After a while, however, Syracuse’s happiness made Cat cheerful too. He began to notice things in that special way Syracuse seemed to be training him to do. He sniffed the smells of the grass, the ditches and the hedges, and the dustier smell of the crops standing in the fields. He looked up to see birds teeming across the sky to roost for the night; and, like Syracuse, he jumped and then peered at a rustling in the hedge that was certainly a weasel. They both glimpsed the tiny, brown, almost snakelike body. They both raised their heads to see rabbits bounce away from the danger in the pasture on the other side of the hedge.
But Syracuse was puzzled because there should have been more than just these smells and sights. Cat knew what Syracuse meant. There was an emptiness to the countryside, where it should have been full – though quite what should have filled it, neither Cat nor Syracuse knew. It reminded Cat a little of that time in Home Wood, where the distance was so strangely missing. Things were not here, where they should have been joyful and busy. Even so, it was peaceful. They plodded on, quietly enjoying the walk, until they topped the hill and turned the long corner, and there was Chrestomanci Castle in the distance on the next hill.
Oh dear, Cat thought. Walking was so slow. He was going to miss supper.
In fact, it was still only early evening when they reached the stableyard gates. When Cat pushed one gate open and led Syracuse through, the yard was full of long golden light, with two long shadows stretching across it. Unfortunately, these shadows belonged to Chrestomanci and Joss Callow. They were waiting side by side to meet him, looking as unlike as two men more or less the same height could look. Where Chrestomanci was rake thin, Joss was wide and heavy. Where Chrestomanci was dark, Joss was ruddy. Chrestomanci was wearing a narrow grey silk suit, while Joss was in his usual rough leather and green shirt. But they both looked powerful and they both looked far from pleased. Cat could hardly tell which of them he wanted less to meet.
“At last,” Chrestomanci said. “As I understand it, you had no business to be out alone on this horse at all. What kept you?”
Joss Callow simply ran his hand down Syracuse’s leg and picked up the shoeless foot. The look he gave Cat across it made Cat’s stomach hurt. He could think of nothing else to do but hold the missing horseshoe out to Joss.
“How come?” Joss said.
“He threw me off and went through a hedge,” Cat said, “but it was my fault.”
“Is he lame?” Chrestomanci asked.
“No more than you would be, walking with one bare foot,” Joss said. “The hoof’s sound, by some kind of a miracle. I’ll take him to the stable now, if you don’t mind, sir.”
“By all means,” Chrestomanci said.
Cat watched Joss lead Syracuse off. Syracuse drooped his head as if he felt as much to blame as Cat. From Syracuse’s point of view this was probably true, Cat thought. Syracuse had loved their illegal outing.
“I am going to ask Joss to exercise that wretched horse himself for a while,” Chrestomanci said. “I haven’t decided yet if it’s for a week or a month or a year. I’ll let you know. But you are not to ride him until I say so, Cat. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” Cat said miserably.
Chrestomanci turned round and started to walk away. Cat was relieved at first. Then he realised there was something he ought to tell Chrestomanci and ran after him.
“Did Roger tell you about the roads?”
Chrestomanci turned back. He did not look pleased. “Roger seems to be keeping out of my way. What about the roads?”
This made Cat see that, unless he was very careful, he would get not only Roger but Joe too into trouble. Joe should have been in the Castle, not riding about with a jar of tadpoles. He said, thinking about every word, “Well, Roger was with me on his bike—”
“And it jumped a hedge as well and perhaps lost a wheel?” Chrestomanci said.
“No, no,” Cat said. Chrestomanci always confused him when he got sarcastic. “No, he’s fine. But we were trying to get to Ulverscote Wood and we couldn’t. The roads kept turning us back towards the Castle all the time.”
Chrestomanci dropped his sarcastic look at once. His head came up, like Syracuse when he heard Cat coming. “Really? A misdirection spell, you think?”
“Something like that – but it was one I didn’t know,” Cat said.
“I’ll check,” Chrestomanci said. “Meanwhile, you are in disgrace, Cat, and so is Roger, when I find him.”
