Childish Spirits Read online

  Moira smiled awkwardly.

  There was a click from the camera.

  “Let’s get some on the mobile.” Ellie switched her phone on. “I can text them to Dad.” She held the phone high and took a picture of them both, then another.

  Abruptly, Moira moved away.

  “Let’s go and see the other side of the island,” she suggested. She went to the slab and picked up the camera. “I’ll take this. There are some fine views from there.”

  She disappeared around the perimeter of the folly.

  Ellie frowned. She stood for a moment, staring back across the water.

  She shivered. It was surprisingly cold, around this old, stone building. She had the feeling that she was trespassing. It felt like no one had been on this island for years.

  “Did you find anything?” she called.

  There was silence.

  “Moira?”

  Ellie stepped out of the folly. She walked around to the rear.

  “Moira? Moira!”

  In less than thirty seconds, she had covered the whole island, in and around the folly.

  There was no sign of her friend.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ellie ran back to where they’d tied up the boat.

  It was still there. Moira couldn’t have left that way.

  She ran around the island again. This was insane.

  She skidded to a halt.

  “Oh, Edward,” she muttered. “Why didn’t you tell me? What’s going on?”

  All at once, she felt exhausted. She went and sat on the cold, stone slab.

  She didn’t know how long she remained like that, utterly miserable. The sun had disappeared behind a big, black cloud, and the wind was growing colder. It would be raining soon.

  She couldn’t even see Mum, or Charlie. The mist seemed to have closed in again, and was shrouding the other side of the lake from view. She tried shouting. But there was no reply.

  She took her phone from her pocket. There was no signal.

  She wondered what they’d do, when they found her gone.

  Ellie hadn’t got beyond the ten metres badge for swimming. And she’d seen that the oars of the boat would be way too heavy for her.

  What had happened to Moira? She surely wouldn’t just abandon her. But how could Moira have got off the island at all?

  Ellie frowned, as she remembered her vision… the other boat…. the woman.

  She was sure the woman had been the governess.

  Why had Edward been so afraid of her? Could she be responsible for Moira’s disappearance?

  She remembered the dream – and the governess’s words.

  “You and Master Edward will do exactly as you’re told.”

  “You’re on your own now, Ellie,” she told herself. “On your own. Against her.”

  She shifted uncomfortably on the slab. She wobbled suddenly, almost losing her balance.

  The slab was loose!

  She scrambled down to ground level, placed her hands on the slab and pushed.

  It was heavy. But slowly, steadily, it moved, revealing a black, empty space below.

  Ellie retched. The air beneath was stale and dank. No one could have moved this slab for decades.

  She pushed further, until a deep pit was revealed.

  “Boo!”

  A small, blond head popped out, jack-in-the-box style, from the black space and a familiar impudent grin appeared.

  “About time, too,” said a cheerful, smug voice. “What kept you?”

  Ellie gawped.

  “Edward?”

  Edward floated out of the pit. A moment later he was standing in front of Ellie.

  “I found this when I was eight,” he said. “Of course, the tunnel’s much older than the folly. Someone was clever enough to link the two together. Oh, don’t look so surprised. You knew about the priest’s hole, and the hidden chamber. It all just goes a bit further… Here, I say, get off!” He backed away as Ellie tried to hug him. “You know that doesn’t work, anyway.”

  “I thought…” Ellie caught her breath. “I thought you were…”

  “If you say “dead”,” Edward told her. “I’ll pull your hair again. You didn’t think I was going to stick around to get toasted like a crumpet on the nursery fire, did you?” His voice softened. “I must say, it’s jolly nice to see you.”

  “Then, what –” Ellie started.

  “I managed to slip out of the painting before those idiot yokels from the village picked it up,” Edward said. “Been in hiding. I don’t know who told them to burn the thing, but someone did. Funny…” He laughed. “We had an old Vicar in the village, who used to talk about one’s soul going to the eternal fires. Personally, I thought I was a bit young for that, just yet.”

