‘Look,’ whispered Strideforth. ‘We’re under the lake.’
Small round windows were set in the curved ceiling of the tunnel. Dim light filtered down through the murky water, making greenish, rippling reflections. Stella watched the shadowy shapes of the water-lilies overhead. A school of little fish darted past. It was a strange, oppressive feeling, to be walking underneath the water. Even Henry and Anya were quiet. Anya was curled around the back of Hortense’s neck, peering out through her hair, and Henry stood on top of her head, his feathers ruffled, looking alert.
At the end of the tunnel, another spiral staircase led upwards. As they climbed, the air became warmer. Anya chittered at a small creature that scuttled up the wall and disappeared into a crack between the bricks. There were noises ahead, clanks and hisses, and the sound of running water.
The stairs ended. They followed another tunnel and came out into a huge, dark cavern full of looming shapes and obstacles.
‘What is this?’ whispered Strideforth, peering into the darkness.
Iron stairs and ladders and walkways led between giant tanks of water, bigger than bathtubs. Pipes snaked everywhere, clanking and hissing. Wisps of steam drifted through the air. Water trickled and dripped and overflowed, forming puddles and gurgling away down drains in the floor.
A large tank nearby was clogged with waterweed, the rubbery stems tangled together like worms. An enormous vine crawled up the rough rock wall, its pale tendrils and leaves reaching up to the dim light that filtered down from tiny gratings in the ceiling, high above.
‘This must be where Wilberforce Montgomery kept his secret collection, don’t you think?’ Stella said. ‘From all those years ago.’
Strideforth nodded. ‘Foreign fish.’
‘And other things,’ said Stella. A small creature skittered along the ground, darted between their feet and vanished into the shadows.
Hortense leaned over a tank and looked down into the water. A bubble rose to the surface and floated there, glinting in the lantern light.
‘Jem?’ called Strideforth. ‘Jem? Are you there?’ His voice echoed around the cavern.
Something touched Stella’s foot. She looked down. The pale creeper was curling around her ankle. She yelped and backed away. ‘Watch out. It’s a strangler vine.’
The vine was crawling along the pipes, reaching blindly towards them. A waving tendril found Strideforth’s wrist and wrapped around it. He jerked his arm free.
‘Miss Araminter would like this,’ he said, grinning.
Suddenly, Henry shrieked. Hortense was struggling. The strangler vine was around her neck. She clawed at her throat, gasping for breath.
‘Hortense!’ yelled Strideforth.
Anya gave a shrill squeak and attacked the plant. Stella tried to pull it away, but it was too tough to break, and it was tightening around Hortense’s neck in a determined manner. A stalk wrapped around her arm and another snaked across her chest.
Strideforth grabbed his pocketknife, wrenched open a blade and hacked at the vine, cutting through the strangling tendrils. The vine shrank back. Strideforth pulled Hortense away.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
Hortense nodded, rubbing her neck.
‘Are you sure? Does it hurt?’ Strideforth inspected Hortense’s throat in the lantern light.
In the tank behind him, a sinuous shape slithered against the glass.
‘Watch out!’ said Stella.
He recoiled with a gasp. ‘What is that?’
‘I don’t know.’ Stella took a nervous breath, backing away from the tank and the strangler vine’s waving tendrils. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘If Jem is down here, we need to find him quickly and get out of here.’
They made their way across the cavern, clambering over pipes, edging around tanks and skirting puddles and drains. They passed a row of empty cages, their doors hanging open. Hortense stopped to peer inside, but Strideforth pulled her along.
In the middle of the cavern, they came to a huge pool of dark, rippling water. A narrow iron walkway led across to the other side. Stella eyed it doubtfully. It was rusty and looked rather unstable.
Strideforth crouched down and put his finger into the water. ‘Warm,’ he said. ‘This is where the water flows out into the lake, I think.’ He pointed to where the water swirled away down a wide drain. ‘That’s why the lake is so warm —’ He paused and said, ‘Listen.’
There was a faint voice in the darkness.
‘Jem!’ Strideforth called. ‘Jem! Are you there?’
The voice answered. ‘Help! Help me!’
