What did he mean by saying that “Cloudberry belongs to us”? Of course it belonged to them! I was very upset and confused, and yet I could not bear to worry my parents with the letter in the middle of the night.
I also had Mallie to think about. She was arriving in the morning, and I wasn’t going to be much fun if I hadn’t been to sleep at all.
I put the letter back in the envelope and laid it back on the hall floor where I found it. Quietly, I made my way back upstairs. I no longer felt that a witch was looking in, and I snuggled under my patchwork quilt. I couldn’t quite understand what David Campbell was talking about and as exhaustion took over, I finally dozed off.
“Katie? Katie, wake up. Mallie will be here soon.”
Dad was calling from the landing. It’s hard for him to get up to my room, so he usually just shouts instructions up to me.
“Coming, Dad,” I called, rubbing my eyes. I was curious to see if the letter had been lifted. I ran to the bathroom and peered over the banister. The envelope had gone. Mum and Dad must have read it by now.
We had scrambled eggs for breakfast, made by Dad. Very fluffy and delicious, on crunchy brown toast, rich with nuts and seeds. Sorcha and Hamish tucked in hungrily, chatting about exactly how chickens laid eggs, but there was no sign of Mum.
“Looks like the Campbells have left already,” said Dad casually.
“Have they? That wasn’t a very long stay,” I replied.
“They’ve made Mummy cry,” said Sorcha.
I looked at Dad.
“Och, it’s just a silly letter they’ve sent,” said Dad. “They’ve been adding two and two and getting five, it seems. As soon as we visit Mr Wilson, the lawyer, on Monday morning, we’ll get the whole thing sorted out.”
I had a shower to wake me up, and Mallie arrived with her mum about half an hour later. Mum appeared to greet our guests, looking tired. She was chatty enough while Mallie’s mum, Moira, talked her through all of Mallie’s little quirks. Why do mums talk as if we’re invisible?
“Mallie tends to get tummy pains if she eats too much sugar,” revealed Moira. “And she’s got a tin full of tray-bakes, so you might want to ration those.”
“Okay,” said Mum. “Will do.”
“She’ll claim that she doesn’t like vegetables, but she does …”
Moira went on like this for ages, as if we were going to have Mallie to stay for months, as a refugee during a war or something. We went up to my room to listen to music.
Mallie looked out of the window up to the castle.
“Wow. I’d forgotten about this view of Cloudberry. It’s amazing. Just like from a fairy tale.”
I thought about that for a minute. I supposed she was right. Even fairy tales have nasty characters — but the good ones always triumph in the end.
“Can’t you see the castle from Tullyacre?” I asked.
“No, we’re round the bend in the river,” she explained.
I was trying to work out how risky it would be to take Mallie into the castle. I had promised her a secret, but what if the Campbells hadn’t gone back to London? Maybe they’d gone off on a visit, or in search of a lawyer, and would arrive back at any time. I wished I hadn’t asked Mallie over after all. Imagine if they found me and my friend dancing in the ballroom? They seemed to think we already knew too much about Dr Campbell and his business. They would be really angry to see us using the castle as if we owned it. And yet, I didn’t want to let Mallie down.
“See, I’ve brought everything you told me to,” she said, emptying her bag out on my bed.
“Great,” I smiled.
“I can’t wait for the secret,” she said.
“Me too,” I agreed. “Look what I’ve made for us.”
I opened my cupboard. “Ta-da!” I said.
Mallie looked at the swan tutus hanging on the rail.
“Wow. I love them!” she gasped.
“I thought you would,” I said. “We’re going to need those for the secret.”
“Awesome. I thought they were the secret,” said Mallie.
Just at that moment, Mum came up to my room with the blow-up bed and sleeping bag. I closed the cupboard door hurriedly.
“Well, girls, what are your plans?” she asked, making a big effort to sound cheery.
“We might take a couple of bikes around the estate and check on Bella, if that’s okay?” I suggested.
“Sure, so long as you don’t go too far and you stay together. I’ll make lunch for twelve thirty, so make sure you’re back for then. I was going to do some spring cleaning today, but I’m feeling lazy,” said Mum, heading downstairs.
We packed our ballet shoes and the Swan Lake tutus carefully in our ballet cases. Downstairs in the family room, Mum and Dad were building a LEGO city with Hamish and Sorcha. Mallie and I went into the kitchen, where we took a little picnic of things from the fridge. We put on our wellies and took mine and Mum’s bikes from the shed.
“Follow me!” I called to Mallie. It was very dangerous, but a promise is a promise. We were going into the castle.