It was the hushed whispering that first caught Larkin’s interest. He paused in the corridor to see big Bill O’Reilly in huddled conversation with Melody Booth and Cyril Scratch.

  It was the latter’s inclusion in that group that made Larkin take a longer look.

  The big muscular football player having a private word with one of the most popular girls in school wasn’t worth noting, in Larkin’s book. He was sure it would be welcome fuel for the dumpster fire that was school gossip, but he didn’t subject himself to that nonsense.

  But some random nerd being involved was different. And he wasn’t some helpless victim to bullying either; Larkin saw the school chess captain say something vehemently to Bill, cutting the much bigger boy off.

  They seem excited by something. But what?

  At that point, though, Bill glanced up and saw him. The sandy haired boy muttered something to the others and they all started moving away. Melody gave him a polite smile as she walked by while Bill ignored him and Cyril shot him an irritated frown.

  It was all very mysterious. And very different from the predictable humdrum happenings at school.

  But not enough to get Larkin chasing after them. He was in his final year in school so he had more important things to do - like rationalising why it was okay that he wasn’t doing any studying.

  Not like I could afford the fees for going to university, anyway, he thought. Or that I have any idea what I’d want to do there.

  Though, if he was being honest, Larkin wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after school, full stop. His future, he kept being told, stretched out before him full of possibilities.

  But Larkin didn’t even know what his next step would be, and certainly didn’t have any inclination right now to take it.

  Later that day while he was sitting in class - tuning out the teacher and gazing out the window - he found his disinterested gaze following after another unlikely pair: the prim and proper school swot Patricia Wong, and the nosey wannabe reporter, Alexis Raumstaf. They were standing at the edge of the schoolyard, engaged in an apparently lively conversation.

  Probably Alexis trying to gather more gossip about the teachers again, he thought. Though odd that Patricia would be cutting class. Very unlike her.

  Larkin put that out of his mind as the bell rang and he started gathering his stuff and heading home. The journey back was about as grey and dreary as the rest of his day had been. When he got home he saw that his Dad was out drinking somewhere and his mum was lying half-comatose facing the TV.

  So he made himself a microwave dinner and went to his room.

  A regular weekday special.

  But the odd happenings of those five must have lodged themselves in some deep crevice within his brain. Larkin found himself musing drowsily about possible reasons for their animated conversations.

  A circumstance that could lead to such disparate people voluntarily spending time together, that would also account for their apparent desire to keep whatever it was quiet.

  Aliens, perhaps? He thought with a sly smile. Or some big conspiracy? Maybe they had all joined a cult and were planning to off themselves together?

  All nonsense, of course. But when the next day came he saw Melody and Alexis walking to school together. And Bill and Cyril were having another hushed conversation in the corridor. He shared a class with Patricia where, for the first time he could remember, she didn’t answer a single one of the teacher’s questions.

  Even Miss Simmons thinks that’s weird, he thought as he caught the middle aged woman giving Patricia a concerned look. But the black-haired girl was staring down at the notebook in front of her, as she had the whole lesson.

  And the certainty came to Larkin as he stared at the girl’s hunched posture.

  Something’s happening!

  The thought struck him with a mixture of dull surprise and an almost delirious delight.

  Nothing interesting had happened to him before. And now he had memories of his sleepy imaginings going through his head.

  So, this time, when the end of day bell rang and he saw Melody walking out of school accompanied by Bill, Larkin naturally followed after them.

  There were scores of kids flowing in the same direction, all jostling to get away from the academic prison. But the footballer’s large frame was easy to follow, especially as it was accompanied by the occasional flash of Melody’s golden curls. Keeping track of them was easy at first but that tide of students only lasted until they went past the nearest bus stops and Tube station. After that it became a trickle of kids on the streets and Larkin stopped worrying about not seeing them but started to worry about being spotted himself.

  A gaggle of elementary school kids burst out of a shop between him and the pair ahead, and Larkin allowed the chattering obstacles to slow his shadowing.

  The pair went around a corner and, by the time Larkin peered around it, they’d been joined by Patricia, Cyril, and Alexis. The five of them were talking in excited tones but Larkin found himself glancing warily around even as he tried to fade into the (largely nonexistent) shadows of the billboard he was standing next to.

  Is this all of them? He wondered. Or did I miss anyone?

  The sudden thought that there was another kid sneaking up on him had his head revolving constantly.

  Such was his distraction that he actually missed when the five of them started to walk off again. He only caught a quick glimpse of Alexis’ brown braided hair swinging as she entered an alleyway.