Twenty-Two
The rusty walkway creaked and shifted under their weight as they crossed the pool. The lantern light made wiggly reflections on the dark water. Stella could not tell how deep the pool was, and she certainly did not want to find out. She concentrated on keeping her balance until they reached the end of the walkway.
‘Jem?’ Strideforth called. ‘Jem?’ His voice echoed around the cavern.
‘Help!’
They threaded their way through pipes and machinery, peering up into the darkness.
‘Where are you?’ called Strideforth.
‘Here!’ The voice came from somewhere above.
Stella held the lantern as high as she could. ‘There he is,’ she gasped.
A large iron pipe ran down the wall of the cavern. Beside it was a rusty ladder. Most of it had fallen away from the wall and lay in bits on the ground. A few rungs remained, fifteen feet overhead, dangling from broken bolts. Jem was clinging to them. His face was white and streaked with tears.
‘Jem!’
‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m stuck,’ he called, his voice shaking.
‘How did you get up there?’ asked Strideforth, gazing up at him.
‘I climbed up. The ladder broke. I can’t hang on. I’m going to fall.’ There was a creaking sound. Jem clung tighter. ‘Help!’ he gasped.
‘Don’t let go. We’ll get you down,’ called Strideforth. He looked around. ‘Perhaps we can drag this over.’ He grabbed part of the ladder that had fallen and tried to shove it across the floor. Stella put down the lantern and went to help him, but before they could move it closer, Hortense had pulled off her boots and stockings and was clambering up the wall. She was already overhead and climbing quickly, her toes and fingers finding tiny ledges and crevices in the rock. Henry flapped beside her, making anxious little cries.
‘What if she falls?’ whispered Stella.
‘She won’t fall,’ said Strideforth, without taking his eyes off Hortense. ‘She is very, very good at climbing.’
Hortense reached Jem and tried to make him let go of the broken ladder. He shook his head. She insisted, clucking at him, pulling him, until he released his grasp, first with one hand, and then the other. He clung like a limpet to the wall beside her.
Suddenly, with a scraping creak, the last bit of the ladder broke away from the wall and fell, end over end. Stella and Strideforth jumped out of the way. It hit the ground with an echoing clang.
Jem was shaking so much he nearly lost his grip on the wall. Hortense patted him, and then helped him climb down, supporting him, guiding his hands and feet, and making comforting, encouraging sounds to him all the way down.
They reached the ground, and Jem staggered and sat down on the floor. Stella let out the breath she had been holding. Strideforth grinned. He patted Jem on the back and hugged Hortense.
‘Thank you,’ Jem said to Hortense.
She gave him a tiny smile.
‘Are you all right?’ Stella asked him.
‘Have you got anything to eat? I’m clemmed.’
Strideforth felt in his pockets and found half a jam sandwich. Jem took it and finished it in two famished bites.
‘What happened? What are you doing down here?’ asked Stella. ‘Did you find the secret trapdoor in the summerhouse too?’
‘What trapdoor? I was in Boggart Wood. I reckoned I’d find the
monster and follow it for a bit, and then I’d show Mr Flint where it went and get that sovereign off him. I went a little way into the wood, along the old cart track, and I saw them missing sheep, and I reckon you won’t believe this, but —’
‘They’d been turned into stone,’ said Strideforth.
‘D’you see them too? Gave me the frights, that did. What happened to them, do you reckon? It was right creepy in the wood, with them stone sheep. I remembered what people say: if you go into the wood, you might not come out again. And I thought about that ghost. The singing girl. I din’t want to hear it singing. And then I saw my tallybag was gone,’ he touched his chest, ‘so I was going to run straight home, right then, quick as I could.’
‘I found it.’ Strideforth fished in his pocket and pulled it out. ‘I was looking for clues. Like the police detectives.’ Hortense frowned at him, and he said, ‘Well, Anya found it, really.’
