The Bad Luck Lighthouse

by Nicki Thornton

Seth turned at a sound.

  Angelique’s eyes flashed dangerously as she faced Celeste, standing right in the maid’s line of vision across the kitchen table.

  ‘Tea, Angelique?’ said Seth.

  ‘Seth, Celeste has urgent questions to answer.’

  The maid looked up at her over the rim of her mug, her eyes narrow. ‘I’m far too upset. My – my employer is dead.’ She looked pleadingly at Seth, doing her best to ignore Angelique.

  ‘Do we have to do this now?’ he asked.

  ‘I rather think we do.’

  Then Celeste surprised Seth by saying coolly: ‘All right. Ask me anything you like.’

  ‘What are you really doing here?’ Angelique tilted her nose into the air.

  ‘You know that. I work here. I’m the maid.’

  ‘I think not. It’s over. You might as well tell us everything. You’re going to be arrested anyway.’

  Seth waited for her to defend herself, but Celeste said nothing. The longer the silence went on, the more Seth had an uncomfortable feeling that he knew what Angelique was going to say.

  But Celeste couldn’t be responsible for all this, could she?

  He mentally went over everything he’d learnt – everything he’d assumed. What he’d got wrong – the little he’d got right; dreading what Angelique would say next.

  Someone here was a sorcerer. Had to be. Angelique had kept warning him not to trust Celeste. But Celeste had seemed so genuinely fond of Mina. Seth couldn’t think it through any more.

  Angelique dipped into her red handbag and placed something on the table right in front of Celeste. It was a card, like a small playing card, showing a picture of a wild red flower.

  Seth recognized that card with a jolt. He’d seen it before and he knew exactly where. It was from when they had worked together at the Last Chance Hotel. It was a card carried by followers of the sinister sorcerer behind many deaths of magical people: the sinister sorcerer behind the plot to recover the firefly cage from the Last Chance Hotel. The one ultimately responsible for the death of the kindly Dr Thallomius.

  That card being here could only mean one thing.

  Red Valerian, the most-wanted sinister sorcerer, was somehow involved here.

  Angelique took a step closer to Celeste, who shrank back. She picked up the card and held it up in front of the maid’s face.

  ‘I am waiting to hear if you can explain why you have got the calling card of the most notorious sinister sorcerer hidden in your room.’ Angelique’s eyes never left Celeste’s as she finished: ‘I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you the truth, Seth. She’s working for Red Valerian.’

  37. A Notorious Sinister Sorcerer

  Seth really could not take this in.

  Angelique did not take her eyes from the maid, who sipped her tea.

  ‘I’ve never even heard of this Red – whatever that is,’ said Celeste, defending herself stoutly. She snatched the card out of Angelique’s hand. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Have you been snooping in my room?’ Celeste leapt up, slopping her tea. ‘I’m not working for anyone.’

  ‘Interesting.’ Angelique paused. ‘Yet you claim to be working for the Mintencresses.’

  ‘Oh, that’s not fair! That’s different.’ Celeste gave an annoyed frown.

  Seth waited for Celeste to carry on defending herself, but instead, she let out a sob and ran off to her room.

  ‘Angelique,’ said Seth, ‘it doesn’t make any sense. Perhaps that card got there, I don’t know, by accident. She knew Mina so well. She’s really not pretending.’ He softly laid a hand on Angelique’s arm, but she shrugged it off and followed Celeste.

  Seth followed too.

  ‘I’m sorry, but Mina Mintencress took on a new maid only a few weeks ago. Celeste appeared to know her so well because she must have been researching her. It’s the only way. You’ve been taken in.’

  Seth was dumbfounded. Could it be true? He was piecing things together. Angelique had told him there was a reason she was such a terrible maid. How had he not realized she couldn’t possibly be a maid at all? Sheepishly, he knew she was right. Why hadn’t he seen it?

  Inspector Pewter had only been telling him a short while ago what made a good detective – seeing things as they were and not as you wanted to see them, an ability to work out what was important. He felt incredibly stupid, particularly because Angelique had kept trying to warn him and each time he’d only got cross.

