by Sharon Sant
Isaac shot an anxious glance at Annie. ‘How are you feeling? You think you can hold onto this enchantment longer?’
She nodded. ‘Don’t worry about me. We need to worry about Georgina.’
‘Righto. But we can’t do anything about Georgie if we’ve been eaten. So I’m asking you if you think you can hold on. Because it was your idea to use the wolves as our army.’
‘We might not need them yet,’ Polly cut in. Maybe there’s somewhere Annie can send them to pen them up until we do.’
‘Maybe we can send them into the orphanage, scatter everyone out of the way so we can go in and search for Georgie,’ Isaac offered.
Polly turned to him with a frown. ‘Do you really think they’ll have her in plain sight, soup-for-brains?’
Isaac grinned. ‘That’s the Poll I know. I’ve been waiting for an insult all afternoon. So what’s your idea?’
‘One of us sneaks in, pretends to be an orphan and takes a look around.’
‘And then what?’ Isaac folded his arms.
‘Then they come to get the others.’
Isaac shook his head. ‘It would take too long. Annie can’t control the wolves for that long.’ He glanced across at Annie, who looked paler than ever.
‘I told you,’ Annie said, ‘I can do what needs to be done. I just want my sister back.’
‘And we’ll get her back.’ Charlotte laid a gentle hand on Annie’s arm. ‘We just need to work out the best and safest way.’ She looked at Isaac and Polly. ‘I could go in.’
Polly looked her up and down and sniffed. ‘You?’
‘Why not?’ Charlotte asked haughtily.
‘You don’t exactly look like an orphan, do you?’
‘Who else do you suggest?’ Charlotte shot back. ‘Annie must be with the wolves and Isaac needs to protect Annie whilst she’s so distracted.’
‘What about me?’ Polly asked.
‘You need to survive for Isaac,’ Charlotte said in a low voice.
Polly stared at her, momentarily lost for a reply. ‘You’ll never get away with it,’ she said finally. ‘Whatever you say, you don’t look like an orphan.’
Charlotte plunged her hands into her hair and roughed it up. Then she dropped to the ground and smeared a handful of soil across her face. Lastly, she grasped her skirt and tugged at it. There was the sound of ripping fabric and a huge tear appeared. Annie gasped as Isaac and Polly simply stared at her.
‘There,’ Charlotte said. ‘How do I look now?’
‘Ridiculous,’ Polly answered carelessly. ‘Like a posh girl trying to be common.’
‘Posh girls can fall on hard times too,’ Charlotte replied, equally as carelessly. When nobody argued, she spoke again. ‘So, I go in. That’s settled.’ She began to make her way through the gates and up the gravelled path.
‘What are we supposed to do in the meantime?’ Isaac called after her.
Charlotte looked back. ‘Wait for me and stay out of sight until I come back.’
‘How long will that be? And where do we wait?’
Charlotte glanced around uncertainly. The landscape was barren heath – not an easy place to stay out of sight.
‘Hang on a tick, sweets,’ Polly said. ‘Let me scout around first.’
Hitching up her skirts, she set off at a jog around the boundary wall. The others watched her run along it and then disappear behind the building. The wolves, in the meantime, lay down and waited silently for their next command.
Polly reappeared a few minutes later. ‘There’s a back door and what looks like a cellar door but they’re locked. There are also outbuildings…’ she lowered her voice. ‘They look like they’re for punishment. I can’t say there’s much goin’ on, though.’
‘It is strange,’ agreed Isaac. ‘There should be all kinds of comin’s and goin’s.’
‘It ain’t strange,’ Annie said in a flat voice. ‘The children are too afraid to make a fuss and noise.’
‘So…’ Isaac said, unable to respond to Annie’s statement. For his part he’d escaped the misery of the orphanage, but he wasn’t sure that living on the streets and begging for scraps had been any better. But at least, he mused, he had had the freedom to come and go and the ability to stay out of harm’s way if he wanted to, even if he did often have to spend winter’s nights pressed against the wall of the tavern just to keep himself from freezing to death. ‘There ain’t no way in or out that’s stealthy, like,’ he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he gazed at the building. ‘Right now, the best we got is Charlotte goin’ in as an orphan.’ He frowned. ‘I can’t say I’m fond o’ that plan.’
