‘Why’s he creeping about like that?’ Penders whispered.
‘I don’t know, but it seems a bit suspicious. Let’s follow him,’ Jessica said, as she moved out from under the coats.
They followed the sound of Mr Goodfellow’s feet as he worked his way up through Block A and into Block B. Mr Goodfellow had produced a small torch from somewhere, so they kept well back.
The teacher turned just before he got to the Headmaster’s office, and made his way down the corridor that Gallowglas and Stanwell had come down just the night before. Thomas and the others followed, but slowed as they got near the corner. The light of the torch had stopped, and they could hear the jingling of keys. Then, without warning, Mr Goodfellow came running toward Thomas and the others, but he didn’t see them as he fled past. Thomas heard the door open. And he heard feet, lots of feet.
‘Run!’ Thomas said.
The children ran back the way they’d come. Mr Goodfellow was some way ahead of them. Then Treice slipped and went down. Jessica stopped to help him up. The fluorescent lights flickered into life as the sound of boots approached the end of the corridor.
‘Quick, in here!’ Penders whispered sharply, darting into a classroom.
Jessica and Treice followed on his heels, but Thomas’s eye caught something lying on the floor. It was an envelope — no doubt the cause of Treice’s fall. Thomas grabbed it and dove into the classroom just as the owners of the footsteps stepped into view, but he didn’t quite close the door. It was too dark for anyone to see them in there, even with the corridor lights now on. Thomas peeked out of the classroom from his position on the floor. Mr Gallowglas stared down the corridor, behind him a group of students who looked to be from different years.
Gallowglas spoke to the students, but didn’t take his eye off the corridor. ‘Return to your rooms. I have some business to attend to.’
Gallowglas walked down the corridor, his face set like stone. Thomas thought he heard the front door close. Gallowglas quickened his pace, though he didn’t run.
Penders sighed in relief after Gallowglas and the students had passed by. ‘We’ve come so close too many times to finding out what his detentions are like.’
Thomas ignored Penders’ remark. ‘Maybe it’s some sort of evening class?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ Jessica began, ‘but I saw Duncan Avebury.’
‘Who?’ Penders asked.
Jessica shook her head. ‘Melantha’s older brother. He’s in the fourth year. Maybe she can tell us something?’ She paused as if thinking. ‘I do hope Mr Goodfellow’s all right.’
Mr Hartworth took the science class the next day. Normally quite at home in his technology room, he seemed uncertain in his current environment. He was at this point in time trying to construct a model of a molecule of water, but one of the hydrogen atoms stubbornly refused to stay attached. Thomas shared Mr Hartworth’s uncertainty, except his centred around Mr Goodfellow. Thomas found himself wondering if Mr Gallowglas really had ‘got rid of’ the science teacher. Maybe he’d buried the body in the woods outside, or perhaps there’d been an ‘accident’ with a javelin? No, he would’ve heard about that. Maybe Mr Goodfellow had been done away with in a more subtle way. After all, Mr Gallowglas did know about all those poison berries. Thomas watched as the hydrogen atom fell off again and rolled under Reginald Quaint’s desk. At that point the bell rang and everyone moved off to their next lesson, leaving the teacher to search for the rebellious atom.
‘Where’s Mr Goodfellow, sir?’ Thomas asked just as Mr Hartworth came out from under Reginald’s desk with the atom pincered between two fingers.
‘Oh, Mr Farrell!’ Mr Hartworth said nervously, almost dropping the atom. ‘You scared me. I thought everyone had left. I don’t know what’s happened to Mr Goodfellow, but I’ve been asked to stand in until further notice. It could be some time I hear.’
Thomas nodded his understanding and then made his way out. He was surprised to find Jessica, Penders, Treice and even Merideah waiting outside for him. All of them were looking at him, clearly waiting for him to say something. Merideah had obviously been filled in by Jessica, though Thomas was sure she’d deny any knowledge of it if asked.
‘Well?’ Penders said.
‘Well what?’ Thomas asked.
‘Did he say what happened to Mr Goodfellow?’ Jessica asked.
Thomas looked at Merideah who stared back coolly through her spectacles.
