They stood in the mud, looking gloomy.
'We might as well give up and go back inside before we drown,' Aisley sighed. 'I'm frozen to the bone.'
Archie, in control of the umbrella, turned towards the house.
'Hang on,' said Chandra suddenly. 'I just want to check something before we go.' He stepped out of the relative cover of the umbrella and walked towards the brink of the cliff.
'Where are you going?' asked Aisley, alarmed.
Chandra didn't answer. He stepped cautiously onto the slippery rocks and inched forward a little at a time trying to get close enough to get a good look over the edge.
'Hey,' Archie called out, sounding a bit nervous. 'Come on, man.'
Despite the cold, Aisley's palms were sweating. Watching Chandra putting himself in deliberate danger like that was freaking her out. 'Don't go any further, please Chandra!' she begged. 'You really might fall.'
Chandra seemed to not hear her. He was on a mission. He kept moving forward, craning his neck and trying to see.
'Look, don't be so stupid Chandra!' Archie called. 'Come back. There's nothing to see that you can't see from here.'
Aisley wasn't aware that she'd moved closer to Archie until she realised she was gripping his arm tightly.
'That dickhead is going to get himself killed!' Archie hissed.
Meanwhile, Chandra had moved as close to the edge as he dared, but he made it worse by leaning over and actually peering down the cliff face. The rain lashed against him and the wind threatened to whip him off balance. He staggered a little and one of his feet slipped off the edge! A weak scream escaped Aisley's lips.
Archie got angry. 'Get away from the edge of the cliff, you bloody idiot!' he shouted. 'We do not want to go to your funeral, man. Chandra! This is crazy and you're seriously pissing me off!'
Just when Aisley thought she could stand it no longer, Chandra gave up looking.
He turned around and walked back to them, casually sauntering along as if he were going for a pleasant walk along the beach on a nice summer's day. 'I just wanted to see if …' he began.
Aisley burst into tears and hit him hard on the chest with both hands. She turned and ran off through the rain, back towards the house. She was angry and scared at the same time. Aisley could hear both boys calling her name, but she didn't stop. She couldn't stop. She felt she'd go mad if she did. Veering sharply at the last moment, she ran past the house and down the gravel road that led to the village with no clear idea in her mind where she was going. Halfway down, the treacherous loose gravel gave way and her feet slid out from under her, making Aisley scream. She sat down hard, scraping the heels of both hands painfully on the stony ground.
She put her head on her bent knees and sobbed. How had things gotten so crazy so quickly? One minute they were on a harmless, if damp, adventure looking for an elusive plaque, and the next minute they were in a life or death situation. It was all Chandra's fault, acting like such a lunatic back there on the cliff. What on earth was he trying to prove? Sometimes Aisley wished she'd never laid eyes on him! Life would be so much simpler and far less painful. She sat there in the rain, nursing her sore hands and crying. She'd never felt so confused in her life.
Several moments later she heard footsteps on the gravel and then Chandra was standing beside her. When she didn't look up, he sat down beside her on the wet ground and looked sheepish. 'Sorry Ais,' he muttered.
'You dickhead!' she shouted, making him flinch. 'You could have killed yourself. You do know that, don't you?'
'I just wanted to see ...'
'Don't you?'
He shrugged helplessly.
'All for a stupid school assignment! You'd throw your life away for that? What kind of idiot are you?'
Chandra threw his hands in the air. 'I get it! Alright! I'm a dickhead and I'm an idiot. You're right and Archie's right. I dunno …' He ran his fingers back through his soaking black hair, making it spike up in front. 'I just do things without thinking,' he said. 'I wanted to see if it was possible to get down the cliff. Maybe there was a secret staircase. You know, like the one into Mordor.'
Aisley stared at him wordlessly. 'Mordor?' she murmured.
'Yeah, you know. In Lord of the Rings.'
'I know what Mordor is.'
'Oh. Right.'
Aisley stared at him some more and then she just couldn't help it. It was all so mad. She started to laugh. Soon she was laughing and crying at the same time.
Chandra grinned tentatively. 'Does that mean I'm off the hook?' he asked hopefully.
'You risked your life looking for a secret staircase,' she croaked. 'You really are an idiot you know.'
