Shadowsea

by Peter Bunzl

  “Good idea,” Caddy said, plonking herself down on the spare mattress. “I can take this third bed.”

  There was a knock at the suite’s door. Malkin hid under the bed.

  It was a porter from the lobby, arriving with Selena and Caddy’s baggage.

  Before he could even put down their trunks, Caddy burst from the nursery,. “Why don’t you let me stay here with Robert and Lily, Ma?” she said.

  “Are you sure?” Selena asked. “Wouldn’t you rather share with me?”

  “We have plenty of space,” Lily reassured her. “There’s even a spare bed.”

  Selena studied her daughter doubtfully. “As long as the rest of the Hartmans are fine with it?”

  “I am,” John said, looking up from his papers.

  “I am too,” Robert said quickly. Then he noticed he had lumped himself in with the Hartmans. He was more of a Hartman now than he was a Townsend, despite how much he cared for his ma and sister, and that thought made him feel quite odd.

  The porter left Caddy’s trunk in the nursery with Robert’s and Lily’s, and set Selena’s trunk in the other bedroom, before tipping his hat to everyone and bidding them good day.

  Lily thought then that there might be an opportunity to slip out and speak with Dane, but before she could suggest it to the other three, Selena called them back to the lounge.

  “I have some presents,” she announced, taking various brightly wrapped boxes out of her hand luggage. “This is for you, Robert,” she said, handing the largest package to him. “From me and Caddy. Sorry it’s so late!”

  “That’s all right,” Robert said. “Our gifts are late too.” He put the package down and nipped back to their bedroom, bringing out the presents he had purchased for his ma and Caddy in England. With the help of Lily and John, he had neatly wrapped both gifts in shiny red paper and green ribbons.

  They sat and unwrapped their gifts together. Selena’s was a bottle of perfume in a glass jar that was shaped like a crescent moon. “Thank you for this, darling,” she told Robert, dabbing her neck with the perfume stopper.

  Caddy’s was a book about spy craft from the Brackenbridge Bookshop, called: The Secrets and Techniques of World-Class Spies. “How marvellous!” she said as she flicked through the pages. “Now I’ve something to read for the rest of our stay.”

  “It does have a happy ending, doesn’t it?” Selena asked.

  “It’s not a fiction book, Ma!” Caddy said.

  Robert’s present was a set of binoculars in their own case, with a strap so you could hang them round your neck. “Thank you,” he said, trying them on.

  “I thought they might help with your zep-watching,” Selena said.

  “They are fantastic.” He kissed her on the cheek.

  Lily and John both got chocolates and Malkin an old-looking bone wrapped in ribbon.

  “So,” John said, when everyone had finished opening their gifts, “how do you Townsends want to spend the rest of the afternoon? I thought perhaps a spot of sightseeing? I’ve earmarked the Metropolitan Museum in my Appleton’s, I hear it has the most startling collection. Or how about the Croton Reservoir? The walkway at the top is rumoured to provide marvellous views of the city. But perhaps we should save that one for New Year’s Eve, eh? It would be a great place to see the fireworks. Apparently the display this year is going to be extra-extravagant to celebrate the unification of the five boroughs of New York!”

  “Oh, good idea,” Lily said. “That sounds like a great place for New Year’s Eve.”

  “Yes!” Caddy said. “Let’s save that one. Then you can try out your new binoculars on the fireworks, Robert! Can’t he, Ma?”

  “Hmmm?” Selena seemed suddenly distracted. “What time is it?” she said, searching for her pocket watch. “My goodness,” she cried when she found it. “Four o’clock already! I’m afraid I can’t go sightseeing today, John. I have an errand to run. I have to visit the British Embassy before it shuts at five. Caddy and I need to renew our tourist permit before everything closes for New Year’s Eve.”

  “But why the hurry?” John asked.

  “Yes,” Robert said, wringing his fingers with a flash of despondency. “You only just got here.”

