Where the Stones Sing (11 page)

‘I’m sure it’s all a mistake. I know Edward would never have stolen anything. But it was found in his bundle!’

‘What was found in his bundle?’ asked Kai, with as much patience as she could muster.
‘The silver virgin, the one belonging to Dame Rachel. It’s a copy of the White Mary of Dublin. You see, she wanted my father to make a stone copy of the statue, so we had it here to copy from it. And then it went missing. So everywhere was searched and my mother found it in Edward’s bundle!’

Kai knew her brother. He would never have stolen anything from anyone, never mind people who had been so good to him.

‘It must be a mistake – or someone must have put it there. I know my brother would not do such a thing. Is there anyone here that might wish Edward harm?’

Joan shook her head, but Kai had immediately thought of Paul. She said nothing for a moment, just stared at Joan. Joan blushed.

‘Maybe Paul. He … he knows that me and Edward are good friends. And he is always asking me to go out
walking
with
him
. But I don’t like him. I think he might be a bit jealous of Edward. Do you think he could be the one who did it?’

Kai shrugged.

‘It’s possible, isn’t it? That’s what we have to find out. But where is my brother now?’

‘Oh, my father was furious. First of all he was going to call the parish constable, but then my mother persuaded him that the statue had been found so there was no need for that. But he has sent Edward away. He told him if he didn’t get out of
Dublin before nightfall, he would set the Watch on him. So mother and I packed some food for him and he left yesterday. But before he left, he asked me to go to you and tell you that he is going to find your father. I tried to get up to the
cathedral
, but I couldn’t get away from the house. Edward said to tell you that he and your father would come back together and get you. But there is a problem. He doesn’t know where your father is.’

‘Me neither,’ said Kai dolefully. At this point there was noise from outside.

‘That’s Ymna bringing in the washing. You had better go, Kai. I’ll talk to my father about Paul – maybe we will be able to clear Edward’s name. And then he can come back and everything will be the way it was.’

Kai left and started to wander aimlessly through the streets. Then something struck her. Ymna! Ymna would know where her father was! Kai rushed after the washerwoman and caught her arm just as she was entering her own house.

They went in together. Ymna’s house was full of familiar smells: lye from the soap she made, hops from the
brewing
house next door; it was steamy and crowded and warm, warm as Ymna’s hug.

‘Kai!’ Ymna dropped her basket and enveloped her in a hug that nearly knocked the breath out of her. ‘How are you, child? What have ya been up to at all? I heard you singing in the cathedral – went special, I did, and you sounded like
a little angel from heaven. But why haven’t you come to see me before now?’

Kai didn’t know what to say. She suddenly felt bad. Ymna had always been kind to her, even if her voice was a little loud and she hugged her too tightly and smelled of the harsh soaps she used for her washing.

‘I’m sorry. But it’s been so busy with all the sickness …’ Her voice trailed away.

Ymna, who rarely drew breath to listen to other people, continued, ‘Of course, it’s been awful. My own sister’s
husband
has been taken … And now there is this terrible
business
with poor Edward. I have just heard the news. As if Edward would ever steal anything!’

‘We must get word to my father, Ymna. He said you would know where he is. Do you?’

Ymna shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, child, I have had no word since he left in August. There are so few people coming into the city now. But I will try to find out for you. That I promise you! Don’t look so worried! The Lord and his Blessed Mother will look after us. I am sure everything will work out to the good in the end!’

The Voices from the Past

ut nothing will really come to the good,
nothing
will ever be the way it was, thought Kai. She left Ymna’s house, refusing her comforting off er of a hot drink and pastries, and as she faced into the bitter east wind, she found that she was crying. She
hurried
into an alleyway and hid her face against the wood of a doorway. Her father was missing. Jack was dead. Edward was in terrible trouble and had left her alone in Dublin. He might never be able to return. Kai knew that her brother would never have stolen anything from Master Giles. But of course he would be the one to be suspected of the theft. Everyone knew that Edward was the son of a fairground magician. One of those travellers who had no home and must always be suspected of the worst deeds − easy targets for blame when anything went wrong.

Now she had nobody. She thought of going to Dame Maria’s house, of letting her hug her and crying on her
shoulder
. Of telling her about the mess Edward was in. But then she remembered seeing Dame Maria’s face in the crowd at Mass. She had looked as if her heart was broken and she was sure that she was remembering her own dead boy. She had enough sorrows to deal with. And in any case, how could Dame Maria help? Kai had kept too many secrets from her. If she started to tell Dame Maria things, perhaps she would not be able to stop, and all her secrets would come out.

