The Lights Under the Lake

by Sophie Cleverly

  “Are you sure you want to go on this trip?” Ivy asked, suddenly.

  Was she mad? “Of course! We’ve wanted to get away from Rookwood this whole time, haven’t we?”

  I half expected my twin to bring up the fact that it was at least preferable to being locked in an asylum, as I had been when Miss Fox had convinced everyone I was crazy. But she didn’t say that, and there was a faraway look in her eyes. “I’ve just got a bad feeling about this,” she said hazily. Then she blinked and came back to reality. “Maybe it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Edith is never going to agree to it.”

  “I bet she would if we bribed her,” I growled. We were almost certain that our stepmother had accepted a bribe from Miss Fox to keep quiet about the asylum incident.

  “Perhaps we should just give up,” Ivy replied, and she looked strangely hopeful.

  “Give up? Since when do we just give up?” I said. “No. We’ll think of something.”

  Friday’s assembly brought letters. I shuffled in my seat as Mrs Knight called out the names, and each person went up to collect their post as others filed out of the hall.

  Ariadne’s name was called, and she came rushing back looking like an excited puppy. “Daddy’s given me permission!” she said, flapping the letter at us. “I can go on the trip!” I think she noticed our downcast faces, because she slowly stopped flapping the paper. “Ah,” she said. “You didn’t get a letter, did you?”

  Ivy shook her head. “Our stepmother is determined to stop us from going.”

  “Well, rats,” said Ariadne. “I’m not sure if I want to go on my own.”

  I looked around at the other girls in our year. Nadia appeared to be celebrating, so I supposed her parents had agreed to let her go. Penny was slumped in her seat looking dejected. I almost felt sorry for her, but … no, I wasn’t quite there yet. Not after all her bullying.

  “You might avoid being stuck with Penny, at least. It looks like her parents haven’t given their permission,” I said.

  We stood up to head for the first lesson, but someone was in the way, blocking our exit from the row.

  “You’re going on the trip, then, are you, Flitworth?” It was Elsie Sparks, the prissy prefect, flanked by two others whose names I didn’t know. Their shiny prefect badges glinted on their lapels.

  “Yes, I am,” Ariadne said, clutching her letter to her dress.

  “Hmm,” Elsie smirked at her friends. “Another one we’ve got to keep an eye on. They’re trouble this lot.” Her eyes flicked over to me and Ivy. “But I didn’t see a letter for you two, did I? Are you leaving her to come all alone?”

  “Actually—” Ivy started, but I interrupted her.

  “Actually we will be going. Just as soon as we get the permission slip. It probably got lost in the post.”

  “Ha!” snorted Elsie. “I’m sure it did.”

  One of the other prefects beside her peered at me down her nose. She was very tall, with unreasonably long legs and perfectly curled short brown hair. Her satchel was neatly labelled CASSANDRA CLARKSON, so I presumed that was her name, unless she’d pinched the bag from someone else. “I know you two,” she said, in a voice that sounded like it was giving us an exam. “You’re the twins who got rid of the headmaster, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” I said. “What’s your point?”

  “Hmmph,” she sniffed. “I liked him. He chose me as a prefect, after all.”

  Mr Bartholomew, the old head, had tried to bring back the prefect system when he took over the school back from Miss Fox. His choices were utterly terrible, but the teachers wouldn’t be picking new prefects until next year.

  Ivy gaped at Cassandra, while I just stared daggers at her. She was mad if she actually liked the old man. “He murdered a student!” Ivy pointed out.

  “Well, perhaps she should have behaved,” the tall girl said with a wry smile.

  Elsie smacked her on the arm. “You’re such a card, Cassie!”

  Cassandra giggled, as if she’d been terribly funny. I wanted to give her a smack myself, but it would have been a lot harder, and probably round the face area.

  “Right,” I said. “Will you lot get out of our way so we can get to class?” I wasn’t particularly in a rush to learn, but I was fed up with being taunted.

  The other prefect, who had dark hair and a horse-riding rosette pinned to her uniform, spread her arms out wide. “Is that any way to talk to your betters?”

