“Cassandra thinks Rose stole her necklace. We think Cassandra is an enormous idiot.” That was Scarlet’s contribution. She was staring at the paintings that lined the corridor.
“Sounds fair enough to me. Those prefects think they’re so much better than everyone else. And they definitely have it in for you now.” Nadia sighed. “I wish Penny was here.”
That was something I had never thought I’d hear anyone say, but there was no accounting for taste, I supposed. Penny seemed to have calmed down a little after the ballet, and I hoped she might have improved for good.
“Not enjoying being Penny-less?” Scarlet jibed.
“Never been penniless in my life,” Nadia shot back with a wink. “But Penny is my friend. And she wouldn’t let those two be top dog. Anyway,” she said. “You ought to watch your backs. And watch Rose’s back, especially, where they’re concerned.” With a quick nod, she darted away towards the bathrooms.
Ariadne’s brow wrinkled. “Do you really think something’s going to happen?”
“I doubt it,” said Scarlet. “And we don’t need Penny. They won’t get past me.”
In the end we sneaked downstairs and went on to the veranda that ran across the front of the hotel, looking out over the lake, to watch the sunset. Ariadne leant over the balcony to take photographs. The lady in the wheelchair was out there too, a blanket draped over her legs, and Phyllis and Julian were chatting at a table in the corner. I wanted to ask Phyllis where she’d got to the day before, but she was deep in conversation and I couldn’t work up the courage. She’d probably just gone hiking.
When the sun was finally down, the pinks and oranges melting into black clouds and a sprinkle of stars dusting the sky, we began to shiver. Even though it could be hot during the day, the nights were still chilly.
At that point, Miss Bowler marched out and ordered us to get to bed, and we didn’t want to argue – though Ariadne took the chance to run down to the darkroom and collect her pictures.
Back in the room, Rose had gone to bed. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and I felt relieved. But even then, I wondered about the necklace. What if Rose really had taken it? I didn’t think she would do it for selfish reasons, but what if she’d done it by accident, or for some other reason that we hadn’t considered? I wanted to ask her, but it was horrible seeing her so upset. Her past, what she’d said about her family and what they did to her … was that tied up in this somewhere?
I was so tired that my eyes were slowly slipping shut. I pulled on my nightgown, climbed into the enormous bed beside my twin, and fell fast asleep.
There was a noise.
I sat upright. I had been sleeping soundly, and now I was awake. What had happened?
I blinked in the darkness. The strange room swam in front of my eyes, nothing but blurred shapes.
There’s no moon, I thought. It’s too dark to see.
I reached for one of Ariadne’s many candles, standing in a holder next to the bed. There was a matchbook beside it. I fumbled, then managed to strike a match. As I put it to the wick, the candle flickered into action.
I held it out, looking around the room. Scarlet was stirring beside me, but hadn’t quite woken. I slipped my legs out of the bed and tiptoed over to the far wall, the draught from the fireplace swirling in cold tendrils around my legs. As I peered at the other bed, I realised that Rose was missing.
A thousand thoughts ran through my head. Was she upset again? Had she just gone to the lavatories? Or was it something more sinister?
Whatever it was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep unless I found out. Rose might need help. I tiptoed towards the door of the room, peeled it open gently and crept out into the corridor.
I looked left and right, bathing the walls in the glow of the candle, and decided to go left first. Closed doors passed me on both sides, none of them betraying what might lie behind them. I presumed Rose wouldn’t be found in anyone else’s room, especially not the one where the teachers slept.
I decided to try the bathrooms and lavatories next. I peered into each one, but all the doors were unlocked, and there was no sign of Rose.
Or so I thought. Until I looked down at the corridor carpet.
There were wet footprints, roughly the size of Rose’s feet, forming a trail from one of the bathrooms towards another door.
Cautiously, I went over and tried the handle. The room was unlocked. I took a deep breath, and opened the door.
It was a room not dissimilar to ours, but with only one large bed and some sofas. The bed was made, and the whole room looked untouched. I supposed it hadn’t been rented out. But it also featured a pair of glass-panelled doors. They were flung wide open, leading outside.
And there, in the middle of the balcony, stood Rose.