Chandra leaned forward and kissed her. The rain fell harder and the wind howled around them while they sat in the middle of the gravel road and kissed. When Chandra drew back, he smiled and murmured, 'Yes, I really am an idiot and I really am sorry for scaring you. I was only trying to impress you.'
'You'd kill yourself to impress me?'
'Mm hm.'
'I don't even know what to say to that,' she admitted.
He kissed her again and then buried his face in her wet hair. 'Am I forgiven?' he whispered in her ear. He pulled away and gazed at her.
Aisley bit her lip and regarded his earnest face for a moment. 'Okay,' she nodded, 'On one condition.'
'Name it.'
'That you never do anything like that ever again.'
'The kiss?' Chandra asked cheekily. 'Or the cliff thing?'
'Duh, the cliff thing.' Aisley gave him a watery smile.
'I promise,' he said, attempting to wipe her tears away. Considering they were sitting in the rain it was a wasted effort, but Aisley found it touching nonetheless.
She showed him her bleeding hands and he took them in his, looking concerned. 'Also, my bum is wet,' she sniffed.
He smiled and helped her to her feet. 'So is mine.'
'So, you never did find that plaque,' said Cate with a sigh. She rolled onto her stomach and rested her chin on her crossed arms, looking at Aisley from beneath her lashes. 'That's a shame,' she murmured. 'Oh, and by the way, how did you and Chandra get so wet? Hmm? Care to explain that?'
Aisley hid her smile behind her hand. It was much, much later on the same day and Cate was sleeping over. The two girls were top-and-tailing in Aisley's huge four-poster bed. They could hear the rain still falling steadily. It was drumming relentlessly against the bow window.
'Well?' Cate inquired.
Aisley shrugged and averted her eyes. She didn't feel ready to share that wonderful moment at the end of the plaque adventure with anyone just yet, not even Cate. 'It was raining really hard and then one of the umbrellas broke,' Aisley tried to explain. She attempted to sound casual, but failed miserably.
The truth was the remainder of the afternoon had passed in a bit of a blur. Aisley remembered little of it beyond the fact that in the space of a few minutes, everything had changed between herself and the sixteen-year-old boy she'd had a crush on for the last six months. It was perplexing and it was enchanting.
All year, she'd watched from afar as he swung from being the best student in the room to the worst, never remaining consistent for more than a few days at a time. He'd get one hundred per cent on a maths test on a Monday and be in the principal's office for ditching class by the Wednesday. It was infuriating. But she could no more help how she felt about him than she could help how she breathed. All the kisses in the driveway had done was to prove just how far in she'd fallen, where Chandra Sarin was concerned.
After Chandra helped Aisley to her feet, they'd crept into the kitchen through the French doors, dripping all over the floor and giggling. The two of them had tiptoed upstairs to the bathroom. Aisley found some first aid supplies in the cupboard and she sat on the edge of the bath while Chandra bandaged her wounded hands. He pulled a towel from the rack and rubbed it vigorously over her wet head. Aisley's hair ended up looking like a bird's nest, which cracked them both up so badly that th
ey ended up sitting on the bathroom floor crying with laughter.
Aisley desperately tried to re-focus, so she would look halfway normal when they returned to the library. It was so hard! Everything seemed hysterically funny all of a sudden. When they eventually did go back into the library, they still had trouble composing their faces. Every so often, they'd look at each other and start giggling again. The rest of the group regarded them as completely mad.
After a little while though, things settled down a bit and they all got on with their research. Archie, who'd apparently forgiven and forgotten Chandra's reckless behaviour in a nanosecond, appeared oblivious to the electric atmosphere between his two friends ... Lucan, of course, knew nothing ... or at least, he said nothing. Cate and Freya weren't so easily convinced. They both kept casting knowing glances at Aisley all afternoon.
'The umbrella … broke?' Cate sounded dubious.
'Yep.'
Cate stared hard at her and Aisley busied herself fiddling with her iPod and avoiding Cate's eyes. 'You should hear this new song I've got,' she said. 'It's so good. I keep getting it stuck in my head.'
'Archie wasn't very wet,' Cate observed.
'Hang on, this is it.' Aisley thrust an ear bud at Cate. 'Listen.'
Cate took the bud and put it in her ear, but she kept looking at Aisley. Music emanated from the iPod.
