Chapter Thirteen

The next day, it feels like autumn has given its place up for winter. Not the sparkly snowing glamour of winter but a dense grey day which snaps with cold. The caravan site doesn’t weather this too well. Mam-gu puts her clothes out to dry and takes them in damp and salt-stained. Mabli Jones has a horrible cough, the poor dab, so Jake’s mam stays in her caravan. If you ask me, she never wanted to come on this holiday in the first place. I don’t blame her. Dad has a mood on and Mam seems blank.

‘Get out from underfoot, Lark.’ Dad is like a caged bear when he is worried, which is often. ‘I can find something for you to do if you need a job?’ I think he is suffering worse than Mam with the pain of seeing her ill.

‘I’ll go out, Dad.’ He stands with his back to me and doesn’t say anything. I pat him on the arm awkwardly. ‘Don’t worry.’

I lace my stupid broken boots while Narnia tries to chew them. I know Mam would get me a new pair if she noticed the state they’re in, but she hasn’t noticed anything for about a year and I don’t like to ask. Sherlock hides his head under a cushion. I won’t be having company today then. Narnia is too young to go far yet. No bother. I could do with being alone.

There’s very little sign of anyone out and about. Snow is off playing somewhere.

‘Alright, Lark?’ Gwenni is leaning against the boot of their car, sulking. They get dragged around car boot sales and markets wherever they go. ‘We’re late. Supposed to be the crack of dawn. Charlie forgot to set the alarm.’

‘I tried my best to get us out of it.‘ Charlie winks at me. He looks at us both teasingly. ‘Friends again, then?’

He is only four years older than us, but he acts like it’s about ten. We let him get away with it because he is super, super smart.

‘Ignore him.’ Gwenni’s having bubblegum for breakfast by the looks of it. ‘I’ll see you later.’

They are bundled into the car behind Gwenni’s parents. Gwenni waves and blows a candy-pink bubble so big it hits the window and splats all over her face. It’s a brief exchange but it is some kind of ordinary at least. I wave back and watch the car until it disappears.

‘Hello, Lark. You alright?’ Mam-gu looks tired as anything today. Her clothes are ruffled, and her skin is papery and lined.

‘I’m fine, thanks.’ I do my best to look innocent. ‘Just going for a walk.’

‘Is that right?’

I nod quickly. ‘And to get some sea glass. I’m working on a collage.’

‘I see.’ She sits down on her stoop and Marple slides up to her, ignoring me completely. Mam-gu strokes her head adoringly and whispers to her, ‘Lots of old stories in the air today. I can feel history catching up with us, Marple.’

Even though she speaks to the cat, I know her words are directed at me. I don’t know why she doesn’t just tell me what it is she is trying to tell me. I almost confess all the things that have happened, but I don’t know where to begin, so I stroke Marple instead, which is a mistake pointed out by very sharp claws. The cat moves away smugly. Mam-gu seems to be lost in thought, so I leave.

I spot Jake the Idiot with Lorelei. She is filming herself on her mobile, coyly twirling her ratty dip-dyed hair around her fingers. Jake the Idiot looks at her like she is some kind of goddess. Although I’m glad that Gwenni is friends with me again, I can’t help feeling annoyed that he has gotten over her so quickly. I give them my best scathing look. Lorelei finishes her video at that moment, which is unfortunate. She glowers at me. ‘What are you looking at?’

JTI doesn’t have his own mind so he turns and glares to support her. He probably thinks she’ll like him better if he acts like her slave. He’s probably hoping she’ll add Jake to her compass arm.

Lorelei can be malicious if you get into a scrap with her. But I can’t come off as a complete coward in public.

‘What? I’m not allowed to look at anything anymore, am I?’ It’s a risk to backchat her.

Luckily, today she doesn’t think I’m worth bothering with. She just flicks me the v then goes back to her phone. It would be typical if she was the only person who could get a signal here. Jake the Idiot sits down by her feet and starts trying to light a fire with two sticks as I walk away.

Wiley Riley’s car is still conked out at the edge of the field. The mizzle has started to seep into my clothes, so I head to the car for shelter. He hasn’t bothered to lock it since it broke down. Knowing him he won’t mind if I sit in it for shelter and a bit of quiet.