‘Oh, well — I had to tell Merideah,’ Jessica defended herself. ‘I mean, we’re all a team now, right?’
Penders nodded his agreement, but soon stopped when he saw Merideah glowering at him.
‘You should’ve gone to the Headmaster,’ Merideah said to Penders, though she of course included Thomas.
‘And how would we’ve explained why we were out of our rooms in the first place?’ Penders countered.
Merideah didn’t seem to have an answer for this, and so Thomas took the opportunity to avoid any confrontation between Merideah and Penders by answering the question. ‘Mr Hartworth doesn’t know what’s happened to Mr Goodfellow, but he said he’s been asked to cover for him until he hears otherwise. He said it might be some time.’
Penders’ eyes narrowed. ‘I reckon Gallowglas has done him in.’
‘Nonsense,’ Merideah said. ‘What I’m more interested in is why Mr Goodfellow sneaked into the building last night.’
‘He was scared though, I reckon. He left the place pretty sharpish.’
‘That’s right,’ Thomas added. ‘He even dropped an envelope.’
Merideah pushed her spectacles up her small nose. ‘You found an envelope?’
Jessica, Penders and Treice looked at him expectantly. He hadn’t told them about it. ‘Well, Treice slipped on it, so I guess he found it really.’
Merideah raised an eyebrow. ‘I see. So where’s this envelope now?’
Thomas opened his science exercise book. ‘I’ve got it here.’ He’d stuffed it in his pocket last night and forgotten about it until this morning when he’d put it in his science book so he’d remember to give it back to Mr Goodfellow. He passed it to Merideah.
Penders frowned. ‘Are you going to hand it in?’
Merideah shrugged. ‘Of course, but I’m going to look at what’s inside first.’
Penders shook his head. ‘And you’re a prefect!’
Merideah examined the envelope. ‘Well, Mr Goodfellow won’t mind if — as you put it — he’s been “done in”. After all, he may need our help and fast, and a good prefect should help out where they can. No time to delay. Besides, we’re not opening it, because it’s not sealed.’
She held the envelope up to show that the flap had simply been tucked in, then she pulled out its contents — a few pieces of paper. ‘They seem to be photocopies of newspaper articles about missing persons from various places across the British Isles. There’s another sheet listing their locations and ages.’
‘My dad says people go missing every day,’ Penders said.
‘Yes,’ Merideah confirmed after a few moments scanning the pages, ‘but according to this list these particular missing persons had something very interesting in common: they all attended Darkledun Manor!’
— CHAPTER TWELVE —
Through the Stones
The large, furry coat hanging above Thomas tickled his neck. Jessica, Merideah, Penders and Treice sat near him, all staring up at the landing.
‘This floor’s hard,’ Penders complained. ‘So, what we doing again?’
Merideah drew a breath. ‘If you hadn’t been so interested in your rice pudding, you might have listened to what I said.’
Thomas couldn’t see Merideah’s face well enough to see the deep frown and determined amber eyes framed by the straight dark hair, but he was sure they were there nonetheless.
‘We have to wait for Miss McGritch to go to the girls’ dorms. Then we can grab the main set of keys she leaves in her office.’
‘Right, and why do w
e want those?’ Penders asked.
Merideah ignored him. They’d all met at the end of lunch that day. Merideah had taken a quick look down the corridor that Gallowglas and the students had emerged from on the night of Goodfellow’s last appearance. She’d found a door, marked 2B, that wasn’t shown on their timetable maps. It was also locked. Merideah’s attitude had changed a lot since she’d seen the contents of Mr Goodfellow’s envelope. She now considered it her duty, or so it seemed to Thomas, to uncover the truth of what was really going on at Darkledun Manor. She’d even committed them all to tell no one, not even the Headmaster. Not until they had some evidence.
Jessica had done a little digging too. She’d found out from Melantha Avebury that her brother, Duncan, was a member of something called the Family History Club. It met at the weekends and its members often went on trips to parish record offices, cemeteries and churches. It seemed innocent enough, though Thomas didn’t think Gallowglas the most likely candidate for leading such a pastime.
