Witchfog Page 7

  “Why are you not listening to me? You only see a pretty little girl, but she’s dangerous. Get her out of here now. She’s on to us, she has to be.”

  It was Mrs Pender. And she must be talking about me.

  “Rosa, love, you know I always listen to you. But she’s family. I can’t throw her out. And you must be mistaken. She’s nosey, I can’t deny that, but it’s surely just boredom. I imagine she’s used to better company than a handful of elderly relatives and servants.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. I knew that Sir Philip and Mrs Pender had a rather more informal relationship than I was used to in London, but I had not realised it went this far. Why would he keep this from me? What else might he be hiding?

  “I’ll make sure she can’t get in anywhere you want kept secret,” Sir Philip continued. “But you have to be less distrustful, darling. It can’t always be just the two of us.”

  “Well, I’m fed up of it,” Mrs Pender said sulkily. “If you don’t hurry her out of here, things will get nasty, mark my words.”

  Sir Philip sighed heavily. “I’ll do my best, Rosa. But I won’t have any harm come to her, so control your temper.”

  At that point, my enhanced hearing ran out. I backed away from the door, leaning on the wall for support, just for a second. Then I scurried back into the main hallway as quietly as possible. So, I would have no help from Sir Philip. I still did not know what secrets this old house held - but I knew that Sir Philip and Mrs Pender were protecting them together.

  A Letter From London

  After what I’d overheard in the study, I no longer trusted anyone or anything in Killston Hall. Except one person - Theodoric. Mysterious as he was, he did not seem to have any pre-existing connection to the Hall or its inhabitants. Whatever secrets lurked within these walls, they were presumably as unknown to him as to me. I caught him alone at breakfast by rising early, a little before my uncle.

  “Theodoric, I have a favour to ask of you.”

  “I’ll see what I can do… Lily,” he said, raising an eyebrow. I had avoided using his first name in front of my uncle. I did not want to suggest any sort of undue familiarity.

  “I want you to take me back to the inn tomorrow, so I can intercept the post before it gets sent on here. I’m expecting a letter to arrive today.”

  Obviously, I didn’t tell him that Daniel had sent me a dream warning about the letter. I still had trouble controlling my own dreams, so he sent me the briefest of messages. Putting his thoughts down on paper and sending a letter all the way to Yorkshire must have been frustrating and perhaps disconcerting. I was more than a little afraid myself of how much Killston Hall affected my mind.

  Thankfully, Theodoric didn’t have too many questions.

  “I’ll get the horse and cart ready for when you finish breakfast. What will you be telling Sir Philip?”

  “Just that I’ve gone for tea with the landlady, due to lack of companions my own age. What was her name again?”

  “Mrs Drake. Elspeth Drake. A well-respected lady in these parts. I’ll be waiting in the stables for you.”

  In lieu of lifting his hat, he touched his fingers to his forehead, bowing, and then swept out of the room, leaving his tea not quite finished. He had elegant hands, I mused. Strong and capable looking.

  I settled in for a rather more leisurely breakfast, although Sir Philip interrupted me a moment later.

  “Good morning, Lily, dear. Young Mr Amberson tells me you have a social arrangement today?”

  “Yes indeed,” I said, smiling a bright, excited smile at him as I put down my teacup. “Mr Amberson was kind enough to arrange for me to travel back to the inn, just for the day, so that I can have tea with Mrs Drake. I got on with her splendidly while I stayed there.”

  “I’m so glad to see you getting out a little, my dear. This house must be deathly boring for someone as young and lively as yourself.”

  “Not at all,” I assured him. “It’s a wonderfully restful place.”

  Still, it would do no harm that he thought me bored with the Hall and planning to leave before too long.

  I was ready shortly after breakfast. I changed into a more suitable dress and re-arranged my hair in a practical style. I remembered Theodoric’s cart as being rather bumpy.

  Theodoric already stood waiting for me.

  “There’s no rush,” I told him. “The letter won’t arrive for another few hours.”

  He raised an eyebrow at that, but nudged the horses into action without asking any questions.

  It was a bright, sunny day, thankfully, and we made good progress, winding along the country roads in silence. I felt the chill air whipping colour into my cheeks, and I wrapped my mantle a little tighter around my shoulders. Without a word, Theodoric slipped his coat off and drew the horses to a halt so he could drape the warm wool around me. He didn’t even make eye contact, just set off again.

  “Thank you,” I mumbled, uncomfortable at breaking the silence. He made no reply.

  We arrived at the inn nice and quickly after an excellently uneventful journey in fine weather. As I expected, no post had arrived yet. Indeed, Mrs Drake seemed surprised when I enquired after it, although she knew better than to question the eccentricities of a wealthy patron. Theodoric and I settled down in the common room to await my letter. The room was busier than last time I had been there, but Theodoric found us a nice secluded table. It was tucked away in a corner where we could drink a pot of tea in peace.

  “It’s an important letter, then?” he asked, eventually.

  “Yes. Urgent news from a friend in London.” I wondered a little uneasily what Daniel had thought urgent enough to send me a letter. Perhaps he was simply worried about my lack of communication.

  “I suppose you must miss your life in London.”