  Larkin hurriedly followed, his caution fading at both the pace the five were walking and at the fact that they evidently hadn’t a clue he was there. Not once did any of them look back and they went straight to their destination.

  Though what are they doing in a construction yard? He wondered.

  This wasn’t on Larkin’s regular route home, but he’d heard some grumblings about the large yard, entirely devoid of activity, just a little way off from the main road. Some sort of issue with planning permission was the official story.

  Larkin had just filed it away as a classic bureaucratic mess, with some possible spice of corruption thrown in.

  There was a six foot high fence surrounding the place, but Bill reached down and lifted up a section of mesh wire and let the others through.

  That lax security helped Larkin follow right after them. Though while they went straight to the central open space in the yard, he scurried across to the limited cover provided by a set of large pallets.

  There wasn’t anything in them right now but they offered plenty of space for him to hide from the sight of the five kids while hearing everything they said.

  “Okay.” Cyril said, his nasal voice clear to Larkin in his hiding spot. “So what exactly are we doing here?”

  Just the question that Larkin was thinking. He saw Bill and Melody nodding along to that. But neither Patricia or Alexia responded and all five of them were staring off into the same spot.

  Are they listening to someone else? He wondered. On a radio? Or maybe a phone?

  “Yes, yes, we’ve heard your spiel.” Patricia snapped, again to no one, apparently. “And we’ve seen how it works, but…”

  The black-haired girl suddenly cut off, even as a grin quite unlike anything Larkin saw from her before came across her face.

  “What do you mean by ‘practical application’?” Melody asked.

  But then he saw Alexia gasp, her mouth forming a giant ‘O’ shape.

  “My god!” Melody exclaimed, before slapping a hand over her mouth.

  And this time Larkin could see exactly what they were reacting to.

  There was a crackle at the other end of the construction yard, as though some electrical activity was happening. Larkin saw flashes of sparks ripple through the air, bright ribbons of light darting in the middle of the air.

  And then those lines of electricity seemed to connect together; forming fissures in the air that didn’t fade. They instead hung in place for a long moment, accompanied by the sudden smell of something sharp and vaguely bleach-like.

  There was a sudden grinding sound, and the fissure seemed to tear away, forming a rip in the very air itself. Behind which were a blinding array of lights, accompanied by another burst of that pungent stench.

  Larkin felt his gaze swim a little as he stared at the light show; his mind struggling to grasp what he was seeing. There was an odd noise coming from that tear; a mechanical… fizzing sound.

  Does that even make sense? He wondered.

  But then a monstrosity stepped through the portal of light.

  It was a creature of bulging muscle and gleaming horns. It walked on two heavily muscled legs, and had to stoop to get through the magical opening. When it extended to its full height it was over eight foot tall. It had the wide and flat face of a bull, but there was a clear malignant intelligence in its gaze, and when it opened its mouth it revealed a row of sharp, serrated teeth.

  Doubt it’s a herbivore, Larkin thought inanely as he huddled lower in his hiding spot.

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  The others, though, seemed far less concerned.

  “I’ll take this one.” Bill breezily said, stepping forward towards the monster.

  Which gazed at him for a moment, much as someone might stare at a fat obnoxious fly that wandered too close, and then it lowered its head - with those horns - and charged straight towards the kid.

  The ground shook under the weight of the hulking creature, but Bill stood there nonchalantly, one hand in his pocket as the mass of death came barreling towards him.

  “Float.”

  After Bill’s odd sounding command, and between one step and the next, the monster wasn’t running anymore - it was hovering in the air. And from the startled sounds it made as it rose in height, it wasn’t by choice.

  Larkin gaped as the monster floated right over Bill and the others.

  “Fall.”

  With that next command, the beast plummeted to the ground. Moving faster than it seemed like it should. It slammed into the floor hard enough that the pallets surrounding Larkin all shook with the impact.

  The monster gave a pained groan as it lay in a small crater in the ground. But it had the strength to slowly turn its gaze towards the five kids. It began to climb back to its feet and gave out a deep growl. But that morphed into a sudden and sustained shriek as its body was shrouded in light.

  No, Larkin shuddered, it was consumed by fire.

  The sickeningly sweet smell of barbecue reached his nostrils as the tortured cries finally faded away.

  “Patricia!” Bill snapped into the brief silence. “I said it was mine.”

  The boy was glaring at the short girl, who gave an indifferent shrug.

  “You’d demonstrated what you could do.” She replied. “And, to be honest, I was getting bored.”

  Surprisingly, that failed to calm Bill down. But it was Melody who responded.

