Demelza & the Spectre Detectors

by Holly Rivers

  With an arm around her shoulders, Miranda hoisted Demelza back to her feet. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘It’s all going to be OK.’

  But just as they were stepping through the threshold, something caught Demelza’s eye. Stacked atop the filing cabinet nearest the door was a collection of faded old papers. On the very top was a pamphlet, and on its front, a photograph of a graveyard.

  Demelza broke from her friend’s grasp and picked it up. She read:

  ETERNAL SORROW CEMETERY

  A beautifully maintained cemetery in the heart of the English countryside.

  A place to remember and be remembered.

  Demelza flicked through the rest of the pamphlet. There were pictures of weeping willows, headstones, stone angels, and . . .

  A loose piece of paper fell out on to the floor.

  Demelza picked it up. Typed on it were the words:

  Grime & Blair

  Funeral Directors & Embalmers

  Date and place of burial: 12 NOVEMBER, ETERNAL SORROW CEMETERY

  Casket and Services .................................£400.00

  Vault Space (Plot No. 10345, Eternal

  Sorrow Cemetery).....................................£200.00

  Opening and closing of vault.....................£25.00

  Hire of Hearse...........................................£150.00

  Flowers........................................................£85.00

  PAID IN FULL

  Demelza felt her mouth slacken.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Percy, coming to stand by her. ‘Have you found something useful?’

  ‘I-I think I have,’ stuttered Demelza. She pointed to the note and her friends peered down at it. ‘It’s a receipt for a funeral. What if this is the person that the Snatcher wants to bring back through the Conjuring of Resurrection?’

  Miranda looked again at the receipt. ‘That could make sense. Eternal Sorrow Cemetery is fairly close to Sourbank Bridge, where you’ve been ordered to meet. My mum took me there on a historical walk once.’

  ‘And maybe that’s where they’re keeping your Grandma Maeve too?’ added Percy. ‘Maybe this room is just their headquarters?’

  Demelza looked at her friends with a renewed feeling of hope. They could go and rescue Grandma Maeve!

  But her jubilation was short-lived.

  ‘Well, well, well! What’s goin’ on here then, eh?’

  A shadow fell across the secret room and the children turned. The figures of Boris and Gregor loomed in the doorway, terrifying scowls sliced across their faces.

  ‘Erm . . . trick or treat?’ attempted Demelza, her voice trembling as she clutched her mask to her face. ‘Got any sweets for us?’

  ‘Ha! Nice try, Demelza!’ said Boris, lumbering towards the vault. His face was sweaty and slick, like raw gammon. ‘But we know exactly who you are and what you’re doin’ here!’ He lunged for Demelza and ripped her mask from her face.

  ‘As we thought!’ said Gregor, pulling a bogey from his nose and wiping it on his trousers. ‘The boss will be pleased to see the little brat so soon. But who are her little friends, I wonder?’

  The man advanced and, as Miranda and Percy clutched their masks to their faces, Demelza scuttled backwards, trying to shield them. ‘NO! Stay away from us!’ she cried. ‘Or . . . or . . .’

  ‘Or what?’ said Boris. ‘A few firecrackers ain’t gonna put us off this time, girly! And there’s no one here to hear you scream, kiddywinks!’ He let out a raspy laugh and flung his fat head backwards.

  Boris was right. Demelza knew she’d been lucky at the Dance with Death, but there was no way out this time. Hope left her as she watched the henchmen lurching towards her, flexing their podgy fists . . .

  ‘You’re the only ones who are going to be screaming!’ shouted Miranda suddenly. With almost superhuman strength, she seized the filing cabinet from the ground and pushed it in the brothers’ direction with all her might. As if in slow motion, it toppled over like a falling tree, landing across their toes with a blood curdling crunch.

  ‘Owwwwwww!’ howled Gregor, hopping around on the spot.

  ‘My poor tootsies!’ Boris yelped.

  The three children looked at each other.

  ‘Run!’ shouted Miranda. ‘Now!’

  The children skirted around the brothers, Demelza stopping to give Gregor a quick kick in the shins. ‘That’s for kidnapping my grandma!’ she snarled, before moving on to Boris and giving him a wallop across the back. ‘And that’s for taking the last slice of pork pie!’