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” I said. I wasn’t about to let them walk all over us. I pushed the horsey girl out of the way and stomped into the aisle. Ivy and Ariadne darted behind me.

  “Watch it, Grey,” Elsie hissed, as her friend dusted herself off in mock horror. “We’ll be keeping an eye on your little friend on the trip, and you wouldn’t want her to get into trouble, would you?” She glanced pointedly at Ariadne, who gulped.

  At that moment, Mrs Knight headed across the quickly emptying hall towards us. “Problem, girls?” she asked.

  “Oh, none at all, Miss,” said Elsie, pulling out her cheerful sucking-up-to-teachers voice. “We were simply telling these little ones how excited we are about the trip. It’s going to be so wonderful!”

  Mrs Knight beamed. I clenched my fists to prevent myself from punching anyone.

  “How lovely to see some school spirit again,” the headmistress said happily. “Right then, off to lessons with you all.”

  I wasn’t about to be told twice, so I grabbed Ivy and Ariadne’s hands and we hurried away from the prefects.

  “I can’t believe Mrs Knight is putting those smarmy slugs in charge,” I muttered as we walked through the corridors.

  “Me neither,” said Ivy. It had been bad enough going for a short bus ride with Elsie last term, let alone having to suffer a whole week of her bossing us about.

  Ariadne had gone a bit pale. “Please don’t leave me alone with them,” she said.

  “We won’t,” I promised. “We’ll find a way.”

  But at that moment, I had to admit – I was out of ideas.

  Chapter Three

  IVY

  was afraid of going on the trip, I had to admit. I felt sure something was going to go wrong, just as it always did.

  But what I was even more worried about was leaving Ariadne in the company of unscrupulous prefects for a week. Scarlet was right. We had to get permission. But how?

  “We could forge a letter from our parents!” Scarlet suggested as we walked to ballet that afternoon.

  “That’s just a recipe for trouble if we get found out,” I said. “Not to mention that they don’t just have to say we can go, someone has to actually pay for both of us.”

  “Hmmph,” my twin folded her arms. “You haven’t made any suggestions so far.”

  “I’m thinking about it,” I insisted.

  Ballet was a little different these days. Our teacher, Miss Finch, had been struggling for some time with her injured leg. Then last term the strange Madame Zelda had arrived when Miss Finch disappeared – just a coincidence, it turned out, as Zelda had actually turned up hoping to apologise for being the one to cause the injury.

  They must have had a long talk, because now they seemed happy to be in the same room as one another – or at the very least, they accepted it. Mrs Knight had decided that it would be best for them to share the job of teaching ballet in order to give Miss Finch a bit of a rest now and then.

  We descended the steps into the chilly basement ballet studio, where Miss Finch and Madame Zelda were waiting. Miss Finch sat at the piano, while Zelda stood staring into the mirror. They weren’t talking, but the atmosphere didn’t seem too unfriendly.

  “Ah, girls,” said Madame Zelda as we walked in. “Begin your warm-up, please.”

  We started lacing on our shoes, never quite sure whether we had to remain silent as Madame Zelda usually insisted, or whether we could talk more freely as Miss Finch had let us in the past. I watched as Nadia and another girl came down the stairs into the room.
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  “I’m just so excited for the trip,” Nadia was saying. “A whole week away from school!”

  Madame Zelda looked at her sharply. “I hope you will be practising extra hard this week, then, Miss Sayani. You don’t want to get behind with your ballet.”

  Nadia straightened up. “No, Miss!” she said.

  The new teacher seemed pleased with her answer. “Good. And you two? Will you be leaving us as well?” she asked, looking down at me and Scarlet.

  “Couldn’t get permission,” said Scarlet, glaring at the floor. “Awful parents.”

  “I can sympathise,” called Miss Finch from the piano.

  I got to my feet, and Madame Zelda placed a thin hand lightly on my shoulder. “Then we shall enjoy having you both in class,” she said, and winked at me.

  I tried to smile, but Scarlet looked so miserable that I couldn’t quite manage it.

  Penny walked in then, and Madame Zelda turned to her. “What about you, Miss Winchester? Will you be going on this trip?”

