by S J Howland
‘Don’t breathe down my neck,’ she complained, as her fingers flew over the keys again. Ollie ignored her and then groaned as the screen once more filled up with records, most of which appeared completely irrelevant. ‘We’ll be here for days, sorting through this list,’ he said despondently. ‘Why can’t things be simple for once?’
‘I think we want the earliest records,’ said Xander thoughtfully. ‘The hobs kept talking about lost histories and memories, which probably means really old.’
‘Good idea,’ said Len, and reduced the number of records on the screen dramatically. She rooted in her pocket, pulled out a little pad and stub of pencil, and scribbled down the references left. ‘We’ll start with these,’ she said, and then cleared the screen. ‘We don’t want anyone else seeing this and wondering what it’s about,’ she explained. Consulting her notes, she rose to her feet. ‘This way,’ she said firmly.
Feeling buoyed by Len’s optimistic determination, Xander hurried after her. As they crossed one of the open spaces in the Halls, he was struck by the late morning sunshine streaming in through the beautiful stained-glass window up above. It turned the painted glass into jewels, and illuminated the striking image in the centre of the window, a tall rock surrounded by white-tipped waves under a brilliantly starry night. As he paused, gazing upwards in awe, he felt Ollie’s insistent tug on his arm to hurry him along.
‘Don’t stand out in the open,’ he muttered. ‘We’ll get caught.’
Reluctantly, Xander turned away and followed Ollie around the corner of another giant stack. They found Len on tiptoes, trying to nudge a large tome out of a shelf high above her head. ‘You took your time,’ she hissed over her shoulder.
‘Sorry, Xander was just admiring the scenery,’ replied Ollie with a grin, reaching up and lifting down the book.
Len did not answer, as she double-checked it against her notebook before putting it on the small table. ‘You two check this one out, while I get the others,’ she instructed, and then disappeared between the stacks.
Ollie and Xander looked at one another, then at the thick book with its tiny print. ‘How about you skim the left page and I’ll do the right?’ suggested Ollie with a shrug. Xander nodded and the next several minutes were spent silently flipping pages as Len flitted back and forth, adding to a growing stack of books for checking. Finally, she settled down next to them and picked up the topmost.
Silence reigned for another ten minutes, and then Len glanced up with a frustrated grimace. ‘The indexing in these things is hopeless and most of the references are pointing back to even older records, in one of the archives. If we want to track back to the right ones, we’re going to have to live here for a week.’
‘I know that your life is fairly tragic, but that really is a whole new level of sad,’ said a scornful voice. The cut-glass tones were unmistakable.
Xander looked up with a sinking feeling. He had been so caught up in the books he had not even noticed Larissa Larcius-Thorne and her group of avid hangers-on come around the corner, staring at them with contemptuous little smirks.
Len rolled her eyes.
‘Seriously?’ she demanded. ‘Do you not have anything better to do?’
‘Oh, we definitely do,’ returned Larissa, with one of her nasty little smiles. ‘What on earth are you doing messing around with all these mouldy old books?’ She stepped forward next to Xander, and he felt the cool swish of her hair as she leaned over the table with a hint of expensive—smelling perfume. She flipped the cover closed and read the title. ‘No wonder you’re so interesting, Len,’ she said in her poisonous little voice. ‘What fun hobbies you have.’ She turned back to her entourage, who all tittered appreciatively. ‘This must be why you have so many friends.’ She sneered at Xander and Ollie and then pulled away as if they might contaminate her.
‘Oh, why don’t you just shove off,’ retorted Ollie. ‘If you keep hanging round us, people might talk.’
‘Please,’ scoffed Larissa, dropping the superior act and glaring at him. ‘As if anyone would think I’d spend time with losers like you. Blown up anything good lately? I’m surprised they still let you wear that thing.’ She glanced disdainfully at the discoloured orb on Ollie’s wrist. ‘I should tell my father not to let you get another one – it would be a blessing for the rest of us.’
Ollie flushed a dull red and Len threw an indignant glare at Larissa, her chair scraping as she jumped to her feet. Larissa took several prudent steps back to the safety of her little gaggle but, undeterred, Len squared up to her.