  Ellie looked down into the pit. “There’s a tunnel from here to the house?”

  “‘Course,” Edward said. “It’s delightfully dirty and creepy down there. You’ll loathe it.”

  Ellie stuck her tongue out.

  “But first,” Edward said. He sat cross-legged on the stone floor of the folly, and Ellie joined him. “Tell me what’s been happening.”

  Ellie had forgotten how much she still had to tell Edward. Her odd dream. The strange journey to the island.

  “Postshadowing,” Edward said, when Ellie mentioned the other boat. “Echoes of things that happened here. Nothing unusual in that. You could say I’m something of an echo myself.” He frowned. “But what was it you saw?”

  His expression grew grimmer when Ellie reached the disappearance of Moira.

  “I don’t like that. If she’s started spiriting people away, then she must be getting angry. She was only sent for me.”

  As always when the governess was mentioned, he fell silent.

  Ellie took the words in slowly.

  Spiriting away… Sent for me…

  She leapt to her feet.

  “So that’s it! She’s come to collect you!”

  “It’s not fair!” Edward burst out. “Why should I have to go, after all this time?”

  He sat, with a sulky expression on his face, looking out across the lake.

  “Inchwood is my home. I own the place, by rights.”

  “And this woman… your governess…” Ellie said. “Has come to fetch you?”

  “Come to take me away,” Edward corrected. “She’s what’s known as a Spirit Guide. Come to take me to… oh… I don’t know where. When a child dies, they send someone to bear him away.” He scowled. “Why did they have to pick that foul old –”

  “Edward!” Ellie scolded. “You’re a gentleman, remember.” She paused. “What’s her name?”

  Edward hesitated.

  “Miss McKendrick. And she was rotten enough when we were alive. Latin verbs. Compound interest sums. Lovely summer days, stuck inside doing French or copper-plate handwriting with her. And then luncheon, or tea. She wouldn’t let me have any of the things I liked. Always rice pudding, or prunes…”

  He smiled.

  “But they got rid of her. In the end.”

  “Why?” Ellie asked.

  “Don’t know.” Edward shrugged. “Father never told me. She just went away, a few months before… a few months before I did. We’d already been stuck with her for far too long. But Father had to keep her on, after they chucked me out of school – my prep school. I was meant to be going to another school, until…”

  He stopped.

  “I still don’t get it,” Ellie said. “I know teaching you can’t have been a bundle of joy. But why does she hate you so much?” She paused. “And she still looked young. She must have died young. And why’s she only come to get you now? And what’s she done to Moira?”

  “What is this, a parlour game?” Edward snapped. “How am I meant to know? Oh, come on.”

  He headed back towards the stone slab.

  “Shall we go?”

  “Down the tunnel?” Ellie peered over the edge. It seemed a long way down – though there was a ladder, of
sorts – iron rungs set into the stone wall inside.

  “Unless you can row,” Edward said. “It’s quicker this way, anyhow.”

  In three seconds flat, he shot up into the air, and down into the pit.

  “Race you!”

  “No, Edward!” Ellie shouted. “Hang on!”

  There was silence.

  Then, slowly, Ellie started to clamber after him.

  “It’s all right for you,” she muttered. “You can’t break your neck.”

  Grimly, Ellie went hand-over-hand, down and down. The rungs were some distance apart and she found it hard making the transition from one to another. She only hoped they were secure.

  Eventually, she found herself at the bottom of the dank and grimy pit.

  “Come on!” Edward’s voice echoed back to her. “This way.”

  Ellie squinted to make out the long tunnel leading away into the distance. It was so dark…

  “Need a little light on a dark subject?” Edward called. His laugh rebounded from the walls. It sounded like the laughter of a giant. “That was one of Father’s sayings… Allow me.”

  A blaze of light filled the tunnel.

  “There’s no doubt about it,” Edward’s voice went on. “There are some good points to being a ghost.”