  ‘You really aren’t Mina Mintencress’s maid, are you?’ said Seth slowly, as they entered Celeste’s room.

  Celeste shook her head. ‘Afraid not. I’m sorry, Seth. I had no choice but to lie to you. Thanks for all you’ve done for me.’

  She wasn’t sitting sobbing on the bed. She was going through the narrow wardrobe in her room, flinging things on to the floor. She swung around to look at Angelique. ‘You really are foul, aren’t you? This was working out so well.’

  ‘Just looking for the truth.’

  ‘Oh, that?’ Celeste threw off her white cap and her long, dark curly hair cascaded out. She removed the dark glasses she had taken to wearing, revealing light-brown eyes. She didn’t look the least bit cowed and caught out. She gave a spiteful little laugh. ‘The truth? Are you really here as a cook?’

  ‘That’s hardly relevant.’

  ‘Poking your nose in. Undercover, just like me.’

  ‘The main difference being, I haven’t killed anyone.’

  ‘Same,’ replied Celeste. Soon everything from the bedside cabinet was in a pile on the floor. ‘If you found that card in this room – what else might be here? What was that little witch up to?’

  The door was flung open again and Lark swept in and faced the woman defiantly rummaging under the thin mattress.

  ‘How dare you – how dare you make me think you were dead!’ She rushed towards Celeste, burst into tears and threw her arms around her.

  And then Seth could finally see one thing for what it really was.

  He looked at Angelique. ‘OK, you were right. This isn’t Celeste, Mina Mintencress’s maid. But she’s not working for Red Valerian either.’ The way Lark was hugging her told him the real story. ‘This is Mina Mintencress.’

  38. Cover Blown

  Angelique stared at the pair clinging to each other. ‘The woman we thought died in the bath?’

  ‘The body in the cellar must be of the real maid,’ concluded Seth. ‘The one who was working for Red Valerian.’

  Celeste looked at him.

  ‘And I just thought you were too upset to face speaking to any of the family, when all the time you were just worried about being seen,’ Seth went on. ‘No wonder you wore that ridiculous cap to hide your hair. I thought your dark glasses were to hide the fact that you’d been crying!’

  Every single time anyone who might recognize her had entered a room, Celeste had scurried off. ‘That’s how you got away with it – none of the family have actually been in the same room as you since you’ve been pretending to be Celeste.’

  The tall figure of Pewter strode into the room. ‘Ah.’ He spotted Mina and Lark in a close hug. ‘Cover blown?’

  Mina nodded.

  Mina, not Celeste, thought Seth. That would take a bit of getting used to.

  ‘You knew!’ said Angelique, looking furiously at Pewter.

  Pewter shrugged. ‘Someone tried to kill her. Not a bad plan to keep her safe by letting everyone believe she was already dead. Hoped that would give us enough time to work out what was going on. Now, Dex is under instruction to keep Alfie and Rendleton away from here just to give us enough time for a little plan.’

  ‘Great,’ said Angelique expectantly.

  ‘So who’s got one? A plan, that is,’ said Pewter.

  ‘Putting Mina in danger like that!’ screeched Lark.

  ‘Keeping her from danger,’ assured Pewter.

  ‘I had to do it, Lark. I didn’t ever believe there were ghosts at the hotel. I was convinced someone was playing tricks but I just wasn�
�t quite sure who,’ Mina began to explain. ‘I got the idea when I realized how similar I looked to the new maid. I thought if we swapped clothes and I put my hair under a cap, as long as no one got a good look at me, they’d just think it was her. It was easy enough to arrange an argument and lock everyone out. Far easier for me to sneak around for a bit and keep an eye on everyone when they thought “Mina” wasn’t watching. People just don’t notice maids so much.’

  ‘It was a good plan,’ agreed Seth.

  ‘I thought if everyone believed I was out of the way, they might try one of their tricks. I might see what was going on. I wanted to catch them at it. I only meant to switch places with her for a couple of hours. She seemed happy to go along with it.’ Mina shook her head. ‘But I don’t get it. Who is this Red Valerian? What was Celeste really doing here?’

  ‘That, I fear, we can only guess,’ said Pewter.

  ‘Oh my goodness! Wait until Alfie hears you’re not dead!’ cried Lark.