‘She’s right clever, ain’t she?’ Jem nodded at the little ermine on Hortense’s shoulder as he knotted the broken bootlace and hung the bag around his neck. He tucked it under his shirt and patted it. ‘That’s better,’ he said. ‘So, I was just about to run home, but then, all of a sudden, there’s the monster. Cobbin’ great thing. Black as a shadow. I ran like the clappers. It come right after me, sliding along. I ran right into the wood. The stream goes down a hole. Like a waterfall. And I fell down it.’ He laughed. ‘I tried to scramble up, but the rocks were slippery, and I fell right down to the bottom. It was deep and dark, and the monster was after me. So I went along underground for ages and ages, quick as I could, along these tunnels and caves, beside the stream. I had to wade in the water and squeeze between the rocks. It was horrible. I was whistling and whistling to keep safe. I kept going on and on, and then I come out there.’ He jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards a dark opening in the rock wall. A rusty pipe emerged from the opening, and water trickled from it into the pool. ‘Right warm, it is here. I slept a bit. And then I whistled a bit. And then I heard noises in the pipe, next to my ear. So I kicked it, and then someone banged right back.’
‘That was us,’ said Strideforth, grinning.
‘I reckoned it was from somewhere up there. And I spied that ladder, and I climbed up. But then it broke. I clung on. I thought I was done for.’ He took a shuddering breath. ‘It’s prime to see you.’
‘Everyone’s worried about you,’ said Stella.
‘They sent for the police,’ said Strideforth.
‘Coo. Really?’ Jem looked impressed.
‘And Mrs Burdock was crying,’ said Stella.
‘Not Granny.’ Jem was unconvinced. ‘If I got bit by the monster, she’d say it served me right, I reckon. When she sees me, she’ll wallop me into next week.’ He grinned cheerfully and looked around. ‘Where are we, anyway? What’s all these pipes for?’
Strideforth picked up the lantern and peered into the darkness overhead. ‘I think we are right under the house. That is the heating pipe coming down from the furnace. It’s heating up all these tanks and the water in that big pool and even the lake. No wonder it is burning so much coal.’ He poked at a row of rusty taps. ‘The stream comes out from the cave there and feeds into the pool. It’s very interesting.’
‘In a book in the study, it said that salamanders hibernate in the cold,’ said Stella. ‘The monster was sleeping down here and the furnace must have woken it up. Whenever someone stays in the house, they turn on the furnace and the water down here warms up. Then the monster wakes up and it goes about biting things and scaring people.’
Jem said, ‘Like a cobbin’ tree trunk, it is. And all them teeth.’ He shuddered. ‘We don’t want to meet up down here. Let’s go.’
Stella shivered. She pushed her hands into her pockets. ‘Ouch!’ She felt a sharp scratch. She inspected the back of her wrist in the light of the lantern. Then she fished gingerly into her pocket and pulled out a small, curved thorn.
Jem gasped. ‘That’s a bloodthorn, that is.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Mrs Spindleweed makes them,’ he said. ‘If a bloodthorn scratches you, you’re bound to hurt yourself right there. Before next sunrise. People say she soaks them in her own blood to make them work.’
‘There’s no such thing,’ said Strideforth. He took the little thorn with his finger and thumb and inspected it. ‘That’s not scientific at all.’
Jem shrugged. ‘Once, Seb Gromwell shouted out something rude at Mrs Spindleweed. So she scratched him on his hand here.’ He pointed. ‘It was only a tiny scratch. She did it passing him in the street, like that. And that same day, he got in a fight with George Oakapple, and Seb thumped him, and his whole hand swelled up. Just like a toad. I seen it.’
Stella said, ‘But it can’t be, really. Because I was scratched by a thorn like this before. Two times before. One was in my boot, and it scratched my foot just here, and one was in my hairbrush, and it scratched me here on my forehead.’ She touched her head and felt the fading bruise. Her foot still ached a little. A shiver ran down her back, like a trickle of icy water. ‘Oh. But —’
Jem said, ‘Mrs Spindleweed must’ve got it in for you.’
Stella rubbed her wrist. ‘Why would she want to hurt me?’ She remembered Mrs Spindleweed’s strange yellow eyes and her fingers, like the talons of a bird. ‘And how did she put the thorns in my boot and my pocket and my hairbrush? It’s impossible.’