  I shrugged. “Some parts, yes. But a while longer with no balls or parties won’t kill me. And I find it rather beautiful here. Calming, in a wild sort of way.”

  “It’s a wonderful part of the country,” he said, a smile in his eyes. I found myself smiling back.

  “Have you travelled much?”

  “Quite a bit around England. I go wherever there’s work. To America once and a few visits to the Continent.”

  I was impressed, and it must have shown on my face, because he laughed.

  “I’m not just a handyman. I’m a specialist, in my own way, so occasionally I’m offered good work a long way away. Not often, but it happens.”

  “I’d love to visit America. What did you do there? Where did you go?”

  “If you want to go, I’m sure you will. You seem like that kind of person. I travelled all over, from Boston right down to Atlanta. Saw some wild places that make Yorkshire look like your back garden in London.”

  What an incredible adventure it sounded.

  “Once my business is all finished in London, perhaps I’ll visit.”

  “Won’t your guardian mind you disappearing off to America?”

  I frowned at him.

  “My guardian has no say in where I go or what I do. If it were not for the ridiculous laws that stop an unmarried young woman from managing her own business, I would need no guardian at all.”

  He laughed. I felt even more embarrassed and focused hard on my tea.

  Thankfully, at that moment Mrs Drake interrupted us.

  “Lady Lily? The post has arrived a little earlier than expected. Seems someone paid to speed it up. I have your letter here. I hope there’s no emergency.”

  She handed me the folded paper and stood there waiting, looking anxious.

  “It’s quite alright,” I told her reassuringly. “You needn’t worry about me.”

  She took the hint and disappeared from the common room, leaving me with only Theodoric as an audience as I broke the seal and peeled the letter open.

  It was in Daniel’s handwriting, of course. He would not trust this to any secretary.

  Dearest Lily,

  As you know by now, all of my atte
mpts to contact you have failed. I am growing anxious - and not just at your absence. There is grave news. Monsieur Lavelle’s sister (do you remember her? With the dyed orange hair? So vulgar.) has arrived from France, demanding to repatriate her brother’s body. I am doing my best to stall her, but we do not have much more time. You know how she felt about her brother’s art; I cannot imagine that she will grant us permission to continue our experiments. If she opens his tomb and finds it empty, we will be in rather a lot of trouble with the law.

  Please, whatever is hindering your progress, push past it. If you do not bring the stone here soon, we will lose our beloved Monsieur forever. Do not let that happen, I beg you.

  Yours,

  Daniel

  I folded the letter tightly, hands shaking, and tucked it into my pocket. We had not anticipated any attempt to move the body. The funeral had been entirely staged, with no body ever present. Our master lay in a separate tomb, anonymous and easy to open. From the minute Monsieur Lavelle revealed his illness, he coached me in what to do. I had seen to the necessary arrangements in every detail, but this was one development even he had not considered.

  “Lily? Are you alright?”

  Theodoric touched my arm gently, concern visible on his face. I felt a moment of temptation. If only I could sink against him, find comfort in his warmth, share my troubles with those worried brown eyes.

  “I’m fine,” I said sharply. “Some bad news. But nothing I cannot fix. We should return to the Hall.”

  I stood abruptly, suddenly desperate to be outside. I slapped a couple of coins down on the front desk to pay for our tea and continued out to the coach yard with no further pause. I sucked in a deep breath of air, trying to slow the panic.

  I could not lose my master now. Not when I had so much hope, not when I knew his methods would work. I was so close to having everything I wanted, so close to filling my life with the love and passion and intelligence and depth I craved. Somehow, my little jaunt to the countryside had made me lazy. I had lost my purpose, my focus. I must find that stone, and fast.

  Shared Secrets

  I resolved to give up on sleep. There must be more tiny nooks and crannies I had not yet investigated.

  That night, I sat up late, practising hard, trying to lock and unlock my bedroom door with the lock-pick Daniel had included in the letter. He must have picked up that need from my dreams. It was reassuring to know I was not quite so cut off as I had thought. I waited until everyone would be asleep, and then I changed into my sturdiest nightgown and set out to explore the house.

  As my path led me there first, I began in the kitchen. I had given the room a reasonably thorough examination before, but it was always so busy that a full search had proved difficult. Given how often the contents of the kitchen moved around, it seemed unlikely to be the hiding place of choice, but I would not risk overlooking it.

  I made my way down the stairs as quietly as possible. As I had hoped, the kitchen was dark and empty. It was lit only by the flickering hearth and the soft moonlight that filtered through the mullioned windows. So busy and bustling during the day, the room now felt still and cold, all of its welcoming character erased by the silver light.

  The various food storage chests seemed like the most sensible place to begin. The lid of the grain chest was almost too heavy for me to lift, but I managed it. I sifted through the grain inside, enjoying the feeling as it slipped between my fingers, but there was nothing hidden there. Next came the spice chest, which took my best lock-picking skills. There were some fine and unusual spices in there, surprising given the blandness of meals at the Hall, but no stone. All the other cupboards and storage boxes I riffled through equally lacked supernatural paraphernalia.

