Ben rushed to the window and peered out. There, floating about a metre away from his windowsill was a large, spherical, almost transparent ship. It glowed a radiant gold and silver, almost dazzling Ben. Ben could see all kinds of controls and levers and buttons and gadgets all over the ship.
‘It’s the most beautiful spaceship I’ve ever seen,’ Ben breathed.
In the centre of the ship was what looked like a round fruit-bowl.
‘What’s that bowl thing?’ Ben asked, pointing.
‘Bowl? That’s my chair. I must have somewhere to sit,’ Whizziwig laughed.
‘You’re . . . you’re not really going yet, are you?’ Ben asked.
‘I have to. I’m already late as it is. You wouldn’t want my aunt to worry, would you – any more than you wanted Splitter’s mum to worry about him,’ Whizziwig said.
‘I guess not,’ Ben said slowly.
‘Anyway, the good news is, I don’t think Splitter will be such a pest in future.’ Whizziwig winked. ‘I have a feeling he is going to remember how it felt to be a jackass for a long, long time.’
Ben remembered how his neighbour Mrs Leonard kept slapping her hand over her mouth when she talked to him as the fire brigade got rid of the bicycles in his garden. She wasn’t about to forget how it felt to have her tongue hinged in the middle either.
‘Whizziwig, take me with you. I’d love to see Oricon,’ said Ben.
‘Nope, I can’t. Besides, where would you sit? But maybe next time I’ll travel in a bigger ship and we will go and visit my aunt together.’
‘Next time? There’ll be a next time? D’you promise?’ Ben said eagerly.
Whizziwig thought hard for a moment. ‘Yup, I promise,’ she said at last. ‘Now I really must be going.’
‘Couldn’t you go tomorrow or the next day?’ Ben asked.
Whizziwig rocked from side to side. ‘Ben, I’ll be back. Didn’t I just promise?’
Ben nodded.
‘I’m really glad you’re better now,’ he said.
‘Thanks to you and your friends. Thank them all for me the next time you see them.’ And with that, Whizziwig bounced out of Ben’s bedroom and into her spaceship.
‘Take care, Ben,’ said Whizziwig.
‘Wait . . .’ Ben began.
But already Whizziwig’s spaceship was rising into the air.
‘Goodbye, Ben, my first friend on this planet,’ Whizziwig called out.
And as Ben watched, the spaceship rose higher and higher into the sky. He was all mixed up. Part of him was so glad that Whizziwig was indeed all right, but another part of him didn’t want to see her go. There was so much he still wanted to ask her, so much he still wanted to find out.
‘Ben, dear, could you come downstairs for a moment?’ Ben’s mum called out.
Ben went downstairs, still feeling strangely mixed up.
Ben’s mum and dad were standing in the living room, hugging each other.
‘We’ve got some news for you,’ smiled Dad.
‘Some good news,’ Mum added.
‘Oh! You needn’t get me a mountain bike after all,’ Ben shrugged. ‘I guess I can make do with my old bike for a bit longer.’
‘Our news is a bit more exciting than a mouldy mountain bike, Ben,’ Dad laughed. ‘Your mum’s pregnant. In a few months you’re going to have a baby brother or sister.’
Ben’s mouth fell open. ‘I am?’ he squeaked.
‘You are,’ Mum laughed.
Ben ran through the house and flung open the front door.
‘Whizziwig! I’m going to have a baby brother or sister!’ Ben shouted as loudly as he could.
Ben’s mum and dad came out of the living room to stand behind him.
‘Who’s Whizziwig?’ asked his mum.
‘I wished for a brother or sister and now I’m going to get one,’ Ben beamed. ‘Whizziwig’s the one who made it happen.’
His mum and dad looked at each other.
‘Ben, you’re a strange child,’ his mum smiled.
‘Whizziwig, thank you!’ Ben called out again. ‘Come back soon!’
And high, high above him, Ben was sure he saw a silver and golden light twinkle at him with a brightness that dazzled.
Chapter One
Tap! Tap! Tap!
TAP! TAP! TAP! Ben sat up abruptly. Tap! Tap! There it was again. Someone was knocking at the window. But that couldn’t be right . . . His bedroom was up on the first floor of the house. Tap! Ben switched on his bedside lamp. Should he go and get his mum and dad? Tappity-tap!
