Big Change for Stuart Read Online Free Page B

a camel was grazing on one of them. The air was cold, damp and misty, the sky a dirty white. Overhead, a large dark bird was circling.
    Stuart shivered. This felt much too real to be a dream.
    This was – this had to be – magic.
    A breeze ruffled across the plateau, stirring the mist. Stuart waited, still stunned by the sudden change in his world. Where was he? What was he doing here? How could he get back home again?
It’s a puzzle
, April had said when they found Great-Uncle Tony’s letter – but what sort of puzzle was this?
    The mist shifted and swirled, like a set of lacy curtains, revealing odd glimpses of a wide and empty landscape. Sand stretched out in all directions. It was so quiet that Stuart could hear the ripping sound of the camel tearing off stringy strips of bark, and then the soft thud of its feet as it moved on to the next tasty branch.
    Stuart looked down at his own feet. He was still standing on the square base of the Pharaoh’s Pyramid. The six-spoked star lay snugly in its matching slot. The base didn’t look broken or damaged, although he noticed that there were two little holes punched in each of the edges.
    So where was the rest of the pyramid?
    No sooner had the question jumped into his head than a splinter of sun poked through the low cloud, turning the sand from grey to golden. Out of the corner of his eye Stuart saw a bright flash, and turned to see a blinding triangle of light some distance off. Shielding his eyes, he walked towards it and realized that it was one of the pyramid sides, leaning against a huge boulder and reflecting the sun.
    At that moment, just behind him, the camel gave a snort and took another step forward. One of its feet made the usual soft thud, and the other a metallic clang. Stuart switched direction and found another of the pyramid sides, this one half buried in the sand. He waited until the camel had moved on, and then heaved the metal triangle out of its resting place. It was heavier than he’d imagined, and one of its edges bore a pair of prongs, sticking out like short, blunt fingers.
    â€˜Oh, I get it,’ said Stuart out loud. ‘I think I get it. It’s a
jigsaw
puzzle.’
    The third side he found wedged in a rocky cleft, and somebody seemed to have built a camp fire on top of the fourth: it was covered in ash, and a large half-charred log lay across it.
    It took him an age to drag the four sides back to the base. The sun was burning off the mist and it was getting hotter all the time; Stuart’s T-shirt was dark with sweat. Would it be possible to die of thirst in a magic landscape? There wasn’t a scrap of shade to sit in, nothing to drink and nothing to eat apart from a single stick of chewing gum in the pocket of his jeans. He tore it in two and saved one half for later.
    Overhead, the large dark bird had been joined by three others. They weaved silently across the deepening blue.
    â€˜OK …’ murmured Stuart. He braced himself and lifted one of the sides. The two prongs slotted neatly into the two matching holes on the base. Easy!
    There was a belch behind him and he turned to see the camel watching with what looked like contempt.
    â€˜What?’ asked Stuart.
    The camel flared its nostrils and went on eating. It was wearing a set of reins, he realized, and the remains of a saddle, having presumably dumped its rider somewhere in the desert.
    Stuart turned back to his task.
    The second and third sides of the pyramid slotted in just as neatly as the first. Stuart lifted the fourth side, started to manoeuvre it into place, and then paused. He had a sudden horrid vision of the Pharaoh’s Pyramid vanishing, leaving him standing alone in the desert. He needed to be
inside
it when it disappeared. He stepped onto the base, crouched down and, with a sense of quiet triumph, slotted the fourth side into place and began to pull it shut.
    Immediately, with a dull thud, the other three sides fell