Crown Park (8 page)

“Wow!” he said. “It’s a giant
cave. One side of the roof has fallen in.”

“It’s a sinkhole,” said Fluoro.
“You get them all over this area.”

“Can you get down?” asked Lucy
who had been gathering up the other moho.

Jack studied the hole for a
while. “Doubt it. There’s only one place that looks likely. There’s
a dirt slide over there where Chainsaw is.”

All eyes turned to the cat who
was peering into the opposite side of the hole. As they watched,
Chainsaw eased himself over the edge and began sliding. Half way
down he put the brakes on and stopped. He looked up at Jack and
meowed, inviting him to follow.

Jack wasn’t so sure. “If I go
down I’ll never get back up again.”

“Is there a stream at the
bottom?” asked Fluoro.

“Yes.”

“Then once you get down all you
have to do is follow that stream. You’ll get out sooner or
later.”

Jack gave him an anxious look.
“Will it be dark?”

“Almost sure to be.”

“You’ve got to go,” said Lucy.
“We can’t leave them there.”

“I’ll come with you,” said Pat.
“I can find my way around in the dark.”

“I’ll come too,” said Emily.
“Then I can guide you back here.”

“No!” said Lucy. “I need you to
help with the remaining moho. Chainsaw, Jack and Pat will be
enough.”

Jack looked up at Pat. “Are you
ready?”

“Whenever you are,” replied the
bat.

“Then let’s do it.”

Jack got to his feet and moved
around to the dirt slide. Only a few minutes had passed since he’d
wished for some adventure to break the boredom. Now he was thinking
that maybe boredom wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

The screaming of the moho in the bottom
of the hole was deafening. Jack cupped his hands over his ears and
yelled, “Stop it!”

Instantly there was silence.

“Thanks, Jack,” said Pat. “If
they make a noise like that, I won’t be able to hear my own squeaks
and we’ll never get out of here.”

Morris stepped forward. “Sorry
about the noise,” he said. “It’s all a bit too much for them.”

“They need to control
themselves,” said Jack.

“We’ll try,” said Morris. “What
do you want us to do?”

Jack looked around. Already
Chainsaw and Pat were investigating where the stream disappeared
into a tunnel. It looked like it would be big enough for everyone
to get through. The problem was how would the moho cope with the
dark? He thought back to an exercise they’d done at a school camp
in Wellington. He turned to Morris. “Can you moho count?”

Morris gave him a pained look.
“Of course we can.”

“Good! Then I’m going to
allocate each bird a number. When we get into the tunnel we can
check everyone’s with us by counting out the numbers in
sequence.”

“Good idea,” said Morris. “Who
do you want to be number one?”

Jack pointed to the nearest
bird. “You’re number one. Call it out, please.”

“One!” said the moho.

“Very good,” said Jack. He
pointed to another bird. “Now you.”

“Two!” yelled the bird.

Jack’s finger moved along the
line.

“Three!” came the call.

Then the next. “Lots!”

“Lots?” said Jack.

“Yes,” said Morris. “Lots comes
after three.”

“Then what comes after
lots?”

Morris looked at him as if he
were stupid. “Everything after three is lots.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “OK,” he
said. “We’re going to have to learn a few more numbers because
we’ve got to get to seven for this to work.”

Twenty minutes later Jack felt
that the moho had finally learnt the new numbers. By then Pat was
ready to report back.

“We can get out this way,” he
said. “There are another five chambers with narrow tunnels in
between.” He sized Jack up and down. “Chainsaw, me and the birds
will get through, but it could be a bit tight for you. In some
places the stalactites are hanging down to the ground. You might
have to break some off.”

Jack nodded. “Are you going to
lead the way?”

“Yes! I’ll be flitting around
calling out directions and warnings. Chainsaw is going to help me
guide people in the right direction.”

“Great,” said Jack. “Then let’s
go.”

Getting through to the first chamber
was easy, as there was still some light.

Before they moved on and into
the darkness, Jack ran a test of the counting system.