‘We’ll have to decide quick,’ Polly said, glancing at Annie. She lowered her voice. ‘I don’t think she’s goin’ to last much longer before she collapses.’ She shot another critical glance at Charlotte. ‘And I still say they won’t be fooled by a girl who looks so well fed for a second.’
‘You’re saying I’m fat?’ Charlotte squeaked.
‘No, it’s just that you look like you’ve had a few roast dinners. It’ll never work.’
Charlotte folded her arms and glared at Polly. ‘What do you suggest then, clever clogs?’
‘We sneak in. Through the back way. We take one o’ the wolves with us and we sniff Georgie out.’
‘How are you going to control a wolf without Annie?’ Charlotte reminded her.
‘The enchantment will hold,’ Annie said firmly. ‘Even if the animal is a few feet away from me I can make it hold.’
‘We can’t get in the back way – it’s locked,’ Isaac reminded her.
Polly turned to him, hands on her hips, and rolled her eyes. ‘What kind o’ street urchin are you? You must have picked a lock or two in your time?’
Isaac grinned. ‘I might have. But that one looks tighter than the rickety ol’ lock on the pantry door of The Hare and Hounds.’
Polly reached over to Charlotte and yanked at one of her hairpins.
‘Ow!’ Charlotte snarled. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Keep your voice down, idiot. I’m not wearing hairpins, in case you hadn’t noticed, neither is Annie. Isaac ought to be – he’s such a big girl – but he ain’t either. An’ I need a hairpin to pick at that lock.’ Polly waved the pin at Charlotte before she twirled towards the building and strode off. ‘So it will have to be one of yours, won’t it?’ she called behind her.
Charlotte watched her go and fired a dark look at Isaac. ‘Is she always this vexing?’ she muttered.
Isaac grinned. ‘That’s why I like her so.’ He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the foreboding grey wall of the building. ‘I still say it’s unnatural quiet in there.’
‘You’re right,’ Charlotte agreed, following the line of his gaze. ‘You’d think there would be some disturbance, but it’s silent as the grave.’ She shivered slightly. ‘Do you think we ought to take a peek inside?’
‘Ain’t that what Poll’s trying to do?’
‘I mean through the window now. So we have at least some knowledge of what we’re walking into.’
‘Might be less scary if you don’t,’ Isaac said with a small smile. ‘It’s easier to run away if you see the jaws of the lion first. And we ain’t running, not now we’ve come this far.’
‘No, we’re not,’ Annie said grimly. Isaac and Charlotte spun around to look at her. She’d been so quiet, concentrating on her task, that they had almost forgotten she was there.
‘We’ll get Georgie out; you’ll see,’ Isaac said with a great deal more conviction than he felt.
‘I’ll die before I leave her here,’ Annie said.
Isaac glanced across at Charlotte before turning his gaze back to Annie. ‘There ain’t no need for any of that nonsense if we do this right.’
Almost as quickly as she had gone, Polly was racing back towards them with a huge grin. Isaac raised his eyebrows.
‘You never popped that lock already?’
‘Course I did!’ she chirruped. ‘Wha
t do you take me for?’
‘Let’s go then,’ Isaac hissed. He looked at Annie. ‘You stay here with the wolves until we send for you.’
Annie nodded shortly.
At the back of the building, Isaac nudged in front of Polly to push open the door. It let out a sickening squeal as the rusty hinges protested to the movement and Isaac shot an alarmed look behind him at the others. Polly rolled her eyes.
They stopped to listen for any signs that the occupants of the orphanage had been alerted to the security breach, but when everything seemed to remain silent, Isaac pushed cautiously again. This time the door ground open to let them in.
They found themselves in a small back room, like an outhouse. Along the walls were pegs hung with an assortment of cleaning equipment – feather dusters, brooms and mops – wooden buckets lined up in the space beneath, empty apart from heavy-bristled scrubbing brushes that sat in each one. There were two doors – one at the far side, almost hidden from sight, and one right in front of them. Isaac pressed his ear to the nearest one after they agreed in hushed tones that this seemed most likely to be connected to the main building.