She wandered the streets in a fog of tears, bumping into people and being soundly cursed. Dublin had never felt so bleak and cold and uncaring. At last she found herself back at the cathedral. It was almost evening. The walls towered over her, stern and hard and dark. She made her way in through the entrance of Hell, not caring if the Dolocher came out from the shadows to get her. Then some impulse made her creep through a side door into the cathedral. It was
completely
empty. The dusk made the nave seem like a cave, or a forest where darkness had come, creating deep shadows among the stone trees. But in here, for some reason the
darkness
felt not cold, or frightening, but gentle. Comforting. And here she was alone, away from the crowds of people who looked at her and did not care that she was crying. There was no one to see her tearstained face. She went to one of her favourite places, the little chapel where the child’s tomb was. She found a place to sit, just beside a pillar carved with oak leaves and little singing birds, and leaned her cheek against the cool stone, caressing it gently. It was very quiet,
far away from the shouting of the streets. As she sat, the
evening
sun broke through the clouds and its rays through the stained glass made rainbow reflections on the stone walls of the church.

She thought of Jack, of how he loved horses and singing. She remembered what Tom had said, just after their friend had died. He will be riding on a beautiful horse and singing his heart out, that’s what he’ll be doing now, she said to herself. I’ll sing for him, she thought. I can’t do anything, but I’ll sing my part for him. And so she did. She raised her head and sang one of his favourite hymns to the Mother of God, and her voice started small and lonely in the great expanse of stone, but as she sang, it grew louder and clearer. It soared upwards into the stone forest, like a bird rising into the branches of a tree. Under her hand, the stone became warm and felt almost alive, as if there was some force of energy pulsing through it − as if there was a flame lit somewhere deep inside, deep in its heart.

And then, as she sang, the other voices came. They were the voices she had half-heard before, but now they were louder and clearer. They were children’s voices and they joined with hers, singing the different parts of the hymn. High and sweet they were, and they filled the cathedral with music. At the end of the hymn, the music faded, echoing back into the stone. Under her fingers the stone became cool and still.

And Kai, though not afraid – for who could be afraid of
those voices? − wondered what could be happening. Was it magic? But she didn’t believe in magic. She didn’t believe in miracles. Had she gone mad? Well, she said to herself, if she was mad, she might as well ask.

‘Who is it?’ She called into the depths of the stone forest. ‘Who is singing?’

There was a laugh. Laughter with no source. A child’s laugh. Could a child be hiding in the shadows? There was something familiar about the sound …

A voice came, a voice so well-remembered, and so full of happiness.

‘It’s Jack, you nitwit. Or at least it’s my voice.’

‘But, but, Jack, you’re …’

‘Yes, I know I’m dead. And all is well, Kai, really it is. There is a part of me very happy riding in those Elysian Fields, now. But there is a part of me here too, in the cathedral, where I was so happy when I was singing. And I’m not the only one. Philip is here too! And you wouldn’t believe the number of other children who are here with me and him, who have sung in the cathedral since it was founded, right back to Saint Laurence’s time and even before, when the Danish kings ruled Dublin. They have great stories, Kai; you’ll have to come back again to hear them. Oh, I wish you could see them all, but it is amazing that you can hear them. Very few people have been ever able to do that, though they have been here all the time. I think it was your singing made a
sort of echo in time … and we were able to become part of it. But you had better go now; you know they are all
worried
about you in the priory. They have been looking for you everywhere since you disappeared. And anyway the canons will be coming soon to sing their office. But you must come back again, when there is no one else here. And if you sing I will come and join you, and my friends will come too.’

‘Of course I’ll come. Oh Jack, can I tell Tom and bring him with me?’

‘I wish you could. But you must be careful. It is possible that he wouldn’t be able to hear us. He isn’t like you, Kate, he doesn’t have the gift you have, of listening. It’s the same with Brother Albert; I could not make him hear. But you must try to let them know that I am so very happy now. And when you are all singing in the cathedral, I’ll be there with you too, listening, and content.’

Kai paused. She had suddenly realised that Jack was calling her Kate, not Kai.

‘You know who I really am, now, don’t you? You know I’m a girl?’ she said shyly.

Jack laughed again. ‘Of course I do. That’s the kind of thing that makes being a ghost such fun!’

Demons in the Crypt and Witches in the Water

he next day Kai told Tom about Edward’s flight from Dublin. When he heard what had
happened
he was as furious as she was. ‘I know Paul. He’s mean and he’s jealous and I’m sure he is the one who put the statue in Edward’s bundle. Let’s go down to see Joan, and try to make her get a confession out of him.’

They made their way slowly down to Master Giles’s house. Tom, still weak, was very pale by the time they reached the door in the wall.

Joan refused to let them in, but she did creep out to talk to them.