Moho One, Two and Three were
fine. Number Four started to say “Lots” before giggling and
correcting himself. Five didn’t have a clue.

Jack pointed to the bird.
“You’re Five!”

“Am I? It’s so hard to remember
something like that.”

“Well, remember it now.”

Six got the call right, and then
Jack waited for number Seven. It never came.

“Morris! You’re Seven.”

“Oh, I am too,” replied Morris.
“Sorry, my mind was elsewhere.”

Jack let it go. Instead he
ushered them towards the second tunnel. That was much narrower than
the first, and Jack had to damage a couple of stalactites before he
could fit. As he squeezed through he heard oohs and aahs of wonder
from the birds in front. He soon saw the cause. The roof and walls
of the chamber were covered with glow-worms.

Jack had seen glow-worms before,
but never this many. And more amazingly, they kept glowing despite
the noise the moho were making. He reached up and touched some.
Even that didn’t turn them off. Some of the grubs got stuck to his
hand. He moved his arm around making light patterns in the
blackness. That brought even more oohs and aahs from the moho.

Although there were millions of
glow-worms, there still wasn’t enough light to see anything.

“Where are you, Pat?” Jack
called.

“I’m over by the exit
tunnel.”

“Could you guide the moho
towards you, please?”

“OK.” There was a break while
Pat checked the situation. “Look, guys,” he went on, “you’re all
facing different ways. Turn towards me.”

“Which way’s that?” asked one of
them.

“
You
need to turn to your
right,” replied Pat.

Oh,” said the moho. “I have
trouble with right and left. Is this the right way?”

“No!” said Pat. He let out a
heavy sigh. “Sorry, Jack, but this isn’t going to work. These birds
are too… um… different.” A pause. “Ah, Chainsaw is going to—”

A loud scream filled the
cavern.

“What’s the problem?” asked
Jack.

“The furry thing touched me,”
cried a moho.

“He has to,” said Jack, ‘so that
you’ll move in the right direction.”

That brought cries from all the
birds.

Morris’s voice rose above the
others. “Is it true that the furry thing eats birds?”

“Yes.” said Jack.

The crying became more
intense.

“But only those that make a lot
of noise and act like wimps.”

That brought instant
silence.

Jack smiled in the darkness.
“Good! Now let’s try something different.”

He reached up his hand, swept up
some glow-worms and wiped them onto the front and sleeves of his
hoodie. He waved his arms.

“Right, can you see me?”

There was a chorus of yeses.

“Pat, fly over here and I’ll do
the same for you.”

Soon Pat was flying around the
cave glowing like a plane coming into land.

“OK,” said Jack. “Now you can
see where Pat is. I’ll do the same with Chainsaw, so you’ll know
where he is. Then I’ll do each of you so that I can check where you
are. Any problems with that?”

There weren’t any, and after a
few minutes everyone was coated with glowing worms and ready to
move on.

The system worked well. By the
time they reached the final chamber the moho were all happy and no
longer squealed when Chainsaw gave them a helping paw.

Then they saw light from the
opening to the cave. That set them off again, as if they’d never
seen daylight before. They all rushed forward wanting to be first
out. But Chainsaw got there first and blocked the way. He snarled
viciously. The moho turned and ran, now eager to get as far away
from the opening as they could.

“What’s the problem, Chainsaw?”
asked Jack.

Chainsaw replied with a low
growl.

“I think there’s something wrong
outside,” said Pat. “I’ll go take a look.”

He was back almost as soon as
he’d left. “There’s adzebills,” he said, breathlessly. “Lots of
them. It’s where they camp.”

At the mention of adzebills, the
moho started crying again.

“What do we do now, Jack?” asked
Pat.

Everyone turned to Jack as if he
would have the answer. He didn’t, but he couldn’t tell the moho
that or there’d be chaos.

He turned to Pat. “Do you think
the adzebills know we’re here?”

“No. They seem to be settling
down for the night. It’s getting dark out there.”

Jack nodded. “Then we wait until
it’s really dark and leave then.”

There was much groaning from the
moho.

