9

Holly found herself floating.

An enormous, wrinkled face stared down at her. She smiled at it, and patted it's beak.

`Funny tortoise,' she said, her small hand the size of one of it's scales.

`Close enough,' the turtle sighed in a voice of long-suffering. `Yes, you'll be more useful than your brother.'

Holly stared at the turtle in confusion, her brown eyes wide and innocent.

`Holly Wheeler, you will have to be very, very brave,' the turtle said gently, it's flippers moving up and down.

`I can be brave.' Johnny Hubbard had put a spider on her in recess, and she hadn't screamed. `What's your name?'

`The Maturin. I'm sorry I had to kill you. There wasn't any other way I could get into your head. You have a very odd mind, Holly Wheeler.'

`I'm dead?' Holly didn't feel fear; more a deep unease. She certainly didn't feel dead.

`Not to worry, you'll be right as rain in a minute. But there are things you must remember. Are you listening?'

Holly sat down in the blackness, with her legs crossed and back straight. Mrs Agnorak made them sit like that in kindergarten.

`I'm listening.'

The turtle brought forward one flipper. `December 24th, look for these people.'

A girl with curly hair walked on the spot on the flipper. The number 11 floated above her. Then two versions of Mike, one with glasses and one without. RICHIE. MIKE.

The next figure was what made Holly jerk back to life with a scream. The turtle tried to yank her back.

`Wait! I'm not finished!'

But she was gone.

0

Holly's eyes snapped open, moving around frantically. Mike's face leaned over her, panic and fear written all over it. What made Holly even more scared was the sight of the tears on his cheeks. Her heart pounded in her chest.

More of the world swam into vision; Max, Dustin, Lucas and Will were yelling at a girl with smooth brown hair and a boy with a mullet.

`Guys! Guys, she's awake!' Mike shouted over to them. Holly tried to remember what she'd dreamt of. The horrifying thing popped back into her head, and she started crying. `You're safe, okay?' Mike scooped Holly up carefully.

`I can't believe that didn't kill her,' Dustin said, shaking his head and wiping his forehead.

`Hey,' said the girl, frowning at them. Mike glared at her viciously. `I know you! You were on the telly! Yeah, missing persons report. We should go to the police. Jack, there was even reward money!'

Mullet Boy/Jack was looking extremely uncomfortable. `I dunno- I mean, we nearly killed their sister…' She didn't listen, and bobbed up and down on the balls of her feet, smiling happily.

`You all get in… we can fit you in somehow.'

`And what makes you think we're getting in there?' Lucas snapped. That possibility didn't seem to have occured to the girl. She started to look more menacing.

`I can force you.'

`Force us to go back to Hawkins and we'll tell the police that you almost killed a four year old,' Max said smoothly.

`Greta,' Jack muttered, tugging on her arm. `Get back into the car.'

Greta's lips lost their colour. `A thousand pounds,' she whispered, staring at them all. And then she whipped round, and threw open the driver's seat.

The ferrari zoomed away.

Holly suddenly remembered what she needed to say. `Eleven, Richie, Mike, PennyRiddle,' she said. `24th December.'

Mike looked down at her. `What did you say?'

`Eleven, Richie, Mike, PennyRiddle. 24th December. The funny tortoise said.'

`You mean turtle?' Mike knew that was how Holly referred to turtles. `Is anyone else noticing that turtles seem to be coming up a lot?'

`Yeah,' Dustin said suddenly. `Remember Ginny Weasley?'

Lucas, Max and Will looked a little confused, but Mike nodded. `That ginger girl. What about her?' The last they'd seen of her was her collapsed in the Chamber of Secrets after fighting off that weird, sticky stuff.

`She mentioned a turtle, too. `The turtle told me.' And then Eleven started acting a little weird after she said `turtle'.'

Mike took it in, then shook his head ruefully. `Would it be too much to ask for a normal life?'

`Probably,' the four others answered in unison. `Prob'ly,' Holly copied a beat later.

Mike sighed heavily. `Let's just get to Derry.'