Free Switch! by Karen Prince Page B

this place. Perhaps by those crocodiles.” She glared at the crocodiles. It wouldn’t do any harm to her cause to deflect some of the blame.
    Ethan raised an eyebrow doubtfully and glanced over at the crocodiles, but shook his head. “Well, where were you then? Before you... switched."
    “In the magic Kingdoms of Karibu, where I come from.”
    Pandemonium broke out. The boy with the machete had been interpreting for the other kids. Some of them fell about laughing at Ethan’s gullibility, but some argued vehemently that it was perfectly possible to have a magic kingdom. The handsome boy, who had been lounging up against a log with a half-bored, half-distracted expression, stood up and glared at Ethan.
    “Okay, the joke’s over, Ethan,” he said. “You are scaring the little kids.” He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled out, “Joe! You can come out now!”
    The others stared at him, taken aback, but a couple of them looked around as if the boy, Joe, might come walking out from behind a bush.
    Gogo Maya exchanged glances with Salih. Handsome was an odd boy. Perhaps Salih was a better judge of character than she’d thought.  
    “And where is Karibu, exactly?” demanded Ethan, after the boy, Joe, had failed to materialise and the handsome one had stormed off in a huff.
    “Somewhere beyond those mountains.” Gogo Maya gave an expansive wave because she was not exactly sure.
    Ethan pushed out his lower lip. “How will Joe get back?”  
    She hadn’t thought she would have to come up with a solution quite so soon. “I will try and get him back by reversing the switch,” she said. “If you can find me a dish, I will put water in it and scry to see where your friend is. Then I will aim for him and try to exchange.”  
    Gogo Maya improvised as she went along. She knew the whole business of switching was too inaccurate for her to exchange with the boy, but confusing them with a scry would buy her time to think of a plan, and had the added advantage of showing her where the boy, Joe, was. Now that she thought about it, she would feel bad if the Tokoloshe had abandoned him and he had fallen into the wrong hands, especially if those hands were her village headman, Tacari’s.
    After a heated discussion amongst the children, two girls set off reluctantly down the road.  
    “They get dish,” nodded the boy with the red shirt and the dirty hat. “But they say no more stories till they get back, please. Is not fair if they miss out.”
    “Don’t rush back. I can only scry after dark,” Gogo Maya called after them. She had already threatened to disappear the way she had come if anyone brought any grown-ups. The longer they took fetching the bowl, the more time her amulet would have to recharge, and the more likely it was that she would be able to switch.
    Back in her shady spot beneath the mahobohobo tree once more, she flopped down on the ground, while Salih went to speak to the crocodiles. Most of the children wandered off and took up with various swimming games, but some followed her, begging for more stories about Karibu. They introduced themselves with lovely exotic names: Tendayi, Tafadzwa, Tekeramayi, Jimoh... and one girl, Happymore, but you could hardly tell. She wore the same khaki shorts that everyone else did. Ethan, had been dressed much more smartly. He took off his wet clothes and shoes and laid them out to dry. Even the underpants he had on smacked of rich boy and Gogo Maya noticed how awkwardly he seated himself in the dirt.  
    Salih came back, having established that they were indeed not too far from Karibu as the hawk flies, but that the only way in was to follow a dangerous river that ran through the mountains to the east and enter Karibu through the underground water system.
    Gogo Maya pursed her lips. If this river ran into Karibu from underground, could she really send the boy that way? Goodness knew what kind of raging torrents swirled around the caves under there. It was rumored in