I yawn uncontrollably. Couldn’t sleep a wink last night. I kept hearing someone standing right behind me. As I go to open the door, I can see in the VW’s window that I have heavy dark rings under my eyes. I look like a panda and not in a cute way.

I sit in the driver’s seat and pretend to drive with the steering wheel, pressing the pedals with my feet. I know it’s childish but it’s kind of irresistible. Going nowhere quickly gets boring so I watch the specks of rain line the windscreen. My breath starts to steam up the windows, so I can’t see out. I feel safe for a change, here in this metal cocoon.

I take the pamphlet out of my pocket. The face of the girl stares out. I pore over the crumpled pages.

The passenger door swings up and I jump and crack my knees.  

‘Argh! For…’ I stop myself before I swear.

Gwenni pokes her head in. ‘You alright? What you up to in here?’

She climbs in noisily and waits, chewing on blue bubblegum this time. ‘I got out of the boot sale by causing a row with Charlie. Genius, eh? What’s that?’

I’m rubbing my sore knees with both hands. I hadn’t realised the pamphlet had fallen on my lap.

‘Oh, nothing.’ I go to stuff it into my pocket, but she grabs it, quick as a flash.

‘Wow. How completely dull.’ She screws her nose up, then winds her gum around her fingers. ‘Why would you want to hide that piece of poo from me?’

Gwenni has always had a way with words. I can’t face all of this alone. I’m not sure I can trust her after recent events, but we go back a long, long way. As far back as there is.

‘You have to promise not to laugh.’

She laughs immediately. Her tongue is lurid blue.

‘I’m sorry. I’m trying to get it all out.’ She laughs a bit longer then pops her gum a few times to show she’s ready. I can tell she thinks I’m going to tell her about some tedious history project or something.

Once I start telling her, I can’t stop. From the first sighting on the beach when I cracked my head, to the nightmares and not being able to sleep. To the ruin, the way Snow is acting, the cliff, the weird woman. All of it. By the time I’ve finished the sky outside is a storm and rain beats on the top of the car.

Eventually Gwenni breaks the silence. ‘Are you on medication?’

It’s a joke but we both know it’s a poor one and she doesn’t know what to say. I wouldn’t blame her if she packed me off to a rehab clinic. I’d pack myself off if I thought it would help.

‘It’s definitely real and I definitely have to do something about it.’ I wipe some of the condensation from the windscreen. The world outside looks like a dream.

‘Wow. This is way the most exciting thing that’s happened in forever. Amazing.’ Gwenni has lost the initial stunned shock and is bouncing up and down in her seat like an excited rabbit. ‘What are we going to do?’

I could kiss her for her use of the word ‘we’.  

‘So, you believe me?’

‘Of course I believe you, you doughnut. Your made-up stories have always been total pants, and this is such a good one. Eek. I’m so excited.’ She hugs me and I’m almost glad that I am facing possible insanity because it’s glued our friendship back together so completely.

‘So, tell me the plan, Stan.’ Her cheeks are shining, and her eyes are sparkling bright. I hate to disappoint her.

‘I was going to go there tonight and … and then I was … I haven’t really got a plan as such.’

‘Aces. I’m scared.’ She doesn’t sound scared at all but then she probably doesn’t really believe it, deep down. ‘What time are we going?’

We decide to meet straight after tea. Routine has fallen apart at ours but it’s still going strong at Gwenni’s even though they aren’t at home. We settle on some items we should take with us, so I spend the afternoon gathering together things from our list.

Dad brought a box full of useful things which are mostly not useful at all. Scrummaging about I find a torch that works if you bang it hard enough and some scratchy rope. I have no idea what the rope is for, I don’t suppose you can lasso the undead, but taking it makes me feel better.

We don’t have any holy water in our box of useless things, so I get some normal water from the tap and cast a made-up spell on it. I add some of Mam-gu’s flower remedies for extra power: larch for self-confidence and pine for self-worth.

I pop back into our caravan to change my clothes for dry ones and to grab a sandwich. Dad welcomes me as if I’ve been away a hundred years, grabbing me in an enormous hug. I think he feels guilty for being so snappy. He mouths at me to be quiet, which means that Mam is having a good sleep.