  CHAPTER 29

  The Chase

  Miranda led the way back through the decrepit corridors and gloomy passageways of the castle. Evening had quickly turned to night and had brought with it a bitter chill that crept through the cracked, grimed windows. Demelza knew that if they just got to the main staircase it would lead them back down to the front door, but every turn they took just seemed to lead them deeper and deeper into the depths of the castle.

  ‘Are you sure we’re going the right way?’ Demelza called out as they skidded to a stop at the end of an arched passageway. A semicircle of doors lay ahead of them, each identical in colour and shape. ‘This doesn’t look very familiar!’

  ‘Erm . . . erm . . .’ Miranda muttered, panic beginning to set in as she looked around. ‘I’m not sure. It’s so dark. I think we might have taken a wrong turn . . .’

  Worse still, the sound of heavy footsteps somewhere not too far away announced that Boris and Gregor were on their tail.

  ‘They’re going to catch us!’ Percy whimpered.

  Demelza stepped forward, her gaze darting frantically from doorknob to doorknob. ‘We’ll just have to choose one of these doors and hope it doesn’t lead to a dead end!’

  Percy squirmed. ‘Don’t you have an invention in your satchel that could tell us which door to go through? Your fortune-telling toaster thingy or something?’

  ‘Oh yeah, because I always carry huge pieces of kitchen apparatus around in my pockets,’ Demelza replied sarcastically. ‘Let me just get it out now!’

  The sound of footsteps was getting louder, as if a couple of rhinos were charging around in steel-capped boots. Boris and Gregor were now dangerously close!

  ‘Through this one!’ said Demelza, pointing to a door at random, and with a firm jolt she turned the handle and the children pushed their way inside.

  A high-ceilinged, circular room extended beyond it, its walls covered in gigantic fading tapestries. A dusty grand piano stood in the corner, looking as if it hadn’t felt the touch of human fingers in centuries.

  ‘It’s . . . it’s a dead end!’ said Percy, looking around hysterically for an exit. ‘We’re doomed!’

  ‘Quick, let’s try a different door!’ shouted Miranda, turning back.

  But it was already too late.

  Two dark shadows fell across the room as the Neanderthalic shapes of the brothers stumbled inside.

  ‘Oooooh, speedy little fings, ain’t ya?’ panted Gregor. ‘I ’aven’t ’ad to run that fast since the police came after me for stealin’ that toddler’s lollipop last month!’

  ‘Don’t worry, bruv, we’ve got ’em now,’ said Boris, bolting the door behind him. His lips curled into a horrible smile, his snaggle teeth protruding from his lower jaw like a troll’s.

  ‘Yeah, we certainly ’ave!’ agreed Gregor, swiping a rusty axe from the grip of a nearby suit of armour before pacing towards Demelza. ‘I ’ope you aren’t too attached to those ears of yours, cos they ain’t gonna be attached to you for much longer!’

  He lifted the weapon high above his head, and as he brought it down through the air Percy let out a scream.

  Demelza dived out of the way just in time.

  There was a metallic clang as the axe hit the marble floor, which cracked as if it were an icy lake.

  ‘You sneaky little grub!’ Gregor growled, scratching his bottom before yanking the axe from the floor. ‘Not to worry, it always takes
me a little time to warm up. Second time lucky . . .’

  ‘Hey, over here, you big bozos!’ called Miranda. ‘Ready for some more pain?’ She waved to Boris and Gregor before picking up a hardback copy of Nineteenth-Century Sonnets from a nearby bookshelf and drawing it close to her ear.

  The brothers watched with confusion as she began to pivot on one foot, twirling round and around with the precision of an Olympian, gathering speed with each turn.

  ‘Errr . . . what’s goin’ on?’ mumbled Gregor as he watched the human hurricane whirling in front of him. ’What’s she doin’?’

  But before his brother could answer, Miranda let go of the book and it went hurtling through the air like a shot put. It smacked Gregor on the side of his jaw, and he fell backwards against the door like a sack of potatoes, groaning in pain.

  ‘Why you little—!’ growled Boris, lunging forward and gnashing his teeth. ‘You’ll pay for that!’

  Miranda had already grabbed another book, and before the henchman could react it had smacked him right between the eyes. He fell to the floor next to his brother, flat on his back.