‘Get lost,’ she snapped, ‘or maybe he’ll blow you up next. It would certainly be no loss.’
As if things could not get any worse, there was a sudden clacking of high heels and a moment later Primilla Pennicott tip-tapped into their midst, her narrowed eyes sweeping across the little group. Len rolled her eyes as Larissa immediately turned to the pinch-faced woman.
‘Oh Miss Pennicott, thank goodness’ you’re here,’ she gushed, grasping at the woman’s bony hand with wide eyes and a pitiful expression. ‘I was looking for you with a message from Mother, and Len Stanton actually threatened me for no reason. Didn’t she?’
Larissa appealed to her friends who all nodded, putting on shocked expressions.
‘Larissa didn’t do anything, Miss Pennicott,’ one of them chimed in quickly, ‘and Len threatened to blow her up in the library.’
Larissa let out a little fake sob and Miss Pennicott put a protective arm around her, while turning an awful expression on the three around the table.
‘How dare you come into my Halls and behave like savages,’ she hissed, and then her eyes fell on the table. ‘And who gave you permission to touch those books? Damaging ancient records, threatening innocent students – you wait until I speak with your grandmother. Out! Out!’ She gestured at them furiously, her rabbity mouth twisting with anger. ‘You will not be permitted back in here until I am satisfied that you can behave in a civilised manner, which I don’t imagine will be anytime soon.’
After one more comforting pat on Larissa’s shoulder, Miss Pennicott marched Ollie, Len and Xander off towards the exit. Xander didn’t look back, reluctant to see the triumphant smirk on Larissa’s face, although he couldn’t block out the tittering noise from behind him. They were no closer to figuring out any of the mysteries, and now they had actually been banned from the one place where they might find the answers. All in all, it had been a far from successful morning.
Standing out on the front steps of the Halls, they exchanged despairing looks.
‘We’ll never get back in there now,’ said Len glumly. ‘She’ll be on the look-out.’
‘We need that information,’ said Xander, as the frustration swam up inside him. ‘It has to be there somewhere.’
‘That’s all very well,’ grumbled Ollie, ‘but we’ll never get to see it. That old dragon will be guarding it from dawn till dusk.’
There was another depressed silence as they all absorbed the truth of that statement, and then suddenly Xander looked up as a thought occurred to him.
‘She’s not there at night, though, is she?’ he said. ‘If we go then, we’d have plenty of time to search without any more interruptions.’
Len’s eyes began to sparkle.
‘Excellent,’ she breathed approvingly.
Ollie looked less pleased.
‘Um, Xander? You don’t think breaking into a government building is maybe taking all this a little far?’
‘Do you have a better idea?’ demanded Len.
Ollie stared at his feet for a moment before looking up and rolling his eyes at her.
‘No,’ he said. ‘But that still doesn’t mean that this is a good one.’ He eyed them both and then shrugged. ‘Fine, I’m in, but don’t forget that I said so when this inevitably ends in disaster.’
*
Back at Woodside, an exhaustive discussion began as to how they would actually pull this off, given that the Halls were likely to be securely l
ocked-down out of hours. It went on for some time. Finally, Mrs Stanton called them in from the garden, after some rather suspicious looks out of the window at their little huddle in the middle of the lawn; a location chosen by Len so that no-one could overhear them. At least they had come up with the beginnings of an idea, involving finding the plans for the Halls and then examining them for likely vulnerabilities in security. Ollie was still rather doubtful about the whole thing but Len’s enthusiasm for the ‘mission’, as she had promptly dubbed it, overrode his qualms and he was left to console himself with the thought that she probably wouldn’t be able to find a way in anyway.
As agreed, after supper Len gathered up a pile of folders and stalked over to the little terminal in the kitchen, slumping into the seat with an ostentatious sigh. Mrs Stanton glanced over as she wiped down the kitchen table.
‘Now what’s wrong?’ she asked.
Len gestured dramatically to the folders.
‘Cruelty to children is what’s wrong,’ she said darkly. ‘They must believe that we don’t need sleep if they think we can do all this homework.’
