The Lights Under the Lake

by Sophie Cleverly

  “It’s so hot,” Ivy moaned.

  “I’m boiling,” Ariadne said, blowing away a lock of hair that kept trying to stick to her face.

  I pointed out of the window. The sun was lower in the sky now, slipping behind the trees. “The sun will set soon. Then we’ll hopefully stop melting.” I was sticking to my seat.

  Ariadne nodded and yawned. Moments later, she’d fallen asleep.

  The landscape started to change around us. We passed through a town I didn’t recognise, all red brick and smoking chimneys. Then there was more countryside, dappled with houses here and there. The sunset washed the sky with orange and a deep blood red.

  “Are we there yet?!” someone yelled, making everyone laugh. Ariadne awoke with a jolt and nearly hit Ivy in the face with a flailing arm.

  “Miles to go before we sleep,” said Mrs Knight.

  I sighed. Everyone had been quiet until that point, mostly just staring out at the darkening road. My excitement wasn’t draining; it was more like just … postponed. Being kept on hold for when we got there.

  Twilight fell, and brought cooler air with it. I wondered where we were. The sloping hills of the countryside I knew were starting to look more like mountains. There were stone walls and pine trees and bubbling streams.

  Some time later, the bus drove between two enormous rocks, and I spotted a waterfall cascading down the side of a cliff. I could hear the rushing water over the roar of the engine. “Rose, over there!” I nudged her, and she looked where I was pointing and smiled. We were quite high up, I realised, and as we rounded a corner I saw why. We were on the edge of the valley, overlooking the vast lake. “There it is!”

  I glanced over at Ariadne and Ivy to see if they were awake. Ariadne looked like she had nodded off, but Ivy was staring out of the back window of the bus. I poked her arm. “What are you looking at?”

  “There are headlamps behind us,” she said, a concerned expression on her face. “That car’s been there a long time, I swear it.”

  “Never mind that,” I said. “Look at the lake!”

  I spoke loudly enough that I not only woke Ariadne again, but several other people nearby snapped to attention and peered out at the lake.

  It was getting dark, but the landscape was still visible. The lake was huge, and looked a deep navy blue against the black of the hills. “Is that a tower?” I said, pointing at a shadowy structure rising out of the water. Rose nodded. She looked fascinated.

  “There’s lights,” said Ariadne, squinting out at the darkness. I wasn’t sure if she was entirely awake.

  “What?” I said.

  “Lights under the lake,” she replied. “Near the tower.”

  I couldn’t see what she was talking about, and then, just for a moment, I thought I saw a flash of something.

  “Hmm,” Ivy said.

  We all watched the surface of the water as the bus descended the hill, but I couldn’t spot anything else. The road became bumpier as we went along and I was nearly jolted out of my seat.

  As I righted myself, I heard Rose gasp. The bus was pulling out on to an enormous stone bridge. Everyone stood up to get a better look.

  “Sit down, girls,” I heard Mrs Knight warn sleepily, but I didn’t listen to her. I saw the dark water spreading out in all directions around us.

  “There’s the hotel!” Nadia cried, pointing.

  I could see it, a big shadow on the landscape with flickering lights in the windows. “We’re almost there!”

  The bus crossed the bridge, and the first few stars began to wink in the sky as I stared out. After what felt like an age, we reached the other side of the lake and the bus started climbing again, up to where the hotel stood.

  “Right, everyone,” Mrs Knight called, sounding a little more alert. “We’re very close to the Shady Pines Hotel now.” I could see where it got its name. The pine trees surrounded us on all sides. “I’m sure they’ll give us a lovely, warm welcome!”

  And then the bus slowly came to a halt. The car that had been following behind roared past us, making everyone jump.

  We’d stopped next to a sign that I could just make out. It was peeling and cracked, and hung on a wooden pole with hinges that were creaking in the wind.

  At least, I thought that was what it was meant to say. Three of the letters had worn away from the bottom line, making it look more like it said Pleas enjo your sty.

  “Can’t you go right up to the door?” I heard Mrs Knight say to the driver.

  He stood up. “The engine’s gone,” he said. “Too steep. Going to have to roll it back down the hill to start it. Can I drop you all off here?”

