Invisible! (7 page)

Carrie shook her head. ‘Not fair though. You'd think a teacher'd know better.'

Rosie pulled a face. ‘She's my gran's age, and my gran used to say this nursery rhyme to me when I was little:

My mother said
I never should
Play with the gipsies
In the wood.
 

‘They used to tell kids gipsies would steal them, you see. Take them away. No wonder older people think gipsies are thieves.' She grinned. ‘I bet Gran would've had a fit if she'd known her own daughter was about to become a traveller.'

‘Get your ruler back, did you?' The girls turned to find Lee Kippax leering at them. He was with Carl Foxcroft and Rex Fairclough as usual.

Carrie looked at him. ‘Yes I did, not that it's any of your business.'

The bully nodded. ‘And is your dad going to give the pictures back too, gipsy?'

‘My dad hasn't got any pictures, apple-thief.'

‘Oy!' Kippax raised his fist. ‘Don't call
me
a thief. Nobody calls Lee Kippax a thief.'

‘Don't call me gipsy, then. The correct term is
traveller.
'

‘Ho.' He put on a la-di-da voice. ‘So that's the
correct
term, his hit? Haim sorry hif I caused hoffence.' His two friends guffawed.

‘Go away, Kippax.' This from Carrie. ‘And take your mutants with you.'

‘That's not very nice, is it?' He looked at his companions. ‘D'you hear what she
called
you, lads? Mutants. I'd be hurt if it was me. You know – inside. I'd want to lash out. Fancy lashing out do you, Carl? Rex?'

A slow smile warped Foxcroft's features. ‘Yeah. Now you come to mention it, Kipper, I
do.
How about you, Fairy?'

Fairclough nodded. ‘I like a good lash out, Foxy, you know that.'

‘So what are we waiting for?' Kippax advanced on the two girls. This corner was a long way from the staffroom window. There'd be no witnesses.

‘Wait.' Rosie held up a hand. ‘Watch.' She stepped into the ring and shuffled backwards, arms outstretched.

The bully hesitated. ‘What's your game, gipsy? How d'you mean,
wait?
Nobody tells Lee Kipp … huh?' He shook his head, rubbed his eyes and goggled at Rosie's empty uniform. ‘
Carl? Rex?
Has she just … am I going nuts?'

‘She's vanished,' croaked Foxcroft. ‘That right, Fairy?'

‘Y … yeah.' Fairclough scowled at Carrie. ‘Here – how's she
do
that, kid?'

‘Never mind how I do it.' Rosie's voice came from the air above her empty clothes. ‘Think about
this -
I can vanish, and I can do other things too – stuff you wouldn't believe. So if I were you I'd think twice before messing with me, or any of my friends. OK?'

‘Er … yeah, right. Come on Kipper, let's …'

The trio drifted away with many backward glances. Rosie waited till they were off the field, then went visible. She grinned at Carrie.

‘Useful skill, or what?'

Halfway through Maths Miss Blackburn said, ‘Are you feeling ill, Lee Kippax?'

Lee was sitting with his elbows on the table and his face in his hands. He shook his head. ‘I dunno, miss.'

‘You don't know whether you feel ill or not?'

‘No, miss.'

‘Is it the
work
? Something you don't understand, perhaps?'

‘No, miss, it's not the work.'

‘Well, if you're not ill and you understand the work, why aren't you getting on with it?'

‘Dunno, miss.'

‘No, Lee, and neither do I. If you have no
explanation for
me
, perhaps you'd care to explain yourself to Mr Beecroft. Would you?'

‘If you like, miss.'

‘It's not a question of what I
like
, Lee. You're here to work, and if you won't work you must expect to suffer the consequences. Go to Mr Beecroft's office at once and tell him why I sent you.'

‘Come.' The Head looked up as Lee walked in. ‘Now, Lee Kippax, what can I do for you?'

‘Sir, Miss Blackburn sent me because I wasn't getting on with my work.'

‘Really?' He gazed at the boy under beetling brows. ‘And
why
weren't you working, Lee?'

‘Dunno, sir.'

‘Something the matter at home, perhaps? Something you'd like to talk to me about?'

‘No sir. Well … yes, sir, but it's not about home. It's about that new girl – Rosie Walk.'

‘A girl.' The brows arched. ‘Not in
love
are we, Lee?'

Kippax blushed furiously. ‘No, sir. She … can make herself disappear.'

‘
Disappear
?' The Head's eyes narrowed. ‘What on earth are you talking about, boy?'

‘Please, sir, I
saw
her. On the field. Carl Foxcroft and Rex Fairclough saw her too.'

Mr Beecroft shook his head. ‘Never mind Carl Foxcroft and Rex Fairclough. We're talking about
you
, Lee Kippax.' He clasped his hands on the desktop, sat back in his swivel chair and sighed. ‘Go on.'

‘Well, sir, me and … we were on the field, and the new girl was there with Carrie Waugh.'

‘And?'

‘We … I said something to them, sir. Sort of a joke, and then the new girl got in the fairy ring and the next thing I knew …'

‘
Fairy ring
?'

