The Midnight Chimes

by Paula Harrison

  Bang! Bang!

  The noise made me jump and I lost my balance, slicing the shower curtain that hung beside the bath.

  “What are you doing in there?” Sammie said through the door.

  “Mind your own business!” I quickly put away the blade and pushed the shower curtain back as far as it would go. Maybe if it was bunched up then no one would notice the massive rip for a while. I unlocked the door.

  “Finally!” Sammie scowled. “Why did you have to take so long? And what were those weird thumping noises you were making?”

  “Go easy, Sammie!” Mum came past carrying a pile of towels. “You need to let people use the bathroom in peace.”

  Behind me the whole shower rail collapsed into the bath, taking the curtain with it.

  “Oh, Robyn, did you have an accident?” Mum sighed. “Never mind. I’ll see if your dad can fix it.”

  Sammie folded her arms and waited for me to pass, a huge smirk on her face.

  My face flamed. It was all her fault. I’d been doing something important – practising sword skills that could save someone’s life one day. I longed to tell them I was learning to fight deadly monsters but I knew I couldn’t. Mum would think I was inventing the story and she might say I couldn’t stay for Bat Club any more.

  I pulled down my jumper to hide the torchblade bulge in my pocket. There was no way I would ever give up training. If that meant I had to keep my mouth shut – something I’d never been very good at – then that was the way it had to be.

  I Trap a Kobold in a Roasting Dish

  iss Smiting frowned when I asked if we could start fighting creatures like real Chimes. “Of course you can’t! Don’t be ssilly! Mr Cryptorum iss not here.”

  “But, miss!” I began, but she slipped up the stairs. The clock chimed and I knew it was time for school to start.

  It had been three days since Mr Dray had landed his helicopter on the Grimdean lawn and we hadn’t seen Cryptorum in all that time. He was still out monster-hunting while we were stuck here in lessons.

  “She said no. I can’t believe it!” I whispered to Aiden when I got to class. I’d told him my plan on the way to school. “She was the one that wanted Cryptorum to train us in the first place. Now she won’t let us do anything!”

  “We can still train after school,” Aiden said. “What’s the rush anyway? I’ve got a new prototype for an arrow I want to work on.”

  “I bet Rufus and those other kids get to fight real monsters.” I looked up to check Mrs Perez wasn’t listening. “And I bet we’re just as good as them. We were fine on Blagdurn Heath.”

  “Yeah. Apart from the part where we nearly became a grodder’s snack.”

  A deep moan came from the boggun in the dungeon below. It cut short suddenly. A moment later there was a scuffling sound from behind the wall, like a bunch of spiny kobold feet making a run for it. The noise passed on. I exchanged looks with Aiden.

  “Robyn Silver, do you plan on daydreaming the whole lesson away?” Mrs Perez demanded.

  “No, miss!” I bent over my book. As I tried to work, I felt something knocking against my ankle. Looking under the desk I found Eye tapping me with her claws. I kicked her off gently. What was she doing down here? I’d never seen her downstairs before.

  “There’s something under your chair,” Sally-Anne hissed.

  I tried to hide Eye with my feet. Could ordinary people see the little creature? If Sally-Anne got a good look at Eye she’d really have something to gossip about. “It’s just a beetle,” I muttered. “It’s gone now.”

  Sally-Anne kept shooting looks at me and Eye kept tapping on my feet. Was the creature trying to tell me something?

  The door was flung open and Annie stood there trembling. “Please, Mrs Perez! Miss Rawlings says can she have some help. Something’s made a mess in our classroom.”

  I leapt to my feet, my heart racing. “Miss, I’m her sister. I’ll go!”

  “Sit down, Robyn.” Mrs Perez frowned at me. “Hector, can you give Miss Rawlings a hand?”

  “Yes, miss.” Hector made a smug face.

  I glared as I watched him go. I had a really bad feeling about this and I needed to get to Annie’s classroom. My hands tightened on the edge of my desk.

  A scream came from down the passageway. Ignoring Mrs Perez, I jumped up and sprinted from the room.

