Chapter 4
“Mum said you’re going away.”
Tom looked up from his book to see Emily standing at the door. He put the book away as she walked in and sat on his bed.
“She said you’re going to a special school.”
He nodded.
“And that we won’t see you for a year.”
That was what Cindy had told his parents. He was special, she had said. She didn’t tell them how he was special. They were a little apprehensive at first. That changed once Cindy showed them a brochure of the school.
Tom wished he could have gotten a look at that brochure. It must have been something quite amazing. His parents had agreed to let him go off with a stranger somewhere they knew not for a whole year without being able to keep in touch.
He thought that a little odd. Why couldn’t he keep in touch? Surely a phone call here, an email there and a letter every so often couldn’t hurt? They did have those things where he was going, didn’t they? Where was he going?
Cindy still hadn’t really told him. There had been some more talk of the Other Side, Wanderers and something about a Great Barrier. It didn’t make much sense to him.
“Is it because of what you can do?” Emily asked.
He had never really gotten along with his sister. Apparently that was normal between siblings. They fought over every little thing. And she could be quite cruel too, always teasing, always calling him Sarah.
He hated that name.
It was the name his parents had given him before he was born. They thought he was going to be a girl. They had told the story a million times, how they painted his room pink, bought him all girly clothes and toys and how, they would laugh at this point, they had even named him Sarah.
Emily thought it was the funniest thing ever.
It wasn’t.
“She said I was a wizard,” Tom told her.
It had been over a year now since he'd realised he was different. It started with little things, like pencils moving towards his hand as he reached for them. It frightened him at first. He worried there might be something wrong with him. He had to tell someone. Emily was the closest thing he had to a friend. They didn’t always get along but she was his sister and he trusted her. So he told her, showed her.
And once she finally believed him she told him to keep it a secret, which he did. Nothing changed between them. They still fought all the time and he never tried to use his magic – as he now knew it to be – against her.
“A wizard,” Emily chuckled nervously.
Tom smiled. A wizard – it did sound pretty cool. Something he would definitely have picked as a career choice had it been an option.
“You’re leaving tomorrow?”
He nodded. Tomorrow morning, Cindy would come to take him. He would be gone for a whole year. Part of him still didn’t believe it, that he was a wizard and that he was going to go to a wizard school. What if Cindy had made a mistake?
“I’ll miss you...” Emily said.
She leaned forward and gave him a hug.
He didn’t say it.
But he would miss her too.
***
It was the morning that Cindy said she would come for him. He would be gone for a year, she had said, so pack properly. He was supposed to have packed by now. But he hadn’t.
Tom had never travelled before. He didn’t know what to pack. And even if he had known, he didn’t have a suitcase to pack it in – because he had never travelled before. And his parents hadn’t thought to buy him one either. In fact, their behaviour had been a little odd of late...
He wondered if Cindy would really show. He still had his doubts. Going to a wizard school – it was a lot like a few stories he had read. If she did turn up though, he was certain she wouldn’t be pleased with him.
Cindy did turn up. And he was right. She wasn’t very happy. She muttered something about time being of the essence as she grabbed hold of one of his shirts. She did something to it and the next thing he knew, she was stuffing everything he owned into his new shirt-luggage-thing.
Maybe he really was going to a wizard school.
Tom said his goodbyes at the door and got into Cindy’s red car. They drove for over an hour on the motorway before exiting onto a dual-carriageway. They were currently weaving in and out of narrow country lanes that seemed to narrow further with every turn.
“Are we nearly there yet?” Tom asked.
“No,” Cindy said.
Ten minutes passed.
“Are we nearly there yet?”
“No.”
A few more minutes passed and Tom wanted to ask again if they were nearly there yet, just to be annoying like some kids were. But he didn’t think he knew Cindy well enough to do that. Although apparently he did know her well enough to wander off with her...
The car eventually came to a stop. Cindy got out. Tom didn’t. They were in the middle of a forest. The only building in sight was a small cottage, not a school. It looked like a place you-
“Come on, Thomas,” Cindy interrupted his thoughts.
She was standing behind the cottage with his shirt-luggage in hand, staring at him impatiently. He got out of the car and followed after her. It was a little too late to doubt her motives. Tom walked past the cottage. The trees thinned out and he caught his first glimpse of what lay beyond. He stopped walking.
“That’s the sea.”
“Yes, it is,” Cindy said and she suddenly disappeared.
Tom rushed forward, worried she might have fallen off the cliff, only to see her walking down a set of wooden steps attached to the side of it. He followed her down to the bottom where, tied to a small pier, was an even smaller boat.
He stared at the boat, and then the sea beyond, and then the boat again. She couldn’t be serious.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Cindy said.
Tom didn’t find her words comforting. It looked absolutely awful, so not as bad as absolutely awful was still awful. But he climbed in anyway. He couldn’t exactly turn back now. And he was a little excited – or terrified. He wasn’t sure which.
The boat moved out to sea and the waves came crashing in on both sides. But no water ventured into the boat. Nor did it rock violently. Tom still held onto the sides tightly, just in case.
“Look ahead,” Cindy said.
He had been looking ahead, wondering where they were going. It was a small boat, which hopefully meant a short journey. But there was no sign of anything but water and water. It stretched for ever.
And then, in the blink of an eye, there it was.
Land – lots of it.
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Thanks for reading. If you want to continue the adventure with Thomas, the full book is available on Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Side-Thomas-Skinner-Book-ebook/dp/B01BUGKHIC/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1459686098&sr=1-3&keywords=the+other+side
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