Helix and the Arrival Read Online Free PDF Page A

sound of a vulture flapping? The sound of the wind bristling against your hairy back? The sound of a monobrowed baby crying?’
    â€˜Shut up! There it is again.’ Ug takes his flint knife from his belt and rises into a crouching position. ‘Sh … It is coming from above.’
    Great. There’s a creature stalking us and we’re trapped on the Ledge. I wonder if it’s a rock gibbon. The bigger males can be aggressive and have been known to pull a caveman’s arm out of its socket. I’m glad Ug is here.
    I crouch behind Ug, peeking out from behind his large body.
    â€˜Whatever it was, I think it has gone,’ he says, and sits back cautiously.
    â€˜Are you sure?’
    â€˜I think so.’
    We’re relaxing again, taking in the view, when our peace is shattered by something jumping down from above, landing between us. Before I can see what it is, Ug is on top of the creature, his flint knife drawn.

    â€˜Get. Off. Me. You. Bonehead!’ the creature says to Ug, in a chokey voice.
    â€˜Saleeka!’ I scream, half in surprise and half in anger.
    Ug rolls off her. ‘I almost finished you,’ he says, shaking the knife in his hand.
    â€˜Relax, big boy,’ she says. ‘No need to get your loincloth in a knot.’ She leans back against the rock face and blows the knotted hair from her eyes.
    â€˜What were you doing, sneaking up on us like that?’ I say.
    â€˜I wasn’t sneaking up. I saw you climbing and thought I’d follow –’
    â€˜By jumping down on top of us? Real smart!’ I say.
    â€˜Anyway, what are you both doing here?’ She turns to Ug. ‘I thought you were going to teach him how to swing a heavy club.’
    Ug shrugs his shoulders and looks at me as if I’m a lost cause.
    â€˜Why aren’t you practising, Helix?’ says Saleeka. ‘You need to practise! Your Arrival will take place at the summer solstice – that’s only the mooncycle after next!’
    â€˜Thanks for explaining the obvious, but what’s it got to do with you?’ I say.
    â€˜What’s it got to do to me? Maybe I don’t want to be friends with some loser who fails his Arrival. It wouldn’t be good for my image.’
    â€˜Do you mean your I’m-a-scary-cavegirl-who-looks-like-a-cave-hyena image?’
    She turns to Ug. ‘Sounds like Mr Soon-to-be-thirteen is a bit tense at the moment.’
    â€˜Shut up!’ I say. ‘You don’t know what it’s like to be turning thirteen and be expected to transform – as if by magic – into a caveman.’
    â€˜You know what, Helix? You’re right. Having recently turned thirteen, I didn’t have to deal with any of that. Instead, I had to prepare to be married. Yes, married ! At any moment, without warning, I could be offered to some bent-toothed, bushy-browed grunting cave idiot as his wife. How would you like that?’ she says, pinching my arm.
    â€˜Ow!’ I say. ‘That hurts.’
    â€˜Does it? Well, maybe you need to toughen up, caveboy.’ She pinches me again.
    â€˜Ouch! Stop it!’
    â€˜Okay, that is enough,’ says Ug.
    Ug’s deep voice turns us both quiet. We sit still like cavekids who have just been told off by their dad.
    Ug decides to offer his thoughts. ‘Sure, Helix is a skinny runt who cannot throw a spear and is afraid of the woods, but that does not mean you should rub it in, Saleeka.’
    â€˜Thanks for your support, Ug,’ I say.
    â€˜That is all right,’ he says.
    â€˜So, getting back to what I was saying before: you need our help,’ says Saleeka.
    â€˜How are you going to help me?’ I ask.
    She swishes some more hair from in front her eyes, revealing a crinkled forehead. ‘Is it so hard for you to imagine a world where I could be of some use? I bet I can throw a spear further and more accurately than you. And I can swing a heavy club above my