The Talisman Read Online Free PDF Page A

Alex lay staring into the darkness, seeing his mother’s face when she learned what he had done. He didn’t cry, he couldn’t, and he knew he wouldn’t go back to the school, not ever.
    In the morning they were woken by the sound of the corrugated iron being dragged back. They listened as voices echoed around the empty house.
    Johnny Mask looked into the room and snorted, called to his mates that there was no panic, just a couple of kids.
    ‘It’s me, Johnny, it’s Sid, we just come over the wall – the pair of us – last night. I said it’d be all right to doss down here for a few days until the heat dies down.’
    Johnny laughed, and handed the boys the greasy remains of his fish and chips to finish. His two friends came through the doorway behind him. They were much older, and looked pretty tough.
    ‘It’s young Sid, lads, remember we used him as lookout on the dairy job? Well, well, who’s your mate then, Sid?’
    Alex, wolfing the chips, introduced himself.
    ‘Johnny, it’s okay for us to doss down ’ere, ain’t it?’
    On closer inspection, Johnny was much better dressed than his mates. His tell-tale coal-black hair, greased and swept back from his face, and his dark eyes, gave away his origins. Johnny Mask was a gypsy.
    Freedom’s path had already begun to cross his son’s. It would pass unseen, unfelt and unknown. If discovered, it could be said that it was just a coincidence. But for Alex it had begun with Johnny Mask, because he was linked to Freedom. Not just because he was a gypsy but because he was the illegitimate son of an old friend, Jesse Evans. It was Jesse who had stood by the champion’s grave and warned Evelyne to give him the talisman. A life-long friend, Jesse had been a member of Freedom’s clan. He had fathered many illegitimate children, but Johnny had been his first. And young Johnny had been given the name ‘Mask’ because no matter how many times he had been beaten for thieving, he always smiled. No one ever really knew what he was thinking.
    His white teeth gleamed, his one gold cap sparkled – he seemed to find the boys amusing. In some ways they reminded him of himself; he had absconded from more juvenile homes than he could count. He had not the slightest inkling that Alex, the big, raw-boned kid, had any Romany blood in him, let alone that of a royal prince. But the curse had begun.
    Sid sidled up to his hero, asking, ‘You know of any jobs we could get in on, Johnny? Just that me an’ me mate are short of the readies.’
    Johnny took out a nail file and began to clean his nails. He gave Alex the once-over and asked him why they’d run. Alex couldn’t meet Johnny’s eyes, black eyes with thick, long lashes. He stammered a few words about trouble with his housemaster, but Sid interrupted. ‘Bastard was a faggot, Johnny, after ’is arse. He’d done it to all the kids in Oakwood. Alex gave him one hell of a thrashin’, so we done a runner.’
    Alex flushed with embarrassment, half-expecting Johnny to laugh, but instead he yelled to his mates to go out and get some coffee. He still lounged in the broken-down doorway, filing his nails. ‘What you say your name was?’
    Again Sid interrupted before Alex could speak, and Johnny clipped Sid round the ear. ‘Shut up, I’m not talkin’ to you . . . Come here, Alex, an’ you, blabbermouth, get into the other room and clean it up.’
    Left alone with Johnny, Alex stood with his head bowed. Johnny moved closer, and Alex could smell his cologne, a heavy, sweet smell. When he spoke his voice was soft and gentle. ‘You do him in good, did ya? Eh, look at me when I’m talkin’ to you.’ He took Alex’s chin and turned his face to the light, then ruffled his hair, leaving his hand resting on Alex’s neck. He was shorter than Alex and had to look up into his face. ‘Those shits always go for the lookers. I know, believe me, I know . . . You forget it, I’ll find you and Sid a little money earner, all right? Big lad