‘Ben! Aren’t you going to let me in?’
He recognized that voice at once. ‘WHIZZIWIG!’
Ben rushed to the window and threw back the curtains. And there she was, hovering just outside his window. Ben flung it wide open. In the moonlight as well as the light given off by his bedside lamp, Whizziwig sparkled with gold and silver and rainbow colours – at least, that’s how it seemed to Ben. She floated into the room, a beaming smile on her face.
‘Whizziwig! How are you? I’ve really missed you. Things have been so dull around here since you left! Apart from with Mrs Leonard! She still claps her hands over her mouth in mid-sentence! And Splitter was a bit more human for a while, but he’s back to his normal self now. And—’
‘Goodness me!’ Whizziwig put her hand over Ben’s mouth. ‘Could I possibly get two words in edgeways!’
Ben grinned. ‘I’m just so happy to see you. Where’s your spaceship?’
‘Up on your roof. I hope that’s OK?’
‘’Course it is.’
Ben climbed back into bed while Whizziwig floated around the room. He couldn’t stop grinning. This reminded him of when he’d first met Whizziwig. She’d scared the life out of him then – until he’d got to know her.
‘So how was your trip? How was your aunt?’
Whizziwig had left Earth the last time to go and visit her auntie.
‘She’s fine. I told her all about my adventures on this planet. She laughed her fur off!’ Whizziwig smiled.
‘Does your aunt look like you?’
‘A bit. I got all the good looks in the family though,’ Whizziwig said modestly.
Ben wasn’t quite sure what to say to that! ‘Good-looking’ wasn’t exactly the first phrase that popped into his head whenever he saw Whizziwig. He wondered what Whizziwig’s aunt looked like. How he would love to meet her and the rest of Whizziwig’s family.
‘Whizzy, d’you think that maybe one day we could—’
‘Ben, are you awake in there?’
‘Quick! Hide!’ Ben urged.
Whizziwig flew to the top of the wardrobe in a flash, just as Dad came into the room.
‘Ben, are you OK? Did you have a nightmare?’
‘Er, no . . . I mean, yes . . . I mean . . .’ Ben did his best not to look directly at Whizziwig, who was bobbing up and down behind his dad’s head. ‘I mean, I’m fine now.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then get some sleep. It’s very late.’
‘OK, Dad.’
Dad left the room, quietly shutting the door beh
ind him. Ben waited a moment before beckoning to Whizziwig.
‘It’s OK. You can come down now.’
Whizziwig floated towards him.
‘Just like old times!’ Ben sighed happily. ‘I know Steve will be glad to see you. Everyone else in the class thinks that you were just a trick I conjured up.’
‘Excellent!’ said Whizziwig. ‘I still have a lot to learn from your planet. That’s why I came back. I’ve been asked to write a report about life on Earth. Tomorrow I shall help you at school and begin my observations.’
Oh-oh! Ben didn’t like the sound of that. He remembered the chaos Whizziwig inevitably caused whenever she ‘helped’ out in any way. She granted only unselfish wishes made for someone else. It was funny how much trouble unselfish wishes could cause. Like when she’d granted Charlotte’s wish that Ben would kiss her every time he looked at her and he’d got into real trouble with Mr Archer because of it. Or the time she’d filled his garden with bikes and Mum was trapped. Or the time she turned Splitter, the school bully, into a donkey – mind you, that was funny!
‘Now, if you don’t mind,’ said Whizziwig, ‘I’ve had a very long journey so I think I’ll shut down and recharge my primary energy. My secondary energy could do with a top-up as well.’
‘Oh, OK,’ said Ben.
Whizziwig ducked under Ben’s bed and said with a yawn, ‘Goodnight, Ben.’
‘Goodnight, Whizziwig.’
Ben switched off his bedside lamp and lay in the dark for a while. To be honest, he was a bit worried about what was going to happen tomorrow with Whizziwig around. But nothing much could go wrong if she just watched from his bag – could it?
Ben closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, telling himself that everything would be fine. But there was a part of him that wasn’t so sure . . .
Chapter Two
One of Those Days
IT WAS THURSDAY morning and Ben was having breakfast. He ate his bacon and beans on toast in silence while he listened to Mum and Dad argue.
‘I can’t believe you, Daniel. We’ve had today planned for weeks.’ Mum was not at all happy.