Billy and the Epic Escape, page 1
Contents
Prologue
1. Jimmy is Eleven!
2. Where’s Wilfred?
3. The Battle for Balthazar
4. The Capture
5. Back to Balance
6. Wandering Wilfred
7. Code Red
8. I’m Still Beautiful
9. Andy’s Rescue
10. To Steal a Child
11. To Save a Child
12. Mastering the Staff
13. Ruby’s Gift
14. Red’s Reality
15. Wilfred’s Return
16. The Big Idea
17. The Wise Man
18. Ruby’s Return
19. Escape at Last!
20. A Growing Harmony
21. The Fight Back
22. End of an Era
Epilogue
This is for all the kids out there who struggle with their confidence and doubt themselves, just like Billy – I believe in you, and the Rhythm does, too. Find your tribe, and look after each other, just like Billy, Anna, Jimmy and Andy, and Grandad, too.
Prologue
"Dad, Dad, is it time to go back to Waterfall Woods?" Autumn asked me, as she and her twin brother, Jesse, got ready for bed. It had been just over a week since our last bedtime story about my adventures as a kid, and Autumn and Jesse had been pleading with me almost every night to tell them what happened next.
"All right, all right!" I said. "In fact, seeing as it’s the first night of your summer holidays, it might be the perfect time, because that’s when the next part of the story happened, too."
"HURRAY!" the kids cheered, dancing around the bedroom.
It was a warm summer’s evening, and the window was open, letting in an orange sunset glow. With every gentle gust of wind the smell of a different dinner wafted in, and the chirping sound of birds floated above the usual traffic and sirens. The world was slowly winding down; it was the perfect moment for a new bedtime story.
"Now, where did we leave off?" I started, as the twins scrambled into bed.
Before I could say anything else, Autumn pressed her finger to my lips. "NO, Dad! Let me get us up to date," she said with a grin. "I haven’t stopped thinking about Waterfall Woods since you finished the last story! SO. Billy – that’s you, Dad! – Jimmy, Andy and Anna –"
"You mean Mum!" interrupted Jesse.
"That’s right," Autumn said, nodding. "But shush, Jesse, I’m telling this story! So, waaaaay back in the 1800s …"
I chuckled. "You mean the 1980s – don’t be cheeky."
"In the 1980s," Autumn began again. "You and your friends discovered a magical windowy thing near your village that took you into the special world of Waterfall Woods."
"Because you hugged the tree!" piped up Jesse again. Autumn gave him a stern look, but he just stuck his tongue out at her.
"Anyway," Autumn continued. "Waterfall Woods was full of creatures like Sprites and Boonas and GIANTS, and it needed your help! Basil and Chief Mirren and all the Sprites were in danger because the Rhythm had gone funny. Remember the Rhythm? It’s the heartbeat of the forest, but it’s not like one thing, it’s everything!"
"Yeah, everything is connected," added Jesse. "Everyone has to do their bit, or the Rhythm can’t work properly."
"That’s right," I said, impressed that so much had stayed with them. Just a few weeks ago, reading a story at bedtime was the last thing Autumn ever wanted to do, because, like me, she found it really difficult. So I felt a warm glow seeing her face light up as she recounted my tale back to me. I’d wanted her and Jesse to understand that stories come in all forms and were much more about imagination and wonder than getting every word right. And it seemed like it had worked. They were hooked!
"You found a farm that was polluting the river and helped put that right to rebalance the Rhythm," Autumn went on. "Then you discovered a GIANT in a garden, except it turned out that Bilfred didn’t start out as a Giant – he just ate amazing things and grew humongous – and he was actually the long-lost brother of an old man in your village called Wilfred Revel. The brothers were reunited so everyone could live happily ever after," she said proudly.
"Well, reuniting Wilfred and Bilfred was really just the start," I told her. "And you might have to wait a bit longer for the happily-ever-after …"
Jesse jumped on to Autumn’s bed and both kids snuggled down under the covers.