‘Yessir, there's a fairy ring. She got in it and like – vanished. There was just her clothes, sir.'

‘Just her clothes? You mean, in a heap on the ground?'

‘No, sir, they were standing up, but she wasn't inside them. They were like
hollow
, sir.'

‘I see.' The Head leaned forward, scrutinizing Lee's features. ‘Have you been
sniffing
something, laddie?'

‘No, sir.'

‘Have you
swallowed
something, then? A pill, perhaps? Did you take a pill from somebody?'

‘No, sir, it was real, honest. We all saw it.'

‘Hmmm.' Mr Beecroft sat back and folded his hands on his stomach. ‘You realize that what you've told me is quite impossible, don't you?'

‘I …
thought
so, sir, yes, but …'

‘And yet you're convinced you saw it?'

‘Yessir.'

‘Well, I can't pretend I understand, Lee, so I think perhaps we'd better have your father in.'

‘No, sir, don't tell my dad, please. He'll
kill
me.'

‘Oh
come
now, Lee, why should your father
kill
you just because you've suffered some sort of hallucination? He might want to take you to a
doctor
, but …'

‘I made it up, sir.'

‘Ah, now that's more like it, Lee.
That
I understand perfectly.' He leaned forward. ‘Feeling lazy, are we? Bit bored, so we decide we'll invent a story to liven things up a bit. Is that it?'

The boy nodded miserably. ‘Yes, sir.'

‘Yes, and perhaps we can get the new girl into trouble while we're about it, eh? Little bonus, so to speak?'

‘Yes, sir.'

‘That's what I thought.' He sat back and
regarded Lee through half-closed eyes. ‘Like most bullies, Lee Kippax, you're a fool. What are you?'

‘A fool, sir.'

‘A fool who doesn't fool anybody, and that's a sad and sorry sight. What is it?'

‘A sad and sorry sight, sir.'

‘Absolutely. So you're bored, eh? Looking for a bit of a
challenge
?'

‘Yes, sir.'

‘All right – here's a challenge for you. Go back to your classroom, apologize to Miss Blackburn, complete the work she set and bring it to me, correct and beautifully presented at three thirty, by which time I'll have sorted out a job that'll keep you interested till, say, half past four. What do you say?'

‘I don't know, sir.'

‘You say, thank you sir. What do you say?'

‘Thank you, sir.'

‘I should think so. Now off you go. Fairy rings indeed. What
next
, I ask myself.'

‘I can't get over old Blackbum though,' growled Carrie, ‘picking on you just because you're a traveller.' The gang was dawdling homeward.

Rosie shook her head. ‘It really doesn't matter, Carrie. Mum and Dad move on all the time so I'm never long at one school, except in winter. I don't care what teachers think of me.'

Peter looked at her. ‘What
about
winter, Rosie?'

The girl smiled. ‘There's this showground near Warwick, with toilets and showers and everything. It's not used in winter so the owner lets us stay there. Not just us, but loads of travellers. It's no fun travelling in the middle
of winter, but it's fun at Warwick. We meet up with people we haven't seen all summer. Us kids enrol at the local school on the first of November and leave on the first of April.'

Carrie pulled a face. ‘Lucky you. Must feel great, packing up and moving out as soon as the sun shines.
So long everybody – see you in November.
Wish
my
folks were travellers.'

Rosie nodded. ‘It
does
feel great, but it's got a downside. No telly for instance.'

‘No
telly
?' Carrie sounded horrified.

‘'Course not. We live in an old ambulance.'

‘Jeez, I wouldn't be
you
.'

Rosie grinned. ‘You just said you wished your folks were travellers.'

‘Well yeah, but … no
telly
? Phew!'

‘There's that,' said Rosie, ‘plus sometimes it seems the world's full of people like old Blackbum.'

Peter smiled. ‘And Lee Kippax.'

‘Yes.' Rosie looked thoughtful. ‘I've been thinking about him all day, or rather his dad.'

‘His
dad
?' Peter looked baffled. ‘Why have you been thinking about
him
, Rosie?

Rosie smiled. ‘Remember when old
Massingberd was talking to the nurse, and she said she'd had some guy up to look at her window frames?'

‘Yes, I remember.'

‘She said his name was Kipper or Kepler, right?'

‘Something like that, yes.' Peter looked at her. ‘You mean it was … ?'

‘Kippax, of course. He's a joiner, isn't he?'

‘Yes, he is. His workshop's near Sizzlers.'

‘Right. He's a joiner, and he was up at the Manor inspecting windows. He'd have to go inside to do that, wouldn't he?'

‘I guess so.'

‘And if there were paintings on the wall he'd see them.'

‘I suppose.' His mouth fell open. ‘Are you saying … ?'

‘I'm not saying anything, Pete, except old Kippax probably saw those paintings a short time before they were stolen.' She smiled. ‘Could be a coincidence, like us arriving at Inchlake just before the burglary. On the other hand …'

‘On the other hand,' whispered Conrad, ‘it might be interesting if a certain bunch of kids
went invisible and did a bit of snooping round the Kippax residence.'

Rosie nodded. ‘Took the words right out of my mouth, Con. What say we start tonight?'