I stepped closer quietly, not wanting to startle her, and noticed something was off. Her hair was soaking wet, and so were her clothes. In fact, why was she even wearing her day clothes and not a nightgown? Another step, and I could see that her dress was buttoned up wrongly, and her jumper was on back to front.
“Rose?” I whispered softly.
She didn’t seem to hear me. Another step. Her eyes were open and glassy, staring at nothing. I couldn’t breathe. Something was very wrong.
Another step, and now I was through the glass doors and out in the cold night air. “Rose?” I tried again. “Rose?” I reached out and touched her sleeve.
And she screamed.
I jumped backwards, hand on my heart, and nearly dropped the candle holder.
Rose blinked, too many times, and then suddenly the glassy look was gone from her eyes and she seemed to see me.
“Ivy?” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. She looked around fearfully.
I could finally breathe again. “Are you all right? Rose, you’re all wet! And you’re standing out on a balcony in the middle of the night!”
She felt frantically for the necklace at her throat, then wrapped her arms round herself and started shivering, her teeth chattering.
“Come inside,” I said. I led her into the room and pulled the doors shut. “Do you know what happened?”
She shook her head. Her pale cheeks began to burn red.
It began to dawn on me what might be going on. I’d said it myself, hadn’t I? What if she sleepwalks?
“Rose,” I tried gently. “Do you … walk in your sleep?”
There were a few moments of silence. “Sometimes.”
I felt a sliver of relief growing in my mind. That’s what was going on. “I think that’s what’s happened. You got dressed in your sleep –” I gestured at her buttons and jumper – “and tried to get in the bathtub. That must be why your clothes are wet.”
She frowned. “Bad,” she said simply.
That threw me a little. “Bad? To sleepwalk?”
This time it was a nod.
“But it’s not your fault,” I said. I put my hand on her damp sleeve again. “You can’t help it if you’re asleep. I sleepwalked once in my Aunt Phoebe’s house, and I woke up lying on the kitchen floor!”
She bent over, her wet hair dripping on to the carpet. “They said …” She didn’t seem to want to finish the sentence. I wondered who she meant. Had her family said it was bad? The doctors in the asylum?
And a part of me wondered if she meant she did something bad while sleepwalking. Stealing?
“Scared,” she said, still shaking. I wrapped an arm round her.
“It’s all right. Don’t be frightened.” I tried not to think about the sight of her standing on the balcony. I had been frightened out of my wits. “Come on. Let’s go back to our room so you can get dry.”
Eventually, she inhaled deeply and then responded with another nod.
I helped her to her feet and we headed for the door, Rose still dripping. I prayed that the water would dry before the next morning. I didn’t want the Rudges to have a heart attack.
But as we stepped out into the corridor, things went ev
en more wrong.
Because Elsie and Cassandra were standing there, holding candles of their own, and they looked furious.
“There she is!” Elsie cried. “Get her!”
Chapter Twenty-two
SCARLET
was woken by the sound of raised voices and footsteps out in the corridor. I was sure there had been a candle beside our bed, but when I felt for it in the dark, it seemed to have gone.
Something else was gone too. Ivy.
I blinked in the darkness. The shouting grew louder and then faded. As if someone were being chased.
My twin senses were telling me something was wrong. I jumped out of bed and felt my way towards the door. I could hear Ariadne still snoring, but … was Rose there? I couldn’t hear her, and I couldn’t see well enough to be sure.
I didn’t worry about being quiet. Ariadne could sleep through most things, and Ivy might be in trouble. Maybe Rose too. I dashed out into the corridor and turned my head quickly from side to side. Where had they gone? I thought I could hear echoes of shouting coming from the stairway.
I ran towards the sound, my footsteps pounding on the floor. I followed them all the way down the stairs, running blindly along the hallway until I came to the reception area. The lights were still lit there, but the Rudges must have long since gone to bed. The front door of the hotel was just swinging shut as I reached it.
“Oh no, you don’t,” I said, grabbing it before it could close. I ran out into the night.
The courtyard in front of the hotel was lit up, and misty rain was falling.
I saw Ivy and Rose backed up against a wall, and two taller shapes that were unmistakably Elsie and Cassandra. I cursed them under my breath.
“No escape now, freak,” I heard Cassandra say.
I crept nearer, the rain sticking my hair to my face. If the harpies couldn’t see me, I had an advantage.