  “Do we really need to fight these horrible creatures, Sir Soas?” The blonde asked, looking - again - off to one side where Larkin couldn’t see anyone.

  “You’ve already given us these powers, after all.”

  Larkin felt himself grinding his teeth in frustration as Melody and the others stared at that apparently empty spot in the yard. But he didn’t need to hear whatever was said to recognise how Melody’s face fell.

  “Yes, I like the idea of levelling up.” Cyril said, nodding enthusiastically.

  And Patricia grinned manically even as she turned to Melody.

  “And they’re mindless monsters.” She said. “So you can put that little conscience away.”

  The dark haired girl turned back to the empty air.

  “Soas, let’s have another!”

  There was a brief pause, but then a second shadow crossed through that portal. This one was a much longer one, and Larkin saw why as it passed through the lit opening.

  Jesus, that’s big. He thought. Glad I don’t mind snakes.

  Because the monster that came through was a huge coiled serpent. It must have been seven metres from tip to tail, was covered in some sort of boney protrusions that rattled as it moved, and was easily large enough to try and swallow any one of the kids standing before it.

  “Mine!”

  Patricia called that out with a titter of laughter, and then the terrifying monster gave its own terrified wail as it was suddenly consumed in flames.

  It doesn’t seem quite so threatening now. Larkin thought as the creature sunk to the ground.

  But she sure does. He stared at Patricia with a concerned look.

  Though the other kids gave her more of a variety of reactions.

  “This isn’t a game, Patricia.” Melody told the girl, to which the black-haired swot just snorted.

  “The next one’s mine.” Cyril told the girl. “Keep your hands off it.”

  The scrawny nerd seemed more irritated with Patricia that freaked out, which Larkin thought was a real indication that being good at chess was different from actually being smart.

  But the short girl just made a dissatisfied sound and then stalked over to a crate to sit down on. Fortunately one that was far from Larkin.

  “Sure, sure.” She sighed. “Go ahead.”

  Cyril gave the girl a long look as though suspecting something from her, but then - again! - turned to look into empty space.

  “Okay, I’m next.”

  There was a long pause, and then the boy gave an aggrieved sigh.

  “Fine, I’ll wait.”

  The five kids seemed to settle down to do just that, though Patricia gave another irritated noise and leaned back to lie down on the crate. Melody shot her a concerned look but the others seemed happy to ignore her.

  Cyril was staring at the portal with an irritated expression on his face, occasionally fiddling with his glasses. Bill seemed to be trying to act nonchalant, but kept shooting Melody looks that gave him away.

  And Alexis was standing perfectly still. Her back was to Larkin, but he imagined that her lidded eyes were constantly scanning the others.

  She seems remarkably unchanged by all this, he thought. I guess she was weird enough to begin with.

  The wait passed in silence, save for the strange fizzing noise from the portal. Larkin found it interminable, especially as his legs steadily seized up from his position.

  But finally another shadow appeared as something came through that portal.

  This one was walking on four legs, and at first seemed almost like a deer or antelope. Though it didn’t show the skittish attitude of prey.

  The damn thing stood about eight feet tall, and its body was covered in thick grey scales - almost like armour. Its antlers were short but thick, and its red eyes settled on the five kids.

  “Hardly worth that wait.” Was Cyril’s judgement, even as the monster lowered its head and, without any other warning, started charging towards them.

  That’s fast! Larkin thought, tensing as he prepared for the horrible results of that collision.

  “Wall!”

  At Cyril’s cry, the monster gave a strangled cry as its charge suddenly came to an end. The thing’s antlers made a scratching sound as the beast suddenly came up against some invisible obstacle in front of it.

  The beast stared around in evident confusion, even as Cyril raised a hand and called out again.

  “Fireball!”

  With a whoosh of air, a globe of fire arced out from the kid’s hand and flew towards the monster. It started the size of a tennis ball but rapidly expanded and was almost as large as the beast itself by the time it crashed into it.

  The monster reared back, giving a pained cry. But Cyril wasn’t done.

  “Lightning!”

  There was a flash of light from the kid’s two upraised hands, and then the monster gave a shriek as some powerful electrical discharge crashed into it. The beast toppled over, spasmed for one tortuous moment and then laid still.

  Larkin’s amazed gaze at the corpse went back to Cyril as the scrawny boy gave a self-satisfied sound.

  “Not bad.” He said with a smug grin.

  These kids are the real monsters, he thought to himself. How the hell did they get those powers?

  With that thought, he felt a tugging sensation from deep within him.

