Free The Impossible Boy by Mark Griffiths Page A

system,’ said Gabby. ‘How can a solar system get its hand trapped in some railings?’
    ‘There was an accident,’ said Chas. ‘I was studying your universe – you three-dimensional beings are fascinating – and part of me, the part you humans now interpret
as two thousand copies of the same boy, got . . . well –
wedged
is the best word. I got wedged into your universe. And now I can’t get out. It’s kind of embarrassing.
Bits of me can dip in and out of the fourth dimension to do silly tricks, but some part of me must always remain in your world.’
    ‘But what about your friends, your family, in your universe? Can’t they help?’
    Chas shook his head. ‘No one knows I’m here. And it could be a long time before anyone notices I’m missing. Time works differently in the fourth dimension. It goes in all kinds
of weird directions, not just forward like it does here. Your whole universe might end before I’m rescued. I hate to think what might happen to me then.’
    ‘Is there anything you can do?’
    ‘There is,’ he said, looking away. He ran a hand through his hair. ‘But I’d need some help and it might be dangerous. Could be
very
danger—’
    ‘I’ll help.’ Gabby spoke automatically. ‘Of course I’ll help. Why wouldn’t I?’Her head was suddenly spinning with delight, her mind racing with
countless wild ideas, her heart thudding with joy.
This boy
, she thought,
is capable of anything. Literally anything!
    ‘You will?’ Chas’s big blue eyes were wide. ‘Really?’
    ‘Really. It’s not every day you get to help a boy from another universe, is it? What do I have to do?’
    Chas laughed with relief and pleasure. ‘Oh, Gabby! You don’t know how happy that makes me! You’re saving my life. I’ll explain the plan later. I have an escape plan, you
see, as every self-respecting prisoner ought to. But first . . .’ He grinned wickedly.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Have you ever been to the fourth dimension?’
    Gabby laughed. ‘Oh, yeah. All the time. Mum and I have a holiday cottage there. What do you think, you lunatic? Of course not.’
    ‘Fancy a little trip? You’d be the first being from your entire universe to enter it. But it might be a
little
overwhelming at first.’
    Gabby squealed. ‘Oh wow! That would be incredible!’
    They stood up. Chas took Gabby’s hand. ‘For a three-dimensional girl, you’re pretty cool, you know that?’
    Before Gabby could reply there was a flash of brilliant white light and they were gone.

CHAPTER EIGHT
ALARMING ACID, BUSHWHACKED BULLIES, HAUNTED HIGHLIGHTERS AND TRASHED TROPHIES
    When Barney went to room U13 the next day for Geek Inc., there was no sign of Gabby. He waited patiently for the whole of lunch break, his stomach rumbling fiercely, but still
she failed to appear. He guessed she must be ill and made a mental note to text her that night when he got home after football practice. With just a couple of minutes to go before afternoon
registration, he dashed to the tuck shop and bought an apple, taking huge wet bites from it as he hurried to his form room.
    Pulling open the door at the school’s main entrance, he was almost knocked to the ground by the tall, bustling figure of the chemistry teacher, Miss Roberts, who was bursting out of the
building in a state of some distress, her high-heeled boots making loud clumping sounds and her dark hair streaming behind her in messy tangles.
    ‘Why don’t you look where you’re going, you little fool?’ she called to him over her shoulder in her sing-song Welsh accent and strode towards the car park.
    Barney blinked at her in surprise and went inside.
    Clomp-clomp-clomp
went Miss Roberts’s boots on the tarmac.
What a morning!
she thought. It had all been too much. She needed to go home and unwind on
the sofa with box of chocolates and her cat, Captain Fluffmeister, on her lap – and had just informed the headmaster that that was precisely what she was going to do. The headmaster, Mr