"You’d better get started, then, Dad!" Autumn said. "And don’t forget all the juicy details!"
"Yes! We want THEM ALL!" Jesse shouted.
I nudged them over so I could sit down on the bed. "Some of the next part of the story might seem unbelievable, but I promise you it’s all true. AND SECRET! You have to promise you won’t tell a soul – this is just ours. We have to protect Waterfall Woods," I said, putting out my little finger for them to link with theirs. "Twinky promise?"
The kids started to put out theirs when Jesse suddenly realized something. "What, we still have to protect it? Are Basil and the others still there?"
"We’ll get to that …" I said with a wink. "So can I trust you?"
"YES! Twinky promise," they chorused.
"Right, let’s begin …"
Chapter 1
Jimmy Is Eleven!
Billy was sure this was going to be the BEST SUMMER EVER.
It had been six weeks since the incredible adventure in Waterfall Woods with his best friends, Anna, Jimmy and Andy. Since then, they’d been sneaking back into the woods whenever they could to visit Wilfred and Bilfred Revel and the Sprites. But the run-up to the end of term had been chaotic with sports days, awards nights, end-of-term performances and the dreaded parents’ evening. Again.
Now, school had FINALLY finished, and a whole six weeks of freedom stretched ahead of them. The friends had big plans!
Billy had persuaded Anna to give him some climbing lessons so he could scamper up rocks as quickly as she could. Jimmy had set himself a summer project of growing his unofficial home zoo to include over 325 different animals. Meanwhile, Andy was determined to get the Guinness World Record for making the biggest elastic band or tinfoil ball, whichever came first.
But these weren’t the only ideas they wanted to put into action over the summer. There were still LOADS of mysteries in the woods to uncover. Like working out where the mysterious map they had started putting together led, and finding out if there really were more Giants like Bilfred. And they still didn’t know who really owned the flying buzzpacks they’d been using to zip around the woods.
With lots still to find out, the best friends had spent the last few weeks getting plans in place to make sure that they would be able to stay out all day and even overnight without their parents worrying or suspecting that they were running riot in a magical world.
Their usual "Operation Overnight" strategy of calling to say they were at each other’s houses wasn’t going to help if they were all in the woods, so they had come up with a genius plan. Anna had seen an advert for a kids’ holiday club nearby, so they’d all convinced their parents to pay and sign them up, giving them loads of time to investigate the woods. And Jimmy had come up with the idea of recording messages on his cassette player in case they did need to stay with the Sprites overnight. All they had needed was someone willing to play the messages over the phone to their parents, and Andy had lent Johnny Perks from their class at school his whole stash of Beano comics for the summer in exchange for making the calls.
Each of them had recorded a few different excuses on tape and had agreed with Johnny that if he didn’t hear from one of them by 6 p.m., he would set the plan in motion. It was foolproof!
But, at least for today, Waterfall Woods wasn’t on the agenda because it was Jimmy’s birthday! He was the last of the gang to turn eleven (so it was a really big deal!), and his mum and dad had organized a party at his house.
The Lindo family’s house was one of the prettiest in the village. The pastel blue thatched cottage had a stream running alongside it and a little driveway edged with wild flowers, which led to a beautiful rose-covered door. It was a world away from the east London concrete city Jimmy’s Jamaican family had lived in before moving to Little Alverton.
Billy, Anna and Andy dumped their bikes near the driveway and walked up to the front door. Just as they were about to ring the bell, the door opened, and an avalanche of smaller kids piled out of the house. Their eyes were lit up in wonder as they chattered among themselves with excitement.
"That was the BEST thing I’ve ever seen!’ said one small boy as he walked past them.
"I know! Those animals are awesome!’ his friend replied.
"I can’t believe Jimmy put that tarantula on his head!" exclaimed a third boy.
"Or that giant cockroach in his bed, urgh!" said another, and they all giggled.
"Hello, Mrs Lindo," Billy said, as Jimmy’s mum appeared from inside, looking rather bewildered. "What’s going on?"
