The Hidden World (15 page)

They pushed their way into the room and Renko slammed the door behind them. They stared at each other, panting. There were squiggles of blood on Jessica's face and hands.

‘She did that for us,' said Elica, and she was shivering and crying. ‘She let them kill her, for saving us!'

Renko put his arm around her and said, ‘There's nothing we can do now. Let's get back, before we get chased by something else.'

They went to the opposite wall and stood facing it. Dimly, through the diamond-patterned wallpaper, they could see the bedroom beyond, with an iron bed and a nightstand and a chest of drawers with a jug and basin on top of it.

‘Ready?' said Jessica. Behind them they heard something heavy thump against the door, and the furious scrabbling of claws. Another thump, and a vicious snarl.

Together, tightly holding hands, they stepped through the wallpaper. This bedroom was damp and cold, because Jessica's grandparents didn't use it any more, and it was illuminated only by the moon gleaming on the snow outside. They took one look back at the diamond-patterned wallpaper and Jessica said, ‘I never saw anything so terrible, ever.'

‘She let them tear her to pieces,' said Renko. ‘I can't believe she did that.'

‘She will go in heaven now,' added Elica.

And Jessica said, ‘Amen.'

Jessica switched on her computer. She logged on to the Internet, and typed in ‘spotted fever'. Immediately she was presented with page after page of medical details.

‘Look at all this,' said Renko. ‘I can't believe I never heard of spotted fever before.'

‘See,' said Jessica, pointing at the screen. ‘It's usually called Rocky Mountain spotted fever – RMSF for short. It says here that it's one of the fastest-growing infectious diseases amongst young people in America. Look – over two-thirds of the people who contract RMSF are under the age of fifteen.'

‘How do you catch it?' asked Renko.

‘Hold on – here it is. In western states it's carried by the wood tick, and the dog tick carries it in the east. You get bitten by the tick, and the bacillus gets into your bloodstream. You get a rash, and a headache, then you get mental confusion and finally you die of heart failure.'

‘Can it be cured?'

‘These days, yes, if you catch it in the first few days. It says here that one dose of doxycycline can practically cure you overnight.'

‘So we could probably save those children before the Stain gets them.'

‘I think so,' said Jessica. ‘At least we ought to try.'

They tried to sleep but it wasn't easy, with bloody images of Mrs Fellowes in their mind's eye. Twice Jessica woke up to find herself hitting her pillow as if she were fighting off a shadow cat. At eight o'clock Grannie came around to their bedrooms and woke them for breakfast. Outside it was snowing again, thicker than ever, and the world was breathlessly silent. Over pancakes with syrup and crispy bacon, they discussed what they could do next.

‘We have to find out if Dr Leeming has any doxycycline,' said Jessica. ‘If he does, we can get the children out through the wallpaper and take them to see him.'

‘But won't he want to know who they are, and where their parents are?'

‘Of course he will. But we can say they're cousins of mine, come for a visit. He won't refuse to cure them, will he? We can worry about explanations when they're better.'

‘Nobody will be believing us,' said Elica solemnly.

‘I don't think that matters, does it? What matters is saving their lives.'

‘In that case, let's call up Dr Leeming and ask him.'

Jessica picked up the phone, but the heavy snow must have brought the lines down, because all she heard was a continuous sizzling noise. Renko said, ‘It's OK, I'll use my cellphone.' But he couldn't get a signal either.

‘We will have to walk on our legs,' said Elica.

Jessica put on the long brown old-fashioned coat with the black-velvet collar that she had bought at a thrift store in Washington Depot. They were wrapping themselves in their scarves and tugging on their gloves when Grace arrived, with Epiphany. ‘It's snowing so bad out there,' said Grace. ‘I heard that all the roads to Washington Depot are closed, and they got the snow-plows coming over from Waterbury. You taking a walk? In this? You got to be real gluttons for punishment.'

‘We're only going to New Milford,' said Jessica.

‘I'll come,' enthused Epiphany.

‘You have your math homework to finish,' Grace told her.

‘Oh please, Mom, I can do my homework later.'

‘When you're watching TV?'