  The ballroom was a complete mess. Trays of paint and paintbrushes were scattered everywhere, and little kids were running to and fro. A kobold, its feet covered in blue paint, was jumping from one table to another. The wall tapestry was bulging suspiciously. I ran over and shut the door to the hidden passage. If this kobold had escaped from the dungeon then what else was free?

  “There must be a squirrel in here somewhere.” Hector had a dazed look in his eyes. “A really big squirrel.”

  The kobold ran up the wall, leaving blue footprints everywhere. A shadow glided past me as I tracked the kobold. I glanced back but it was gone.

  “Miss, if you take the kids out I’ll get rid of the creature,” I told Miss Rawlings. The teacher seemed as dazed as Hector, so I just yelled, “Extra break time!”

  The little kids ran out of the door, cheering, and Miss Rawlings followed them. As soon as they’d gone, Aiden dashed in.

  “Mrs Perez sent me down here.” Hector’s face reddened. “So you two can go away!”

  The kobold ran to the middle of the ceiling and hung there, bristling and dripping blue paint. Some of it landed on Hector’s head. He groped his hair, frowning. “There must be a leaky pipe.”

  “Get Nora and Miss Smiting,” I muttered to Aiden. “Other monsters might be loose too. We need a way to get everyone out. . .”

  “The fire alarm!” Aiden rushed off and a minute later the alarm started ringing.

  Each class began filing out, thinking it was just a drill.

  The kobold on the ceiling gave a menacing growl. Hector stood underneath, completely oblivious. “Robyn, get out of here! I don’t need your help.”

  I bit my lip. I was so tempted to let the kobold bite Hector. It wouldn’t kill him after all. I sighed. I had to be good. I was a Chime and I had a sacred duty – or whatever Cryptorum would’ve said. I touched the torchblade in my pocket. So how was I going to get rid of Hector?

  The kobold gave me no time to think. It leapt from the ceiling, teeth gnashing.

  “Hector, catch!” I seized a paint-splattered plastic table cover and threw it over his head. Then I opened my torchblade and slashed at the creature. The kobold growled and jumped out of an open window. I collapsed my sword just as Hector freed himself and Aiden and Nora ran in.

  “I’m telling Mrs Perez what you did!” Hector stormed.

  “Go tell her then!” I called after him. “I chased off your squirrel, by the way.”

  “I think Miss Smiting’s gone out,” Aiden puffed. “The limo’s not there.”

  “I cornered a kobold in my classroom and locked it in a china cabinet,” Nora said.

  I looked at her with new respect. “So if all the creatures in the dungeon have escaped then what have we got left to catch?”

  “One kobold, one boggun and a scree sag,” Nora said. “But how did they get loose? There are so many doors and padlocks down there.”

  “Let’s think about that afterwards.” I drew my blade. “All I know is the door behind the tapestry was open. We’ve got to assume everything got out.”

  “We should split up – we’ll cover more rooms that way,” Aiden said.

  “Right,” I agreed. “Meet you back here. Have you got weapons?”

  They both nodded. “Take one of these.” Nora gave us a little hand mirror each. “It’ll trap a boggun, but only for an hour or so because it’s so small. The Field Guide to Wraiths, Phantoms and Bogguns says that if it’s held close enough, a mirror will attract a boggun and draw it in like a vacuum cleaner, and then—”

  I patted her shoulder. “Tell me later, OK? It should work and that’s good enough for me.�
�� I stuck the mirror in my spare pocket. “You guys go upstairs. I’ll check things out down here.”

  I crept through the empty rooms, scanning the places a monster might hide – under grand pianos, behind velvet couches and in wooden cabinets. The school desks in each room were littered with pencils, rubbers and books left open as the kids ran out in a hurry.

  I froze. I was sure I’d heard something. My heart started racing.

  The noise came again – a cracking sound, like dry bones moving. A scree sag. A black-eyed face leered from behind the heavy curtains. With a high-pitched scream, the creature threw itself at me. The sound drilled into my brain and for a second I couldn’t move. Bony fingers fastened on my shoulder and felt for my neck. I slashed with my sword but the creature grabbed my throat and squeezed.

  I gasped for breath. The scree sag leant in, its lips stretched in a hideous grin. I kicked out with all my strength. The creature’s leg bone crunched and it staggered backwards. Taking a gasping breath, I swung my sword.

