The Serpent in the Glass (The Tale of Thomas Farrell) (16 page)

Penders shrugged. ‘And what would that be?’

Merideah checked her Alice band and prefect badge were both straight. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I have prefect duties.’

‘She’ll go and blab to the Headmaster about us,’ Penders muttered after Merideah had left the hall.

Jessica put a hand on Penders arm. ‘She’s leaving so she doesn’t have to report us for what we’re about to plan.’

‘And what would that be?’ Thomas asked.

Jessica tugged at her hair and then showed her braces in a large grin.

Thomas, Penders and Treice made their way cautiously out onto the landing, and then swiftly down the stairs and to the hallway near the front door. All the lights had been turned off, but moonlight filtered in from several large windows high in the walls. It was enough to see, for Thomas at least. Penders and Treice kept on bumping into each other.

‘You shouldn’t have such long legs!’ Thomas heard Penders mutter.

Thomas glanced at Treice. He wore his white trainers and, to Thomas, they seemed to stick out like a beacon in the gloom. He turned back to the hallway and saw something move.

‘Thomas?’

‘It’s us,’ Thomas replied.

Jessica’s form detached itself from the shadows of the wall. ‘You’re late.’

Thomas smiled awkwardly, though he doubted anyone could see. ‘Sorry — I had to go back and lock my room.’

Penders stumbled against a low chair, but managed to keep his balance. ‘Who put that there?’

‘It’s been there since we started school, and probably a lot longer,’ Jessica’s voice whispered through the darkness.

‘I’ve got a torch with me,’ Treice said. ‘But it might be wise to turn it on when we’re in the corridors.’

‘Good thinking!’ Jessica said. If Treice reddened, it was too dark to tell.

‘Shhh,’ Thomas hissed. ‘I think I hear footsteps.’

He cocked his head. ‘They’re coming from outside.’ They could all hear them now — soft, cautious footfalls on the cobble path leading to the front door.

‘Quick, down here!’ Jessica said, moving to the opposite side of the hallway, into the alcove that served as a place to store coats.

The children disappeared into the gloom of the hanging coats. Thomas peeked out from behind a large duffle coat. The footsteps had stopped. Thomas heard a key slip into the lock and slowly the door eased open. A somewhat furtive and lanky figure stepped into the hallway. The moonlight struck his face as he turned to shut it out. It was Mr Goodfellow. He crept past the alcove, and when he got to the end of the entrance hall he moved to the wall and looked about cautiously before slinking off around the corner in the direction of Block A.

‘Why’s he creeping about like that?’ Penders whispered.

‘I don’t know, but it seems a bit suspicious. Let’s follow him,’ Jessica said, as she moved out from under the coats.

They followed the sound of Mr Goodfellow’s feet as he worked his way up through Block A and into Block B. Mr Goodfellow had produced a small torch from somewhere, so they kept well back.

The teacher turned just before he got to the Headmaster’s office, and made his way down the corridor that Gallowglas and Stanwell had come down just the night before. Thomas and the others followed, but slowed as they got near the corner. The light of the torch had stopped, and they could hear the jingling of keys. Then, without warning, Mr Goodfellow came running toward Thomas and the others, but he didn’t see them as he fled past. Thomas heard the door open. And he heard feet, lots of feet.

‘Run!’ Thomas said.

The children ran back the way they’d come. Mr Goodfellow was some way ahead of them. Then Treice slipped and went down. Jessica stopped to help him up. The fluorescent lights flickered into life as the sound of boots approached the end of the corridor.

‘Quick, in here!’ Penders whispered sharply, darting into a classroom.

Jessica and Treice followed on his heels, but Thomas’s eye caught something lying on the floor. It was an envelope — no doubt the cause of Treice’s fall. Thomas grabbed it and dove into the classroom just as the owners of the footsteps stepped into view, but he didn’t quite close the door. It was too dark for anyone to see them in there, even with the corridor lights now on. Thomas peeked out of the classroom from his position on the floor. Mr Gallowglas stared down the corridor, behind him a group of students who looked to be from different years.

Gallowglas spoke to the students, but didn’t take his eye off the corridor. ‘Return to your rooms. I have some business to attend to.’

Gallowglas walked down the corridor, his face set like stone. Thomas thought he heard the front door close. Gallowglas quickened his pace, though he didn’t run.