  This is unreal. He thought, recognising the excitement he felt. And something else, some sense of hunger; of desire.

  I want to be able to do that, he thought as he stared at the kids and the destruction they were capable of.

  Well, not all of them, actually. Melody stood off to one side, a frown twisting her expression. Near, but not next to her, stood Alexis. She was running one hand through her braid while staring off to one side.

  To where this ‘Soas’ apparently was, Larkin guessed.

  “How much longer must this continue?”

  Alexia asked, cutting over the continued excited commentary from Cyril.

  “Why don’t you have a turn, Al?” Patricia called back, sitting up from her crate. “Blondie can’t, I get that, but you could show us some moves.”

  That got a look from Melody but Alexia ignored the shorter girl.

  “I fail to see how this completes that goal.” Alexia replied, clearly not to what Patricia had said. “You could have just told us that.”

  There was a pause and then Alexia scoffed.

  “I assure you, my mind is clear.” The girl said with a curl of her lips. “The others have demonstrated their opinions on the matter as well.”

  She then glanced over at Melody, who gave her a nod and turned to where, apparently, Soas was standing.

  “Yes, I accept that.” The blonde girl said. “But I have agreed to all of this.”

  There was a pause, and then the whirling lights of the portal seemed to dim. Larkin glanced over at it as the fizzing sound was overtaken by a grinding one. He wondered what was coming through next, only to see the portal shrink.

  He stared at the closing fissure; the orange and white lights seemed to burn into his corneas. The sight lingering in his vision even when the portal closed with a final belch of that bleach-like smell.

  Where did that go? He wondered.

  The prospect of a whole new world, even one populated by horrific monsters seemed so tantalisingly close. So absorbed was he in the vision that he missed the majority of works spoken by the others.

  “So soon?” Bill said, sounding surprised. And it was the slightly elevated note in the muscular kid’s voice that brought Larkin’s attention back to them.

  In time to hear Cyril give a scathing laugh.

  “I’ve been ready to go for ages.” He told the larger boy. “We’re the Chosen. What’s the problem?”

  Bill coughed, looking awkward.

  “I… uh, I haven’t told my parents yet.”

  That got an incredulous look from Cyril, and a nasty laugh from Patricia.

  “Sorry Soas, looks like one of us wants to get locked up in the loony bin rather than go save your world.”

  Bill glared at the girl, who gave him an utterly unrepentant grin.

  “No one would believe us, Bill.” Melody said, her voice gentle but firm. “They’d only accept it if you actually use your skills, and then…”

  She trailed off, glancing to one side. Just as Bill’s face flickered and he hung his head.

  “Fine.” He muttered. “I understand.”

  There was a brief silence, ending with Cyril speaking up.

  “That works for me.” He said. “No need to waste time at school.”

  And, just like that, the five turned and started leaving the construction yard. Larkin hunkered down into the cover of the pallets as they walked past, but none so much as glanced his way.

  “Yes, let’s gather there.” Melody said, again seemingly to Soas. “Where we all met you the first time.”

  Larkin waited for them all to leave before he emerged from his hiding spot. And even before he did that he hesitated where he was, staring out at the bloody remains of the three monsters that they’d left behind.

  Are they just going to leave it like this?

  But even as he thought that, he saw the bodies starting to twitch. And then liquify. They quickly dissolved into a horrible grey sludge, complete with a stomach-turning smell. But even that stench receded as the sludge seemed to sink into the earth and out of sight.

  Larkin suddenly seized up as there was another flicker of light and a grinding noise as the portal reappeared.

  What? He thought, as the swirling orange light reappeared.

  He braced himself for some new nightmare to come out, but instead a shadow seemed to move over the light and then the portal started to close again.

  Within a few moments the construction yard was empty again.

  There were still craters left in the ground. But he imagined it was slightly less likely to cause panic as the bodies of those unearthly monsters. And as he finally climbed out of his hiding space, rubbing at his protesting legs, he found his mind going blank.

  What the hell was happening?

  Somehow the five of them had gained some strange magical powers; from this Soas he guessed. And, if Patricia was anything to go by, they weren’t adjusting well to that. The sensible thing was to keep clear of them, that was certain.

  And yet… his gaze went to where that portal had been.

  There was a faint impression on the packed earth, he suddenly saw. Going over to it, he saw that there was a long and thin depression.

  Where the portal cut through the ground.

  He shook his head, marvelling at what he’d just witnessed.

  Nothing interesting had happened to him before. He remembered clearly thinking that.

  But then his eyes widened; it still might not!

  Where were the five going to meet?