  The scree sag’s ribs snapped and it crumpled into a heap.

  I rubbed my neck, feeling pretty relieved. I was sure that no one except a Chime could see the scree sag’s bones but I kicked them under a cabinet just in case.

  Through the window, I could see the teachers lining up their classes on the lawn. Miss Mason was standing with Josh’s class, her red-and-silver scarf flapping in the wind. Soon the teachers would count everyone and bring them back in but there was still another kobold and a boggun to find.

  I checked out the rest of the downstairs, including all the rooms marked KEEP OUT. When I got to the kitchen, I found a kobold cramming cheesecake between its spiky teeth. It leapt on to the worktop, scattering dishes. Crumbs flew into the air.

  I raised my torchblade. “If Nora was here she’d tell me your usual diet and I bet it’s not cheesecake.”

  The kobold snarled.

  “You’ve probably ruined the only nice pudding we’ll get all week.” I brought the sword down on its spiny head. The creature yelped but the blade bounced off. Kobold skin was so tough.

  I struck again and the beast fell back into a huge roasting dish. I clapped the lid on and weighed it down with a sack of potatoes. If Miss Smiting came back soon, maybe she could bag this creature and take him to Blagdurn Heath where he could play with his pals. After all, kobolds weren’t deadly, just not very human-friendly.

  Two down. Now for the boggun.

  I spun round, glimpsing a shadow from the corner of my eye. There it was – slipping through the doorway. Pulling the mirror from my pocket, I followed it down the corridor. I thought I’d lost it until I saw a shadow sliding up the stairs. Jumping over the KEEP OUT sign I ran after it and nearly crashed into Aiden and Nora at the top.

  “I’ve killed the scree sag and the kobold’s stuck in the kitchen,” I panted. “Just got to get this boggun.” I looked round but the boggun had gone.

  Nora stared. “We’ve already caught the boggun. Aiden trapped it five minutes ago.”

  “It’s in here.” Aiden held up his mirror. The glass showed a mass of dark, swirly stuff. Now and then two glaring eyes came to the surface. It was like looking at really angry smoke.

  “If that’s the boggun. . .” I broke off, looking for the shadow I’d seen slipping through the bannisters.

  “There was definitely only one of them in the dungeon,” Nora said anxiously. “I hope what you saw wasn’t a grey phantom or a fire wraith – though I think the wraiths need to live close to volcanoes. They caused an eruption in Iceland in 1783 when the volcanic area became infested, according to the Field Guide to Wraiths, Phantoms and Bogguns.”

  I scanned the corridor. Where had the shadow gone? Had I imagined it?

  A patch of darkness lurked in a doorway. I wasn’t sure it was really there until it moved. The shadow slid up the staircase and I crept after it, my blade ready. Downstairs the sound of voices grew louder as the classes came back inside.

  “Robyn Silver!” Mrs Lovell called. “I hope you’re not upstairs. Aiden McGee! Nora Juniper! Come down at once.”

  “We’ll keep her talking,” Aiden told me. “You get that thing. Good luck!”

  I nodded. I didn’t dare take my eyes off the moving shadow in case I lost it again. As it crossed a patch of light at the top of the stairs, the shadow darkened into a clearer shape – a figure with thin arms and a skirt or long coat swirling around its legs.

  The shadow figure slid under the door to Cryptorum’s study and disappeared. I crept forward, but Eye scuttled past and stopped between me and the door. The little crab creature waved her claws wildly.

  “What is it, Eye?” I whispered. “What’s going on?”

  Eye jabbed her claw at Cryptorum’s study and waved her claws again.

  I stepped round her, pushing the door handle quietly. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

  The study was eerily silent. The shadow figure showed no sign that it saw me as it glided over to the little white cupboard where the wish was kept. The cupboard door rattled as if shadow fingers were shaking it.

  “Stop!” I held my frostblade up high. “You’re not allowed in here.”

  The shadow whirled. It was everywhere – at the bookcase, under the desk and beside the window. At last it stopped by the fireplace and drew a silver key from just inside the chimney. I froze, watching the key float through the air. It turned slowly in the lock. It was horrible to watch.

  “Robyn!” It was Cryptorum’s voice.