Snow is making patterns with the light box and our full tin of sea glass. She found where I’d been hiding it then. I feel so childish. I would have given it back. She turns her blue glowing face up to look at me with a blank expression, then looks down again. I feel every emotion at once and try to let none of them show.

Sherlock bats his tail against the laminate floor of the kitchen side of the caravan and cadges a bit of my cheese. Narnia copies him. The sky outside is stormy violet. Dad switches on a lamp and picks up a book called Mindfulness and Melancholy. I don’t have time to ask him what it is about. I want to go and look at Mam but I’m worried that I’ll wake her. I wonder if I’ll ever see any of them again. If I was brave enough, I’d tell them we’re in danger. I’d make them leave this place now and go straight back home. Forget we ever came here. But I can’t say it out loud. They’ll think I’m being selfish, trying to take Mam’s holiday from her.

‘I’m going over to Gwenni’s.’ I smooth Sherlock’s ears flat to his head, tickle Narnia under the chin and definitely do not look at Snow. Gritting my teeth, I walk out, shutting the door carefully behind me. Half of me feels strong and powerful while the other half feels like the smallest, most insignificant maggot.

But at least a maggot can catch a fish.

Gwenni is waiting for me, leaning against the VW. ‘Here goes nothing.’ She high-fives me.

She takes the lead. ‘OK. Let’s establish our POA.’

‘What’s a POA?’

‘Our plan of action. Keep up.’

‘Oh.’ I let the word peter out on the salty mist, which clings to the trees like petticoats. ‘Well…’

‘So we still haven’t got one?’ She chews, something she’s always done if she’s deep in thought. She stops and grimaces. She’s probably bitten her cheek, as she does about fifteen times a month. She practically lives on gum. ‘I say we get to the ruin. Find out what the girl is on about and try to convince her to sod off.’

I’m glad I don’t have to make all the decisions on my own.

The stream is a nasty cauldron of brown this evening. It must be raining further inland. We go straight to the ruin, me trying not to turn around and scarper.

I know Gwenni isn’t taking it seriously at all.

She rasps on about everything the whole way: JTI, Lorelei, what she saw on TV, how she wants to take up surfing, what do I think of the new conditioner she’s using on her hair, whether it would be cool to have a Mallen streak put in, how she feels like she’s getting better at maths, how she’s missing having a phone that actually works. I don’t reply because there’s really no need when she gets going. Leaves scruffle underfoot and blackbirds squawk out in front of us. There’s no way to be silent so we don’t even try. When it gets too dark, we use our torches.

‘Be quiet, can’t you? Isn’t your mouth still hurting?’ I get antsy when I’m nervous.

‘Ooh, alright.’ She raises her hands comically then half-complies by talking non-stop much more quietly. You can never get her to give in. It’s one of the things that I love about her.

‘Wow. I can’t believe I’ve never seen this place before.’ She gives her cheek another bashing. ‘Oh bums.’ She spits blood on the floor and lights it up with her torch. ‘Ewww. Hideous.’

A branch cracks under my feet and I leave the floor like I’ve been electrocuted.

Gwenni giggles. ‘Jumpy much?’

When I show her the entrance, she heads straight into the ruin like a kid in a candy shop. I follow, a wobbly-legged foal.

‘We’ll set up in the middle there.’

I don’t know what set up means but I nod.

‘This is way, way, way spooky.’ You can tell she is thoroughly enjoying herself. ‘I’m impressed. About as shuddersome as you can get.’

‘What do we do now?’ I feel like I should be in charge, but I can’t think straight.

‘First of all, we light candles.’

She gets some out of her bag and we place them in a circle, lighting them one by one. My hands are shaking so much I manage to burn myself several times.

‘This is like that film about the kids who go into the woods and get murdered.’

‘What film?’ I actually don’t want to know.

‘Every film. The one with the ghost that is really a batty old woman from the village, the one where the girl is down the well, the one where the zombies arrive in the fog, the one in that big mansion out on the causeway where the woman in…’

‘Seriously. Enough.’

Gwenni scatters some lavender flowers on the floor and then sprinkles salt in a circle around us. ‘It’s to protect us from evil forces. I know it works for witches, so we’ll just hope for the best. Come on.’

