The Catchers Read online

  Copyright © 2018 Stuart J Kent

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Matador

  9 Priory Business Park,

  Wistow Road, Kibworth Beauchamp,

  Leicestershire. LE8 0RX

  Tel: 0116 279 2299

  Email: [email protected]

  Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador

  Twitter: @matadorbooks

  ISBN 9781788034913

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Matador® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

  To all the fairies that died, to bring us this information.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  The End (Well Nearly)

  Chapter One

  Our story begins on a typical summer’s day in England, the sun was shining as it always does and the sky was a crystal blue without a hint of cloud anywhere to be seen and young Jamie Ellebert was heading home for his tea on that wonderful, believable afternoon.

  Having spent the day playing with his friends, he strolled eagerly along the quiet roads of East Dunnol village in his favourite red T-shirt and jeans, feeling rather hungry and ready for his plate of chips, sausages and beans that waited for him at home. Now Jamie was not some kind of special boy destined for greatness, he did not have a strange or mysterious past, and he did not have a hidden ability or gift that only he could perform. No, he was, in fact, just an average twelve-year-old boy who stood at an average height for his age, with an average boyish face and an average boyish build, he was, to sum up, just an average kind of a boy, but soon his average existence was about to change!

  “I’m back, Mum,” he shouted as he strolled in through the front door before kicking it shut with the heel of his trainer.

  “Okay, honey, now go wash up, your tea’s nearly ready,” his mum replied from the kitchen.

  Jamie sighed reluctantly, like all young men do when they are told to do something, before quickly running up the blue-carpeted stairs, heading for the family bathroom. Before he got there, though, he came to his bedroom, and stepping inside he threw his football into the pile of dirty clothes that lay on the floor in the corner, and then turned to head to the bathroom along the corridor.

  Then he stopped, something had caught his eye, something in the corner of the room that shouldn’t be there and, unsure if he had really seen what he thought he had seen, he slowly, cautiously, turned back round to face his bed.

  Jamie then stared in disbelief because, right there on his bed, sitting in front of him, was a little strange blue creature watching him, as Jamie stood watching it back. Now, this little blue creature was only seven inches tall, and it had a large round, hairless head with two big pointy ears, big green round eyes, and a small flat nose above a little mouth. Jamie then noticed its skinny long arms that dangled by its side and its skinny long legs that hung down from its body, under its little round blue potbelly, and as Jamie stood trying to think rationally what this creature was, the creature appeared to be sat quiet happily chewing on an old discarded toenail.

  “That’s disgusting,” muttered Jamie before stepping forward towards it.

  The creature then stopped what it was doing and sat motionless as it stared back at Jamie.

  “I won’t hurt you,” said Jamie reassuringly in a quiet, friendly tone as he took another step closer. “It’s okay.”

  The creature then gave a small snarl showing off two rows of tiny little sharp teeth that had clearly never seen a toothbrush.

  “Easy, I’m not going to hurt you, really I’m not,” Jamie assured it again, creeping closer.

  But as he took another step closer, the creature began to back away nervously, and continued snarling angrily.

  “No stop, don’t…” but before Jamie could finish his sentence the little creature suddenly fell backwards off the bed, disappearing with a little shocked yelp as it dropped under Jamie’s bed, and with a thump it landed on the carpeted floor.

  Jamie quickly leapt onto his wooden bed and then cautiously he peered over the far edge to see where the creature had gone. With a loud, startled squeal the creature immediately dashed out from under the bed and ran across the room.

  “Wait, come back,” shouted Jamie leaping off the bed to chase it.

  Round and round the bedroom they both ran, the little creature leading the way, extremely scared and screaming in a high-pitched voice as Jamie ran after it.

  “Stop, please stop,” shouted Jamie as he ran over his dirty clothes, abandoned toys, dropped books and other boy-clutter, chasing the frightened creature. Then the creature, in its state of panic, somehow managed to get a pair of Jamie’s old white Y-fronts stuck on its large bulbous blue head, and then it began running around blindly in ever-decreasing circles.

  Quick as a flash, Jamie had a great idea and immediately grabbed a white trainer from the floor, and with a huge heroic leap, he landed perfectly on the creature, capturing it inside. For a few moments the upside-down trainer twitched and jiggled in Jamie’s hands as he held it down tightly, determined that the creature wasn’t going to escape.

  Finally, the shoe stopped moving and there was a strange, eerie silence.

  “What’s all that noise up there?” Jamie’s mum shouted up the stairs.

  “Nothing, Mum,” replied Jamie quickly, as he realised he had no way of explaining this absolutely mad situation he was now in.

  “Well, hurry up, young man, your tea’s almost on the table,” his mother added before returning to the kitchen.