Roger of course knew he was likely to be in trouble. He met Cat on his way down to the very formal supper they always had at the Castle. “Is he very angry?” he asked, nervously straightening his smart velvet jacket.
“Yes,” Cat said.
Roger shivered a little. “Then I’ll go on keeping out of his way,” he said. “Oh, and keep out of the girls’ way too.”
“Why?” said Cat.
“They’re being a pain,” Roger said. “Particularly Janet.”
The girls were already there, when Roger and Cat went into the anteroom where Chrestomanci, Millie and all the wizards and sorcerers who made up the Castle staff were gathered before supper. Janet and Julia were pale and quiet but not particularly painful as far as Cat could see. Roger at once slid off along the walls, trying to keep a wizard or a sorceress always between himself and his father. It did not work. Wherever Roger slid, Chrestomanci turned and fixed him with a stare from those bright black eyes of his. At supper, it was worse. Roger had to be in plain view then, sitting at the table, since, being Roger, he seriously wanted to eat. Chrestomanci’s vague, sarcastic look was on him most of the time. Jason Yeldham, for some reason, was not there that evening, so there was no one to distract Chrestomanci. Roger squirmed in his chair. He kept his head down. He pretended to look out of the long windows at the sunset over the gardens, but, whatever he did, that stare kept meeting his eyes.
“Oh blast it!” Roger muttered to Cat. “Anyone would think I’d murdered someone!”
As soon as supper was over, Roger jumped from his chair and rushed off. So too did Julia and Janet. Chrestomanci raised one of his eyebrows at Cat. “Aren’t you going to run away as well?” he said.
“Not really. But I think I’ll go,” Cat said, getting up.
“Are you quite sure you won’t join us for nuts and coffee?” Chrestomanci asked politely.
“You always talk about things I don’t understand,” Cat explained. “And I need to see Janet.”
Whatever Roger said, Cat found this was one of the times when he felt a little responsible for Janet. She had been looking very pale. And she was only here in this world of Twelve A because Cat’s sister Gwendolen had worked a thoroughly selfish spell and stranded Janet here. He knew there were still times when strangeness and loneliness overwhelmed Janet.
He thought, when he went into the playroom, that this was one of those times. Janet was sitting sobbing on the battered sofa. Julia had both arms round her.
“What is it?” Cat said.
Julia looked up, and Cat saw she was almost as woebegone as Janet. “Jason’s married!” Julia said tragically. “He got married in London before he came here.”
“So?” said Cat.
Janet flung herself round on the sofa. “You don’t understand!” she said sobbingly. “I was planning to marry him myself in about four years’ time!”
“So was I,” Julia put in. “But I think Janet’s more in love with him than I am.”
“I know I shall hate his wife!” Janet wept. “Irene! What an awful name!”
Julia said, judicious and gloomy, “She was Miss Irene Pinhoe, but at least Irene Yeldham makes a better name. He probably married her out of kindness.”
“And,” Janet wailed, “he’s gone to fetch her here, so that they can look at houses. They’ll be here for ages and I know I won’t be able to go near her!”
Julia added disgustedly, “She’s an artist, you see. The house they buy is going to have to be just right.”
Cat knew by now exactly what Roge
r had meant. He began backing out of the playroom.
“That’s right! Slide away!” Janet shouted after him. “You’ve no more feelings than a – than a chair leg!”
Cat was quite hurt that Janet should say that. He knew he was full of feelings. He was wretched already at being forbidden to ride Syracuse.
The next day, he missed Syracuse more than ever. What made it worse was that he could feel Syracuse, turned out into the paddock, missing Cat too, and sad and puzzled when Cat did not appear. Cat moped about, avoiding Janet and Julia and not being able to see much of Roger either. Roger, possibly as a way of avoiding Chrestomanci, was spending most of his time with Joe. Whenever Joe was not working – which seemed to be more than half the day – he and Roger were to be found with their heads together, talking machinery in the old garden shed behind the stables. At least, Cat could find them, being an enchanter, but nobody much else could. They had a surprisingly strong “Don’t Notice” spell out around the shed. But Cat was bored by machinery and only went there once.