  ‘Oooooh, stars!’ he cooed, gazing up into space. ‘Pretty, pretty stars!’

  ‘Wow!’ Percy spluttered, looking over at the dazed beasts with astonishment. ‘Miranda, that was amazing!’

  ‘Astronomically amazing!’ added Demelza with gusto. ‘Astoundingly astronomically amazing!’

  ‘Thanks,’ Miranda replied. ‘I’m not sure they’ll be out for long, though. We need to get out of here. Fast!’

  ‘But how?’ asked Percy, looking at the brothers. ‘Those ugly lumps are blocking the door.’

  Demelza looked around, and as her eyes fell on a large window draped with heavy curtains, she smiled. It led on to a balcony! ‘Follow me!’

  Without hesitation she hurried over and pushed open the rusted window, Miranda and Percy close behind her. The cold night air, heavy with rain, whooshed at her like an unwanted guest, and her teeth began to chatter like the keys of a typewriter. They were on the first floor, which felt very high up, but a drainpipe led down the castle wall to the ground.

  ‘Demelza, are you sure about this?’ said Percy, peering over the railings.

  ‘Not really, but we haven’t got a choice,’ she replied. ‘Come on.’

  Demelza reached for the pipe with both hands, checking its stability. It groaned and creaked but didn’t pull away from the wall.

  She swung her legs around the pipe, clamping her knees against it like a vice. Her hands followed one by one, and before long she was slowly easing herself down. It was painful – her fingers numb, her thighs burning – but it wasn’t too long until she felt the comforting solidity of grass beneath her feet.

  She’d made it!

  ‘Well done!’ she shouted as Percy came edging down behind. ‘You’re doing brilliantly! Keep going!’ She couldn’t help feeling a huge sense of pride in her friend. This time last week he’d barely left his house; now he was shimmying down the drainpipe of an old castle!

  Miranda followed, and soon enough the three friends were back on solid ground. They huddled together under the canopy of a nearby tree, their clothes drenched and their hair knotted, as if they’d just been pulled from the sea. Demelza felt her body trembling with both cold and adrenalin.

  ‘Urghhh!’ huffed Percy. ‘Why didn’t the Tudors just install lifts in their castles? It would have made things a whole lot easier!’

  ‘Well, at least those thugs didn’t follow us,’ said Miranda, snatching a look back at the balcony.

  ‘Those poetry books to the head must have really knocked them out,’ said Demelza.

  ‘Well, they do say that the pen is mightier than the sword,’ replied Miranda with a wry smile. ‘But what now? What’s the plan, Demelza?’

  Demelza straightened her thinking cap, her belly aflame with a rekindled determination. ‘I need to go to Eternal Sorrow Cemetery immediately. Grandma Maeve, I’m coming to get you!’

  CHAPTER 30

  Bonbons

  It had finally stopped raining by the time the children arrived back on the high street, but the sky was still masked with clouds. ‘Right, this is what’s going to happen,’ Demelza whispered, gathering her friends together. ‘Miranda, Percy – you go back to Stricton and let Ms Cardinal know that we’re safe.’ She pulled a map from her satchel and studied it. ‘I’ll go on to the cemetery. If I cut through Hollowbranch Forest, I think I can get there pretty quickly. If I’m not back in a couple of hours, send help.’

  ‘Demelza, no!’ said Miranda. ‘You can’t be walking through forests on your own at this time of night. It’s far too dangerous, even for a girl armed with a satchel full of inventions!’

  Percy nodded in agreement. ‘Miranda’s right. Haven’t you heard the stories about Hollowbranch Forest? It’s full of bears and wolves and monsters!’ He took a deep breath and stepped forward. ‘I’m coming with you.’

  ‘Me too!’ added Miranda.

  ‘Thanks,’ answered Demelza. ‘But I’ve put you both in enough danger as it is. Head on back to Stricton and I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

  ‘No!’ insisted Percy. ‘I’ve always been the sensible one, the one who’s obeyed the rules. Yes, the idea of walking through a dark forest in the middle of the night is frightening. Terrifying! But we need to do this. We need to bring back Grandma Maeve, together.’

  Percy’s chin was trembling, his eyes panicked but determined. For perhaps the first time in her life Demelza knew that this wasn’t the time to be proud or put on a brave act. She looked to the ground, biting her lip. ‘Thank you. I’d love you both to come with me.’