"Children, I cannot believe what Jimmy is doing to me, on his birthday! His love of nature is getting out of control!"
As they walked inside, Jimmy’s exhausted-looking dad came to join them in the hallway, the sound of horse racing echoing from the TV in the front room. "It’s not love, it’s an obsession," he said, sighing. "I told Jimmy that we couldn’t afford to keep all the animals he
"Well, it seems Jimmy took that to heart and decided to charge people to come and see the animals," Mrs Lindo said.
Billy tried to hide a grin and could see that Anna and Andy were doing the same. Typical Jimmy, he’d do anything to keep his animal friends.
And it was true. Jimmy took the TV ads saying that pets were for life, not just for Christmas, very seriously, and had started taking in animals that would otherwise have found themselves homeless, hoping to eventually find them "forever homes." Word had got around and things had slightly spiralled out of control … Of course, Jimmy didn’t mind as it meant he was surrounded by all kinds of furry and not-so-furry friends. It was just a shame that the food for the animals and the electricity needed to power all the heaters and pumps was very much not free.
"But never mind all that," Mrs Lindo said. "Why don’t you go on up to see Jimmy, while I set things up for the party?"
"Sounds great, Mrs Lindo," said Billy, running up the stairs with Andy and Anna close behind.
Jimmy’s room was something to behold. Jimmy had somehow persuaded his parents to let him set up floor-to-ceiling tanks, each full of life. There were fish of every colour you could imagine, amazing snakes and lizards, not to mention the spiders, scorpions and bugs! The room was alive with colour and movement.
But that wasn’t all. Jimmy had even built a makeshift aviary in his back garden and – with the help of Billy and his incredible mind for inventions – fixed a slide to the outside of his bedroom window so he could simply zip down to see his feathered friends whenever he liked. There were canaries, budgies, cockatoos, parakeets … all being looked after by Jimmy until they could be set free or find a new family. Since moving to the village, Jimmy had become really good friends with a neighbouring farmer, Mr Miller, who had been teaching him how to look after the animals in the right way, making sure they were all happy and healthy.
It was no wonder that the kids who’d just left had been so impressed with Jimmy’s animals: every time the friends went round to his house there seemed to be a new addition!
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JIMMY!" Andy, Billy and Anna cheered as they bounded into his bedroom.
Jimmy was sitting at his desk, carrying out an autopsy on what looked like a mole. He glanced up at them with an unhappy expression on his face.
"Oh my God, Jimmy, that’s disgusting," Anna said. "What on earth are you doing?!"
Jimmy replied solemnly, "It’s really sad. I found this little fella down by the playing fields. It’s only a young mole, and it made me think of the fish and fox we found before discovering that horrible polluting farm. So I wanted to find out what happened. And now I think I have …" He held up a plump, pink worm between his gloved fingers. "This was in his stomach, and I think it’s poisoned!"
Anna gasped and Billy and Andy looked on, astonished.
"You’re doing that, on your birthday?!" Andy asked.
"Well, my birthday is another story," said Jimmy, looking uncomfortable. "I don’t want to be ungrateful or anything, but … I didn’t get what I wanted from Mum and Dad. I was very specific about that Komodo dragon; it’s a real gap in the offerings at Jimmy’s Zoo!"
Billy laughed and shook his head. "Jimmy, Komodo dragons are HUGE! There’s no way your parents would have got you one of those!"
"I know," Jimmy sighed. "But I really did want one."
"Well, what did you get?" Anna asked, putting a comforting arm around her friend.
Jimmy nodded to the window, and they all rushed over to take a look. In the back garden was a sparkling Raleigh Grifter bike, with bear-trap pedals, mushroom grips for comfort, and stunt pegs on the front and back.
"That’s amazing! You lucky thing. That’s a beauty of a bike," Billy said.
"Yeah, I know – I do love it, really. It’s just that I had my heart set on the dragon."
"Well, you might want this, then," said Billy, handing over a present. Jimmy ripped open the wrapping to reveal a model of a Komodo dragon.