  I was inspecting the large larder behind the hearth when I heard the hallway door open. Acting from sheer panic, I threw myself into the larder and pulled the door closed behind me, peeking out through the keyhole. I couldn’t see out to the kitchen to work out who else might be creeping around during the night. The methodical footsteps went backwards and forwards across the room. I suddenly felt afraid that this unseen person knew I had been there and was checking to see what I had found.

  The figure rounded the corner of the hearth to stand in front of the stairs, and I had my first proper glimpse. It was undoubtedly Mrs Pender, although I could see nothing but a black silhouette in the dark kitchen, only the tiniest fragments of moonlight slipping around her.

  My breath caught on a hiss as she looked straight towards me. She could not see me through the door, I knew, but in that second, the moonlight shone directly onto her. For the tiniest fraction of a heartbeat, I saw her face.

  This was not the kindly housekeeper who had welcomed me to Killston Hall and told me stories. Her face wore a haughty and arrogant expression, full of self-confidence and anger. It was beautiful and terrible, highlighting the hidden loveliness of her features, but also making her terrifying. Then the moonlight shifted, and she was once again just a middle-aged woman in a dark kitchen. But she was still heading towards me, hand outstretched to grasp the door handle. I shrank back, pressing painfully against the shelves, knowing I had nowhere else to go.

  Then the kitchen door opened again. Mrs Pender ran, more quickly than I would have ever expected, and totally silently, flying up the stairs at an incredible speed. If I had not seen her go, I would never have realised she was there.

  The new visitor was more observant than I was, however. He came to stand in front of me, staring up the stairs where Mrs Pender had vanished just seconds ago, hands clenched by his sides. He swung around, cursing softly, and I realised that it was Theodoric. Dizzy with relief, I threw myself out of the larder and staggered straight into him.

  He yelped in surprise as I trod on his foot, then he clamped one hand firmly over his mouth and seized me tightly with the other arm until I stood steadily on my feet again.

  “What on earth are you doing, Lily?” he asked in a harsh whisper. “You should be safely in bed.”

  “So now even the kitchen isn’t safe?” I asked as cuttingly as I could at such a low volume. “There’s something I have to do here. I would appreciate it if you left me alone to get on with my business. And what are you doing wandering around the kitchen in the middle of the night?”

  Theodoric didn’t answer straight away. He seemed to be waiting for some unknown signal that the danger had passed. I half expected him to rush off, chasing after a shadow. Instead, he steered me over to the table and pulled out two stools. He rather elegantly helped me to sit down on the first before slumping down onto the second.

  “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Lily,” he said after a moment. “Whatever you’re looking for here, it isn’t worth the price you’ll pay. This house has dark secrets that you shouldn’t disturb.”

  Was it possible he didn’t mean the stone? Might there be something even darker in Killston Hall?

  I decided that the time had come for me to trust someone.

  “You’re wrong,” I told him. “I will pay any price for the stone hidden in this house. You see, I am a scientist. One of the finest in the country, actually, although my work is not published. My guardian and I are almost ready to attempt the impossible - we believe we can bring back the dead. The only ingredient missing is a special carved stone, used in scientific experiments over a century ago. Thanks to that stone, my great-grandfather was able to resurrect animals for a few moments at a time. We have refined his method and believe we can make it permanent. Unfortunately, when my great-grandfather died, his second wife hid the stone somewhere. I believe it’s still in the house.”

  Theodoric looked at me with a mixture of horror, shock, and incredulity.

  “You want to bring back the dead?”

  “Just one. My teacher. He died before completing his work. My guardian and I wish to return him to life. He was taken from us too soon.”

  I could feel tears prickling behind my eyes.

  “I have to get hi
m back, Theodoric. I have to find this stone.”

  Theodoric remained silent a moment longer.

  “Very well,” he said at last. “That’s a crazy story, to be sure. But I’ve heard crazier, and there’s far worse you could look for in this house. I’ll help you find the stone, if only to get you out of here and back off safely to London.”

  He stood up and offered me a hand.

  “But we’ll start tomorrow. This house isn’t safe at night. I think you’ve already realised that, even if you won’t admit it. Don’t worry, I will help you.”

  “What about you?” I asked. “What are you looking for? I know you didn’t stay here just to keep an eye on me.”

  “I can’t tell you. It’s not the stone though, if that’s what you’re worried about. I have a very different purpose. The opposite, even. Now, get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  Beautiful in Death

  Despite Theodoric’s instructions, I did not go back to bed. He might insist that he could help me, but I didn’t see how. I was still convinced that I knew where to find the stone.

  I needed to get into that abandoned wing.

  When I entered the great hall, it was empty, but a strange feeling hovered in the air. I suspected that someone had slipped from the room merely seconds ago. I rushed over to the door. Sure enough, it was unlocked, the handle turning smoothly and the door sliding open without a sound. Just ahead of me, a figure disappeared into one of the rooms with a swirl of her skirts. Mrs Pender?

  Hopefully, I would not run into her. Summoning all of my courage, I stepped through the door and into the corridor. It was icy cold here, making the hair on my arms stand up on end. Never mind. A little discomfort would not stop me from achieving my goal. I was determined.