  Mrs Knight sighed. “All right, girls! Everyone off! Don’t forget to pick up your bags!”

  “But, Miss,” I heard someone moan sleepily from the front.

  “No buts!” said Miss Bowler. “Off!”

  We all began sluggishly pulling our things down from the luggage rack. “I can’t believe they’re making us walk up there,” I said to Rose as I stared out into the dark. She shivered and wrapped her cardigan tighter round herself. At least it was a clear night and we had the moon to see by.

  We made our way to the front of the bus, Ivy and Ariadne not far behind, and stepped down. There was a chill in the air and the road was bumpy beneath my feet. I was about to complain some more, but I saw the horrified expressions on Elsie and Cassandra’s faces and decided the discomfort was worth it.

  Miss Bowler took charge. “Everyone here? Right! Off we go! No dilly-dallying!”

  “The hotel looks a bit … old,” muttered Ariadne as we began to trudge up the hill with our bags.

  “Perhaps it looks better in the daylight,” Ivy replied optimistically. I grabbed her hand. I didn’t mind the dark, but even now I didn’t like being alone in it. It reminded me too much of the past. And you never knew who might be lurking round the corner.

  The hotel building was above us now, and I looked up at it. It was huge and gloomy, and I could just make out dark stone and pointed roofs, and what looked like oil lamps flickering in some of the windows.

  Eventually the steep road curved round to the left and became a gravel driveway that crunched under our feet. The pine trees were everywhere, tall black shadows in the darkness.

  “I’m cold,” Nadia moaned.

  Elsie whacked her on the arm when the teachers weren’t looking. “Stop whining,” she said.

  I glared at her. What a hypocrite. She was a champion whiner!

  The driveway eventually opened out into a sort of courtyard, with the hotel itself to the left of us, a lamp glowing in its front porch. There were a few motor cars parked outside. To the right was what looked like a stable yard and coach house, and I could hear a horse whinnying somewhere. Rose smiled.

  We stopped in front of the porch. “Here we are!” said Mrs Knight, spreading her arms wide.

  For goodness’ sake, please don’t give us another motivational speech, I thought. I was starving hungry, not to mention cold and tired. I just wanted to get inside. The hotel would have food and warmth and beds.

  Thankfully, if Mrs Knight had been about to give a speech, it didn’t happen, because Miss Bowler shouldered past her and made for the front door. It groaned open as if it hadn’t been used in years, although I knew that couldn’t be true.

  The hotel reception was a wide room with a desk in the middle. There was a bell and an old-fashioned oil lamp on the desk, and not much else. Electricity hadn’t reached the place yet, then.

  As we huddled together on the plush carpet, Miss Bowler went right up to the desk and slammed her hand down on the bell about three times. For a full minute there was no answer, but eventually a man appeared from the door at the back.

  He was fairly old, with greying hair and a stooped back, but he moved quickly. He wore a pair of golden spectacles. A smoking jacket and stiff shoes clung to him awkwardly. “Mm?” was all he said.

  “We’ve arrived from Rookwood School,” said Mrs Knight, going u
p to him with her clipboard. “We were hoping to check in.”

  The man looked at her as if she’d just asked him to polish her shoes. “It’s rather late, madam,” he said.

  “Well, when I booked, I explained that—” Mrs Knight started, but Miss Bowler was having none of it.

  “Never mind that!” she boomed. “We’re here now!”

  “This is most irregular,” the man muttered as he pulled a hefty book out of the desk drawer. “Twice in one night! Guests thinking they can just turn up and …” His muttering got quieter until I could no longer hear what he was saying, which was probably a good thing. What a grumpy old man!

  Ivy leant over. “I wonder who else turned up late?” she whispered, and I shrugged in reply.

  The man turned the book round to face Mrs Knight. “Sign here, then. My wife will show you to your rooms shortly.”

  “Any chance of some grub?” asked Miss Bowler.

  He lifted his gaze slowly and fixed her with a nasty glare that would rival my own. “The kitchen is long since closed, madam. You will have to go to the dining hall in the morning.” With that, he slammed the guest book shut, turned on his heel and headed back through the door behind him.