'Do you like it?' asked Aisley.
'Archie came back ages before you guys,' Cate mused. 'Why was that I wonder?'
'Do you like the song?'
'You're not going to tell me anything are you?'
'Do you like the song?'
'Are you?'
Aisley sat up and crossed her legs. Finally, she met Cate's sharp gaze. 'No, I'm not,' she said quietly.
Cate watched her for a moment longer and then shrugged. 'Okay,' she sighed. 'Your business. I'm just your best friend, is all.'
Aisley grabbed her hands. 'I don't feel ready to talk about it yet Cate, but when I do you know you'll be the first,' she promised.
Cate turned Aisley's hands over and examined the bandages thoughtfully for a moment. Then she grinned, reached forward, and hugged her hard. 'Okay, no pressure,' she whispered in Aisley's ear.
Aisley smiled in the semi-darkness. 'Thank you,' she whispered back. They sat back and listened to Aisley's new song and Cate agreed it was pretty good.
'It's time to discuss priorities,' Aisley said solemnly, when the song was over.
'Like a midnight feast?' Cate guessed.
'Yep!'
'Good,' Cate rubbed her hands together gleefully. 'Let us go forth from this place and locate nourishment.'
Aisley laughed and grabbed her torch off the bedside table as they clambered out of bed. Leaving the bedroom, they tiptoed quietly across the bridge and downstairs. Aisley had her torch lighting the way while the big, old house slumbered around them. The floorboards were cold under their bare feet and the rain running down the tall, stained glass windows cast funny squiggly shadows across the walls and floor.
Aisley and Cate made their way down the wide hallway and into the kitchen where they headed straight for the pantry. Aisley's mum had been shopping with sleepovers in mind for many years now, so the food cupboards were well stocked. The girls managed to find plenty of potato chips and lollies as they foraged amongst the tins and packages in the pantry.
Cate held up a bag of Kool Mints and raised her eyebrows hopefully, but Aisley shook her head, no.
'They're dad's,' she said. 'Eat them and he'll kill you.'
Cate begrudgingly put them back. Aisley was turning to the fridge, thinking coke might be the perfect addition to their feast, when she heard footsteps coming into the kitchen. She swung the torch towards the door fully expecting Wade to be creeping up on them. It wouldn't be the first time.
'Gotcha!' she hissed.
But all the torchlight revealed was an empty kitchen. From the laundry room off the hall where she slept, Ellette howled mournfully. Aisley felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck.
'What's going on?' Cate asked softly from behind her.
'Nothing,' Aisley muttered. 'I thought I heard Wade. I must've imagined it.'
'Wade?'
'Well, I thought I heard footsteps and who else would it be, creeping up on us in the middle of the night?'
Cate chuckled. 'Maybe it's your dad,' she giggled. 'Coming for his Kool Mints.'
They both snorted with laughter, trying desperately to keep the volume down. Suddenly, Ellette howled again.
'What is wrong with that dog?' Aisley wondered.
Then the sound of footsteps came again, very clear and quite distinct, making their unhurried and deliberate way across the kitchen flagstones towards the door of the wine cellar. Aisley and Cate clutched at each other and froze, speechless with alarm. There was no logical reason for what they were hearing! Aisley still had her torch switched on, but no matter how wildly she swung it about there was simply nothing to be seen. Ellette, stuck in the laundry, whimpered and whined. She scratched at the door, trying to get out. The sound of the footsteps passed right in front of them, close enough to reach out and touch had they wanted to. But, they didn't dare. Aisley felt a soft breeze lift her hair and tickle her skin as the footsteps passed by. She shivered. Cate was clutching her arm painfully, but Aisley seemed unable to move to shake her off. Gradually, the steps tapered away as if the person making them had gone into the wine cellar and down the steps.
Then just like that, they stopped. It was as if they'd never happened, like something imagined or in a dream. Aisley felt the hair on the back of her neck and arms still standing up and shudders were running through her that had nothing to do with the cool, night air. Yet, she felt strangely calm. She'd just had a brush with the supernatural and it had left her feeling euphoric.
Cate on the other hand was absolutely terror stricken! She still had Aisley's arm in a death grip. Aisley had to gently prise her fingers off, one at a time. 'Ais …' Cate whimpered.