Mrs Stanton rolled her eyes. ‘For Haven’s sake, don’t be so histrionic. We all survived our schooling and I think you probably will, too.’ She turned to Ollie and Xander, who were hovering behind Len. ‘And you two can find something useful to do and stop distracting her. If Len has the kitchen to herself, then I’m sure that the work will get done in no time.’
She flapped her hands insistently at the two boys, following them out and shutting the door, but not before Xander got a quick glimpse of Len’s exultant grin as she was left alone at the terminal. It was a long wait after that, nearly an hour and a half, before the door to their bedroom was pushed open and Len sauntered in.
‘So?’ Ollie asked, eying his cousin’s deadpan expression. ‘Is there no way in?’ His voice sounded faintly hopeful. There was a moment’s silence, and then Len beamed triumphantly at both of them, pulling a folded piece of paper out of her pocket.
‘Oh, ye of little faith,’ she said. ‘It’s simple. We’re going in via the fire-escape at the back of the building onto the roof and then through the air duct system. It’s a bit of a maze, but I managed to acquire the plans, and I have the directions to get to the main Hall.’ She waved her piece of paper at them with a superior smile.
Xander swallowed. Along with the sight of blood, enclosed spaces were definitely not one of his favourite things and he wished silently that Len had found another way into the building. Ollie, however, had a different objection.
‘You ‘acquired’ the plans?’ he said in a sceptical voice. ‘Do we want to know how you ‘acquired’ them?’
Len rolled her eyes. ‘Details, details,’ she said airily. ‘Just be ready to leave after midnight, okay? Everyone should be asleep then. And also, don’t forget to wear dark clothes; it’s stealthier.’
With another quick grin, Len disappeared back into the corridor and the two boys were left to exchange rueful glances.
‘She’s getting way too into this,’ muttered Ollie and Xander nodded, although he couldn’t deny the little surge of excitement at finally getting some answers.
*
So far, the midnight trip to the Halls of Records had gone as successfully as Len had predicted. No-one stirred as they crept through the house and out into the lane, and there was enough moonlight to illuminate their way down to Wykeham and then through the broad thoroughfare from the South Gates to Fountain Square. It was rather eerie to see the city so empty, and they kept to the shadows as much as possible as they hurried onwards. With one accord, they skirted around the outside of the square, rather than cutting across it in the open, but when Xander glanced over at the fountain, his eyes widened in surprise. Ringing the near side of the fountain pool were at least two dozen nixies, silhouetted in the faint light, with their glittering eyes staring intently over at them.
Xander paused.
‘Do you see that?’ he whispered, with a shiver at the uncanny sight. ‘Is that usual?’
Len shrugged, her expression unconcerned. ‘They’re nixies, it’s not like they’re going to tell anyone they saw us. Come on, the fire escape is at the back.’
With a deep breath and a last apprehensive glance back at the silent witnesses, Xander followed her around the building and began the long climb up the metal fire escape. When they reached the enormous flat roof, Len led them confidently over to a large metal grate, set in the wall ahead.
‘It’s screwed shut,’ whispered Ollie, leaning over to examine it. ‘How are we going to get in?’
Len pushed him out of the way and reached into her pocket.
‘With a screwdriver, genius,’ she replied tartly.
‘All right,’ said Ollie, with an easy shrug. ‘No need to be sarcastic.’ There were several moments of silence as Len struggled with the screws. ‘Need a hand?’
‘No,’ snapped Len, and then, ‘Fine! You do it.’
Xander suppressed a grin as Ollie edged forward and took the screwdriver from Len, wisely making no comment. After several minutes of hard work, the rusty screws gave way and Xander helped Ollie to lower the metal grille to the roof. Revealed before them was a large cavity, pitch black against the paler stone.
Xander eyed it reluctantly.
‘Are you sure that this will take us all the way in?’ he asked Len. ‘I wouldn’t want to get stuck in there, or find it’s a dead-end.’
Len shook her head firmly, a shadowy figure in the gloom. ‘I’ve checked and double-checked the schematics. This will bring us out in the central hall.’ She crouched down to enter the hole.
