CHAPTER 25

The next few hours roll by quietly, except for the crazy ticking noise in my head. It doesn’t get faster. It doesn’t get slower.

It does, however, get more and more annoying as it reverberates inside my skull.

I don’t tell Molly about it for a while, because I think it will just go away. When it doesn’t, I finally confess after dinner, baling her up in the hallway when Mum and Dad are still in the kitchen.

‘I think there might be some kind of … countdown going on in my head.’

‘What?’ Molly frowns.

‘There’s a ticking. In my head. You can’t hear it?’

Molly looks surprised now. ‘No! How fast is it?’

‘Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick …’ I say, ticking slowly in time with the sound in my head.

Molly’s eyes widen.

‘What does it mean?’ I take a step forward, closer to her.

‘That the end of the universe is coming?’ she tells me.

‘Gee, thanks,’ I huff. ‘So, what do we do?’

‘Nothing. We wait.’

So, we wait.

I get as much sleep as I can and, next morning, Molly and I go for a swim as if everything is normal, then head to school, where everyone sits in class and is way too well behaved. The whole day has the feeling that you get before a storm. When everything is calm and silent, but you know something’s coming.

Something big.

Tick, tick, tick.

If Hale knows about the ticking, he doesn’t say anything.

After school, Ethan and I ride our bikes for a bit. We don’t see any Ecens. We don’t see any Rewlut slugs. After a while, I’m kind of wishing something would pop up out of nowhere. Just to stop that feeling of waiting that’s hanging over me.

We head back home after an hour or so, riding by Ethan’s first, as per usual, then I continue on the rest of the way back to my house by myself. When I get there, I see Hale walking up the road towards me from the opposite direction. Molly is waiting for both of us on the front verandah. And I don’t know if this is it, but by the looks on both their faces, there’s definitely something going down.

‘Perhaps it might be best if we stick together from now on.’ He looks way too solemn for my liking.

‘We’re going out for a family dinner,’ Molly answers, obviously trying to fob him off.

‘We are?’ I turn to her, surprised. This is the first I’ve heard of it. Molly hates going out for dinner.

‘What’s the occasion?’ Hale asks.

‘The end of the universe,’ I say. ‘Haven’t you heard?’

I’m kind of getting nervous now.

‘Oh, look who it is!’ a voice chimes in from the hallway. Mum appears at the front door. ‘Hale! It’s lovely to see you again.’

Hale opens his mouth to reply, but Molly cuts in. ‘I was just telling Hale we’ll have to go and get ready soon. Because we’re going out for dinner.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Mum waves a hand. ‘Hale doesn’t need to run off. He can come with us, if it’s all right with his parents.’

Molly doesn’t look at all impressed with this suggestion. ‘Surely your parents are expecting you home for dinner?’ Molly puts an odd emphasis on the word ‘parents’. Like there really are quotation marks around it.

Hale ignores her. ‘Oh, thanks! That would be great!’ He attempts to sound peppy. ‘I’m sure they won’t mind if I call them first.’

‘Lovely,’ Mum grins. ‘A bit of company is just what we need.’

‘I’m expecting a lot of it very soon …’ Molly mutters, under her breath.

The five of us walk into town, Mum, sadly, thrilled that a) Molly has agreed to go out to dinner and b) we’re taking another victim with us to the restaurant, and with Mr Gregory cooking, the word is most definitely ‘victim’, not ‘customer’.

As we walk, Molly sticks with Mum and Dad. After more than a few death stares from Molly, Hale drops back beside me.

We walk in silence for a while, until he turns to me with a slight frown on his face. ‘I must ask you something,’ he says.

‘As long as you don’t expect me to know the answer, I can roll with that,’ I tell him.

Hale ignores me. ‘Jack. And the sphere. How did you know the exact moment? Why did you say “now” when you did? You were quite insistent that it was the right time for us to step in and steal Jack away.’

I think about his question for a moment or two. Then I shrug. ‘I don’t know. It’s not like I was even waiting to say that. I just felt it all of a sudden. It was like everything in me just knew.’

Hale nods. ‘I see. So it was involuntary. Not a guess, or something like that?’

I shake my head. ‘No. Like I said, I just … like, really knew.’

Again, Hale nods.

‘Why?’ I ask him, curious. ‘Is this about your “theory”?’ Thinking back, it was sort of strange. It was like I couldn’t help but blurt out the word ‘now’. Like I had no choice. Like the ticking in my head, which had got faster and faster, made me do it.

‘Oh, it doesn’t matter,’ Hale tells me. ‘Just thinking. Anyway,’ he changes the subject, ‘I hear Mr Gregory’s food is interesting.’

‘Interesting is the word. Personally, I’d go with the sweet and sour pork. Sure, it’s deep-fried to the point where it’s rock hard and unidentifiable, and you might lose several teeth if you attempt to chew it, but at least you know it’s cooked.’