Penders sighed in relief after Gallowglas and the students had passed by. ‘We’ve come so close too many times to finding out what his detentions are like.’

Thomas ignored Penders’ remark. ‘Maybe it’s some sort of evening class?’

‘I’ve no idea,’ Jessica began, ‘but I saw Duncan Avebury.’

‘Who?’ Penders asked.

Jessica shook her head. ‘Melantha’s older brother. He’s in the fourth year. Maybe she can tell us something?’ She paused as if thinking. ‘I do hope Mr Goodfellow’s all right.’

Mr Hartworth took the science class the next day. Normally quite at home in his technology room, he seemed uncertain in his current environment. He was at this point in time trying to construct a model of a molecule of water, but one of the hydrogen atoms stubbornly refused to stay attached. Thomas shared Mr Hartworth’s uncertainty, except his centred around Mr Goodfellow. Thomas found himself wondering if Mr Gallowglas really had ‘got rid of’ the science teacher. Maybe he’d buried the body in the woods outside, or perhaps there’d been an ‘accident’ with a javelin? No, he would’ve heard about that. Maybe Mr Goodfellow had been done away with in a more subtle way. After all, Mr Gallowglas did know about all those poison berries. Thomas watched as the hydrogen atom fell off again and rolled under Reginald Quaint’s desk. At that point the bell rang and everyone moved off to their next lesson, leaving the teacher to search for the rebellious atom.

‘Where’s Mr Goodfellow, sir?’ Thomas asked just as Mr Hartworth came out from under Reginald’s desk with the atom pincered between two fingers.

‘Oh, Mr Farrell!’ Mr Hartworth said nervously, almost dropping the atom. ‘You scared me. I thought everyone had left. I don’t know what’s happened to Mr Goodfellow, but I’ve been asked to stand in until further notice. It could be some time I hear.’

Thomas nodded his understanding and then made his way out. He was surprised to find Jessica, Penders, Treice and even Merideah waiting outside for him. All of them were looking at him, clearly waiting for him to say something. Merideah had obviously been filled in by Jessica, though Thomas was sure she’d deny any knowledge of it if asked.

‘Well?’ Penders said.

‘Well what?’ Thomas asked.

‘Did he say what happened to Mr Goodfellow?’ Jessica asked.

Thomas looked at Merideah who stared back coolly through her spectacles.

‘Oh, well — I had to tell Merideah,’ Jessica defended herself. ‘I mean, we’re all a team now, right?’

Penders nodded his agreement, but soon stopped when he saw Merideah glowering at him.

‘You should’ve gone to the Headmaster,’ Merideah said to Penders, though she of course included Thomas.

‘And how would we’ve explained why we were out of our rooms in the first place?’ Penders countered.

Merideah didn’t seem to have an answer for this, and so Thomas took the opportunity to avoid any confrontation between Merideah and Penders by answering the question. ‘Mr Hartworth doesn’t know what’s happened to Mr Goodfellow, but he said he’s been asked to cover for him until he hears otherwise. He said it might be some time.’

Penders’ eyes narrowed. ‘I reckon Gallowglas has done him in.’

‘Nonsense,’ Merideah said. ‘What I’m more interested in is why Mr Goodfellow sneaked into the building last night.’

‘He was scared though, I reckon. He left the place pretty sharpish.’

‘That’s right,’ Thomas added. ‘He even dropped an envelope.’

Merideah pushed her spectacles up her small nose. ‘You found an envelope?’

Jessica, Penders and Treice looked at him expectantly. He hadn’t told them about it. ‘Well, Treice slipped on it, so I guess he found it really.’

Merideah raised an eyebrow. ‘I see. So where’s this envelope now?’

Thomas opened his science exercise book. ‘I’ve got it here.’ He’d stuffed it in his pocket last night and forgotten about it until this morning when he’d put it in his science book so he’d remember to give it back to Mr Goodfellow. He passed it to Merideah.

Penders frowned. ‘Are you going to hand it in?’

Merideah shrugged. ‘Of course, but I’m going to look at what’s inside first.’

Penders shook his head. ‘And you’re a prefect!’

Merideah examined the envelope. ‘Well, Mr Goodfellow won’t mind if — as you put it — he’s been “done in”. After all, he may need our help and fast, and a good prefect should help out where they can. No time to delay. Besides, we’re not opening it, because it’s not sealed.’