‘Sounds like the grave in there,’ he whispered. ‘I don’t like this one bit.’
‘You ain’t supposed to like it,’ Polly whispered back. ‘You’re supposed to work out if it’s safe to go in.’
‘I can’t tell, though, can I, if I can’t hear what’s going on.’
‘It doesn’t seem right that a place this big will be this silent,’ Charlotte agreed. ‘There ought to be hundreds of children in there and there ought to be a lot of noise, no matter how strict the wardens are, even if that’s just noise from their labours.’
‘You’re going to have to go in,’ Polly said, prodding Isaac in the back.
‘Oi!’ he hissed. ‘Enough o’ that prodding. Why don’t you go in if you’re so keen?’
‘One of us has to. And I thought you were the man around here.’
‘Oh… now I’m a man when it suits you,’ Isaac said. He couldn’t help a small grin, though. ‘I’ll hold you to that later.’
‘You ain’t that man yet,’ Polly snapped back. ‘First you got to prove it.’
Isaac turned the handle and pressed his weight against the door, but it stayed firm.
‘Locked,’ he grimaced. He glanced towards the other door. ‘Let’s try that one.’
They raced over and he repeated the exercise but that door was stuck firm too.
‘We got to unpick one of them,’ Polly said. ‘Choose which one.’
‘Why do I choose?’ Isaac asked.
‘Let’s unpick the first one,’ Charlotte cut in with an impatient sigh. ‘I’m beginning to think the place is empty and we’re wasting time here if it is.’
‘Why would it be empty?’ Polly said with a frown. ‘It should be full of orphans.’
‘I daren’t imagine,’ Charlotte replied darkly. ‘But you seem to know what these people are capable of so you should be able to answer that question better than anyone.’
‘What are you tryin’ to say?’ Polly asked, standing at her full height now, her nostrils flaring. ‘You was the one who read the documents. You saw the plans for the ritual.’
‘I didn’t see it all!’ Charlotte fired back.
‘Calm down, Poll,’ Isaac cut in. ‘Charlotte don’t mean anythin’ by it. And this quarrelling ain’t getting us anywhere. Don’t forget Annie is still waiting for us out there with all them wolves. We’d best just get this door open and see what’s what… Get ready to run if I signal.’
The two girls nodded in unison.
‘Poll, pass us that hairpin.’
Polly nudged him out of the way. ‘I’ll do this, I’m better than you. And I might as well open the door. So you get ready to run if I signal.’
Isaac grinned. ‘Right you are my little firecracker.’
Polly stuck her tongue out at him, which only made his grin spread wider. Then she proceeded to rattle the hairpin in the lock, twisting and turning it this way and that, trying to spring the mechanism. Charlotte watched on, obvious awe in her expression, whilst Isaac bounced on the balls of his feet with impatience, hands clenched into fists at his side. After a few tense moments, there was a faint click and the lock sprang open. She glanced at Isaac for a moment, her earlier bravado replaced by a look of misgiving.
‘What are you waitin’ for?’ he asked.
She took a deep breath and slowly nudged the door open, allowing the tiniest crack to put her eye up to. After a tense moment, she turned back to the others.
‘Not a soul to be seen.’
Isaac frowned.
‘Look for yourself,’ Polly said, making the gap wider. Isaac and Charlotte crowded in and peered through into a vast, silent room, lined with long rough tables. High windows slanted tepid daylight in to reveal panelled walls thick with years of dust and grease and a floor smeared with more of the same, wisps of old straw strewn across in a poor attempt to conceal the filth.
‘Well, that’s a rum do and no mistake,’ Isaac said, scratching his head as he craned in to take a closer look. ‘You’d think it would be a bit cleaner in there, cleanliness bein’ next to Godliness an’ that.’
‘Where is everyone?’ Charlotte whispered, almost to herself rather than her companions.
‘Good question,’ Polly replied. ‘That room ought to be full of urchins being worked into their graves…’
‘So where are they?’ Isaac finished for her.
‘Let’s check that other door.’ Polly squeezed through the gap between Isaac and Charlotte, still gazing at the silent room, and marched to the other end of the outhouse.