  Ellie blinked. She followed Edward.

  The tunnel seemed to go on for miles, despite Edward saying it was the fastest route. Edward drifted along with no effort at all. Ellie cast a glare in his direction every time she had to pause for breath.

  She didn’t know how far underground they were, but they must have reached quite a depth. It was cold and damp and she could tell she was the first person to use this route in a very long time.

  The first living person, at least.

  “Did you used to play down here?” Ellie asked.

  “Yes,” Edward said. “And it was a splendid hiding place. Strange, isn’t it?” He smiled. “I was hiding from her then, too.”

  They rounded a bend.

  “Once, I was down here a whole night,” he went on. “When they found I was missing in the morning, there was the most frightful fuss.”

  “Hey!” Ellie’s eyes widened. “That’s a point. What must Mum be thinking? She’ll be going ballistic. Totally.”

  “Totally…ballistic…” Edward shook his head. “It’s worse than learning Latin with you, sometimes. What language do you people speak?”

  Ellie ignored him.

  “Why did you come down here, that time? Was that Miss McKendrick, too?”

  “Well….” Edward muttered. “I only put a centipede in her bed.” He sniggered. “Father was furious, when she told him.”

  “You want to be careful,” Ellie said. “In that dream I told you about, she had this huge book. She’s written down all the bad things you’ve done. It looks like you’re in a lot of trouble, once she gets hold of you.”

  “That’s what we’re trying to prevent,” Edward said. “Remember?”

  They turned another corner. They seemed to be going upward.

  “What about your father, Ellie?” asked Edward. “Is he away on business?”

  “No.” Ellie looked at the damp and dirty ground. “He just doesn’t live with us. At the moment. That’s all.” She looked back at Edward. “They’re still married, my Mum and Dad. They’re not divorced.”

  “I should think not, indeed!” Edward looked shocked. “Father knew a chap, got divorced. He was never invited to dinner again. Had to resign from all his clubs.” He paused. “You don’t see your father now, then?”

  “At weekends…” Ellie said. “Sometimes. And he’s coming here, tomorrow.” A thought occurred to her. “Of course, you couldn’t know what it’s like, not to have your parents around.”

  Edward laughed.

  “I hardly knew when they were. Do you know how much time I spent with them, usually? One hour a day. New collar on, and best behaviour. The rest of the time I was stuck upstairs in the nursery, with nannies, or rotten old Miss Mc when I was older. The footmen brought me my meals on a tray.” He frowned. “If I had gone away again, to school… Father was talking about my spending the holidays there. I shouldn’t have seen him, or Mother, even when term was over.”

  There was a new source of light ahead of them.

  “Welcome to my parlour.” Edward grinned. “You’re the first mortal being in decades to enter the hidden chamber.”

  Ellie found herself standing in a large, stone room. There were ridges all the way around the walls, like shelves. A long, stone outcrop from the left-hand wall could have served as a bed or as a table.

  “You’d be surprised how many of my ancestors hid out, here,” Edward told her. “Hiding away from Civil Wars and what have you.” He smiled slightly. “Well, we were never that keen on fighting.”

  He drifted over to the shelves.

  “And in later years, I often came here myself. I had quite a nice little den.”

  Ellie could see things on the shelves now – old and tattered books – the sticky remains of a bottle of lemonade – and a faded and dirty chocolate box. She shuddered to think what might be living in there.

  “Sorry I can’t offer you anything,” Edward said. “I had a jolly good stock of tuck here, once.”

  He sat on the stone outcrop and Ellie joined him.

  “What can have happened to Moira?” Ellie said. “She was acting weird. Could Miss McKendrick have done something to her mind?”

  “Shouldn’t be at all surprised,” Edward said. “She was always doing things to mine. She wouldn’t let me have any cake at all, one tea-time, until I’d recited the twelve times table backwards, three times.”

  “What’s eleven times twelve?” Ellie asked.

  Edward made no reply.

  “Ssh!” Ellie said. “Listen!”