‘I'll do it, Mom, I promise you.'

‘OK then. But make sure you're back in time for lunch.'

The four of them stepped out into a soundless world of whirling white. Jessica introduced Epiphany to Renko and Elica and then swore her to secrecy.

‘So what's so secret?'

‘We went through the wallpaper.'

‘Come on, you're kidding me.'

‘We went through the wallpaper, it's true. There's a whole different world in there. I promise you, we're not making it up.'

‘You're not kidding me? You really went? There's a world there, really? You got to be kidding me.'

‘God's-honest truth,' Renko assured her. ‘I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't done it.'

‘Well, I saw what Mrs Crawford did with that waterlily on her carpet …'

Jessica told her all about Phoebe and the Stain. ‘It's all real, Piff, I swear it. That's why we're going to New Milford, to make sure that Dr Leeming can cure Phoebe and her brothers and sisters if we bring them out of there.'

‘And this Stain? What exactly is that?'

‘We're not sure. But everybody seems to think it's the worst possible thing in the world.'

‘You mean there's something worse than men?'

‘Hey,' said Renko.

‘You're excused,' Epiphany told him. ‘You're not your typical macho stuff-strutting bigot.'

‘Well thanks.'

They passed Mrs Crawford's house, almost buried under a deep mantle of snow, with only a single light in the living-room window to show that there was anybody home. Then they crossed the road to Allen's Corners Cemetery. ‘We might as well go through here,' Jessica suggested. ‘It's much quicker, and my toes are getting seriously cold.'

They opened the cast-iron gates and walked along an avenue of black granite tombstones and pale limestone angels with lifted wings. ‘I think I'd rather be cremated when I die,' said Epiphany. ‘At least it'll be warm.'

They had almost reached the other side of the cemetery when Jessica stopped and pointed. ‘Look at that. One of the roses said that I'd find the children's names where the gray woman in the green cloak stands and weeps.'

Close to the wall stood an angel with her head bowed and her wings folded. She must have been facing north, because over the years a thick cloak of moss had gathered on her back.

Jessica went over to the angel and brushed the flecks of snow off her plinth. The inscription on it read
IN MEMORY OF THE PENNINGTON CHILDREN, TAKEN AWAYFROM US JULY 24TH 1937, MARTIN, MARGARET, DAVID, JOEL AND PHOEBE. MAY THE ANGELS TAKE GOOD CARE OF THEM
.

‘So the children in the wall are the Pennington children,' said Epiphany. ‘When they got sick their parents must have taken them into the wallpaper to save their lives … keeping them there till somebody found a cure.'

‘But how would they have known how to do that?' asked Renko.

‘Don't you remember?' cried Jessica. ‘When she was sick, Mrs Crawford met the children's grandmother, Mrs Fellowes, behind the wallpaper. Mrs Fellowes gave Mrs Crawford her sapphire ring, so that she could take it to Mrs Pennington to prove that she was really there. Maybe Mrs Pennington didn't believe her. You remember that Mrs Crawford said that she was really, really angry. But when her five children all got sick with the spotted fever, she probably decided that it was worth trying anything to keep them alive.'

‘And you hear what Phoebe say,' put in Elica. ‘Her parents come again and again through the wallpaper with medicine, but none of medicine is working. Then they don't come anymore.'

‘Poor Mrs Fellowes,' said Jessica. ‘She died without knowing that her grandchildren are all still alive … and so close to her, through the gate by the stained-glass cottage.'

‘This gets weirder and weirder,' said Epiphany.

‘I know, but if you come with us next time we go through the wallpaper, you'll see that it makes some kind of peculiar sense. There's a pattern to it. It's, like, wallpaper patterns keep on repeating themselves, over and over, and I guess that's what happens in the world behind the wallpaper. Every day repeats itself, so that if you're sick you don't get better but you never get sicker. You never get older, either. You're just the same, forever and ever.'

They crossed the blinding-white snow-covered green in the middle of New Milford and went through the open gate into Dr Leeming's single-story clinic. There was only one person waiting to see the doctor, old Mr Steinberg from the hardware store, with his usual disgusting cough, so it wasn't long before Dr Leeming called them in to see him.