  ‘No. Not yet, you can’t tell anyone yet. I still haven’t a clue what’s going on. I thought Brockler was up to something and I’d catch him at it. But turns out the maid was up to something. But she died. And now Brockler’s dead. What’s going on?’ Mina finished in a whisper. ‘Who killed me?’

  39. I Didn’t Expect Her to Die

  Lark still had her arms around Mina, as if afraid that if she stopped clinging to her she might disappear. ‘You need to sort this out!’ she snapped at Pewter. ‘You need to end this. You’ve got until tomorrow morning, then we leave here for good.’

  Angelique threw the card with the red flower on it down on the bedside table like a challenge. ‘Until tomorrow to discover who has killed twice. Where do we start?’

  ‘I didn’t expect her to die,’ wailed Mina.

  ‘It’s not your fault!’ cried Lark.

  Mina turned to Angelique. ‘You’ve no idea how terrified I’ve been. If I hadn’t decided to swap places with that new maid – it really would be me dead in the bathtub upstairs.’

  Seth thought there was little point in not coming clean. He told her Brockler had been right when he’d believed this had once been the home of a sorcerer.

  ‘Red Valerian is behind a lot of criminal activity among magical folk. No one knows who he is – he gets his followers to do his dirty work for him.’

  Determination to get his hand on the means to powerful dark magic was what had led one of Red Valerian’s followers to the Last Chance Hotel. Seth guessed it was the same story here. Red Valerian must have guessed there might be a way to access Soul Snakesmouth’s darkwitching magic, but the Mintencress party moving in had made it much more difficult.

  ‘What do you do now?’ asked Mina. ‘Am I safe? Who would want to kill me?’

  ‘Well, I guess we know it wasn’t Brockler who stirred up those shadow snakes. But does that mean he also wasn’t behind all those strange happenings that spooked the builders and had everyone believing in ghosts?’ said Seth.

  ‘We all tried to pretend the builders were making stuff up,’ said Lark. ‘But I never wanted to go near the place. There were definitely noises. Things definitely moved. You know, I think Brockler had truly convinced himself it was the ghost of Soul Snakesmouth.’

  There was a long pause. Seth’s mind whirled with everything he’d heard about the haunted rooms and those shadow snakes. After all that had happened, was it actually possible it was all the work of a ghost? And all that focused on the Sunrise Wing.

  ‘I guess that’s our next step. It’s time to search the Sunrise Wing.’ He looked about him. ‘Er – anyone want to come with me?’

  ‘You’re suggesting the ghost of Soul Snakesmouth is actually at the bottom of this?’ scoffed Angelique.

  ‘Well, it isn’t Brockler, is it?’

  ‘But only the builders have been in there,’ said Lark. ‘It’s always locked. It’s not used for anything yet. And – well, I noticed when we were looking for Hari – the key has gone missing.’

  Angelique led the way out of the staff room, into the kitchen and to the closed door everyone shrank from opening. ‘Not a problem.’ She muttered something under her breath, took out her cane and, with a blinding flash of blue light, the door blasted open. ‘Ready when you are, Seth.’

  His instincts told him to step as noisily as he could, scare away whatever might be lurking. But they needed to find whatever might be in here. So Seth followed Angelique’s slow and noiseless foot-steps as they crept through the door that separated the Sunrise Wing from the rest of the lighthouse. Pewter joined them.

  It was evening now, and although Dex might have fixed the lights, no one switched them on. Seth was pleased to find the torch he always carried was safely in a pocket. It sent a narrow beam on to the floor just ahead of them.

  The noises are quite probably just mice, Seth tried to reassure himself. He told himself he didn’t believe in ghosts.

  The long windowless corridor, with its white-washed walls and tiled floor, was much colder than the light-filled lighthouse with its thick carpets. But Seth was convinced there was a particularly icy chill in the air now, and that dampness was starting to creep down the back of his neck.

  He tried not to imagine invisible fingers stretching out and feeling for him.

  The corridor stretched ahead of them, doors on each side. They had come this way before and he had seen inside each room, strewn with rubble and bags of cement. They had seen nothing extraordinary, apart from Jo cramming her pockets with any tools the builders might have left behind.