‘What if McGritch gets back early?’ Penders asked.
Jessica snorted from somewhere behind. ‘Miss McGritch is never late or early, she’s always precisely on time. Haven’t you seen that nurse’s watch she wears? She’s always glancing down at it. I hear her pass my door at exactly twenty-one minutes past ten every evening.’
Thomas saw Treice move his luminescent watch up to his face so that his golden locks glistened in the gloom of the cloakroom. ‘She should appear about now.’
No sooner had he said it than Thomas heard a door swing on its hinges and the sound of Miss McGritch’s quick but measured footsteps approach from the direction of Block B. He hushed the others to silence, and then tried not to sneeze as his nose came in contact with the furry sleeve of the coat. The corridor lights went off, and then he heard the Housekeeper walk into the entrance hall. There was no hesitation. She was about her duty and nothing else posed an interest to her.
They all watched as Miss McGritch ascended the stairs and went to her office. Thomas heard the large bunch of keys hit her desk, and she soon appeared with the smaller bunch of silver keys which serviced the girls’ rooms.
Once Miss McGritch had passed through the doors into the dormitories, Merideah stood up and told the rest to stay put. ‘Treice, start timing. I’ll go get the keys. Better one of us gets caught than all.’
Merideah made her way gingerly yet purposefully up the stairs. Then, without a sound, she slipped quickly into Miss McGritch’s office and was soon out and coming down the stairs with the bunch of keys in her hand.
‘OK, let’s go!’ she whispered as she got within whispering distance.
Thomas, Penders, Jessica and Treice emerged from their hiding places in the cloakroom and followed Merideah cautiously toward the dark, deserted corridors of Block B. Once through the first set of doors, Treice switched on his torch to light the way ahead.
‘Turn that off! We’ll be seen!’ Merideah whispered sharply. ‘That thing could guide a ship on a foggy night.’
Treice was quick to comply, and the powerful beam of his torch was replaced by a narrower, more discreet one from a small torch strapped to Merideah’s wrist. With her combat trousers and determined little face she looked like some black ops soldier working behind enemy lines, albeit one with spectacles and an Alice band holding back her hair.
They soon reached Stanwell’s office. Much to Thomas’s relief, no light seeped out from under the Headmaster’s door. Mr Trevelyan worked late some nights, but not tonight. Careful to make no noise, they slipped down the corridor to room 2B.
Merideah turned her light onto the bunch of keys in her other hand.
‘There must be at least twenty keys on that,’ Penders remarked with some alarm. ‘Are you sure it’s even on there?’
Jessica put her ear against the door. ‘Miss McGritch always has these keys on her when she’s downstairs.’
‘Jessica, try them.’ Merideah handed the bunch to Jessica, keeping the torch beam fixed on them.
Jessica moved her head from the door and picked a small bronze key, much the same as all the rest, and tried it in the door. It didn’t fit. Then she tried another and another. None of them seemed to work. Quite a few fit in the lock but they didn’t turn.
‘Wait a minute,’ Thomas said grabbing Jessica’s hand just as she was putting another similar-looking bronze key into the keyhole.
‘What, Thomas?’ Jessica asked. She sounded a bit frustrated.
‘Most of these keys look the same. Miss McGritch must have a way of telling them apart.’
Jessica pulled the key out of the lock and asked Merideah to bring the light nearer. She turned it in her hand and they all saw a small letter and number scratched into the surface.
‘6A,’ Thomas said. ‘There must be a 2B!’
Jessica flicked through the keys until Merideah’s light fell upon a scratching that resembled 2B.
‘There it is!’ Jessica said as she sandwiched it between her finger and thumb and inserted it into the lock. She turned the key and pushed the door open.
‘Where’s the light?’ Penders asked.
‘Hang on,’ Merideah said. ‘Let’s all get inside first, just in case someone sees.’
After they were all inside, Treice shut the door carefully. The lights came on. Merideah had found the switch.
Penders surveyed the room. ‘See? Desks and chairs, yup, definitely just a classroom. Shall we go back now?’
‘Wait.’ Merideah switched off her torch and began looking around. ‘Mr Goodfellow must’ve been trying to get in here for a reason.’
