“It sounds like your dad and Charlotte were both happy living here. So, what happened?”
Kitty took a deep breath. She looked so cold. Then she stood up and did a funny little jog on the spot. “Come on. I’ll take you to where it happened.”
“Take me to where what happened?”
I stayed on the log while she jumped up and down and beat her arms around herself.
“I’ll tell you when we get there. Come on.”
I stared back at her, thinking what to do: Did I really want to get involved in this family’s past? Shouldn’t I just go back to the cottage and lie low, like Mum had told me to?
Kitty stopped flapping her arms. “We’ll only be ten minutes. And it’s worth seeing, I promise you.”
The thought of going back to the empty cottage made my stomach churn. “Okay. But we’ve got to be quick.”
Kitty grinned and I stood up and followed her deeper into the woods.
As we walked, Kitty continued her story:
“When Dad was ten and Charlotte was six there was a party in the house. A magnificent New Year’s Eve ball. There was a real band that played music for dancing in the main hall, and there were people dressed up in circus outfits taking trays of drinks and food to the guests. They even had a magician doing card tricks and a troop of fire-eaters on the lawn! The women dressed up in posh gowns and tiaras and the men wore bow ties and there were lights strung up in the trees. The whole place was sparkling!”
Kitty smiled as she thought about it. It was as if she had been there herself.
“Charlotte wore a beautiful ivory dress with shimmering sequins, and James—my dad—had his very own suit and waistcoat. Everyone fussed over them when they saw them. They were the only children there.”
“Did you see pictures?” I said.
Kitty nodded. “They hired a photographer. It looked magical.”
She sighed to herself.
“Everything was going well, but halfway through the evening Dad and Charlotte got bored of all the adults talking and decided to play hide-and-seek. They took turns hiding, but Dad got told off by the cook for going in the kitchen, so they decided to move outside.”
Kitty made a little ball with her hands and paused for a moment to blow on her bright red fingers before tucking them deep into her armpits. We came out of the woods into the open, but it didn’t get much lighter. I looked for the sun and saw it was really low down. Another half an hour and it would disappear below the horizon altogether.
“Can you tell the story a bit quicker, Kitty? It’s going to be dark soon.”
Kitty walked toward a tall hedge. “So, everyone was in their ball gowns, drinking champagne and dancing, and Charlotte and Dad sneaked out onto the patio,” she continued as we walked beside the hedged wall. “A few guests were outside getting some air, and they said hello to them.”
“But if it was New Year’s Eve, wasn’t it cold?” I said.
“It was freezing! There was even snow on the ground, but Charlotte said they’d have one last game of hide-and-seek and then they’d go back inside to play. She used to boss him around a bit, really, but James, I mean, my dad, always did whatever she said. She told him to count to fifty, and when he shut his eyes she ran here. To the maze.”
“Maze?”
I remembered seeing a tall hedge when I had been here with Mum and Dad. It had towered over us, and Mum had run her hand along the thick green leaves.
Kitty stopped and pointed to an overgrown gap in the hedge. It must have been an entrance once upon a time, neatly clipped with an archway over the top. There was a little sign next to it that was covered in frost.
“As you can see, it’s really overgrown now. It hasn’t been used for years.”
I could see it all in my head: Charlotte running across the white lawns in her posh dress. Kitty’s dad as a boy standing on the patio covering his eyes as he counted. I shivered.
“The maze was always out of bounds for them, so I don’t know why she did it—why she decided that coming here was a good thing to do. It would have been the last place James would have looked, because he knew they weren’t allowed there.”
I frowned at her. “How do you know all of this?”
Kitty hesitated for a moment. “My dad told me about it, one New Year’s Eve. He never mentioned it again.”
I wasn’t sure how much he’d told her or how much Kitty was making up as she went along, but either way, she was pretty impressive as a storyteller. I wanted to know what happened next, but she stayed silent for so long I didn’t think she was going to tell me, and then she suddenly ducked into the maze. The branches shuddered and closed behind her. It was as if they’d swallowed her up.
“Kitty? Kitty, don’t mess around,” I called through the entrance. There was no reply. I pushed a few branches out of the way and peered inside. The maze was so overgrown there was barely any room to get through. I edged forward a pace.
“Kitty? Where are you?”
I stopped to listen, to see if I could hear her rustling about, but there was nothing.
“Kitty! Don’t mess around, okay?”
A hand suddenly appeared through the greenery. I gasped, and then Kitty’s face appeared, her eyes glistening white in the gloom.
“Don’t ever, ever do that again, okay?” I shouted with my hand at my chest. My heart was doing that mad fluttering again. I’d thought it was Gary. I’d thought he’d found me.
“I’m sorry. I was joking, that’s all. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I glared at her. “Well, you did. Okay? Feel better now?”
She looked quite upset. “I’m really sorry.”
I stuffed my hands into my pockets.
“So … what happened then?” I asked, scuffing my foot on the ground. “What happened to Charlotte?”
I looked down the dark corridor, but it was so thick with branches I couldn’t see much.
Kitty’s eyes widened as she got back to her story. This time she spoke in whispers.