  Selena bit her lip. “I’m afraid it’s rather delicate – we only have a few days left on our current permit. On top of that, we weren’t exactly supposed to be working while we were here.” She stared sheepishly at John. “But you could probably help me, actually, Professor. There’re a lot of forms and I really am quite hopeless at that sort of thing!”

  “What kind of forms?” John asked.

  “Oh, you know…” Selena counted them off on her fingers. “There’s the permit renewal, the travel declaration, oh, and there’s also the residency forms – and references – which need to be filled out in triplicate.”

  “Residency forms?” Robert asked.

  “That’s right.” Selena nodded. “You see, I was thinking Caddy and I might stay in the States…on a more permanent basis, and I wanted to get a start on the paperwork needed to seek permission for that. At least while there was someone of sound legal mind to help me.” She patted John’s arm.

  Robert felt a tad queasy. Did that mean his ma and Caddy would not be returning to England and Brackenbridge ever again?

  Selena smiled at him, as if she knew exactly what he was feeling. “Of course, the residency part’s not certain,” she explained. “And either way, we’d still come and see you as often as we could, back in England.”

  “Well,” said John, “it sounds like you have a lot to sort out, and relatively limited time to do it. We’d best get going right away.”

  “Thank you,” Selena said. And to Robert, Lily and Malkin, she added, “Perhaps you three could look after Caddy for me, while John and I are gone? You could show her around the rest of the hotel. That might be fun?”

  Robert sighed with disappointment. His ma had barely arrived and already she was flitting off on this new errand. More than that, he worried that this might be the last chance he’d have to see Caddy and his ma for an unthinkably long time. But at least they were here right now. That made up for it.

  Then Robert remembered they had a mystery to solve. And that Lily had said if they could get away from the grown-ups, they could try and contact Dane.

  “Of course we’ll look after Caddy,” he told his ma, secretly pleased that his sister would be part of their adventure. “I’m sure we can find something to do with her for the rest of the afternoon.”

  When Selena and Papa finally departed for the British Embassy, Lily and Robert stuffed Malkin in Lily’s basket and took Caddy down to the lobby to check whether Professor Milksop and Miss Buckle had gone out.

  The mechanical receptionist had seen Professor Milksop leave that morning among the crowds of guests. He wasn’t positive that Miss Buckle had been with her, but since the key was not in the return box, he had to assume that the mechanical was still in the room – either that or the professor had taken their key with her.

  Robert asked the receptionist if the professor had been with her nephew, Dane. The receptionist shook his head.

  “That I’m certain of,” he said. “I’d remember if I saw that strange boy again. He hasn’t been down to the lobby or left the building since they arrived.”

  “So he must still be in the room,” Robert said to Lily and Caddy as they stepped away from the front desk.

  “It seems likely,” Lily said. “Which means now would be a great time to try and speak with him. If we can get past Miss Buckle.”

  In the elevator up to the third floor, they tried to make a plan, huddling in the corner and whispering so the elevator boy wouldn’t hear. He seemed nice enough, but they couldn’t take any risks.

  “How are we going to lure Miss Buckle away from the room?” Caddy asked.

  “Knock Down Ginger?” Robert suggested.

  “Good idea,” Lily said.

  “What’s that?” Caddy asked.

 
“It’s a game,” Robert explained, “where you bang on someone’s door as many times as possible and as loudly as you can. And then, when they come to answer, you run away to make them chase you.”

  “Except in this case,” Lily added, “only one of us will do the running. The rest of us will be hiding in our room and sneak in when Miss Buckle runs off.”

  Malkin sighed, poking his snout from the basket. “Obviously I should do the running, since I have the fastest paws.”

  “THIRD FLOOR!” the elevator boy shouted, pulling the stop lever and beaming at them, as if he’d been listening to everything they’d just said.

  They hurried down the passage to the Milksops’ suite. Then, while Caddy and Robert stood in the open doorway of room ninety-nine with the empty basket and kept a lookout, Lily knocked on the door of room one hundred. Malkin waited at her feet to goad Miss Buckle away when she answered the door.

  But no one came.