  Penny’s expression turned thunderous. “No,” she said.

  “And why’s that?” asked Madame Zelda, her face inquisitive and open.

  To my surprise, Penny actually answered her honestly. “My parents haven’t replied to the letter. And I don’t think they’re going to. I thought of writing to my uncle to see if he might pay for me to go, but …” She trailed off, and looked around at us. “It’s none of your business, anyway,” she finished.

  “Careful,” Madame Zelda said, waving her finger. “We must have the composure of a ballet dancer, mustn’t we?”

  Penny sighed and slumped down to lace her shoes on. “Yes, Miss. Sorry, Miss.”

  Scarlet rolled her eyes, but something Penny had said stuck in my mind as we began doing our stretches. I thought of writing to my uncle. The thought grew bigger and bigger. We had two aunts now, aunts who were both kind and generous. If we wrote to them …

  At the end of the lesson, I grabbed Scarlet. “I think we should write to Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Sara about the trip!”

  “Why?” My twin wrinkled her nose. “To tell them our stepmother is the spawn of the devil? I think they already know that.”

  “No,” I said. “To ask them for permission. They might be able to pay the fees for us.”

  Scarlet’s eyes widened. “Is that allowed?”

  “I have no idea.” I thought about it for a moment. “I’m hoping Aunt Phoebe might have been listed as a guardian on our records.”

  Scarlet started to grin. “You’re a genius. Let’s try it!”

  We composed the letters that night. We wrote to both Aunt Sara and Aunt Phoebe, telling them all about the trip and asking if we could go.

  “We’ll go to the village first thing tomorrow and post them,” said Scarlet. “They won’t take long to get there.”

  I crossed my fingers. Ariadne was sitting on my bed and nervously knitting. “I hope they say yes,” she said, twirling the wool round her fingers.

  “Me too,” I said. “If we don’t get permission by Friday, then we’ll be taken off the list.”

  We had to do it. I didn’t want our stepmother to win again.

  Friday dawned, and I was desperate for assembly to start – because Friday’s assembly meant letters.

  I ran into Rose in the corridor as I headed for the lavatories, feeling chilly in my nightgown. She was leaving the room she had shared with Violet, her face forlorn as she slowly pulled the door closed. Violet and Rose had been inseparable after meeting in the asylum. She must miss her.

  Rose was unusual to say the least – she was an enigma, and rumours abounded throughout the school. We knew very little about her. She wasn’t one to talk, usually, and when she did, she spoke so softly that you had to strain to hear her.

  “Good morning, Rose,” I said brightly.

  She smiled at me.

  “Did you hear about the trip?” I asked, carrying on walking as she came up beside me.

  She nodded.

  “Our stepmother wouldn’t give us permission,” I explained, “but we’re going to ask our aunts. I hope we’ll be able to go. Well, I was worried about going at first, but I think Ariadne needs us.”

  As we reached the lavatories, I started to worry that we were having a bit of a one-sided conversation. At least, more one-sided than usual. “Do you think you’d like to go?”

  Rose looked back in the direction of her room. “I would,” she whispered. “Very much. Only …”

  She trailed off, but I could fill in the gaps. She didn’t have Violet any more, and she wasn’t a proper student. Even more than that, there was no one who could give her permission.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t think. It’s not long, though. Only a week.” We went inside, and I washed my face with the freezing-cold water from the sink.

  She smiled again, but she seemed sad. If only there was something we could do. But if we couldn’t get on the trip ourselves, I didn’t see how we’d be able to take Rose.

  After breakfast, we headed for assembly. Scarlet pretty much bounced into her seat, dropping her satchel on the floor and nudging it about with her foot. She was so jittery, waiting to see if we’d got a letter. I was too. I barely listened to what Mrs Knight was telling us.

  “Now,” Mrs Knight said, “don’t forget that today is the deadline for your permission letters.” My ears pricked up, and Scarlet squeezed my knee. “On that note,” the headmistress said, “it’s post day.”

  She began reading out names from the pile of letters in her hand. “Agatha Brown! Alice Carter-Jones!”