‘Well, Jessica, and what brings you out on a horrible cold day like today?'

‘I just wanted to make sure that you had some doxycycline.'

‘Doxycycline? Yes, as a matter of fact I do.'

‘Enough for five people?'

Dr Leeming cocked his head on one side, smiling at Jessica quizzically. ‘Five people suffering from what, exactly?'

‘Nothing in particular. I just wanted to know if you had any.'

‘Doxycycline is one of the tetracyclines. We use it to kill off a whole range of bacteria, as well as some of the rickettsia, which are halfway between bacteria and viruses. We use it against viruses, too, like psittacosis, which you can catch from parrots. You don't know five people who have been pecked by parrots, do you?'

‘Oh, no, nothing like that.'

Dr Leeming waited for her to say something else, but now that he had told her everything she needed to know all she could do was give him an inane smile.

‘You're not sick in any way yourself?'

‘Oh, no, I'm fine.'

His receptionist knocked and came in, and he looked beyond her through the open door to the waiting-room. ‘And none of your friends is sick?'

‘No, they're great.'

‘All right, then,' said Dr Leeming. ‘Unless there's anything else, I have some house-calls to make.'

‘Oh … what time will you be back?'

‘Around five, I guess, depending on the weather. Why?'

‘No reason, really. Maybe I'll see you later.'

‘I hope not. Especially not if you're suffering from anything that needs treatment with doxycycline!'

The four of them left the surgery and headed back toward home. It was snowing even more furiously now, as if even the weather could sense that something frightening was about to happen.

T
hey walked back through the cemetery. Alone in the snow, the angel that watched over the Pennington children's monument looked even sadder and more abandoned than ever.

‘I'm freezing,' complained Epiphany. ‘I'm going to run.'

‘You go ahead then,' said Jessica. ‘Ask my granny if she could have a hot drink ready for us. She makes lovely hot chocolate with cocoa powder on it.'

Epiphany went jogging on in front of them, kicking up snow as she ran. Jessica, Renko and Elica stayed together. They were all too tired to run, and still upset by what had happened to Mrs Fellowes, and Jessica's ankle was very sore.

‘What if we can't get the children out of the wallpaper until after the doctor's surgery closes?' asked Renko.

‘I know where Dr Leeming lives. We can take them there.'

‘They will be need shoes, and coats,' Elica pointed out.

‘I think I've got enough,' said Jessica. ‘And if the older boys are too big, they can borrow Grandpa Willy's shoes.'

Epiphany had reached the cemetery gates. She turned and waved, then went running off across the road.

Jessica saw it as if it were a dream. A large black car appeared through the whirling snow, its headlights gleaming. The driver was going far too fast, and he didn't see Epiphany until it was too late. Even from this distance, Jessica heard a dull thump, and Epiphany flew up into the air as if performing an amazing high-jump. Then she dropped to the ground and rolled over as the car went speeding off into the storm without stopping.

‘Piff!' screamed Jessica. Renko and Elica went running off toward the gates, while Jessica limped after them as fast as she could.

When they reached her, Epiphany was lying on her back in the snow, her arms spread wide, her left leg awkwardly folded under her right. There was a wide graze on her forehead and her eyes were closed.

Jessica knelt down beside her and took hold of her hand. ‘Piff! Can you hear me? Piff, are you all right? Please open your eyes, please!'

Renko leaned right over her. ‘She's still breathing, but she sounds like she's having trouble.'

At that moment, a thin runnel of red blood welled up in the side of Epiphany's mouth and slid down onto the snow.

‘I think her ribs could be broken,' said Renko. ‘Maybe she's punctured a lung.'

He unbuttoned his coat, took out his cellphone and dialed 911. He listened, shook the phone, and then he said, ‘Nothing. No signal at all.'

‘Try it again,' Jessica urged him. ‘If she's punctured a lung, she could suffocate.'

Renko tried switching his phone off and then back on again, but there was still no signal.

‘What do we do?' asked Elica, desperately. ‘There is no cars, nobody coming.'