  Lily knocked again, banging out the loudest and most annoying racket she could, so that if Miss Buckle was inside she would be forced to answer.

  Yet still no one came.

  “I don’t think she’s in,” Malkin said.

  “I think you’re right.” Lily tried the handle. The door was locked.

  She took out her lock-picking kit and quickly and quietly picked the lock. Carefully, she pushed the door inwards a crack and Malkin slipped past. She pushed it wider and wedged it open so he’d be able to get back out. Then, with Robert and Caddy, she hid in the doorway of their room and waited for Malkin to flush Miss Buckle out.

  “It’s fine!” the fox called after a minute. “You can come in. She’s run down.”

  Robert and Caddy shut the door to their own room and followed Lily into the Milksops’ suite. They found Malkin sniffing around the feet of Miss Buckle, who stood frozen by the fireplace with her arms outstretched.

  Stilled mechanicals were always odd-looking, especially when they’d stopped halfway through an action. Miss Buckle’s eyes were open, but she could not see them, for she had run out of ticks.

  “Well, that was easier than I anticipated.” Lily let out a deep breath and shut the door to the passageway before someone could come past and see them, then she and the others examined the suite.

  “I wonder which one is Dane’s room,” she said. “We’ll have to check behind each door in turn.”

  Apart from the exit, there were three doors that led off the sitting room. The one in the middle was ajar, and Lily could see the same marble bathroom as theirs behind it.

  Dane had to be in one of the other two.

  “He’s in here,” Caddy whispered. She’d wandered over to the far door and the colour had drained from her face. She clutched the handle. “I can feel it.”

  Lily and Robert joined her.

  Lily pressed her ear to the door’s wooden panelling but heard nothing.

  Caddy tried the handle, but it didn’t give. “They really do lock him in!” she whispered.

  Lily took out her lock-picking kit again.

  “Wait! Here, try these.” Robert handed Lily a set of keys he’d just spotted, hidden behind the lamp on the sideboard.

  “Hello!” a scared voice from inside the room called suddenly.

  It had to be Dane. He sounded American, with the same New York accent as his aunt.

  “Hello,” Lily said through the wood. “It’s Lily Hartman, from the room next door. I’m the one your mouse brought the message to, at dinner. I’m here with my friends, Robert, Caddy and Malkin. We picked the lock and sneaked in so that we could help you, like you asked.”

  “Where’s Miss Buckle?” Dane asked.

  “She’s run down,” Robert said.

  For a moment there was no answer. Then the relieved voice from behind the door asked, “Will you pick this lock too?”

  “We don’t need to,” Lily said. “We’ve got the keys from the sideboard.”

  Lily nodded to Robert, who searched through the keyring until he found the right key, then turned it in the lock.

  “Keep quiet and let me do the talking,” she told him and Caddy confidentially, before they opened the door. “We don’t want to overwhelm Dane with too much information from too many new people.”

  “All right,” they agreed.

  “Malkin,” Lily said to the fox. “You’re to stay here in the lounge and listen out, in case Professor Milksop comes back.”

  “Aye aye, Captain!” The fox flicked his ears and slunk off to a shadowy corner from where he could see everything.

  Lily grasped the handle and pushed Dane’s bedroom door open.

  Robert peered around her shoulder.

  The room beyond had the same three beds and flowery wallpaper as theirs, but it was ill-lit, which gave it a dark and unfriendly air.

  Dane sat on the edge of the nearest bed, his thin fingers clutching the little white mouse. He wore green polka-dot pyjamas, a checked woollen dressing gown and plaid slippers. There was a cold stillness to his posture that made him seem out of place in the room, as if he was barely there.

  “Thanks for coming,” he said faintly. “I’m glad you got my message.”

  “Sorry we couldn’t come sooner,” Lily said.

  Caddy and Robert stepped in behind her.

  On top of the chest of drawers was a wire mouse cage lined with old newspaper. Robert examined it. Everything within had been created from scavenged pieces of wood and metal. Each piece had been fashioned into amazing runs or slopes. There was even a home-made running wheel and a mouse-sized ladder made of string and sticks and broken cutlery.

