The Keeper. Part 1. An Invitation

And getting up, Cat sauntered off in the direction of the stairs.

3

Speak This Word

When Arthur awoke the next morning, the first thing he noticed was that the cat wasn’t anywhere to be found. Guessing it probably meant that he was still ‘riddling’ with the big ginger next door, and having caught wind that Aunty M was readying a long list of things for him to do, he’d fled upstairs to the attic to try and delay the inevitable.

Hiding in a part of the room that couldn’t be seen from the stairs, he placed the box on the floor in front of him and sat staring at it.

‘You know, I bet you turn out to be a whole lot of nothing,’ he said, finally picking it up. The longer he gazed at it, the more foolish he started to feel for wantingto believe that it could be anything more than just some ordinary little box. Feeling annoyed with himself, he was about to throw it in a drawer but stopped.

<<No, wait! What about everything that has already happened?… It can’t all be coincidental, can it? That weird white light; my hands; suddenly being able to talk to the cat; the hole in the tracks; the fish; the box; the reports of the men looking for it.>>

‘They’ve all got to be connected somehow. But how?’ he asked out loud.

‘You do know, right, that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness?’ meowed the cat, strolling into the room at that moment.

‘Ha ha, where’ve you been?’

‘Busy solving the greatest riddle that never actually was.’

‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’

‘You’ll see when I tell you the answer. Fluffy and I have solved it. Well, it was more me than Fluffy. I’m sure even he would agree.’

<<‘So?’>>

‘Well, it was really just staring us right in the whiskers the whole time.’

‘Great, but I’ve been staring at it all morning, and I didn’t feel it staring at my whiskers.’

‘That’s because you’ve been looking without really looking.’

Arthur rolled his eyes. ‘Brilliant! OK, and…?’

‘Hmm?’ asked the cat, distracted by a small beetle scurrying across the floor.

‘C’mon, what’s the answer?’

‘Oh, that. Just say “open” three times.’

‘What—that’s it?!’

‘I told you it was simple.’

‘Just a bit!’ <<Could it really be so simple?>> he wondered, shaking his head. ‘Well, I guess we should try it, at least.’

‘Yep, right—off you go then!’ said the cat, forgetting about the insect all of a sudden, and beating a hasty retreat towards the stairs.

Watching him from the corner of his eye, Arthur cupped the box in his hands and held them out in front of him.

‘So, I’m just going to say “open” three times, then.’

‘Yep. Three times ought to do it.’

‘OK, here we go. <<Open!>>’

The cat had reached the top.

‘<<Open!>>’ he said again.

Arthur could feel his hands beginning to shake with excitement and his heart racing.

‘<<Open!… >>Cat! Why are you—’

Suddenly, the little box shot into the air, freezing halfway between the floor and the ceiling. Snapping open, a bright white light like he’d seen the night of the storm spilled out of it, filling the room instantly. Coloured spheres began to materialise everywhere. And between them, countless shining points. Arthur, mesmerised by what was happening, ducked as a small green-and-blue sphere appeared just above his head.

‘Cat…’

‘I’m here… I see them!’ he meowed dreamily.

‘What are they?’

‘I have no idea. But they’re <<soooo>> pretty.’

A moment later, the room was plunged into darkness. The coloured spheres, the points of light, continuing to shine, now appeared to be grouped into clusters.

‘Cat! I think I’ve got it! I know what this is! They’re planets, suns, and stars. I saw something like this when I was at the planetarium. It’s got to be a map—a star map! And look over there, there’s some kind of writing near one of the groups. See?’

‘Yes, yes, I see. What’s it say?’ he whispered, coming closer and trying to catch one of the spheres with a paw.

‘I don’t know, but they look like symbols of some sort. I reckon it must mean that there’s something special about those planets.’

‘You mean like a warning not to ever go there.’

‘That’d be weird, don’t you think?’

‘Not really.’

‘But, if it is a map, then where did it come from? And how did it get to Earth?’

‘And who put it at the bottom of a lake?’

‘Or on that weird train that blew up?’

‘If it really was on that train!’

‘What? Of course it was on the train. Don’t you think it’s a bit of a coincidence that it fell into the lake exactly on the night of the bright light, which was also when it looks like it blew up?’