The day after that, Jason Yeldham’s small blue car thundered up to the front door of Chrestomanci Castle. This time, Janet and Julia refused to go near it. But Millie rushed through the hall to meet it and Cat went with her out of boredom. Jason sprang out of the car in his usual energetic way and ran round it to open the other door and help Irene climb out.
As Irene stood up and smiled – just a little nervously – at Millie and Cat, Cat’s instant thought was, Janet and Julia can’t possibly hate her! Irene was slender and dark, with that proud, pale kind of profile that Cat always thought of as belonging to the ancient Egyptians. On Irene, it was somehow very beautiful. Her eyes, like those of the wives of the Pharoahs, were huge and slanted and almond shaped, so that it came as quite a shock when Irene looked at Cat and he saw that her eyes were a deep shining blue. Those eyes seemed to recognise Cat, and know him, and to take him in and warm to him, like a friend’s. Millie’s eyes had the same knack, now Cat came to think of it.
He did not blame Jason for smiling so proudly as he led Irene up the steps and into the hall, where Irene looked at the huge pentacle inlaid in the marble floor, and up into the glass dome where the chandelier hung, and round at the great clock over the library door. “Goodness gracious!” she said.
Jason laughed. “I told you it was grand,” he said.
By this time, all the wizards and sorceresses of Chrestomanci’s staff were streaming down the marble stairs to meet Irene. Chrestomanci himself came behind them. As usual at that hour of the morning, he was wearing a dressing gown. This one was bronzy gold and green and blue, and seemed to be made of peacock feathers. Irene blinked a little when she saw it, but held out her hand to him almost calmly. As Chrestomanci took it and shook it, Cat could tell that Chrestomanci liked Irene. He felt relieved about that.
Julia and Janet appeared at the top of the stairs, behind everyone’s backs as they crowded round Irene. Janet took one look and rushed away, crying bitterly. But Julia stayed, watching Irene with a slight, interested smile. Cat was relieved about that too.
Altogether the arrival of Irene made Cat’s separation from Syracuse easier to bear. She was as natural and warm as if she had known Cat for years. Jason allowed Cat to show her round the Castle – although he insisted on showing Irene the gardens himself – and Irene strolled beside Cat, marvelling at the ridiculous size of the main rooms, at the miles of green carpeted corridors and at the battered state of the schoolroom. She was so interested that Cat even showed her his own round room up in the turret.
Irene much admired it. “I’ve always wanted a tower room like this myself,” she said. “You must love it up here. Do you think there’s a house in the neighbourhood that’s big enough to have a tower like this one?”
Cat was quite ashamed to say he didn’t know.
“Never mind,” said Irene. “Jason’s found several for sale that I might like. You see, it’s got to be quite a big house. My father left me money when he died, but he left me his two old servants as well. We have to have room for them to live with us without being cramped. Jane James insists she doesn’t mind where we live or how much room we have – but I know that’s not true. She’s a very particular person. And Adams has set his heart on living in the country and I simply can’t disappoint him. If you knew him, you’d understand.”
Later, Irene sat in the vast Small Saloon and showed Cat a portfolio of her drawings. Cat was surprised to find that they were more like patterns than drawings. They were all in neatly ruled shapes, long strips and elegant diamonds. The strips had designs of ferns and honeysuckle inside them and the diamonds had fronds of graceful leaves. There were plaits of wild roses and panels of delicately drawn irises. It was a further surprise to Cat to find that each pattern sent out its own small fragrant breath of magic. Each was full of a strange gentle joy. Cat had had no idea that drawings could do this.
“I’m a designer really,” Irene explained. “I do book decorations and fabrics, tiles and wallpaper and so forth. I do surprisingly well with them.”
“But you’re a witch too, aren’t you?” Cat said. “These all have magic in.”
