Childish Spirits Page 11
She lingered for a moment.
“You know that trick you did, when you helped me get out of the priest’s hole… You couldn’t do it to all of you, could you? Just for a minute?”
Edward paused. Then he closed his eyes hard in concentration.
A moment later, his whole form became solid.
Ellie walked over and put her arms around him.
He felt so real…
“I say, steady on!” Edward put on a show of struggling. “Don’t go all soppy on me! Just like a girl. Honestly, sometimes you’re worse than Sally…”
He took a deep breath.
“Oh, crikey…”
He moved his arms to return the hug.
Ellie paused at the door.
“I’ll make sure people don’t forget you. I’d like to write something about you, send it to that website. People ought to know…”
Edward didn’t look back at her. He moved to the piano and sat down.
He began to play, softly, clumsily, hitting the wrong note occasionally.
And as Ellie watched him, he began to fade.
For a moment, the keys continued to play themselves.
Then there was silence.
Ellie closed the nursery door.
In the corridor, she met Marcus. He had an expression much like that of Edward. But worse. He looked like a little boy who’d had all his toys taken away.
Ellie moved up to him.
“I’m sorry, Marcus.”
“Onward and upward,” Marcus said. “New horizons. New doors. They’re giving me two new sites in London to manage.”
He paused.
“Smaller ones. Including the one your Mum’s going to. You won’t have seen the last of me, just yet.”
He shook his head.
“I won’t be sorry to go. You think: countryside – great! No worries there. Farmers’ markets and flower shows. And what did I get? Priceless paintings being destroyed. Earthquakes. Floods…”
He moved away towards the Site Office.
Ellie stepped out of the front door onto the gravel path. She took a final look up at the house.
It had seemed so magical once. Those ancient walls.
Now, she knew what they had to hide.
She looked at the nursery window. But there was no one to be seen.
She moved over to their packed car. Charlie was already standing waiting, and his holdall was in the boot. Ellie had never seen anyone pack so fast.
He’d been almost nice, since the flood. Hadn’t once called her “miniature one” or “small person”.
“Hello, small person.”
Ellie stopped walking.
There was a pause before she said: “Hello.”
“Can’t wait to be home.” Charlie clambered into the car. “Seeing my mates this weekend. Pizza… go bowling… If I find out who’s responsible for that flood, I’ll kiss ‘em.”
Ellie hoped he wouldn’t.
“Ellie!” Mum’s voice said. “Haven’t we forgotten something?”
She came struggling out of the house, carrying Ellie’s easel – and the painting of the Manor.
“Oh, crikey!” Ellie moved to collect them. “I’m awfully sorry.”
Mum frowned.
“Awfully sorry… Crikey…?”
Ellie hastily bundled the easel into the car.
“Can I put this on top?” She carried the painting round to the boot of the car just as Mum was about to close it. “I don’t want it to get damaged. You never know. It might be worth something, one day. You might be selling copies of it here. I could make your fortune. Pay for the whole place to be repaired…”
The car door closed after her.
In the boot, within the painting, there was a flicker of movement.
Unseen by anyone in the car, a small, blond-haired figure in a tweed suit stepped out of the painted front door of the Manor, and walked into the foreground of the picture.
Edward waited there a moment, grinning, long enough to give the real house a little wave as the car moved away.
Then he stepped back into hiding within the frame.
The car zoomed off along the drive.
THE END
Ellie and Edward’s adventures will continue in:
The Spirit of London
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