Jimmy grinned. "Oh, mate, this is amazing! Thank you!"
Anna gave hers next. "Well, I can challenge that – you might like my one."
Jimmy ripped the gift open to reveal a T-shirt with a Komodo dragon on it, its tail wrapping around the shoulders. Jimmy put it on immediately, giving Anna a grateful hug.
Then Andy stepped in with his. "Go on, open it!" he said excitedly.
Jimmy ripped open the present and out burst a load of colourful fluffy wool.
"My auntie knitted you a Komodo dragon tank top," he said bashfully. It was the most outrageous tank top ever, but it did have a majestic Komodo dragon on the back – although, because Auntie Doreen had used up all the odds and ends in her knitting basket to make it, it looked more like Donald Duck than a killer dragon. Luckily for Andy, Jimmy’s eyes lit up.
"This is possibly the best present I’ve ever had, thank you," he said, beaming, immediately pulling it on over Anna’s T-shirt. Andy sighed with relief.
"Anyway, what are you doing with that mole?" Anna asked.
"Now I’ve performed the autopsy, I’m going to preserve this small burrowing mammal, just like this one –" Jimmy picked up something from his desk that looked like a rat, then turned it over and unzipped its tummy to reveal a stash of pencils, pens and rubbers, plus a selection of penny sweets. "See? It’s a pencil case! Complete with a sharpener …" His friends looked confused for a second, then Jimmy pulled up the tail "… for its bum!"
"Jimmy! That’s gross!" exclaimed Anna.
"No, that’s genius!" said Andy, clearly impressed.
"I guess, at least no one’s going to steal your pencils!" Billy said, looking revolted.
Jimmy loved his party. His mum and dad had created an animal-themed treasure hunt, with clues all around the house and garden for them to solve. For every question they got right they were awarded a handful of sweets, from sherbet Dip Dabs to Flying Saucers, Black Jacks, Fruit Salads and everything in between.
Then it was time for the bumps – the birthday ritual that every child had to go through. (Was it pleasure or punishment? It depended on how kind your friends were …) Everyone took a leg and an arm and bumped Jimmy up and down in the air – one for each of his eleven years on planet earth, plus one for luck.
Wherever you looked, the animal theme was strong. There was even an animal-inspired buffet. Mr and Mrs Lindo had upgraded the regular pigs in blankets by instead wrapping bacon round Jimmy’s favourite food, fish fingers, and had linked a load of them together in the shape of a giant rattlesnake. The contrast of smoky bacon, crunchy breadcrumb coating and flaky fish with the ketchup head and mayonnaise rattle tail was surprisingly next-level delicious. Definitely one to suggest at home, Billy thought. There was a ham, pineapple and Cheddar cheese hedgehog, his mum’s extra-special jerk chicken that had been pulled off the bone, then put into animal moulds with rice and popped out into animal shapes, and a watermelon rabbit. Not to mention a frog made out of grapes, and King Louie from The Jungle Book, created using sliced ham for the body and segments of orange for his face.
But, of course, what all the kids were waiting for was the cake. Mrs Lindo’s Jamaican ginger cake was legendary! And for Jimmy’s birthday she’d taken a cake, cut it up and stacked it into a pyramid, then his dad had used his brilliant plastering talents to smother the whole thing in different flavours of ice cream (he had to work fast to avoid it melting!), before pebble-dashing it with hundreds and thousands and finishing it with sparklers. It was one spectacular birthday cake! Everyone sang "Happy Birthday to You" in front of the cake and Billy took a Polaroid picture of the wonderful scene.
"Mum, you know what would make my birthday?" Jimmy said.
"What’s that, my precious?" she replied.
"Billy, Anna and Andy staying over. Pleeeeeeease?"
"Well, I suppose it is your birthday … OK, let me call their parents and make sure they’re happy for them to stay."
Before she could say anything else, the kids rushed back up to Jimmy’s room and settled in for the night, although Andy had to admit he was slightly nervous about sleeping in a room full of snakes that potentially could escape!