  Jamie pondered for a moment what to do, then slowly, very slowly, he lifted the trainer up and to his amazement he discovered the creature was gone!

  “What?” he gasped in total head-scratching disbelief, how could this creature just disappear? Then Jamie gently turned the trainer over until it was the right way up and curiously peered inside, and there inside the worn, sweaty trainer was the little creature all curled up and fast asleep, chewing on Jamie’s Y-fronts.

  “Oh, okay,” whispered Jamie, a little surprised.

  Suddenly a knock on the door startled him and he held the shoe tight in his hands, fearing the creature would stir.

  “Mum?” he asked, glancing towards the bedroom door, but strangely he received no reply.

  Curious as to who could be knocking on his door, he got up off the floor and moved to the door and slowly opened it, but there was no one there.

  “Hello?” Jamie called out as he peered out along the hallway, but there was no one there either.

 
“Who knocked on my door?” he asked, looking very puzzled.

  Then a second knock came and he froze on the spot as he suddenly realised the knocking was not coming from his bedroom door but from inside his room. Then, turning around, he stared in amazement because now there was a large wooden door sitting in the middle of his bedroom floor, a large wooden door that had definitely not been there before. Another sudden knock made him jump again before he finally found the courage to take a step towards it and say,

  “Come in.”

  The big wooden door then opened with a creak and a groan and when it was fully opened, an old man, wearing a big brown leather pointy hat that drooped to one side, peered up at him.

  “Oh, hello,” said the old man with a smile. “Mind if I come in?”

  “Uh… no,” mumbled Jamie in disbelief.

  The man stepped up into the room and stood in front of Jamie with a kindly smile and Jamie stared up at him taking in the unusual long brown jacket he wore, and the big long white beard that hung down under a big bulbous nose, and upon his nose were the smallest round spectacles Jamie had ever seen.

  “Thought it was best I knock before entering the room, didn’t want to startle you in your underwear or something,” smiled the old man politely. “That’s of course how poor old Harry lost his job you know.”

  “Yeah,” Jamie replied still looking confused.

  “Oh my apologies, where are my manners, an introduction is in order,” the old man smiled, stepping forwards. “Hello, I am Colin Gertrude Hillary Caterwhich, of the Magic and Mythical creature catchers department, of the Magical Ministry Teathorpe branch,” said the old man holding out his large old hand. “M, M, C, C, D, M, M, T, B for short,” he added.

  Jamie just stared at him blankly, because he hadn’t actually understood a single word the old man had just said to him.

  “Okay, a little bit too much for you to comprehend,” Colin said stroking his beard. “Let’s try again, slowly.” Colin then cleared his throat. “Hello – do – you – speak – English?” he asked, slowly and calmly.

  “Yes,” Jamie replied with a nod.

  Colin then held out his big hand again.

  “Hello, I’m Colin Caterwhich and you are…?” he asked.

  “Jamie, I’m Jamie,” he replied before nervously shaking the old man’s hand.

  “Good, now we’ve got that out of the way let’s not waste any more time, I’m here because somehow a rather strange and unusual creature has managed to break free from where it should be, and has entered here, where it shouldn’t be,” explained Colin before glancing around the room. “You haven’t seen it, have you?”

  “Maybe, what creature is it?” asked Jamie nervously.

  “Now, how best to describe it?” pondered Colin scratching his bushy beard again. “It’s about so big,” he said holding his hands a short distance apart. “It’s got little legs, sharp little teeth, big ears and a tendency to pass rather nasty gas,” and with that a little fart noise came from the trainer.

  “Urgh…” exclaimed Jamie letting go of the trainer in disgust, however Colin impressively quickly caught the white trainer before it hit the ground, and then he held it up so he could see inside.

  “Ah ha, so that’s where you got to,” he smiled, peering into the trainer. “So I take it you found it in here when you went to put it on?” he asked Jamie before he pulled out a large glass jar from inside his jacket.

  “No, I caught him with it,” replied Jamie as he watched Colin carefully drop the little creature out of the trainer and into the jar.

  “Really!” exclaimed Colin in amazement. “That’s quite a remarkable achievement young man, you managed to catch this creature all by yourself with only a shoe, well done!”

  “Thank you,” replied Jamie, grinning proudly.

  “Well, thank you for your assistance, Jamie, and I guess I better be off now,” Colin said, tipping his hat before moving towards the magical door.

  “Wait,” said Jamie stopping him. “What is that thing? And where did it come from? And how did you put a door in my floor?” he asked excitedly, needing to know the answers to all these things.

  Colin then turned to face Jamie, took a deep breath, scratched his beard for a moment and then said.