  “If that was a warm welcome,” I said to Ivy, “I’d hate to see a cold one.”

  Chapter Seven

  IVY

  e’d been waiting at least ten minutes before the door at the back of the room opened and the sound of raised voices blared out. A woman, who I thought must be the man’s wife, came out of the door and shut it behind her (with quite some relief, I thought).

  “Good evening,” she said. She had a much friendlier face than her husband, though it currently looked red and flustered. She wore a plain dress with an apron, but expensive-looking earrings glinted beneath her greying hair. “I’m Mrs Rudge. I’ll be showing you to your rooms. We usually have a girl to do this, but she’s off sick.” Her tone was apologetic, though I noticed she didn’t actually say sorry for her husband’s behaviour.

  She looked around the room at all of us. Most people were sitting on their suitcases. Scarlet and I were leaning against a wall, while Rose and Ariadne were trying their best to share one striped armchair in the corner. The prefects were standing by the teachers with their arms folded, apparently trying to make it seem as though they were in charge too. From the look on Mrs Rudge’s face, I suspected we weren’t her usual type of clientele.

  “Your rooms are on the top floor of the building,” she said, pulling a bunch of jangling keys from a hook beside the door. I felt Scarlet twitch beside me.

  “I don’t suppose there’s any chance of something to eat?” Mrs Knight asked, deciding to try a politer approach than Miss Bowler’s.

  Mrs Rudge nodded, though she didn’t meet our teacher’s eyes. “I can bring you up some bread and butter. I’m afraid that’s all I can manage with the kitchen closed. My husband is very particular about these things.”

  Mrs Knight looked sympathetic. Miss Bowler looked like she was about to eat the reception desk.

  “I’d love some bread and butter, actually,” Scarlet said to me under her breath. “Much better than stew.”

  My stomach growled, and I had to agree.

  “This way, please,” said Mrs Rudge.

  She led us out of the reception area and along a dark corridor which we all trod in a line, like ducks following their mother. We were too tired for chatter. The walls were dark wood, the carpets plush and red. There was a staircase, with sconces going up it – some of the candles lit, others not. I wondered if they’d never been lit in the first place, or if a draught had blown them out.

  There were three floors, not unlike Rookwood, though I wasn’t sure if the hotel was quite the size of our imposing school. But then it was dark, and how much of it had we actually seen? Once we’d made it to the top, Mrs Rudge went along unlocking all the doors and lighting the lamps, while Mrs Knight peered at her clipboard with the room assignments on it.

  We leant against the wall as we waited for our names to be called. There were portraits running all the way down the stairs – portraits of long-dead strangers, as far as I could tell. I tried not to imagine that they were staring at me.

  “Ivy Grey, Scarlet Grey,” Mrs Knight called from further down the corridor. “Ariadne Flitworth and, erm …” she lowered the clipboard. “Rose?”

  Rose’s gaze flicked down to the floor, but she said nothing. If she had a surname, she wasn’t giving it away.

  “This one here, please,” said Mrs Knight.

  “That’s not fair, Miss,” Elsie whined as we made our way up the staircase past the other girls. “How come they get the big room? I thought it was ours?”

  I was surprised that she’d made such an outburst in front of the teachers, but I supposed she was as tired as the rest of us. Luckily Miss Bowler was dropping off her bags into the teachers’ room at the other end of the corridor at that point, otherwise she probably would’ve bellowed a reply and woken the whole hotel.

  “I’ve tried to put everyone together with their friends,” said Mrs Knight patiently. “And I’ve had to rearrange since we’ve lost Betty and gained Rose. No arguments, please.”

  “Yeah,” said Scarlet, pulling a face at Elsie. “No arguments.”

  We took our bags over to the open door where Mrs Knight stood, and peered in.

  The room was huge, much bigger than our dorm rooms back at school. Dark red striped wallpaper coated the walls, and heavy curtains hung at the windows. And the beds! There were two enormous four-poster beds, each with cream drapes.

  “Oh my word,” Scarlet exclaimed. It was the fanciest bedroom I’d ever seen, and I knew she was thinking the same.