  Somewhere nearby, they could hear voices.

  “Someone can’t just disappear from an island, without a boat.”

  “Probably playing some prank again.” Ellie couldn’t mistake Charlie’s voice. “I told you she was behaving weirdly.”

  “It’s Mum!” Ellie hissed. “And Charlie!”

  The voices drew nearer.

  “Well, I’m not getting wet through again,” Charlie’s voice whined on. “I suggest you call the police, right now.”

  “I think that might be the best thing to do, Marcus,” Mum’s voice said.

  Ellie looked at her watch. She leapt up.

  “It’s five o’clock! I’ve been away for, like… hours!”

  “Ah, well,” said Edward. “They do say absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

  Ellie looked around. “Where are we? How d’you get out of here?”

  Edward pointed to the wall in front of them.

  “Over there. There’s a little family crest – how’s that for style? You press it, and a door opens.”

  He grinned.

  “This used to be me. Sitting here, hearing voices, once they’d worked out where I was. And wondering how I was going to talk my way out of trouble.”

  “In that case,” Ellie said. “You’d better think how I’m going to.”

  She turned.

  “Edward? Edward!”

  An empty stone seat met her eyes.

  “Oh, no!” Ellie howled. “Don’t you dare! You’re not doing that to me again –”

  Silence.

  Ellie took a deep breath.

  Then she moved to find the hidden door.

  “I have to say, Judith,” said Marcus, “that your first few days here have not been entirely consistent with what we look for at Journeyback.”

  He strutted around the Manor’s library.

  “Let’s review your progress, shall we? Second day – guests’ possessions go missing from an important event. Third day – your daughter goes off on a pleasure trip to the island, before disappearing. We now have to call in police – which is the last thing we need. Now, I’m not saying you’re responsible for everything that’s gone wrong �
��”

  “Thanks,” muttered Mum, as she stood on the hearthrug. “That’s good of you.”

  “But as an Events Organiser,” Marcus concluded, “you seem, shall we say, rather neglectful of our public image.”

  He reached out to rest his hand against a shelf of leather-bound books.

  The next moment, the shelf wasn’t there.

  Mum stared as the whole section of bookshelves slid aside, sending Marcus crashing into the dark space beyond.

  A doorway was revealed.

  “Oh…” said Ellie. “Sorry… Hi.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Get in there!” Mum ushered Ellie into the flat. “Go straight to your room! And stay there ‘til I tell you to come out! You can consider yourself grounded!”

  She followed Ellie into her room.

  “This really is the limit, Ellie. When I give you and Charlie freedom to lead your own lives, I don’t expect that freedom to be abused. It was ridiculous, and foolhardy, at your age, to explore those tunnels. Let alone going off on your own in a boat!”

  Ellie stared at her mother. “But – I wasn’t on my own. Moira was in the boat with me –”

  “That’s enough!” Mum shouted. “I don’t want to hear lies, on top of everything else! How could she have been with you, when she was with us? Charlie and I took our eyes off you–”

  Ellie noticed Mum didn’t mention being asleep.

  “– for no more than a few minutes, max,” Mum went on. “At the end of which time Moira came and told us where you were.”

  “Where’s Moira now?” Ellie asked.

  “She’s gone home,” Mum answered. “Won’t be back ‘til Monday. Not that I’m involving her in this, any more. You’ve caused me enough professional embarrassment as it is. Honestly, this is meant to be my day off!”

  She sank onto Ellie’s bed.

  “In the meantime,” she said. “Charlie had to get out the inflatable dinghy he uses on summer camp, and go out with one of the volunteers to look for you. It’s not far, but it was far enough. When they found the boat abandoned, and you gone…”

  She closed her eyes.

  “Halfway back, they started shipping water. It’s a good job that volunteer had his Lifesaving badge.”

  “Mum,” Ellie said. “I’m sorry. But I promise you, I wasn’t on my own. Moira was with me. At least, going out.”