Chapter 8: The way out

All three of them drew breath; it was amazing!

It was the control room they had been looking for, there were knobs and dials and levers and charts and radars and signals and screens and buttons.

All of a sudden, Rose whispered, “We must be underground.”

“Don’t worry about that, this is awesome! Martin can study all this overnight and while we are at school tomorrow, and then, after school, we can come to see you off!” Cai exclaimed.

“How exactly do we get out of here though?” Rose said quietly.

“Ummmm, I er, umm, don’t, er, really know.” Said Martin, clearly with a mixture of fright, and nervousness.

An awkward, and eerie silence followed, until Cai couldn’t stand it, and just had to speak, “Well, lets have a look around and umm, give a shout if you find something.”

And that’s what they did, it was the exact same thing they had done looking for the control room, and Rose was on the verge of tears.

She felt like they were just doing the same thing over and over again for no reason at all, and that they were getting nowhere whatsoever.

“Guys, I think there’s something over here,” Martin said slowly, pointing to a lever that was labelled ‘OUT’.

Rose and Cai scurried over to him. “I think we have to stand inside the white line.” Martin said, examining the white outline of a square.

So the three friends stepped inside, and Cai, who was nearest to the lever, pulled it.

A strange sensation, like being sucked up a thin, slimy straw, smothered itself into the three friends.

All they could see was blackness, then they saw lilac streaked with crimson and pink; they were flying through the cool, afternoon air.

“AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” was what the three children screamed.

They were gathering speed, faster and faster towards- a soccer field.

They screamed again, and shortly after that, they landed in a bush, a very large one, which was lucky.

But their luck ran out quickly as they saw who was on the field: Billy Crocker and his group of cronies.

“O-oh.” Said Cai in an undertone.

“So the Bustenburg’s have found a little friend, where did you find him, in a bin?” Billy said in his usual sneering voice.

His cronies laughed loudly.

“No, actually we found him in that house you say is haunted.” Said Cai fiercely.

Rose kicked him.

“Oi, what did you do that for!” Cai said angrily.

“Yeah right, Bustenburg. Don’t think you’re so cool all the time, because everyone knows I rule.” jeered Billy.

“Bet you couldn’t go into that house, or aren’t you going in there ‘coz you’re the chicken, eh Croc-face?” Cai sneered.

“Don’t – call – me – CHICKEN!” Billy screamed angrily, his face turning scarlet.

“Keep your fat mouth shut then.” Said Cai triumphantly, and with that, he turned on his heel, beckoned for the others to follow him, and headed to Martins place, with a cheeky grin on his face.

“You really shouldn’t have done that, Cai, how stupid of you!” Rose said angrily to Cai when they were at Martins house.

“Who cares Rose? Hey, listen Martin; tomorrow I think we should do the lift off at 11:30, so no one sees, eh? Rose and I will sneak out of bed to see you off, it’ll be awesome, and I’ve never seen a rocket blast off before! You go to the control room tonight, work a few things out, and, er, see you tomorrow!” said Cai over-excitedly, and then dragged Rose out the door.