Griff stopped moaning. He almost stopped breathing.
There, levitating in front of him, so close he could almost touch it, was his very first enteo.
Griff had to act fast. The stats circling the shadowy shape’s head were disappearing. They were strange codes and graphs but because Griff had never seen an enteo before, they didn’t give much away. His heart sank. How could he tell what type it was?
The creature was cloaked in blue. The only clue was in the way it was moving, fiercely swaying from side to side — this was strangely familiar. Griff realised the enteo was making the same movements he had seen Kyto make in training sessions. Kyto would sway from side to side when he wanted him to chase light-filled bubbles around the tunnels. Had Griff found a chaser? It was time to take a chance.
‘Chaser!’ Griff shouted.
Slowly, slowly, the enteo removed its bronze mask. Its face was long and white, with half-moon eyebrows which made it look surprised. Lights from its eyes swooped around like laser beams and its mouth was a tiny, open ‘O’. No matter what colour it was, every enteo of one type had the same face.
He was right! It was a chaser!
In a split second, the chaser had taken off. Griff followed it like the wind, out of the green cathedral and into a spiralling tunnel, down a massive helter-skelter, through labyrinths of different colours, up the sides of towers and along high, vibrating ledges. He went as fast as he dared, remembering everything Kyto had taught him, completely forgiving the ghost monkey for being so annoying.
Every so often, he would glance nervously at the blood seeping from the thermometer. This meant his health was draining away. Griff was soon out of breath but determined to carry on. The clock was counting down, Griff could see it in the corner of his eye, the seconds ticking off one by one.
He was still a long way off when the chaser stopped at the end of a high ledge and looked back at him. Its tiny mouth smiled, its laser eye winked, and then it jumped. Griff watched it plummet, until it landed and dissolved into a shimmering puddle of fire on the crash mat, far below.
Griff had lost the chaser this time. It didn’t matter. His heart was hammering in his chest and he was so elated he could have burst. This was the biggest fun in the world. This was the biggest fun he could ever remember having in his entire life. He just wanted it to go on and on. Forever.
3
A Gift from Lance
Lia was waiting in the hall when Ant got in from school, arms folded and, by the looks of it, ready for an argument.
‘Why did you tell him?’ she began in a quiet voice, which was never good.
‘Tell who what?’ Ant tossed down his heavy backpack. He had about three tons of homework to do that evening.
‘Dad! Why did you tell him?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He’d had a brief conversation with their dad the night before, when he’d rung from somewhere in Belgium, but he couldn’t remember saying anything Lia would have minded.
‘Why did you tell him about Lance living here?’ she cried. ‘Anthony, you know it’s only for a few weeks. You promised me you wouldn’t say anything. You promised!’
Lia was Ant’s twenty-two-year-old sister. She had moved in to look after her little brother while their dad, Snoz, was away, driving some duff old rock band round Europe. Her boyfriend Lance had also moved in, together with all his bodybuilding stuff. Lia and Lance had taken over the flat’s only bedroom and Ant was sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room. This lack of privacy was why he’d started playing Kismet Cosmos in the Dell in the first place. The edge of the Dell next to the adventure playground had always felt like a safe place. Now he’d have to find somewhere else, because he didn’t want his precious equipment being grabbed by those three mugs again. He still felt sore about it.
Lance was okay but he and Ant didn’t have much in common. They hardly spoke, except to say, ‘All right, mate?’ and ‘Pass the remote, dude.’
‘I haven’t said a word to Dad!’
Lia looked in his eyes and must have decided he was telling the truth.
‘Then it’s that flaming Hayley from number eight!’ she cried. She dumped herself on the sofa. ‘She’s always either going in or coming out of her flat when I walk past. She’s been spying on us, I know she has. She’s always had a thing for Dad, she probably used this as a lame excuse to ring him.’
Ant sat down gently next to his sister. It was a bit of a family joke that Hayley from number eight fancied their Dad. ‘Careful, Lia,’ he said. ‘You can’t just run around accusing people. It might not have been her, you don’t know for sure.’
‘I wouldn’t put it past her.’ Lia began to cry. ‘Oh, Ant. I knew Dad wouldn’t like it ’cos there’s not much room here. That’s why I didn’t tell him. But Lance has got this new job starting next week and we’ve nearly saved up the deposit for that flat in the Parade. Me and Lance living here was only for the time being.’
‘I know, I know.’ Ant patted her shoulder.
‘It’s been okay here, with Lance and everything? He’s nice to you, isn’t he? You get on with him?’ She turned to face him. All her eye make-up had