“All right!” said Jack, glaring
at them. “Anyone got a better idea?”

No one did, so they settled down
to wait.

Darkness came quickly, but still they
waited. Jack knew that if he got this wrong, then the moho would be
slaughtered. Chainsaw could also be in danger. The adzebills were
strong birds, and the way they operated as a pack was
frightening.

Finally it was time to go.

There was no need to tell the
moho to be quiet, for they were already so scared they could hardly
breathe.

While lots of glow-worms had
fallen off the animals, there were still enough to locate each
other as they filed out of the cave. Chainsaw led the way, his body
low to the ground as he checked ahead for any signs of movement.
There were none, but the sounds of heavy breathing suggested the
adzebills were not far away.

Jack took the rear to make sure
that no one strayed out of line.

Now that they were out of the
cave there was enough light from the sky to make out shapes. There
must’ve been thirty or more adzebills crouched on the ground in a
clearing beside the stream. If any of them were awake then they
were keeping quiet about it.

Chainsaw kept the group close to
the rocks that surrounded the opening to the cave. Ahead of them
was a forest. If they made it there, then they stood a chance of
getting away.

One by one they made it into the
trees until only Jack was left. As he took one last look around,
the sky was lit by the volcano. It was enough to see the adzebills
clearly. Enough to see that they weren’t all asleep. One was
sitting to one side, looking directly at Jack. It was Boris, the
leader of the pack. For a moment the red glow reflected off the
animal’s eyes turning him into something evil.

Jack got the feeling that Boris
had been watching all the time. The bird would know that darkness
was not the time for action. He’d wait until the following day: the
moho would be just as tasty in the morning.

Once again Fluoro and Jack were back in
Crown Park. Fluoro was lighting the kerosene lamp while Jack sat on
the edge of the lounger thinking back to the land they’d just left.
He was feeling guilty.

Pat had located the other group
not long after leaving the adzebill camp. The reunion between the
two lots of moho was noisy and tearful. You’d have thought they’d
been away from each other for weeks.

When things had settled a
little, Jack took Lucy to one side and told her about the
adzebills.

“We can handle them,” said
Lucy.

“You sure? Boris is real
evil.”

Lucy tossed back her head. “Let
him be evil. Good will always win over bad.”

“How?”

“It just does. It’s the way of
the world.”

Not my world, thought Jack. Liam
Bennett always wins.

That’s when Fluoro came over and
said they should go home. Before Jack had a chance to argue, they
were back in Crown Park. And now Jack was wishing he’d tried harder
to convince Lucy of the danger.

He looked up to find Fluoro was
staring at him. “Did you hear what I said?” asked Fluoro.

Jack shook his head.

“I was saying,” said Fluoro,
speaking each word extra carefully, “that I’ll be busy in the
morning and that you are not to come around until two thirty. Then
we’ll meet with the Bennetts and after that we might take a little
trip back in time. How does that suit you?”

Jack said it suited him fine. He
was so tired that he’d agree to anything. All he wanted was to get
home and go to bed.

His mum was waiting up for him when he
arrived home. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her head
resting on her arms. Jack got the feeling that she’d been
asleep.

“It’s late. Where have you
been?” she asked.

“At a friend’s place,” he
replied.

“I thought you said you had no
friends.”

“I do now. Is there any
food?”

His mum pointed to the
fridge.

It was cold meats and salads
from the deli at the supermarket. Not Jack’s favourite food. His
mum watched him eat for a while before excusing herself and going
to bed.

Jack picked away at the food for
a while longer, thinking about his day. He was pleased with the way
he’d led the group in the caves. He felt that he’d been a good
leader. How many other people had led a group of moho through a
cave system and survived?

Then he chuckled at himself.
“Yeah, right!” he murmured. “Like all that was real?”

After that, he went to bed.

At some stage during the night
he woke to go to the toilet. As he climbed out of bed he felt that
something was wrong. He looked at his hoodie lying where he’d
thrown it on the floor. Parts of it were still glowing with
pinpricks of light.