Irene went the pink of the wild roses in the design she was showing Cat. “Not exactly,” she said. “I always use real plants for my drawings, but I don’t do anything else. The magic just comes out of them somehow. I’ve never thought of myself as a witch. My father, now, he could do real magic – I never knew quite what he did for a living, but Jason says he was a well known enchanter – so maybe just a touch of it came down to me.”
Later still, Cat overheard Irene asking Millie why Cat was so mournful. He went away before he had to hear Millie explain about Syracuse.
“Huh!” Janet said, catching him on the schoolroom stairs. “In love with Irene, aren’t you? Now you know how I feel.”
“I don’t think I am,” Cat said. He thought he probably wasn’t. But it did strike him that when he was old enough to start being in love – pointless though that seemed – he would try to find someone not unlike Irene to be in love with. “She’s just nice,” he said, and went on up to his room.
Irene’s niceness was real, and active. She must have spoken to Jason about Cat. The next morning, Jason came to find Cat in the schoolroom. “Irene thinks you need taking out of yourself, young nine-lifer,” he said. “How do you feel about driving around with us this morning to look at a few houses for sale?”
“Won’t I be in the way?” Cat asked, trying not to show how very much more cheerful this made him feel.
“She says she values your judgement,” Jason said. “She assures me, hand on heart, that you’ll only have to look at a house to know if we’ll be happy there or not. Would you say that’s true?”
“I don’t know,” Cat said. “It may be.”
“Come along then,” Jason said. “It’s a lovely day. It feels as if it’s going to be important somehow.”
Jason was right about this, although perhaps not quite in the way he or Cat thought.
Over in Ulverscote, Nutcase was being a perfect nuisance to Marianne. Nothing seemed to persuade him that he was now living in Furze Cottage. Dad changed all the locks, and the catches on the windows, but Nutcase still managed to get out at least once a day. No one knew how he did it. People from all over the village kept arriving at Furze Cottage with Nutcase struggling in their arms. Nicola found him prowling in Ulverscote Wood. Aunt Joy sourly brought him back from the Post Office. Aunt Helen arrived at least twice with him from the pub, explaining that Nutcase had been at the food in the kitchen there. And Uncle Charles repeatedly knocked at the door, carrying Nutcase squirming under one paint-splashed arm, saying that Nutcase had turned up in Woods House yet again.
“He must think he still lives there,” Uncle Charles said. “Probably looking for Gammer. Do try to keep him in. The wall’s mended and I’ve nearly finished the painting. We put the back door in yesterday. He’ll get locked in there when we leave and starve to death if you’re not c
areful.”
Mum’s opinion was that Nutcase should go and live with Gammer in the Dell. Marianne would have agreed, except that Gammer was always saying to her, “You’ll look after Nutcase for me, won’t you, Marianne?”
Gammer insisted that Marianne walked over to see her every day. Marianne had no idea why. Often, Gammer simply stared at the wall and said nothing except that she was to look after Nutcase. Sometimes she would lean forward and say things that made no sense, like “It’s the best way to get pink tomatoes.” Most frequently Gammer just grumbled to herself. “They’re out to get me,” she would say. “I have to get a blow in first. They have spies everywhere, you know. They watch and they wait. And of course they have fangs and terrible teeth. The best way is to drain the spirit out of them.”
Marianne grew to hate these visits. She could not understand how Aunt Dinah put up with these sinister grumbles of Gammer’s. Aunt Dinah said cheerfully, “It’s just her way, poor old thing. She’s no idea what she’s saying.”
Nutcase must have learnt the way to the Dell by following Marianne. He turned up there one day just after Marianne had left and got in among Aunt Dinah’s day-old chicks. The slaughter he worked there was horrific. Uncle Isaac arrived at Furze Cottage, as Marianne was setting off to look for Nutcase, and threw Nutcase indoors so hard and far that Nutcase hit the kitchen sink, right at the other end of the house.
“Dinah’s in tears,” he said. “There’s barely twenty chicks left out of the hundred. If that cat gets near the Dell one more time, I’ll kill him. Wring his neck. I warn you.” And he slammed the front door and stalked away.
The Chrestomanci Series Page 125