  “Oh, it looks just like my bedroom at home!” said Ariadne, beaming.

  “Of course it does,” said Scarlet, giving her a friendly jab in the arm.

  Rose wandered in, staring around at everything, fascinated. I followed her and dropped my bag to the floor. It only took a moment for Scarlet to run in and start bouncing on the bed.

  “Wheee!” she cried, the mattress creaking as she jumped.

  Miss Bowler’s face suddenly appeared in the doorway. “Stop that!”

  Scarlet slowed her bouncing to a halt and then plopped down on to the covers. Miss Bowler marched on down the corridor.

  There was furniture in the room too, big, heavy wooden pieces that looked like they were from the last century. And perhaps the strangest thing was a bath, in front of the windows. Not just a tin bath either, but a real bath with taps and silver clawed feet. “Look at this!” I said, walking over to it.

  “Goodness,” said Ariadne. “A bath in a bedroom? Well, I don’t have that.”

  It looked quite old, and it reminded me a little of the baths at Rookwood, but it was more ornate and expensive-looking. I turned the tap to test it, and listened as the pipes clunked below. There was an empty moment, and then the water began to gush out. It was a slightly odd colour, with leafy fragments in it.

  “Urgh,” I said. “That doesn’t look right.”

  Ariadne pointed out of the window. “Lake water, I think,” she said. “It would make sense. I expect that’s the easiest way to get it.” I followed her finger and looked out at the view. Even in the dark it looked impressive – a vast body of black water, the moon shimmering on the surface.

  “Yuck,” said Scarlet. I looked over at her. She was now lying flat out on the bed like a starfish. “Do you think we have to drink that?”

  “I expect they boil it first,” said Ariadne hopefully. Rose giggled.

  There was a knock at the open door, and we looked round to see Mrs Rudge standing there with a tray. “Some bread and butter for you, girls,” she said. We all dashed over to her. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Ariadne move so fast. “There will be more food tomorrow at breakfast.”

  We all took some and ate hungrily. It tasted marvellous – bread and butter was a rare treat, and it reminded me of living with Aunt Phoebe. I trie
d my best not to spill crumbs all over the plush carpet.

  “I could get used to this,” said Scarlet through a mouthful of bread.

  “So which beds shall we take?” Ariadne asked when we’d finished munching.

  “I think Scarlet’s already claimed that one,” I said, pointing at the one that had been thoroughly bounced on. “So I suppose that’s me as well.”

  “Don’t talk in your sleep,” said Scarlet.

  “Don’t kick me!” I shot back.

  “All right then,” said Ariadne with a smile, “Rose and I will have this one.”

  “It’s lovely.” It took me a moment to realise who was speaking, since she was usually so silent. Rose was beaming. I supposed it wasn’t long ago that all she’d had was an old straw mattress on the floor of the school basement, where Violet had hidden her. And before that, a hospital bed. And the rooms at Rookwood didn’t exactly offer grand luxury either.

  “LIGHTS OUT IN TEN MINUTES!” came a voice that was instantly recognisable as Miss Bowler’s. “LAVATORIES ARE DOWN THE HALL!”

  “Could you … keep it down a little, perhaps? We have other guests,” I heard Mrs Rudge respond. I wasn’t actually sure if Miss Bowler could, though. Loud seemed to be her natural volume. And were there other guests, even? I hadn’t seen any.

  We all pulled out our nightdresses and headed to the lavatories to get changed and brush our teeth. It turned out there weren’t very many stalls, so there was quite a queue. By the time we got back to the room, someone had already put the lamp out.

  “Thank goodness I brought supplies,” said Ariadne. She dragged one of her small suitcases out towards the light of the corridor and pulled it open. It was full of candles.

  Scarlet patted her on the back. “You’re very strange, Ariadne, but it certainly comes in handy.”

  We huddled round the candle just inside the door of the room, and I suddenly noticed a glimmer of gold at Rose’s neck.

  My twin noticed it too. “You wear your locket to bed?”

  Rose nodded and quickly tucked it away inside her borrowed nightgown, out of sight. Whatever was in that locket, it meant something to her.