“James counted to fifty and then he called out, into the cold night air, ‘Coming, ready or not!’ He searched all their usual places, the rose beds, the topiary garden, behind all of the statues, but she was nowhere to be seen. It was nearly midnight and all of the guests piled out onto the patio, ready to count down to the start of the new year.”
I was shivering so much my teeth chattered together. This story was chilling me to the bone, but I wanted to know what happened next. What happened to Charlotte.
“The crowd was chanting: ‘Eight! Seven! Six! Five!’ James ran around the adults, trying to find his mum and dad, but there were so many people he couldn’t spot them. He tried to get the grown-ups’ attention, tugging on their arms and their sleeves. ‘Charlotte’s missing! I can’t find her! You’ve got to help!’ he shouted at them, but he couldn’t make them listen. ‘Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!’ Everyone began singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and hugging and kissing one another, but eventually a man saw that James was crying. James told him that he didn’t know where his sister was and word quickly spread around. Everyone stopped celebrating and began to search.”
She shook her head and lowered her eyes.
“Someone found her in the middle of the maze.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s so sad.”
Kitty nodded. “She must have gotten lost. The doctors said that the cold weather and panic brought on an asthma attack. And … she … she died.”
“How terrible,” I said. “Your dad must have felt awful.”
Kitty nodded. She pointed toward the thick branches. “Do you want to go and see if we can find where they found her?”
I shook my head. That was the last thing I wanted to do. Kitty’s story had made me feel a bit ill.
“I’d better be getting back. My parents will be worried,” I said, and I pushed my way back out into the open, Kitty following. I was so cold I couldn’t feel my feet, and I tried to wiggle my toes as I walked but they hurt.
“This treasure hunt you’re trying to solve,” I said. “I’m guessing James and Charlotte never solved it … because she died?”
She nodded.
“They were planning to, but then the accident happened and it was all forgotten about. I really want to solve it now. Especially as it was for Charlotte. I often wonder what treasure William would have left for her. It would be a nice thing to do in her memory, don’t you think?”
We were quiet for a moment, and I thought about everything she’d said. It was a relief to put my problems out of my mind for a bit.
We got back to the woods, and I stopped and turned to face her.
“Kitty? You know the riddle you’re trying to solve? It’s a yew tree. The next clue is hidden near a yew tree.”
She gasped. “Wh-What?”
The delighted shock on her face made me smile. “It says it in the riddle: ‘I’m a thousand years old, yet still strong as lead.’ Yew trees can live for thousands of years, and their wood is really strong. And you know it’s a tree from the description about the roots, but the biggest clue is in the line: ‘I’m symbolic of life, yet watch over the dead.’ Yews are seen as symbols of everlasting life because they stay green all year-round, and they can often be found in churchyards, so that’s why he’s put that about ‘watching over the dead.’ I read it in a book. All you need to do is find an ancient-looking tree that is still green and is planted in a churchyard.”
Kitty’s mouth was dangling open. The silence made me feel a bit awkward.
“Thank you! Do you know how long I’ve been trying to solve this clue? Ages and ages! And then you come along and solve it straight away! You’re amazing.”
I smiled and my cheeks went a bit warm. Kitty was quite sweet when she wanted to be. “Are there any churches nearby?”
Kitty gathered her things together and threw her satchel over a shoulder. “There’s no need to even go out of the grounds. I know exactly where he means, and I’m going over there right now. You coming?”
She stood there with her shovel in one hand. It felt good to feel wanted. And being called amazing—that was pretty cool too. I took a look at the sky blinking through the waving tops of the trees. It was going to get dark really, really soon.
“Okay, but we’ve got to be quick,” I said.
We walked through the woods to the other side, and when we came out I saw that the sky was a dark pink and looked heavy with snow. And it suddenly felt much, much colder.
“Where are we going exactly?” I said as Kitty turned left and headed down a hill. I was struggling to keep up with her.
“There’s an old family chapel down in the valley. I haven’t been there in years. In fact, I completely forgot there was one.”
I burst out laughing. “How can you forget you’ve got a chapel? Kitty, you’re not of this world!”
She looked around and her face dropped. I turned to see what had made her frown and saw the corner of a building. It must have been her house. The brickwork was gray and dark, but I could only see a fraction of it; the rest of the house was hidden by tall trees.
“Is that your home?” I asked.
She nodded and turned away quickly. “Come on, the chapel is over there. Look!”
Kitty pointed. Nestling in the dip of the hill was a little brown church. It was surrounded by an old stone wall that had crumbled in places.
I jogged to catch up with her. I remembered now that Mum had said the big house had its own chapel. She’d said it when we were hitting the rug with our sticks in the garden; she’d said we’d seen it when we’d stayed before.
It was starting to sleet, and the cold, freezing rain hit my face like pinpricks.
Kitty came to a break in the wall and clambered over the pile of stones. I looked around and saw a huge tree with a trunk the color of hot chocolate. Its roots were twisted and gnarled and its canopy of green looked like a giant umbrella.
“There it is,” I said. “That’s your yew.”