‘I’m sorry, Kai,’ she said. ‘My father has told me to have nothing to do with you.

Kai thought hard. It was going to be difficult to get Joan to help. She didn’t seem to have the kind of courage or energy it would take to get a confession out of anyone.

She said, ‘Joan, you are going to have to find some way of proving that Paul put the statue in Edward’s bundle so he would be blamed for the theft. Talk to him, pretend you think he’s clever or something, and try to get him to admit what he has done. You don’t believe that my brother stole the statue, do you?’

‘No,’ said Joan, ‘Of course not. But what can I do? I can’t force Paul to confess!’

‘You are just going to have to be really nice to him for a while. Trap him into saying too much.’

A look of disgust passed over Joan’s face. ‘But I hate him. He’s so hairy and rough and – and stupid.’

Kai sighed, but Tom said, ‘Stupid is good, Joan, stupid means that he will be easier to fool.’

After they left Joan, Kai looked at Tom and shrugged. They did not have a great deal of confidence in Joan. Neither was sure she would be able to help them.

Tom said, ‘I’m certain that Edward will find your father and all will work out well, Kai. But we must do what we can to help prove he is innocent. Let’s keep an eye on Paul and see if he does anything suspicious.’

So, for the next few days, whenever they got a chance, the children made their way down to the stone yard and the house nearby, where Paul had his lodgings. They found that his life was very boring. When he left the stone yard he went
straight to the inn, The Black Fox, where he spent most of the evening drinking. On the third day, they were just preparing to go out for their usual surveillance session when Joan appeared at the priory gate, breathless and red-faced.

‘He told me,’ she said, almost squeaking with excitement. ‘He told me he did it!’

‘What? When?’ Tom and Kai spoke at the same time.

‘When we were alone together in the kitchen. He came in and I think he must have had too much ale – he was lucky my father didn’t see him. And he seemed to want to talk, so then I gave him cider and sat down with him. He was complaining that no one had any respect for him, so I flattered him like you said, Kai. And then he told me that he was cleverer than my father thought, and how he had hidden the statue in Edward’s things. I ran straight out and told my father, but when I came back …’ Joan burst into tears. ‘When I came back Paul denied everything. And the worst part is that my father believed him. He said I was just trying to help Edward. But Paul did it, Kai, he even
said
he did it.’

Kai looked grim. She thought for a while.

‘So what we need to do is make him confess in front of everyone. Joan, is Paul religious?’

Joan looked puzzled but shook her head. ‘He’s not, not at all, but he is very superstitious. He listens to stories in the ale-house about creatures like the Dolocher and about the dead rising. He hates working anywhere there are tombs. He
is afraid of the idea of dead people being near.’

‘Hmm … and is he due to come to work at Christ Church at all?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Joan, ‘but I can find out. What are you going to do? Have you a plan?’

Kai had thought of the voices in Christ Church. If only Paul could hear them! They might frighten him into making a confession. But then something struck her. Perhaps she and Tom and Joan could provide their own ghostly chorus.

‘Let me think for a bit. I think we might be able to make Paul confess if he is as superstitious as you say. It’s worth a try anyway. We could all hide in the cathedral and
pretend
to be ghosts. It might frighten him into telling the truth.’

Joan looked doubtful. ‘I can’t sneak off any more and
disappear
. I can hardly believe I was able to get away today without someone stopping me. I’m a girl, remember. I can’t do things that you boys can do. I’m watched all the time and my mother is always looking for me to help her around the house. Anyway, I’d be too frightened to spend ages in the cathedral. It’s so big and dark in there.’

She shivered and then blushed. Kai and Tom were staring at her and neither of them looked impressed by her excuses. Kai was thinking how easy it was for Joan. There she was, with her shiny long hair, wearing a beautiful red dress and a pretty necklace and knowing she could just sit back and let Kai and Tom do all the work. All she had to do was say she
was a girl. But then she felt bad. Joan had tried her best. And now Joan added, ‘But if I can’t come to the cathedral at least I’ll find out if Paul is due to work there in the next few days, and let you know what’s happening.’

The children were in luck. The new prior had been
concerned
for some time that one of the pillars in the crypt – the oldest part of the cathedral – was damaged. There were loose stones in the pillar, and Prior Stephen asked Giles to send a man up to do a repair job. Paul was chosen. He appeared with a large candle and a nervous expression, not at all pleased at having to go down into the dark depths of the crypt. The children followed him. Kai had already set things up by bumping into him on his way into the priory and giving an exaggerated shiver.

‘Oooh, are you going down into the crypt?’ she asked. ‘I’d never go down there, it’s haunted!’