  The sound pulled me out of my terrible frozen state. “I’m in here!” I swung my blade at the shadow but hit nothing at all. The shadow slipped to the window and edged through the tiny crack under the wooden frame.

  Cryptorum dashed up the stairs and entered the study with Miss Smiting right behind him. The door to the white cupboard was swinging slightly. Inside, the wish floated around the glass case, its blue-green surface catching the light.

  Cryptorum’s voice was deathly quiet. “Why are you in my office without permission and WHY are you going through my things?”

  “I didn’t!” I stammered. “It wasn’t me who opened the cupboard.”

  “Tell the truth, Robyn.” Miss Smiting bore down on me. Her eyes were points of angry green fire. “You opened it before.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t this time,” I said desperately. “It was a shadow. It found the key up the chimney and then it slipped out of the window when it heard you coming. Honest!”

  The wish inside the cupboard went crazy as Cryptorum came near, bouncing about and bashing itself against the glass. Closing the cupboard door carefully, Cryptorum turned the key and put it in his pocket.

  I looked away so he wouldn’t think I’d been staring, but my brain whirled. What was that wish and why didn’t he want anyone to see it?

  Cryptorum looked fiercer than I’d ever seen him. “Robyn Silver. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

  I swallowed. He was glaring so hard I thought his eyebrows might get stuck in that position.

  “I trusted you,” he growled. “I let you visit my study after school and now you come here and snoop around.”

  I tried to explain. I told them about the noises in the walls and the kobold in the ballroom. It came out in a bit of a rush – especially the part about the kobold trapped in the roasting dish. Miss Smiting hurried away when she heard this. After I’d finished, Cryptorum paced up and down a few times. Then he said, “You’d better sit down.”

  I slumped on to the leather sofa. I hoped I was missing something really boring downstairs – geography, maybe.

  Miss Smiting reappeared. “Everything iss as she sayss – the kobold is in the kitchen and there are signs of a disturbance in the ballroom. The basement iss empty and the other Chimes gave me thiss.” She held up a mirror with a smoky surface. It was the one Aiden had used to trap the boggun.

  Cryptorum leant heavily on his desk. “Then we have a shadow-walker. It set the creatures from the basement free – probably to
make mischief while it came up here.”

  I was surprised to see him look worried. “What’s a shadow-walker?”

  “It’s a vampire – a particularly dangerous kind,” he explained. “A vampire that’s strong enough to walk abroad in sunlight can detach his shadow and send it to follow his commands.”

  I stared. “You mean their shadow goes around by itself? And it can touch things and see things?”

  Cryptorum nodded. “However they can’t send their shadows too far from their bodies and that means the vampire was close by.”

  My heart went cold. Shadows that moved by themselves. That was the creepiest thing I’d ever heard. I glanced round the room, half afraid that the vampire’s shadow was still hiding somewhere.

  “We musst be ready.” Miss Smiting glided to Cryptorum’s side. “We will help you defeat this vampire just as you beat the ones that dwelt here years ago.”

  Cryptorum shook his head. “That’s if I can find him! One shadow-walker can easily slip along a street and into people’s houses without being seen. It will take every tracking skill I have to hunt him down.”

  “I can help!” I cried. “Aiden and Nora will too.”

  Cryptorum’s face was grim. “These creatures are vicious. I can’t put you in that kind of danger. A shadow-walker in town is very bad news indeed.”

  I Start to Wonder About the Hidden Wish

  hen I met Aiden and Nora after school, they were desperate to find out what was going on. We started climbing the stairs to the north wing but Miss Smiting caught us and swept us out to the little garden surrounded by tall hedges. We sat on a stone bench watched by a bunch of statues with spooky blank eyes.

  “Mr Cryptorum is not to be disturbed,” Miss Smiting told us. “He has much to think about and as sssoon as it’s dark he must send out the bats.”

  “To look for the vampire?” I said. I was picturing someone with fangs and a big cloak.

  “Yesss. Although bats can only sense a vampire once they have fed. If this one wants to remain hidden it may be difficult.” Miss Smiting glided between the statues. “Mr Cryptorum left to investigate reports of vampire activity in the north two weeksss ago but by the time he found their lair, the creatures had fled.”