  Scarlet squeezed my knee even harder as the alphabet got closer to our surname. I had to slap her hand away, because I didn’t want my leg to fall off.

  “Scarlet and Ivy Grey!”

  Scarlet leapt up and ran for the stage. She grabbed the letter from Mrs Knight’s hand and was back in her seat tearing open the envelope before I even had time to speak.

  I read it over her shoulder. I didn’t recognise the beautiful looped handwriting, but I soon realised it must belong to our Aunt Sara.

  Dear Scarlet and Ivy,

  My darlings, I hope you are well. I received your letter about the school trip. I have managed to speak to your Aunt Phoebe (it wasn’t easy – I had to telephone someone named Philip?).

  We have decided that you ought to be allowed to go on the trip. We’ll keep this quiet from Edith, shall we? I have enclosed a cheque for you, which should be more than enough to cover the trip, and a letter of permission.

  Go forth, my darlings, and have a new adventure!

  With love,

  Sara Louise

  Chapter Four

  SCARLET

  started bouncing up and down in the middle of the hall. I couldn’t believe it. We were going on the trip! Finally, a way out of Rookwood – even if it was only for a week.

  “Aunt Sara is the best!” I said. I was so glad we’d found her. At least someone was on our side who could help us. Aunt Phoebe was lovely too, but she couldn’t be trusted to remember where she’d left her own head.

  Ariadne was bouncing beside me. “It’s going to be brilliant!” she cried.

  Ivy wasn’t quite bouncing, but she at least looked pleased. “We need to take this to Mrs Knight,” she said.

  “No time like the present,” I said. I ran to the front of the hall, where Mrs Knight was just stepping down from the stage. “Miss! We can go on the trip!” I waved the letter and the cheque at her.

  Mrs Knight held her hands out in front of her protectively. “Slow down a moment, Scarlet. Let me see.”

  I handed the papers over, and she pulled her glasses up from the chain round her neck and put them on. I watched as her eyes slid along each line of the letter.

  “Well,” she said after a moment. “This is a little irregular. I do recall your aunts, but …”

  “Aunt Sara’s paid the fees!” I said, tapping the cheque repeatedly.

  An expression I couldn’t quite r
ead crossed Mrs Knight’s face. She took her glasses back off again. “Ah. Hmm. I suppose it’s all right …”

  “Yes!” I punched the air.

  Ivy came up beside me. “Thank you, Miss,” she said.

  “Um, yes,” said Mrs Knight, taking the cheque from me and tucking it into her pocket. She patted it a few times, as if making sure it was still there. “Well done, girls. The bus leaves at four o’clock on Monday.” She wandered away, leaving us both to share an excited hug.

  Ariadne had ceased bouncing by this point, and now she looked a little concerned. “I just remembered about Rose,” she said. “Do you think she stands any chance?”

  I shrugged. “No idea. She doesn’t have parents who can give her permission …”

  “… but she doesn’t have parents to deny her permission either,” Ivy finished. That was a good point. I wasn’t sure what Mrs Knight would say to that.

  “But the trip is full anyway,” I said, picking up my satchel from the floor. “Miss Bowler made it very clear that your name has to be down. I don’t think there’s anything we can do.”

  Ariadne sighed. “You’re probably right. Poor Rose.”

  I felt sorry for her as well. Violet had been Rose’s best friend, and at the moment it didn’t look like Violet was coming back. And all right, I was a little pleased about that. She’d always wanted everything to go her way, and I wanted everything to go my way, and that was always going to be a recipe for disaster.

  Still, Rose didn’t deserve to lose her friend. She was so shy and quiet and kind, completely the opposite of Vile Violet. She’d been through the same asylum hell that I’d been through. But most people still thought she was strange and avoided her, or at worst, picked on her. I didn’t want to abandon her at school with only the horses to talk to.

  “We can get someone nice to keep an eye on her,” I suggested. “But right now we have more important things to do.”

  “Oh?” Ivy said with a curious smile.

  “Like PACKING!”

  “We have lessons,” Ariadne pointed out.

  “I know,” I said. “But after that, we can start packing. Because WE’RE GOING ON THE TRIP!”