She held the envelope up to show that the flap had simply been tucked in, then she pulled out its contents — a few pieces of paper. ‘They seem to be photocopies of newspaper articles about missing persons from various places across the British Isles. There’s another sheet listing their locations and ages.’

‘My dad says people go missing every day,’ Penders said.

‘Yes,’ Merideah confirmed after a few moments scanning the pages, ‘but according to this list these particular missing persons had something very interesting in common: they all attended Darkledun Manor!’

— CHAPTER TWELVE —

Through the Stones

The large, furry coat hanging above Thomas tickled his neck. Jessica, Merideah, Penders and Treice sat near him, all staring up at the landing.

‘This floor’s hard,’ Penders complained. ‘So, what we doing again?’

Merideah drew a breath. ‘If you hadn’t been so interested in your rice pudding, you might have listened to what I said.’

Thomas couldn’t see Merideah’s face well enough to see the deep frown and determined amber eyes framed by the straight dark hair, but he was sure they were there nonetheless.

‘We have to wait for Miss McGritch to go to the girls’ dorms. Then we can grab the main set of keys she leaves in her office.’

‘Right, and why do we want those?’ Penders asked.

Merideah ignored him. They’d all met at the end of lunch that day. Merideah had taken a quick look down the corridor that Gallowglas and the students had emerged from on the night of Goodfellow’s last appearance. She’d found a door, marked 2B, that wasn’t shown on their timetable maps. It was also locked. Merideah’s attitude had changed a lot since she’d seen the contents of Mr Goodfellow’s envelope. She now considered it her duty, or so it seemed to Thomas, to uncover the truth of what was really going on at Darkledun Manor. She’d even committed them all to tell no one, not even the Headmaster. Not until they had some evidence.

Jessica had done a little digging too. She’d found out from Melantha Avebury that her brother, Duncan, was a member of something called the Family History Club. It met at the weekends and its members often went on trips to parish record offices, cemeteries and churches. It seemed innocent enough, though Thomas didn’t think Gallowglas the most likely candidate for leading such a pastime.

‘What if McGritch gets back early?’ Penders asked.

Jessica snorted from somewhere behind. ‘Miss McGritch is never late or early, she’s always precisely on time. Haven’t you seen that nurse’s watch she wears? She’s always glancing down at it. I hear her pass my door at exactly twenty-one minutes past ten every evening.’

Thomas saw Treice move his luminescent watch up to his face so that his golden locks glistened in the gloom of the cloakroom. ‘She should appear about now.’

No sooner had he said it than Thomas heard a door swing on its hinges and the sound of Miss McGritch’s quick but measured footsteps approach from the direction of Block B. He hushed the others to silence, and then tried not to sneeze as his nose came in contact with the furry sleeve of the coat. The corridor lights went off, and then he heard the Housekeeper walk into the entrance hall. There was no hesitation. She was about her duty and nothing else posed an interest to her.

They all watched as Miss McGritch ascended the stairs and went to her office. Thomas heard the large bunch of keys hit her desk, and she soon appeared with the smaller bunch of silver keys which serviced the girls’ rooms.

Once Miss McGritch had passed through the doors into the dormitories, Merideah stood up and told the rest to stay put. ‘Treice, start timing. I’ll go get the keys. Better one of us gets caught than all.’

Merideah made her way gingerly yet purposefully up the stairs. Then, without a sound, she slipped quickly into Miss McGritch’s office and was soon out and coming down the stairs with the bunch of keys in her hand.

‘OK, let’s go!’ she whispered as she got within whispering distance.

Thomas, Penders, Jessica and Treice emerged from their hiding places in the cloakroom and followed Merideah cautiously toward the dark, deserted corridors of Block B. Once through the first set of doors, Treice switched on his torch to light the way ahead.

‘Turn that off! We’ll be seen!’ Merideah whispered sharply. ‘That thing could guide a ship on a foggy night.’

Treice was quick to comply, and the powerful beam of his torch was replaced by a narrower, more discreet one from a small torch strapped to Merideah’s wrist. With her combat trousers and determined little face she looked like some black ops soldier working behind enemy lines, albeit one with spectacles and an Alice band holding back her hair.

They soon reached Stanwell’s office. Much to Thomas’s relief, no light seeped out from under the Headmaster’s door. Mr Trevelyan worked late some nights, but not tonight. Careful to make no noise, they slipped down the corridor to room 2B.

Merideah turned her light onto the bunch of keys in her other hand.