‘I’m not so sure I want to,’ Charlotte said with a shiver as she turned to face her.
‘Ready?’ Polly asked as she fiddled with the hairpin in the second lock.
‘No,’ Isaac said. ‘But get the infernal thing open. I’m sick of being scared half to death all the time. If someone’s waitin’ to get me on the other side of that door I’d rather just know about it now.’
Without another word, Polly worked the hairpin until the lock clicked in the same way that the first had done and she inched it open, putting her eye to the gap.
‘It’s too dark,’ she whispered.
Isaac glanced at Charlotte. ‘You’ll have to open it more,’ he whispered back uncertainly.
Polly hesitated, and then did just that. But the tension in her shoulders relaxed and she pulled the door out wide to show the others that the room beyond was nothing more than a tiny cloakroom.
‘Well, that weren’t quite as terrifying as I was hoping for,’ Isaac said with a slight grin.
‘It don’t make any sense,’ Polly replied.
‘What don’t?’
‘This…’ she waved her hand at the space. ‘This is just a cupboard and I don’t see any other doors. So where did everyone go?’
‘They could have been taken away somewhere else. They might not be here,’ Charlotte said.
Polly turned to her with folded arms. ‘Where would they take hundreds of urchins? It ain’t even Sunday so there’s no church. There ain’t nowhere else.’
‘Clearly, they’re not here, are they?’ Charlotte returned coldly. ‘So they must be somewhere else.’
‘Right, Miss Clever-Bloomers,’ Polly hissed, ‘where?’
‘How should I know?’
‘You seem to know everythin’ else.’
‘I do believe the honour of that conceit is yours.’
‘And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?’
‘Would you like me to explain all the words to you one by one?’
Polly flushed, her eyes narrowed as she readied herself to launch into a fiery tirade. Isaac raised a hand between them.
‘Ladies! We ain’t got time for this.’
Charlotte’s head went down. Polly folded her arms tighter across her chest, her face thunderous. But her mouth stayed firmly shut.
‘What we need to be th
inkin’ about now,’ Isaac continued, ‘is what we do next.’ Leaning against the doorframe of the cloakroom, he reached for a hook and tugged on it, swinging his weight around and staring thoughtfully ahead. And then there was a grinding sound.
Isaac leapt back from the doorway, his mouth round in a comical look of shock. All three watched, wide-eyed as the back wall of the cloakroom slid open to reveal a gaping darkness beyond, the first few steps of a staircase just visible in the gloom.
‘I wonder if we have our answer,’ Charlotte whispered.
Polly rolled her eyes. ‘There’s always a bloomin’ secret room, ain’t there?’
Isaac grinned. ‘What do we do? Do we go down there?’
‘I don’t see what else we can do.’ Polly glanced towards the outside door. Annie waited outside for them, in her weakened state probably struggling to control her canine charges now. ‘And if we’re going, we’d better go quick.’
Isaac gave a tight-lipped nod. Throughout the day, he had looked strong, determined, but for the first time he paled, his courage appearing to fail him as he regarded the dark stairway with an expression of the deepest misgiving.
‘You can stay up top, if you want,’ Polly said. ‘Wait here and stand guard.’ He turned to her. Where he might have expected to see her usual scorn and mocking, he saw only softness. She laid a hand on his arm. ‘You’ve been through enough for one day and no one would blame you. I mean, you was practically dead a few hours ago.’
He forced a smile. ‘Let you go down alone and have all the fun? Not ruddy likely.’ He turned to Charlotte. ‘Poll’s right about one thing, though. It’s a good idea to have someone keep guard up here. Can we count on you to lookout?’
Charlotte looked from one to the other, to the dark, foreboding hole now waiting to swallow them, and then back at Isaac. It looked as though her courage had finally waned too. She nodded uncertainly.
‘What do you want me to do if anyone comes?’
‘We’ve no idea how far down this is.’ Isaac looked at Polly. ‘How do we know whether we’d hear Charlotte call a warning if she had to?’
‘We don’t,’ Polly replied grimly. ‘The best Charlotte can do is leg it.’