  Seth saw the stairs halfway down on the right. Again, he thought he heard a soft footstep behind him, the brush of breath approaching.

  A soft, warm breath right on the back of his neck.

  ‘Pretty big mice,’ said Dex’s voice right in Seth’s ear.

  Angelique punched him hard on the arm. ‘Don’t creep up on us like that. Thought you were the ghost.’

  Hadn’t Angelique said she didn’t believe in the ghost?

  ‘Can’t believe you’re ghost-hunting and you didn’t wait for me,’ smiled Dex.

  Seth shone his torch at the staircase. On the bottom stair, in the chalky dust of plaster, was a clear footprint.

  ‘Well, that could just be the builders,’ whispered Angelique.

  ‘Small feet for builders,’ said Dex. ‘And most builders tend to wear boots – that’s not a bootprint.’

  ‘The noise we all heard before came from upstairs,’ said Seth.

  ‘Well then, let’s go,’ said Dex.

  Seth put his own boot alongside the footprint. The print was slightly smaller, just like the one he had found in the sand of the cave back at Snakesmouth village at the entrance to the tunnel that led right up to the lighthouse.

  ‘Alfie?’ suggested Angelique.

  ‘He’s terrified of this place. Why would he have come here?’

  Dex took the lead as they crept up the stairs, still using only the light from Seth’s torch, now moving so silently Seth felt none of them were even breathing.

  Every sense was alert, his mind spiralling around everything, all the odd things that had happened in the lighthouse since the Mintencresses had bought it. He felt ready for anything. Even Soul Snakesmouth’s ghost.

  40. Pretty Big Mice

  But a ghost didn’t make that footprint. Seth was busy trying to puzzle it through, trying to make sense of everything. That footstep reminded him that someone had been down that tunnel under the sea recently. And what about that light in the sky?

  Seth was trying hard to be a good detective. Concentrate on the facts. Find a way to make it all fit.

  He tried to think of the things Pewter had focused on. Things Seth had totally disregarded because they seemed too random. Small mysteries – food disappearing in the night. Dead gulls. Then there was the map Pewter had spread across the dining-room table, covered with tiny crosses, as though Pewter was on a treasure hunt.

  ‘Last time you were here, there was a noise. Where from?’ s
aid Pewter in a low voice as they reached the top of the stairs.

  Seth pointed with his torch to the far left of the corridor. All the doors were closed. Dex took his sharp-looking letter opener out from a hidden pocket in his jacket, unsheathed it and sent a low blue light shooting over the first door. There was no crackle, just a silent shimmer, but he quickly gave a nod.

  ‘Something magical has been this way recently,’ he said.

  He moved to the first door and, with a quick movement, flung it back.

  But it revealed nothing but a furnished room with a double bed, a chest of drawers, a desk and a lamp. Rendleton had been right when he’d said some rooms were all ready and waiting for visitors. There was nothing in the bathroom.

  The next rooms were exactly the same. The three of them halted by the final door. Dex did exactly the same as he had each time, and flung the door open.

  But as he was about to step through, this door was flung right back and slammed shut in their faces.

  Angelique stepped forward again with Dex, flipping the top of her divinoscope, and two flares of blue light flashed simultaneously.

  ‘I’ve got this,’ snapped Dex.

  Angelique ignored him and looked deep into the end of her cane. ‘No, I really don’t think you have. I have a very bad feeling—’

  She didn’t have chance to finish, as the door was jerked inwards, taking them all completely by surprise. But not nearly as surprised as they were by what happened next.

  Seth had convinced himself to expect a tall, grey spectral figure. But the figure that came flying out was small, not at all ghostly.

  It was a girl.

  Seth registered the girl’s long blonde hair, her face in an ugly grimace, her teeth bared as she flew past them while they stood in a stunned, helpless, slowmotion silence. In Seth’s mind things had fallen, all too slowly, into place. But now he got it. In fact, he really should have been expecting it, with everything he knew. If only he’d thought everything through correctly. This was the only thing that made everything add up and make sense.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ said Dex, the first to recover and start the sprint after her.