If you asked Jesse privately what he hated most in the world, he would answer without hesitation that it was the violin.
He knew what it was supposed to sound like. In the holidays, his parents had taken him to a concert to hear a violinist famous for playing so fast you couldn’t see his bow. Jesse hadn’t believed that was physically possible, but it was. Afterwards, his mother had said that’s how she imagined angels played in heaven, and his father had added, a little too heartily, ‘Jesse’ll play like that one day’, and Jesse had felt depressed because he knew that however hard he tried he could never play like the man with the angel bow, or even like Jed or Jeremy who, unlike Jared who had gone on to play in an orchestra, had given up after Grade Eight.
Jesse had failed his Grade Five.
Twice.
But he had to try. Trying was what Jesse did.
And so this evening, instead of secretly watching a horror film in the common room with Samira, or fishing on the loch with Jenny and Amir, or playing football with Zeb and most of the other Year Seven boys, Jesse was in his usual practice room right at the top of the keep. His bow, scraping across the strings, sounded like one of the major’s angry kittens, but it didn’t matter. One day, he told himself (but without much conviction), he would play like a heavenly angel.
He kept on playing right until Alice and Fergus tumbled into the practice room.
*
Sometimes, when you are interrupted in the middle of doing something, it is very difficult to keep up.
‘Hide us!’ Fergus hissed.
Jesse paused mid-play.
Jesse lowered his violin. He thought she might be about to cry. ‘Are you in trouble?’
‘Well, duh,’ said Fergus, peering into a cupboard. ‘Why else would we be here? Alice, we can hide in this. Ugh, it’s thick with dust – who does the cleaning here? Jesse, play!’
‘P-play what?’ stammered Jesse.
‘What do you think?’ Fergus rolled his eyes as he pulled Alice in after him. ‘Your violin, of course!’
‘Thank you,’ Alice whispered to Jesse, but Fergus had already closed the door.
MEEEOWWW! HISS! SCRATCH! Jesse’s hands shook as he dragged his bow across the strings, and he played worse than ever. Inside the cupboard, I’m afraid Fergus shook with silent laughter.
‘He sounds like something dying,’ he whispered.
‘Be nice,’ Alice said then, miserably, ‘Fergus, my phone!’
Fergus breathed deeply to try and compose himself.
‘It didn’t look good,’ he agreed.
‘Did you see who the missed calls were from?’
‘It was dark!’ he protested. ‘I was hanging off a roof! Aaaaa …’
He sneezed, loudly.
Outside, Jesse’s playing paused. They froze. The playing resumed again.
Fergus whimpered as he tried to hold back another sneeze.
‘It’s the dust!’
‘Pinch your nose!’ Alice whispered. ‘Here, I’ll do it …’ She felt for his face in the dark.
‘That’s my eye!’
‘Sorry! Is that your nose?’
‘It’s my ear!’
‘Are you sure you didn’t see who the missed calls were from?’
Jesse’s playing stopped again.
*
The whole thing took less than a minute.
‘Jesse Okuyo!’ The major beamed, like Jesse was his favourite person in the world. ‘Practising again?’
Jesse mumbled something incoherent.
‘Jolly good! Help me out, old chap. I’m looking for a pair of miscreants.’
‘Miscre … whats?’
‘Criminals. Wrong-doers.’ The major lowered his tone to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘Fugitives from justice. Have you seen any such people?’
‘No,’ croaked Jesse, but his eyes darted to the cupboard.
‘Ah,’ said the major, and knocked gently on the door.
Out came the miscreants, red-faced and embarrassed and a little bit sneezy. The major beamed again.
‘The troublemakers!’ he cried. ‘Luckily unharmed. Unlike this.’
Alice gulped as the major held out the remains of her phone.
‘The unavoidable consequence, I’m afraid, of throwing a fragile object from a tall building,’ reflected the major, as she took it from him. ‘Quite beyond repair. Still, it could have been worse. It could have hit me, and then who knows where we’d all be? Dead, probably, in my case, and on trial for manslaughter in yours.’
‘We didn’t mean to kill you, sir,’ Fergus mumbled. ‘Did we, Alice?’
But Alice could only stare at her phone.
‘May I have the key to the roof?’ the major enquired, genially. ‘I noticed it was missing. You must learn to anticipate such details, if you are to lead a successful life of crime. Thank you, Mr Mackenzie. And now, the burning question! What should be the Consequence of all this misbehaviour? In the ancient world, they would cut off the hands of thieves – don’t look so panicked, Mr Okuyo! Of course I am not going to do that. Now, let me think …’
They watched nervously, flattened against the wall as he paced the practice room, filling the small space with his massive frame.
‘I have it!’ They all jumped as he clapped his hands. ‘The perfect Consequence! I am putting all three of you together as a team on the Great Orienteering Challenge!’
‘But I didn’t do anything wrong!’ cried Jesse.
The major’s eye was suddenly icy. ‘I believe you lied to me, Mr Okuyo.’
Jesse blushed and stared at the ground.
‘It is a perfect Consequence,’ the major repeated. ‘Possibly my best ever. Now, I spot a piano. It has been an age since I practised. Off you go, to other pursuits. I understand there is a highly illegal film being shown in the Year Seven common room. Failing that, you could attempt to catch a fish. I shall play Rachmaninov.’ He cracked the joints in his fingers. ‘What are you waiting for? Go!’
They left, to a torrent of musical notes.
Jesse ran down the winding staircase, heedless of the steep, slippery steps. He was furious. The Orienteering Challenge! The one thing he had been looking forward to this term! Fergus was going to ruin it for him – he knew he was! Fergus always ruined everything.
Fergus followed at a more leisurely pace, astounded at having got away so lightly. Alice followed, cradling her phone.
The major smiled. He had rarely felt so pleased with himself. He knew that he had set something in motion with this Consequence. He looked forward to finding out what it was.
Somewhere in a different country, Barney Mistlethwaite once again tried to call his daughter, for he had an urgent message to give her.