Free Crown Park by Des Hunt

lighting the kerosene lamp while Jack sat on
the edge of the lounger thinking back to the land they’d just left.
He was feeling guilty.
    Pat had located the other group
not long after leaving the adzebill camp. The reunion between the
two lots of moho was noisy and tearful. You’d have thought they’d
been away from each other for weeks.
    When things had settled a
little, Jack took Lucy to one side and told her about the
adzebills.
    “We can handle them,” said
Lucy.
    “You sure? Boris is real
evil.”
    Lucy tossed back her head. “Let
him be evil. Good will always win over bad.”
    “How?”
    “It just does. It’s the way of
the world.”
    Not my world, thought Jack. Liam
Bennett always wins.
    That’s when Fluoro came over and
said they should go home. Before Jack had a chance to argue, they
were back in Crown Park. And now Jack was wishing he’d tried harder
to convince Lucy of the danger.
    He looked up to find Fluoro was
staring at him. “Did you hear what I said?” asked Fluoro.
    Jack shook his head.
    “I was saying,” said Fluoro,
speaking each word extra carefully, “that I’ll be busy in the
morning and that you are not to come around until two thirty. Then
we’ll meet with the Bennetts and after that we might take a little
trip back in time. How does that suit you?”
    Jack said it suited him fine. He
was so tired that he’d agree to anything. All he wanted was to get
home and go to bed.
     
     
    His mum was waiting up for him when he
arrived home. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her head
resting on her arms. Jack got the feeling that she’d been
asleep.
    “It’s late. Where have you
been?” she asked.
    “At a friend’s place,” he
replied.
    “I thought you said you had no
friends.”
    “I do now. Is there any
food?”
    His mum pointed to the
fridge.
    It was cold meats and salads
from the deli at the supermarket. Not Jack’s favourite food. His
mum watched him eat for a while before excusing herself and going
to bed.
    Jack picked away at the food for
a while longer, thinking about his day. He was pleased with the way
he’d led the group in the caves. He felt that he’d been a good
leader. How many other people had led a group of moho through a
cave system and survived?
    Then he chuckled at himself.
“Yeah, right!” he murmured. “Like all that was real?”
    After that, he went to bed.
    At some stage during the night
he woke to go to the toilet. As he climbed out of bed he felt that
something was wrong. He looked at his hoodie lying where he’d
thrown it on the floor. Parts of it were still glowing with
pinpricks of light.
     
     
    Anzac Day.
    Jack filled in the time before
two thirty watching television. But he couldn’t concentrate. Today
was the day when Fluoro was going to sort out the Bennett brothers,
and that would be something worth seeing.
    The steam around Crown Park
seemed to be thicker than ever. Jack had trouble finding his way up
the little gully that led to Fluoro’s shelter.
    When he got through he found
Fluoro fiddling with an electronic game.
    “Are you winning?” Jack
asked.
    “In a way. But it’s not a game.
It’s a GPS navigator.”
    “Are you going somewhere?”
    Fluoro chuckled. “No. But the
Bennett brothers will be after I’ve given it to them.”
    Jack’s jaw dropped. “You’re
giving them that?”
    “Yes, but not for long. I’ll get
it back.”
    “They won’t give it back,” said
Jack, annoyed. He’d arrived full of hope about what would happen to
the Bennetts. Now Fluoro was giving them stuff. “It’s stupid giving
them something like that,” he said, angrily. “Where’d you get it
from?”
    “There are still bits and pieces
of my previous life around,” said Fluoro. “The question you should
be asking is: why am I giving it to them?”
    Jack relaxed a little. “OK, why
are you giving it to them?”
    “So that they can go on a
treasure hunt.” Fluoro’s fingers moved over the screen. “I’ve
programmed eight