  “Did you make these?” Robert asked Dane, forgetting at once what Lily had said about doing all the talking. “These mouse-runs?”

  “They’re for Spook, my mouse,” Dane said. “So he has something to do when he’s locked up. I wanna be an inventor when I’m grown, like my aunt.”

  “How long have we got until she gets back?” Lily interrupted.

  “About an hour,” Dane said. “I overheard her talking to Miss Buckle before she left. She must’ve forgotten to wind her.”

  “Have you discovered any more about what your aunt’s up to since your message?” Robert said. “Why she’s brought you here?”

  “She invited that Miss Child over to the suite this morning to try and buy her diamond necklace,” Dane said. “I heard them through the wall. Miss Child refused to sell. Now my aunt’s gone to the jewellery district to see if she can find a shard of the same stone. I don’t even know what she wants it for. She don’t seem the jewellery kind. I mean, I don’t remember her with jewellery, and since we’ve been here, I ain’t seen her wearing nothing like that.” He stood up from the bed. “What’ve you found out about my mom and pop and what happened to them since me and Spook sent you that note?”

  “We found this.” Robert’s hand shook as he handed the newspaper clipping to Dane. He wasn’t sure what the other boy would think of it.

  “Here.” Lily gave Dane her magnifying glass so he could take a closer look.

  Dane ran his finger across the caption before holding the lens over the picture to stare at himself and his parents.

  “These are my folks,” he whispered in surprise.

  “Do you recall anything about them?” Lily asked.

  Dane shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He furrowed his brow and peered closer at their faces. “They look kinda happy,” he said. “Oh…wait, I just remembered… Mom and Pop were excited for their new jobs on the Shadowsea. I was glad for them.” He stared closer at his parents in the picture. They each had a hand on his shoulder. “After this, they must’ve worked on the submarine base, like the article says. We all must’ve, me too, plus the rest of the crew, and my aunt.”

  He paused, screwing up his eyes. His body was taut, as if it strained his every muscle trying to recall these few things. “I know I was down there a long time. Under the sea. From the very start, I think. We were supposed to be finished by the first of December thi
s year. My folks and I were gonna be leaving for the surface that day, to get back home for Christmas.”

  “Where’s home?” Robert asked.

  “I don’t recall,” Dane replied, a faraway look in his eyes. “But it ain’t here. Not with my aunt. Not…without my mom and pop.” He blinked away a tear and gave a long, fidgety sigh. He seemed to be finding it uncomfortable to dredge up these memories, as if they were coming from somewhere deep and dark inside him.

  “So you don’t remember your parents being with you when you left the Shadowsea Base?” Lily asked.

  “No.” Dane shook his head. “Me and my aunt and Miss Buckle came up early for some reason. Alone. Maybe my folks stayed down there on the Shadowsea to work some more? I dunno…” He scratched his head and looked pained. “I’m sorry, I’m not being much use, am I? But that’s why I wanted…needed you to find things out for me… It’s like my memory’s blocked out what happened down there. And that’s made me forget about my folks too.”

  “Maybe I can help?” Caddy said quietly. She looked paler than she had outside the door. “I’m a medium.”

  “What’s that mean?” Dane asked.

  “It means I have second sight. I can see things others can’t,” she explained. “Spirits seek me out and speak to me. They can go anywhere, see anything. Track people both living and dead. They tell me memories and stories from people’s pasts. They can even give me a glimpse of someone’s future.”

  “Ain’t that an awful burden?” Dane said. “A thing like that… Spirits talking to ya. Seeing the future and past of every kinda person you meet?”

  Caddy shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. The person I’m giving a reading to has to want my help; they have to believe and let me in. Only then will the reading succeed and the spirits show me things.” She held out her hands to him. “So if you want those things, Dane, and you truly trust me, then I might be able to see where your parents are.”

  Dane bit his lip and frowned, thinking about it. Robert could see he wasn’t quite sure what to make of Caddy’s offer.

  “What if you see something bad?” Dane asked at last.