Kitty headed straight toward it. “These roots are worse than the ones in the wood. I’m never going to be able to dig here.”
I walked around the tree, trying not to twist my ankle in the tangled wood. “Maybe it’s not buried at all. We should look in the gaps and see if he’s hidden something in there. Be careful though, it might look nice, but this tree is really poisonous.”
I looked in all the crevices.
“It might not even be here anymore, Kitty. It might have just rotted away.”
Kitty scowled. “Of course it’s still here. I’ll start looking around this side.”
I crouched down and peered into all the little holes that the yew tree’s roots had created. I don’t think I’d ever been this close to one before. It really was very impressive. Kitty was around the other side of the tree, and the trunk was so wide I couldn’t even see her.
“Anything?” I called.
“No … nothing. Wait. Hold on—I think there’s something …”
I scrambled around the side just as she was poking a stick into a hole. She scraped at it a few times, and then finally something appeared. It was a little wooden box. She dropped the stick and grabbed it.
“I don’t believe it! We’ve found it! Oh …”
She opened the box and a piece of paper fell onto the ground, which she picked up, smoothed out, and read:
She looked at me. “Any ideas?”
I shrugged. “No. But I think I’m going to go back now. My parents will be wondering where I am.”
I wasn’t comfortable being out when Mum could arrive at any moment. I turned and walked back the way we’d come and Kitty followed, still holding the clue in her hand.
“Search for an I and an H. What do you think that means? Shall we have a look in William’s cottage? Maybe it’s something to do with a book.”
I grunted as I scrambled over the slippery, broken wall.
“Slow down, Nate. You’re going too fast,” she said as she tried to keep up with me. “What’s the hurry? We need to talk about the clue.”
I ignored her and strode toward the woods, but she quickened her step and jogged alongside me.
“We need to think where we should look next. Do you have any ideas?”
I stopped when I got to the trees. “No, but good luck with it all anyway. I’m sure you’ll work it out,” I said, and I began to jog away.
“Shall we check the cottage now?” she asked, catching up with me. “It could be in there. I really think we should check in the books.”
I stopped and turned toward her. “Look. I think what you’re doing with trying to solve this riddle is really great and all that, but I must get back. On my own.”
Kitty frowned at me, and then her face softened as she looked at something past my ear. “Oh look! Your parents are here!”
I couldn’t see properly through the trees, but I could definitely hear something. It sounded like a car traveling really slowly. Tires were scrunching along the frozen dirt track. Mum was back! I began to run.
“I’ll come back tomorrow at ten!” Kitty shouted as I disappeared through the iron gate and into the cottage garden.
There was a Freaky Things fact that I knew quite well, and I was remembering it in my head while I hid behind the sofa, trying to ignore the stranger banging on the front door.
It’s your birthday and you live in a remote village in the Himalayas! So … how do you receive your birthday cards? Why, by monkey, of course! A rhesus macaque named Mike delivers the mail to the villagers of Konapanthi each day, carrying the letters and parcels in a custom-designed monkey backpack that allows him to race across the mountains, ensuring that the mail is always on time! How about that for an a-monkey-mazing mailman!!!!!
As I recited the fact in my head, the pounding on the front door continued—and it definitely wasn’t Mum. It was somebody in a red van; I’d seen it as I ran through the garden, and I’d managed to get in through the kitchen door before they spotted me. Maybe Gary had been fol
lowing us after all and he was just waiting for the right time to make his move? Maybe he’d driven a red van so we didn’t spot his car? I heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel and I waited for a car engine to start back up again, but instead there was knocking on the window. Really hard.
Bang, bang, bang!
They weren’t giving up.
I shut my eyes tight as I thought about the Himalayan monkey, scampering across the rocks to make sure some little kid got their birthday cards on time. The photograph in the book was of a monkey wearing a cap with the word mailman on the top. Would the people of the Himalayas use the word mailman? Wouldn’t they use a word from their own language? The more I thought about it, the more I suspected that Mum may have been right all along. Maybe the book was rubbish after all.
There were more footsteps, and I suddenly remembered that the kitchen door was unlocked. All they had to do was walk around the side, open the door, and come straight in. I looked toward the kitchen. Maybe I could crawl across the floor, get to the kitchen, then quickly bolt the door? But the footsteps had gone back to the front door and there was a squeaking sound as they tried the mailbox, but it just gave a pathetic thud. And then:
Bang, bang, bang!
They pounded on the door with a fist again.
“Psssst! Who are we hiding from?”
I jumped. Sam had appeared beside me, also sitting on the floor, also hugging his knees.
“I think it might be Gary. I think he’s found us,” I whispered back.
Bang, bang, bang!
I began to shake.
“I’m sure it’s not him. How could he know where you are? He doesn’t know about this place, and you know yourself that no one was following you.”
I nodded. He was right, but I still flinched when the knocking started again.
“Sam, what are we going to do?” I said. “They might come around the back. I left the kitchen door unlocked.”
There was a creak of the mailbox opening again and then a dull thud as it sprang shut. It sounded like they’d left something.
“Shhhhh, it sounds like they’re going,” said Sam. “Listen.”
The Light Jar Page 7