‘Maybe she got her owl to do it.’ Jem lowered his voice. ‘Or maybe her familiar.’
Strideforth made an impatient noise in his throat. He flicked away the little thorn. ‘This is all nonsense. There’s no such thing. They are just stories made up to frighten little children. That is certain. You should not believe things like that, Jem.’ He picked up the lantern again. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘We’ll take you home now.’ He led the way back to the pool. They followed him along the creaking walkway, out over the water.
‘I could eat a hot sausage, I could,’ said Jem conversationally. He smacked his lips. ‘A dozen sausages. And an oyster pie. And a cobbin’ great bowl of Granny’s rabbit stew. Or liver an’ onions, with plenty of gravy. Or —’
Nearly halfway across, Strideforth stopped suddenly. ‘Listen,’ he said. There was a gurgling sound, like water running out of a bathtub. He lifted up the lantern and peered out across the rippling black water.
‘What is it?’ asked Stella.
Strideforth whispered, ‘I think something’s coming up the drain.’
A stream of bubbles appeared on the surface of the water. The ripples glinted and swirled. There were more gurgles. Then a dark shape slithered up from the drain and slid into the pool.
‘The monster,’ gasped Jem. He clutched Stella’s arm.
The walkway creaked and shifted.
Stella remembered the book in the study. ‘It hunts by sensing movement,’ she whispered. ‘So if we stay quite still, it won’t know we’re here.’
They all froze.
The monster’s wide head broke the surface of the water. Its skin gleamed in the lantern light. Its tiny eyes glittered.
Stella could feel Jem trembling. She felt for his hand and clasped it.
The monster swam across the pool, moving smoothly, slipping through the water, tail swishing slowly back and forth. Its back arched and it dived under the walkway, right beneath their feet.
Jem turned his head to watch it come up. He shifted his weight, and the walkway creaked.
The monster lunged like a striking snake, churning the water with a flick of its tail. Its mouth opened. Its teeth glinted like needles.
‘We can’t get past. We have to go back!’ yelled Strideforth. ‘Quick. Run!’
They turned around and sprinted back along the walkway. It jerked and clattered. Jem tripped, lost his balance and waved his arms around, knocking the lantern from Strideforth’s hand. It smashed, plunging them into darkness. Jem yelled and fell into the water. He struggled to the surface, spluttering and splashing. Stella and S
trideforth and Hortense flung themselves down onto the walkway, groping for him. Stella grabbed one of his clutching, wet hands and a fistful of his hair. They hauled him out, coughing and gasping, and yanked him to his feet.
‘Come on,’ said Strideforth.
It was difficult to see their way. Glimmers of dim light filtered down from above. The walkway gave a sudden lurch. Stella shot a glance back over her shoulder. The monster had clambered up out of the water and was close behind them, a huge black shape in the darkness. It slithered towards them.
‘Hurry!’ she gasped.
They reached the end of the walkway and ran as fast as they could away from the pool, ducking between tanks and pipes and other obstacles. Stella’s heart was hammering. A shape loomed up in front of her and she swerved around it. Somewhere in the darkness ahead, Henry shrieked.
Stella tripped over part of Jem’s broken ladder and fell headlong into a puddle. She scrambled to her feet.
A deep cry echoed around the cavern.
It was the voice of the monster.
Twenty-Three
Stella stumbled on through the darkness. She heard a scuttling noise somewhere close by and she jumped.
‘Strideforth?’ she called. Her voice was shaking. ‘Hortense? Jem?’
There was no answer. Her outstretched hands found the rough wall of the cavern and she groped her way along it. The air was colder, and the clanks and hisses were getting fainter. Water trickled nearby.
The monster howled again.
Stella felt her legs trembling.
In A Garden of Lilies, Yaxley got lost in the dark. Stella could not remember exactly what happened to him, but it was something frightful. She tried not to think about it.
She imagined that Letty was beside her. Nothing was as bad if there were two of you. She took a breath and made herself think about Wilberforce Montgomery, venturing boldly into caves and tunnels and all kinds of dangerous places, hunting out strange creatures for his collection. She went on with determination.
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