Thomas studied the room. The blackboard was different to all the others at the Manor; it seemed to be a large, tall board built into the wall, whereas the other classrooms had blackboards mounted on rolls so the teachers could write their way around the whole thing — as Miss Havelock frequently did. By the blackboard hung a big blocky wooden clock with a large-chained pendulum. On both sides of the room, to their left and right, stood wide bookcases, but they didn’t just contain books. In small compartments sheets and scrolls had been neatly stored. Thomas walked over to one of the compartments and pulled out a sheet. Someone had written 1891 in the top left-hand corner. He scanned the paper. It seemed to be a list of names, though the handwriting proved very hard to read.
‘What are they?’ Penders asked.
Jessica appeared at Thomas’s elbow and pulled a sheet down from the bookcase. ‘Census reports. We had to research our family tree at our old school. I remember these.’
Merideah tapped her chin. ‘This must be where the club meets when they’re not out on a trip to a graveyard or something.’
‘Maybe that explains the mud,’ Treice said, more to himself than anyone else. He stood near the clock, peering down at the floor. ‘Oh,’ he continued when he noticed everyone looking at him. ‘Here, on the floor.’
Jessica and Merideah were the first to reach the front of the class. Treice backed away to give them more room.
Merideah bent down. ‘Lots of different sizes of footprint; must be the club members then. But why here?’
Jessica knelt on the floor. ‘Maybe the cleaner missed this spot?’
Penders yawned. ‘Thomas, let’s check the Glass so we can go.’
Of course, he’d almost forgotten, it was the reason why he’d first come to Block B. He removed the Glass from the bag and found it had a faint glow within it.
‘What’s that?’ Treice said, moving a little closer. ‘And what’s that light inside it?’
‘That’s what we want to know,’ said Jessica as she quickly got to her feet. As she did so she brushed Treice who was still staring at the Glass. He reacted by stepping back, but his feet hit the wall and he grabbed the only thing within reach to catch himself — the clock’s pendulum. The chain pulled and made a distinct click, but it didn’t come away from the clock. Treice hung there for a second before quickly recovering his position.
Just as Penders was about to laugh, and
Jessica offer an apology, they heard a grating sound.
‘Craters!’ said Penders, as the blackboard disappeared upwards to reveal an entrance to a dark chamber.
Merideah moved into the entrance and the others cautiously followed. Once they realized where they were, Jessica turned to Thomas. ‘This is the tower. You were right, Thomas. The door was in the Manor, but it’s a secret door!’
Moonlight lit the large chamber better than any torch. Indeed the moon’s rays seemed to flow unnaturally bright into the tower from the multitude of windows high above. Most intriguing of all, however, was what occupied the centre of the chamber’s otherwise empty floor. Two large stones, each the height of three men, stood about three yards apart, and upon them rested a similar stone so as to form a sort of huge stone doorframe. The rock glittered eerily in the moonlight.
‘What on earth is that?’ Penders asked, his eyes wide.
‘I don’t know,’ said Jessica. ‘Looks like a bit of Stone Henge.’
‘I’ve seen stones like this before,’ Merideah announced. ‘I was with my father, somewhere in southern Ireland. They were cruder than these though. These are magnificent!’
As a group, they moved toward the stones. Jessica, first to reach them, touched one of the upright stones. ‘It feels —’ she hesitated and frowned as if trying to find the right words, ‘it doesn’t feels hot or cold — somewhere in between.’
‘Would that be ”warm“?’ asked Penders
‘Thomas!’ Jessica said, Penders’ remark forgotten. ‘The Glass!’
Thomas looked at his hand. The Glass glowed very brightly now. He’d not noticed in the moonlight. They all stared at the small orb as he held it out. It was as if the Glass were a small moon, such was the lustre of the light now emanating from it. Inside Thomas could see milk-coloured mists swirling about the unmoving serpent.
Merideah looked at the Glass and then back to the centre of the tower. ‘It’s the stones, Thomas. The Glass must be reacting to how close it is to the stones.’
The Serpent in the Glass (The Tale of Thomas Farrell) Page 13