‘Hang on a minute,’ objected Xander. ‘Don’t you think Ollie or I should go first?’
‘Why?’ asked Len blankly.
‘Well, in case there’s something in there,’ Xander muttered awkwardly, as both Ollie and Len turned to stare at him.
Len snorted in amusement. ‘I think if there was a monster living in the air duct system at the Halls, we would probably know about it by now. Also, you don’t actually know the way.’ Xander saw her roll her eyes, before clambering into the hole.
Ollie sniggered.
‘Good one, mate,’ he said, before following Len.
Xander took a deep breath. The idea of climbing into a dark, enclosed space was even less attractive now they were actually here. As he hesitated, Len’s impatient voice broke into his thoughts, sounding hollow and distant as it echoed out of the vent. ‘Come on, Xander, and don’t forget to replace the grate. We don’t want to draw any attention.’
With a wry glance around the rooftop, shadowy and empty, Xander took another deep breath and climbed into the hole. After balancing the grate against the exit, Xander turned and crawled forward until he bumped into the soles of Ollie’s shoes.
‘Okay,’ he whispered. ‘I’m here. Let’s get this over with.’
‘Hold on,’ said Len.
A moment later the dim light of a glowstone bloomed in the darkness, revealing Len and Ollie’s backs and legs, and they all began to crawl. The tunnel itself was not quite as bad as Xander had imagined. There was at least room to move in moderate comfort and the walls were smooth and fairly clean, although they all sneezed from time to time as they disturbed the thin layers of dust. However, as they began to reach intersections of tunnels, with Len choosing each turning without hesitation, a deep sense of unease began to grow in Xander as he became increasingly aware of the labyrinth of vents around him. Sweat broke out over his body, and it was not because of the physical effort.
‘We’d better not get separated,’ he muttered to Ollie’s legs. ‘We’d be stuck in here forever.’
‘Shush,’ said Len, from in front. ‘I’m trying to keep count. Now, where was I?’
Xander groaned, but Len crawled forward again, and he had no choice but to follow her. After ten interminable minutes, she finally came to a halt and there was a moment’s silence.
‘Are we lost?’ Xander demanded, hoping that
his slight panic was not creeping into his voice.
‘No, we’re here, I think,’ said Len. There was a pause. ‘Only thing is, I’m not sure how we unscrew it from this side.’ She sounded rather sheepish.
Xander groaned. ‘You have got to be kidding me,’ he said. ‘We’ve crawled through miles of vents and now you say –’
‘S’okay,’ broke in Len cheerfully. ‘This one isn’t screwed on. It’s got catches, and if I can just –’
Her voice faded away and there were two scraping clicks, then a tremendous clang.
‘Oops,’ she said.
‘Stealthy,’ remarked Ollie. ‘Really stealthy.’
‘Oh, shut up,’ snapped Len. ‘Move back so I can turn around.’
Awkwardly, Xander and Ollie both backed up a little to allow Len to twist around, and then lower herself backwards through the hole. There were scraping noises and then a soft thud. Len’s voice floated up to them.
‘The vent comes out quite high, but luckily there’s a bookcase below it. Lower yourselves out and climb down. Be careful though,’ she added. ‘A couple of shelves are loose.’
Ollie twisted around and lowered himself out of the hole, and after a moment Xander followed, his way faintly illuminated by the glowstone Len was holding. He was halfway down the bookcase when the light flickered and went out. Xander froze in the thick blackness.
‘Where’s the light?’ His voice sounded unnaturally loud.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Len said, sounding panicky. ‘I dropped it, and now it’s gone out and I can’t find it.’
The dark was so intense Xander felt like it was pressing into his eyeballs as he stared blindly over his shoulder, trying to remember how far down the bookcase he had already climbed.
‘Ollie, can’t you make some light?’ asked Len plaintively.
‘I dunno. I s’pose I could,’ said Ollie, sounding rather uncertain.
‘Try!’
There was a pause, and then a flash of light so blinding that Xander reflexively threw up one hand to shield his eyes, thereby letting go of the shelf he was gripping. He toppled backwards and landed with a bone-jarring thud on the floor, thankfully only a few feet below.