‘That sounds … appealing,’ Hale replies.

‘Yeah, well, it’s not.’

‘You do know his species is renowned for cooking skills?’

‘Really?’ To be honest, I don’t believe him.

‘Yes. They’re known for their excellent food. I suppose this is all part of Molly’s “human experience” that she wanted to give you.’

I think about this. ‘Either that or she enjoys torturing me,’ I say, continuing to trudge towards the restaurant.

Seriously, I can’t believe this could be my last meal.

‘There’s been a change in the menu tonight!’ Mr Gregory comes to our table not with his usual terrible offerings (sweet and sour pork, fish and chips, sushi, pizza, spaghetti bolognaise, and ice – cream and topping for dessert), but with a grin plastered across his face.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him grin before.

He loses that grin, however, when he spots Hale and his eyes flick over to Molly and me. ‘And a new guest with us tonight. How … wonderful!’ He begins to look a little worried – something is obviously up.

‘You know something?’ Molly looks up at Mr Gregory. ‘I don’t think we even need a menu this evening. Why don’t you surprise us?’ It’s only me who sees it, because I’m sitting on her left side, but she winks at him. ‘Your choice.’

‘Oh!’ he says, looking thrilled. ‘That would be lovely!’ He rubs his hands together. ‘I’ll be off, then,’ and with that, he hurries away into the kitchen before Mum can pester him about sushi.

‘Should I be worried?’ I say to Molly, quietly, so Mum and Dad can’t hear.

‘Only if you’re worried about eating the best food you’ve ever tasted. I’ll have to do some mind-tweaking, so everyone thinks it’s normal, but maybe just this once it’ll be okay. It’s a special occasion after all. I’ll take some leftovers home for Jack.’

It doesn’t take long for Mr Gregory to bring out the first course. It seems to be some sort of small, round, pale-pink object held in place on the plate by a tiny silver stand. Sort of like an egg-cup, I guess.

‘Great! Hernenflers. My favourite!’ Dad says.

I look over the table at him. ‘What?’

‘Hernenflers! You know I love them,’ he says, fork at the ready, even before Mr Gregory has placed his plate in front of him. ‘Always have and always will.’

‘Oh, yeah, of course. Hernenflers.’ I glance at Molly, who smiles a small ‘just go with it’ smile back at me.

‘I could eat hernenflers for every meal,’ Hale agrees, digging in now.

Me, I’m not so sure. I eye the hernenfler on my plate suspiciously, then glance back at Hale to see how you attack one of these things. It seems you puncture the top of the thing, wait until it kind of deflates a little, letting out some sort of pinkish gas, and then you eat the insides.

‘Go on,’ Molly nudges me with her arm. ‘You’ll love it. Just try it.’

‘Well, okay then,’ I say, still unconvinced. I pick up my spoon and stick it through the top of the hernenfler thing and sit back as the gas comes out (who knows, it could be noxious …). Inside seems to be some sort of tiny black egg-like things, in a clear goop.

Um, yummy.

‘Is it a fruit?’ I ask Molly. ‘It’s not alive, is it?’

‘Just try it!’ she urges me on.

With a shrug, I stick my spoon in and scoop out some of the … things. I try not to look at what’s on my spoon as I lift it to my mouth. Then it hits my tongue. ‘Oh,’ I say, my eyes widening as I swallow. ‘Oh, wow. That’s great. What is that?’

‘Hernenfler!’ Molly grins. ‘Pretty good, huh?’

I don’t answer her. I’m too busy scoffing down the rest of my hernenfler.

‘I’m so stuffed …’ I sit back in my chair and groan. Mr Gregory has gone all out with five courses. After the hernenfler, there was a sort of grey noodle thing with yellow gloop on top, then a square blue jelly with purple blobs in it, then a clear tube of I-don’t-know-what that you had to suck black stuff out of and, finally, what looked like a pink worm, but was actually layers of some sort of meat (maybe?) with a vivid pink filling inside. To finish the meal, Mr Gregory places a spiky cream-coloured cone object on the table and everyone breaks some off.

I reach over and break some off, too. I don’t even ask anymore. It’s all so good that it doesn’t matter what it is. I’m halfway through it when – it happens. I stand up in my seat so suddenly my chair tips over backwards.

Everyone stares at me.

‘You okay, Cooper?’ Dad asks.

‘Oh,’ I say, with a start, realising I’m standing up. ‘It’s just … you know … I bit my tongue.’ I sit back down again.

The truth is, though, my tongue’s fine. My head? Not so great.

I look over at Molly and Hale. So. That grudge match. It’s still going, right?

Molly glances at Hale before she answers for both of them. Yes, why?

Well, I think the Terlaedians have decided they’re out, even if it’s not over. Because the ticking … it’s getting faster.