When he’d gone to bed that night, and Beatrice had tucked him in, Lukas made up his mind once again that he would have to run away. He couldn’t wait any longer, it would have to happen now.
But at the same time, he also thought of something else.
The currant bush.
The big, wild blackcurrant bush growing just outside the fence of Lukas’s garden.
The currant bush where Night had so much liked to curl up when it was warm, and when he wanted to be left in peace and sleep. There was something special about that currant bush. It was growing all on its own, with no other bushes anywhere near. Axel had often said it ought to be cut down. But when Lukas asked why, his dad hadn’t been able to give him an answer. It was as if currant bushes had to grow inside fences. They weren’t allowed to be wild. It seemed to Lukas that it was a bit like dogs having to wear collars. A fence was a sort of collar that currant bushes had to have.
Night had liked that wild currant bush so very much. Lukas sometimes thought that what grew there in the early autumn was really troll black-currants. They were very special berries, with a secret.
If you ate them, you could see straight into the troll world without needing to shut your eyes first.
Lukas stayed in bed, thinking about that bush. Needless to say, that was where he ought to start looking for Night.
Why hadn’t he realised that sooner!
Of course he would put Night’s special food saucer there, the one with the blue hoop round it, with a crack at one point on the edge. That saucer would be bound to entice Night back again.
He felt that he needed to act right away. But when he slid out of bed and tiptoed to the door, he could hear that his parents were still up. They were watching some television programme or other. He could hear his father yawning. Lukas went back to bed. He would have to wait until they’d gone to bed and fallen asleep. Then he would be able to sneak out of the house with the saucer.
Eventually, everything fell silent. Lukas put some clothes on over the top of his pyjamas. Then he tiptoed into the kitchen and carefully opened the fridge. He almost burst into tears when he saw the open tin of cat food standing there on its own, behind a pack of butter. It seemed to him that what he was looking at was poor, abandoned Night, not a can of cat food with no lid.
He put everything that was left onto the saucer.
Then he wondered what to do with the empty tin. Mum would doubtless think it was odd. She had a remarkable ability to see everything that nobody ought to be able to see. That somebody had eaten the cat food even when Night wasn’t there, for instance.
Lukas put some of the food from the saucer back into the can, and added a few drops of milk to make it look a bit more than it was. Then he closed the fridge door and tiptoed out into the hall. He listened to his father’s snores as they came rolling out from the bedroom. Then he carefully unlocked the front door and put it on the latch so that he wouldn’t be locked out when he’d closed it behind him.
It was still raining. It felt very cold, and Lukas shuddered. He wasn’t wearing any socks. He’d just stuck his feet into his Wellingtons. It felt creepy in the dark garden. Lukas hesitated before daring to enter the darkness beyond the light cast by the lamp over the door.
The currant bush was a long way away in the darkness. When it was light, Lukas used to think it wasn’t far at all to the fence. But now that it was dark, it felt as if the fence was as far away as a star in the sky. A black star that didn’t glisten.
He didn’t have a torch with him. But nevertheless, he would have to be brave and dare to walk into that darkness even so — and the splashing of the rain would prevent him from hearing if anybody came creeping up behind him.
But he had to do it. He needed to do it for Night’s sake. He had to be brave, even if there was nothing so difficult as daring to do something you didn’t dare do.
He closed his eyes tightly and ran through the darkness, holding tightly onto the saucer of food. He stumbled when he came to the fence, and spilled half the food. But he didn’t dare to pick it up, he didn’t even dare to look round. He clambered over the fence. He came to the currant bush, placed the saucer on the soaking wet ground, and ran back towards the welcoming light over the front door.
Then he went back to bed, his heart pounding.
He wasn’t yet sure what was worse: Night having disappeared in the darkness, or him daring to do something he didn’t dare to do.
He eventually fell asleep.
The next day, after he’d woken up, he ran through the garden to the wild, mysterious currant bush — then stopped dead.
Night wasn’t there.
But the saucer was empty.
Six
Lukas stood absolutely still.
It was as if his heart had stopped beating. He couldn’t stop looking at the empty saucer. So Night had come back. He’d returned to his currant bush, he’d found the saucer of food, and he’d eaten up everything that was there, because he was so hungry. Lukas couldn’t possibly stand still any longer. Night must be somewhere close by.
‘Night,’ he shouted — no, he yelled. He yelled so loudly that a neighbour who was sweeping up fallen leaves jumped and almost dropped his rake.
Then Lukas started searching. He would have to find Night now. On the opposite side of the road, where they hadn’t started building houses yet, there was a lot of high grass, bushes, and some trees. That’s where Night must be. Lukas looked left and right, then ran over the road. And started looking for Night. Now that he was sure that Night wasn’t far away, he wasn’t frightened any more. He was so sure of himself that he could turn the search into a game. He imagined Night as a wild and dangerous predator who could only be tamed by Lukas. A red lion, he thought. The rare and highly dangerous red lion can only be found in the jungle on the other side of the River Rowan. Lukas picked up a broken-off branch lying in the ditch. He had a weapon now, and would be able to overcome the red lion.
At that very moment the postman arrived on his bicycle. Lucas ducked down behind a bush. The postman, dressed in blue, was one of the most dangerous of all enemies, and had to be avoided at all cost.
But the postman noticed Lukas and waved to him as he pedalled past.
One of the more friendly postmen, Lukas thought. There aren’t many of them. But sometimes you get lucky.
Then he carried on searching. It was still a game, looking for the red lion. But the lion became more and more difficult to imagine, the more he searched for it. He started to feel frightened again, when he couldn’t find Night. Eventually, the red lion had disappeared altogether, the tree branch was just a branch, and not a weapon; and there was still no sign of Night.
Suddenly, Lukas was angry with his cat. Why was he acting like this? Why didn’t he come home?
Lukas went back over the street, taking with him the empty saucer, and went back to the house. He kicked off his boots and went into the kitchen, where his mum was. He felt a need to talk to her.
‘Night’s come back,’ he said.
‘Really?’ said Beatrice in astonishment. ‘Where is he?’
‘I can’t find him,’ said Lucas. ‘But he’s come back home. I know he has. He ate the food I put out for him last night.’
Beatrice looked at him in surprise.
‘Now I don’t understand what you’re talking about,’ she said. ‘What food?’
Lukas explained what he’d done the previous evening.
‘You mean you went out in the middle of the night?’ she said. ‘And the saucer was empty this morning?’
Lukas nodded. Sometimes it took such a long time for parents to understand what their children were saying. Lukas wondered why parents always thought so much more slowly than children. Why was it so difficult for parents to understand things that were so simple and straightforward?