  ‘Well, that settles it,’ said Percy. ‘Maybe one day the author of Captain Thalasso will write a comic book based on our adventures! You’ll be Demelza the Daring! Then there’ll be Miranda the Mighty. And, of course, not forgetting Percival the Proud!’

  ‘Percival the Pain in the Bottom, more like!’ said Demelza with a grin. ‘Come on, let’s go!’

  The trio journeyed up the high street, where the rows of little shops had long since closed and the trick-or-treaters had gone home. The street lamps cast a spooky light across the cobbles, and even though it was a route Demelza had taken so many times before, it somehow felt different now. It was as if with every step she took she was walking further and further into the unknown, and as they passed Mr Barnabas’s shop she couldn’t help but stop momentarily to glance at the comforting familiarity of the window display. She let her eyes gaze upon the pumpkins lit up with fairy lights and jars of sweet treats, and a pang of nostalgia melted through her body. She thought back to only a few weeks ago, when the agony of choosing between coconut macaroons and sugar mice had been the worst of her problems. But that seemed like a lifetime ago.

  ‘Demelza? Is that you?’ A whisper came from the shop doorway, and there was Mr Barnabas in his nightshirt and slippers. A glowing lamp illuminated his face, picking out his shiny golden tooth.

  ‘M-Mr Barnabas,’ stuttered Demelza. ‘Yes, it’s me. And my friends Percy and Miranda. Sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you.’

  ‘No bother, I was just making myself a cup of hot milk. But what are you three doing out after dark? Not causing any Halloween mischief, I hope? No stink bombs this year?’ He flashed Demelza a knowing grin.

  Percy looked at his friends and gulped. ‘N-n-no! We weren’t causing mischief! Definitely not. We were just . . . erm . . . erm . . .’

  ‘We were just returning from school,’ interrupted Demelza coolly. ‘We had a special night-time class to learn about the feeding habits of nocturnal animals. It’s part of the new syllabus.’

  Percy looked at her incredulously, but Mr Barnabas nodded without question. ‘Right you are, then. But I guess all that studying has probably made you a bit peckish, eh? You could do with something sugary, perhaps?’

  Demelza’s eyes lit up like the headlights of a car and she nodded without hesitation.

  ‘Well, it’s lucky I always
carry around a bag of emergency bonbons, isn’t it?’ The shopkeeper reached into his nightshirt pocket and took out a paper bag. ‘And these ones are a new recipe I’ve been working on. They glow in the dark!’

  He handed the bag to Demelza. Sure enough, the round sweets were luminous, aglow like little phosphorescent pebbles. How curious! Any other time she’d have liked nothing more than to quiz Mr Barnabas on the intricacies of the chemical process he’d used to make them, but for now she put the bag in her satchel and made a mental note to question him next time she visited.

  As the children left, the shop keeper stood in the threshold and waved them off. ‘Now run home quickly and straight to bed. And send my best to your Grandma Maeve, won’t you, Demelza? Not seen her in a while . . .’

  On hearing her grandmother’s name Demelza’s heart skipped a beat and, without turning back, she whispered, ‘Yes, Mr Barnabas. I really hope I can.’

  The night continued to thicken, and by the time Demelza, Percy and Miranda had reached Hollowbranch Forest, an opaque veil of mist had fallen over everything. With only a sliver of moonlight and a smattering of stars as their guide, they stood hand in hand, peering into the spidery depths ahead. The trees twisted above them in charcoal shards, bats hanging from the branches like leathery, black fruits.

  ‘OK,’ whispered Demelza, pulling up the collar of her coat before teetering forward. ‘Stay close. We don’t want to get lost or separated.’

  Percy nodded, but before he’d even taken a footstep, he froze. ‘Hang on . . . what if we do get lost or separated? How will we find our way back out? Shouldn’t we mark the path or something?’

  ‘Good thinking, Percy!’ said Demelza. ‘What can we use?’ She took in their surroundings, trying to find something to mark their way, but found nothing. Why oh why hadn’t she picked up her Everlasting Ball of String from Bladderwrack Cottage earlier on?

  ‘Hang on, I think I have an idea!’ exclaimed Miranda. ‘Have either of you ever read the story of Hansel and Gretel?’