  “Okay, this might take some explaining, so pay attention. I am a Catcher of Magical and Mythical creatures, I come from a magical parallel world where I work for the Magical Ministry Teathorpe branch and my job is to hunt down wayward magical creatures that have managed to wander into your world from mine.”

  “Okay,” said Jamie, nodding, still looking a little confused. “So what is this creature?”

  Colin then held up the jar. “This is a Sprite, a fairly harmless creature, it’s just a little curious and often enters places it shouldn’t, like your bedroom.”

  “Okay,” Jamie nodded, beginning to understand. “But how did you put a door in my floor?”

  “Magic,” replied Colin, bluntly.

  “Oh right, but didn’t my mum see you when you were downstairs?” he asked innocently.

  It was now Colin’s turn to stare in disbelief.

  “Right! There’s only one thing for it,” said Colin, taking a deep breath. “You caught the creature, so it’s only fair you should get to release it back to its natural habitat.”

  “Really?” asked Jamie excitedly.

  “Yes, come on before I change my mind,” Colin replied before pulling the door in the floor open again, and then he descended back down inside until he was out of view once more. “Well come on, young man, I’ve got a lot to do today, so no time to dilly dabble,” he called out.

  Jamie slowly crept to edge of the doorway until he stood right at the edge, and then he peered in, curious as to what he might find waiting for him. However, unfortunately, he over-balanced as he leant forward, and with terrified cry he fell into the open doorway and down he tumbled over and over again, all the way down the entire set of wooden steps until he finally landed with a heavy thump on the ground at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Oh, mind that first step it’s kind of tricky,” called out Colin, a little too late.

  Jamie then sat up with a groan, feeling a little dazed, he then shook his head, and as his eyes refocused he glanced slowly around in amazement at the sight that lay before him. He was now sitting outside, and the long grass that he was sitting in swayed in the breeze and as it did, it changed colour, first it was blue, then it was green and then yellow, before it returned back to blue again. Jamie then noticed across the grassy field there were huge green acorn trees that disappeared high up into the clouds above, and amongst the mighty branches of those trees sat large wooden houses with thatched roofs that were covered in many colourful pretty flowers.

  “Wow!” he exclaimed. “Where am I?”

  “Well that over there is the very pretty village of Acornia,” replied Colin giving a little wave to a little old lady who was staring out of a window at them. “And we are currently at the foot of the purple mountains of Cherryberria,” Colin continued pointing to the large, rocky mountains behind Jamie. Jamie glanced around to see the monstrous rock formations behind him.

  “They really are purple.”

  “Indeed,” replied Colin.

  “But I believe you meant where in the world are we? Well, Jamie, we aren’t in your world at all, welcome to the Magical world, this is Magicdom,” he said holding out his hand.

  “Wow!” gasped Jamie in amazement.

  “I believe you’ll find things are a little different here to what you’re used too, but don’t worry you’ll soon get used to it,” Colin said with a smile and a wink.

  Jamie then got to his feet and stood for a moment gazing around in wonder at this strange and marvellous new world in which he now stood, then he noticed the magic door through w
hich he had entered was gone.

  “Where’s the door?” he asked, a little concerned.

  “Here it is,” replied Colin tapping the old wooden door that was now lying in the back of an old wooden two-wheeled cart.

  “But, but how?” stammered Jamie confused and not used to the magical ways.

  “It’s a magic door, dear boy, that’s how, and we can’t just leave it lying about, who knows what might happen, I mean anyone could just enter it and get into your room, and we can’t have that happening can we?” Colin replied.

  “No,” agreed Jamie.

  “Or anything could get in,” added a voice suddenly, making Jamie glance around.

  “Who was that?”

  “Over here.” said the voice, and then staring hard at the cart Jamie spotted a very tiny man sitting on the edge of the cart that he hadn’t noticed before. The tiny man was only about six inches tall, he wore a tiny white shirt with a short brown coat and a pair of little brown trousers and on his feet a pair of old black boots and upon his head an old cloth cap.

  Jamie stepped closer, peering hard and it was then he noticed the man’s head seemed a normal size for his small body, but his nose and ears were very much larger and they hung out noticeably from under his cap.

  “Who are you?” asked Jamie, curiously.

  “Walter Matter,” replied the little man.

  “Walter Matter?” Jamie said, repeating the strange name.

  “Nothing, Walter matter with you?” the man said before exploding with laughter which Colin quickly joined IN.

  “Ah! That never gets old,” Colin sighed before wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

  “If you’ve both quite finished, we still have several more jobs to do,” said a stern female voice suddenly from the other side of the cart. Then a young teenage girl, a couple of years older than Jamie, stepped out from behind the cart.

  “Ah, Trixie my dear, this is Jamie, a young man who helped me catch our missing sprite,” said Colin, introducing Jamie.