The Turnarounders and the Arbuckle Rescue by Lou Heneghan Read Free Book Online Page B

street, The Hooded Man may as well have been invisible. People glared at the children or cracked embarrassed, uncomfortable smiles.
    There was a pungent smell in the air, that ozone-sharp earth smell you get just before a storm. Great, Ralf almost laughed, on top of everything else, now it was going to rain!
    Suddenly, there was a shimmer in the air – a wobble – just ahead of them. The others must have seen it too because there were gasps and Seth tugged at his arm.
    ‘I see it,’ Ralf croaked. ‘What the –?’
    But he didn’t finish his question because now there was more than just a shimmer. Everything changed. London was still there, washed out and thin in the background, but there was also a row of beamed and whitewashed houses with overhanging second stories and thatched roofs. Cobbles had replaced the smooth modern tarmac and Ralf found himself dodging piles of straw and horse dung as he ran. There were vendors selling chestnuts, oddly clothed men unloading bales of brightly coloured cloth from a horse and cart, live chickens for sale.
    Ralf didn’t know which way to look. It wasn’t just the street, though this would have been amazing in itself, it was the crowds wandering around, the conversations they were having, their clothes – everything!
    Valentina’s eyes were shining with excitement but her mouth dropped open as a fight broke out between two sets of men in short capes and plumed caps. Another man ran onto the scene and tried to beat down their swords with his own.
    ‘Put up your swords!’
    But they didn’t get to see what happened next because suddenly everything was different again. They were in wartime London. There were long queues outside a butcher’s, its empty front window criss-crossed with tape. Uniformed men were everywhere, smoking on street corners or walking with women on their arms. Everyone wore hats and carried buff coloured gas mask boxes. Two men in checked suits with trilbies perched on the backs of their heads were watching an old organ grinder and his monkey. ‘Lummy! He joined up did he? Would you credit it?’ Ralf heard one of them say.
    ‘Keep running!’ Seth shouted. ‘Whatever you do, just keep running!’
    But he needn’t have worried. At that moment, nothing in the world would have persuaded Ralf to stop. Though their lungs were burning, they ran as if their lives depended on it. If they stopped they wouldn’t reach The Hooded Man. If they stopped, this chaos might turn out to be real.
    Abruptly, a deafening wail filled the air and the people looked fearfully skywards.
    ‘Air raid siren!’ Ralf gasped in disbelief.
    There was a flurry of movement around them as the siren howled and people hurried inside or dashed towards shelters. Then there was another shimmer, a crackle of electricity in the air and the people changed again.
    Now the women had floor length skirts and bustles, the men wore frock coats and boots. A horse cantered from a side street but reared suddenly as a street urchin in a bobble hat got under its hooves. The rider grappled with reigns and whip but lost his tall hat and then his seat in the process and thudded into a muddy puddle.
    ‘Confound it boy! What the devil do you think you’re doing?’ he roared. He made a wild grab but the grubby boy slithered like an eel from his grasp and streaked towards Ralf and the others. He swerved at the last moment to fall in step and then Ralf realised that Alfie was back with them.
    ‘Can you see ?’ Alfie’s cry was high pitched and reedy. He pushed his hat back to wipe sweat from his forehead. ‘I short cut round the back of Parliament Square,’ he squeaked. ‘I ain’t even lying! A shimmer in the air and then I was face to face with about a hundred –’
    ‘ARRRCHERS!’ yelled Valentina.
    The world shifted again and they were in a green meadow racing toward what seemed like about five hundred Saxons. Arrows buzzed over their heads to thump into the earth behind them. Ralf ducked