Brother Reynulph, who was with Paul to show him the way, told her sharply not to speak such nonsense, but Kai was happy to see that Paul’s ruddy face had turned slightly green.

Paul had left the door at the top of the stairs open, but the children, creeping in behind, closed it with a bang. They had the pleasure of seeing the candlelight flicker and Paul jump. Then they took their positions behind the pillars and waited. They let him take his tools out of his bag, along with a naggin of whisky which he swallowed quickly before he began to chip at some crumbling stone.

Kai let out a low moan.

Startled, Paul dropped his chisel.

Kai moaned again. Tom joined in, whispering very softly, ‘Paul, Paul!’

‘Who is there?’ asked Paul, his voice shaking. ‘Who is it? I can’t see you!’

‘Paul, Paul,’ repeated Tom, just about managing to keep the laughter out of his voice. Really, thought Kai, her friend would never make a career out of acting. As Paul strained his eyes to see where the noise was coming from, Kai silently moved up behind him and blew out the candle. Now it was completely dark in the crypt. Paul began to make his way blindly towards the door, his breath ragged with fear. The two children followed him, whispering. ‘Paul, Paul,’ and then Kai began: ‘Confess! Confess! You know you are guilty! Confess or we will cooome for yoooo …’ She let her words end in a moan like the wind’s.

Paul scrambled up the stairway, slipping in his panic and hitting his knee hard on the stone. He cursed. Then he screamed. The children screamed too and clutched each other in the darkness. Out of the shadows something pale came hurtling at the stonemason, shrieking like a banshee. Paul lost his mind with fear and screamed again and again. He made it to the doorway and fumbled frantically with the bolt. It finally opened and he fell out onto the ground, almost crying with relief. In the light coming from the open
door, the children could see the shape of something white and fluffy sitting calmly on one of the steps that led down to the crypt. It seemed to be positively grinning at them.

‘Well, at least we know now where Quincunx got to,’ said Tom.

After the trick they had played on Paul, Kai and Tom became closer. But although some part of Kai really wanted to tell him about what had happened to her in the
cathedral
, she could not force herself to do so. She was afraid he would think she was mad. She remembered how after Roland’s mother’s visit they had all agreed how peculiar she was, listening to voices telling her what to do.

As time went on, Tom guessed she was keeping something from him, and kept teasing her, trying to find out what it was. They sometimes came near to quarrelling. They both missed Jack very badly, and things were not helped by the fact that Roland was at his most obnoxious, for his father was due to come home soon. He was convinced that he was going to be made justiciar, the highest office in the land.

‘Roland is driving me mad,’ Tom complained to Kai. ‘And you, Kai, you are different, you have been different since … since Jack died. What’s going on? Why won’t you tell me? Am I not your friend?’

Kai looked at his hurt face and felt guilty, but if he was not going to be able to hear the voices of the children, how could he believe her? Should she bring him to the cathedral
anyway and let him think she was mad? He might even think she was involved in some kind of evil magic. Even though Tom was a friend, settled people almost always believed the worst of those who lived on the roads and survived by their wits.

She said nothing.

‘All right then,’ Tom said. ‘Keep your stupid old secrets.’ Really, he thought, his friend was so stubborn. Kai obviously didn’t trust him and that hurt Tom very much. He walked angrily away.

Kai felt really bad. Maybe she should have told Tom. Maybe, even if he couldn’t hear what she heard, he would have believed her. The problem was, with her, it was always easier to keep a secret than to tell someone what was going on. She had been doing that all her life.

She went back to the cathedral. There was no one else there, so once again she started the song about the Virgin. And again the other voices joined with her and sang with her. And once again when she finished, Jack’s voice spoke to her, ‘I’m really glad you came back.’

‘I’m really glad you did too!’

They laughed, and other voices joined in, laughing.

‘Jack, why can’t I see you?’

‘I don’t know. I can see you, and all the others around me. But I don’t know if seeing is the right word – I just know they are here.’

‘And who is with you?’

‘Oh, lots of children. I’ve made good friends with some of them. There’s a boy here you would really like. His name is Finn and he was one of the orphans Laurence O’Toole adopted and gave a home to in the cathedral school. He has great stories about the times he lived in – they had raids and battles and all sorts of things going on then. His best friend is a Danish boy, who was in the cathedral when it was founded, right at the beginning! He was a slave once, and he was brought here by pirates, but he had a wonderful voice so he ended up in the cathedral like us, singing. And there is another boy; he was here the time that Dublin was attacked by Robert Bruce, not so very long ago. The lads have told me everything – about the time there was a fire in Skinner Row that spread to the priory, and everyone had to rush to save the treasures from the cathedral before it burnt down. And how the steeple blew down once, in a storm! That was really frightening.’