'It's okay.'
'But …'
'Do you want to go back upstairs, Cate?'
Cate nodded emphatically.
'Go on then,' Aisley gave her a gentle push. 'I'll be there in a minute, alright?'
Cate nodded again, her eyes wide with fright. She clutched madly at all their goodies and, with a panicked whine, she abandoned Aisley and sprinted wildly for the stairs and the safety of the world beneath her friend's doona.
Aisley, now all alone, tiptoed over to the wine cellar door and took a deep breath. She opened the door and shone her torch inside, not knowing quite what to expect. She saw nothing. Well, nothing but the beginnings of a fine wine collection that is.
'Lily?' she said, just loudly enough to be heard. 'If you can hear me, I hope you don't mind us being in your house?' She waited hopefully. But if the spirit of Lily Sheldon was there, it wasn't going to reveal itself to her again. 'I hope you don't mind us nosing about in your business,' Aisley persisted, feeling mildly foolish. 'It's just a school thing you know. It's really no biggie.'
Nothing.
'Okay, I'll go.' Aisley started to push the wine cellar door shut then she paused. 'I want you to know that I'm really glad you're here,' she said. 'Good night.' She wasn't sure it was normal etiquette to wish a ghost a good night, but it seemed the polite thing to do. She shut the door and tiptoed from the kitchen, casting occasional glances over her shoulder as she went.
Upstairs, Cate was a quivering lump of jelly under the covers. She'd turned on all the lights and the room was as bright as day. When Aisley came in, Cate sat bolt upright in bed, staring at her. 'What the hell?' she squealed. 'Ais! Your house really is haunted. I know we've joked about it, but bloody hell! It really, truly is. Oh … my … God!'
Aisley turned off several lights and climbed into bed beside Cate. She patted her friend's arm, trying to calm her.
'I must admit that was a first for me too,' she said. 'Real evidence! So far it's just been, well, intuition I suppose you'
d call it.'
Cate gaped at her. 'You mean you've seen things like that before tonight?' she asked incredulously. 'Why didn't you ever say something?'
'We didn't see anything tonight, Cate,' Aisley pointed out. 'We heard something.'
'Lordy, lordy! We quibble over the freaking details!' muttered Cate. She stared around the room fearfully.
Aisley tried to explain. 'Look, ever since we moved in I've just had feelings from time to time that there was someone sort of, there. Like a presence just outside of my peripheral vision or something.' She shrugged, 'I know it sounds weird and freaky but I don't know how else to explain it. But I've certainly never heard anything quite like what we heard tonight.' She pulled the doona around her. 'It's almost like she's trying to tell us something, isn't it?'
'She?' squeaked Cate. 'Who is she? Are you trying to tell me that was Lily Sheldon's ghost we just heard walking across your kitchen?'
Aisley smiled. 'Well, if we do have a ghost, which it seems we do … isn't it likely it would be her?'
Cate blinked a couple of times and gulped loudly. 'Maybe we imagined it,' she whispered hopefully.
Aisley didn't believe that for a second. Unlike the previous times over the six months when she'd fancied she'd seen or heard something paranormal, this event had occurred right in front of her. Plus, she hadn't been alone this time either.
'I so need gummy bears,' said Cate, grabbing the bag of lollies, tearing it open so violently that gummy bears and sugar exploded all over the bed. She crammed a handful into her mouth at once. 'I'm telling you Ais,' she managed to say around a mouthful of gumminess. 'This is mind-blowing! It's scary, and it's utterly mind-blowing.'
'Sure is,' murmured Aisley. She hugged her knees and watched the rain pelting against the window. A delightful shiver of goose bumps ran down her spine. 'It's been a mind-blowing kind of day.'
Chapter Six
In the Stacks
Monday
First up on Monday morning, Aisley had double science with Mrs Cheeky Chops. Of course, that was not the teacher's real name. Her real name was Mrs Chikachop. However, if a teachers' surname is Chikachop, you can be sure she is going to get a nickname like "Cheeky Chops". For a little while there, Stewart Thomas and Brice Daly had tried to make the nickname "Chupa Chup" be the favourite, like the lollipop. However, in the end it was Cheeky Chops that endured.
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