She beckons me to kneel inside the circle with her. We face each other at its centre and hold hands. I dissolve into laughter. It’s nerves not amusement. I don’t like to make myself vulnerable.

‘Now what’s the girl’s name?’

‘I have no idea.’ My tone is petulant. I feel like a fool. ‘She was just known as the German girl. Doesn’t seem right, that people didn’t even remember her name.’

‘Oh. Pants. OK.’ Gwenni’s already shaky plan has come a little bit unstuck. ‘Well, let’s try the old “is there anybody there” line then.’

She nods at me, meaning I’m to ask the question. I feel ridiculous talking to nothing, but I do it anyway.

‘Is there anybody there?’ Even though the words hardly get past my lips, the sound seems to echo off the walls. We wait. The rumbling sea seems close tonight. The wind is shrill. I’m suddenly very cold, then boiling hot again. I think I’m running a temperature. The candle flames leap across Gwenni’s face. She’s certainly not laughing anymore. It’s this place. It has its own memory.

‘OK. It’s not working. Time for Plan B.’

‘What’s Plan B?’ I’m so relieved Gwenni has thought this through.

‘I have no idea.’

‘Oh.’

We wait a bit more as if miraculously something will occur. Flickers lick the room, lighting its corners then dancing away, leaving the darkness even darker.

‘Why has she appeared to you before?’ Gwenni’s getting edgy. Whether she believed in ghosts before or not, the mood in this room is closing in on her.

‘I don’t know, do I? I haven’t actually seen her properly.’ The sorrow here is encasing us like clay, making it difficult to move.

‘There must be something.’ Gwenni is panting slightly. She’s been known to hyperventilate to the point of needing a paper bag. Candlelight isn’t gentle anymore. It’s a savage thing that makes everything seem fiendish. She looks so strange, so devilish.

‘Or, we could just sit here waiting till death comes for us?’

I’m glad she spoke. I was getting carried away. This room is playing mind tricks with me.

‘Are you going to think of something or am I going to have to kill you?’ She’s joking, of course, but there’s a touch of something in her words that isn’t jokey. She stares solidly at me. I pick up the water I’ve cast a spell on and fling it in her face.

‘Argh! What the hell…?’ It breaks the fear. She wipes the water away with her sleeve. ‘I felt a bit peculiar there.’

‘You looked a bit peculiar.’

‘Nothing new then.’

Harmony is restored.

‘What are we going to do? This place gives me the heebie jeebies.’

‘And then some. Give me a minute. Chew your mouth or something.’

‘Ha, funny ha.’ She does it though.

Bits of sea glass dig into my leg. I’ve been carrying them around in my pocket. I take the small, scarred pieces and place them in the centre of the circle. They catch the light. If it had been any other time I would have found them beautiful.

A small, almost imperceptible noise chills the air.

‘What the hell?’ I see genuine terror in Gwenni’s face for the first time in our lives.

‘Ssh.’ Putting my finger to my lips, I listen hard. There’s someone here, moving in the shadows just beyond the candle’s reach.

Gwenni’s mouth is slightly open and I can see her gum in the cave of it, motionless.

There is movement near the entrance. We aren’t alone. My eyes dart around the edge of our circle. I want to move further into the light but I have to try to stay strong. Gwenni cowers back and her eyes are feral.

There is a figure. Small, hooded, that’s all I can make out. It’s staying too far back for us to see it properly.

‘Don’t cry.’ I whisper to Gwenni. Seeing her upset makes me feel stronger.

The wind howls. I raise my voice. ‘Why are you here?’

The figure stays in the deepest shadows. I can still make it out.

‘What can we do to put your spirit at rest?’

It moves slightly, and I hold my breath. No answer. Gwenni whimpers.

‘Come into the light.’

It moves even further into the darkness.

‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened to you exactly but I want to help you.’

There is no response.

‘I need you to tell me what you want from me. From my family.’

Nothing.

‘I need you to tell me what you want with my sister.’

Ten. Nine. Eight.

‘What do you want from her?’

Seven. Six. Five. Four.

‘Tell me. What do you want?’

Three. Two. One.

‘Leave her alone!’ I scream.

An ear-splitting shriek caterwauls through the air and the candles gutter out.