“Leave her alone,” Ivy said. She was holding a candle that spluttered in the wind. “She’s never done anything to you.”
The air was cold. I tried to forget that I was only wearing a nightgown and a pair of stockings. I tiptoed, staying light on my feet.
“We know it was you!” Elsie was shrieking. “We practically caught you red-handed!”
“We have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ivy pleaded. Her eyes flickered over to me, and I knew that she had seen me. I put my finger to my lips. She quickly looked away again.
As I got closer, I could see that Rose was soaking wet. The rain? I thought for a moment, but no, she looked like she’d fallen in the lake again. What on earth had just happened?
Cassandra was shaking with anger. “You stole my necklace,” she said. “And then you break into our room while we’re sleeping! How dare you? How DARE YOU?” She reached out as if she were going to slap Rose …
And I caught her arm in mid-swing.
She spun round furiously. “What—”
“You are not going to touch her,” I said.
She may have been taller than me, but she wasn’t stronger. I kept my grip on her arm as she tried to wrestle it away from me.
“Rose, run!” I yelled.
She didn’t need to be told twice. Rose was small and quick, and she darted round Cassandra and back off towards the hotel.
“Elsie!” Cassandra tried to alert her friend, but Ivy reacted faster than Elsie could. She stuck out her leg and sent Elsie flying. I almost cheered.
“Either of you want to explain what this is about?” I demanded.
Elsie got up and brushed herself off, her face red. I thought she was about to start steaming. “Don’t have to explain ourselves to you,” she muttered.
“Maybe not,” I said. “But I can go and tell Mrs Knight that you two just attacked my sister and my friend for no good reason. Or –” I tugged Cassandra’s arm a little to make the point – “you could tell us what you’ve got your knickers in a twist about.”
“She knows,” Elsie said with a glare at Ivy as she scrambled back up to her feet.
“I really don’t,” said Ivy.
Cassandra shared a glance with Elsie – I think they realised Ivy was telling the truth. “If you let me go, I’ll tell you.”
I shared a glance with my twin. I didn’t really trust Cassandra, but it was worth a try.
I dropped her arm and watched as she rubbed it, trying to get the feeling back.
“I’m not going to wait out here all night,” I said. Not least because it was so cold and rainy. “I’m running straight for the teachers if you don’t explain.”
“All right, all right.” Cassandra glared at me. She patted down her usually perfect curls, which were going frizzy in the rain. “We heard noises in our room,” she finally explained. “And when we lit the lights, we saw our room had been … vandalised.”
That reminded me of what had happened to us. Ivy must have thought the same, because she asked: “Things thrown everywhere? Curtains ripped?”
“No, not like that. There was this message written on the wall. In red. Like blood.” Cassandra shuddered. Elsie looked sick. “And there was water all over the floor. Then we came out into the corridor and saw that freak, soaking wet.”
“It was her,” Elsie hissed into the misty air. “You’re all blind. You think she’s so sweet and quiet. She’s insane, Grey. Haven’t you heard? She was in a mental asylum!”
“So was I,” I said through gritted teeth, but I don’t think they heard me. Elsie was in full flow now.
“She’s crazy. She hardly talks. She’s a thief. And now this? Soaking wet and writing threats on our wall? She should never have come on this trip. It’s not safe for any of us.” Elsie started punching one hand into the other. “She. Is. Crazy!”
Ivy wiped rain out of her eyes. “What exactly did this threat say?”
Elsie and Cassandra glanced at each other.
Ivy’s candle gave one final splutter and went out.
“Maybe you should see for yourself,” Elsie said quietly.
The prefects marched back into the Shady Pines Hotel, and we followed behind them.
“Are you all right?” I whispered to Ivy.
“Fine,” she replied. “Just cold. I hope Rose is safe in our room now. She was sleepwalking.”
I nodded my agreement as understanding dawned. So Rose had sleepwalked out of our room?
Ivy found some more matches behind the reception desk, and we relit the candle. As we slowly climbed the stairs to the top floor, I noticed that there were still wet footprints leading out of the bathroom.
“She got in the bath?” I asked Ivy.
“Seems so.” Ivy shrugged.
I peered closer, and I realised that there were more footprints, heading towards the prefects’ room. Ivy saw them too.
“That’s not good,” she said.
“Are you coming or not?” Elsie whispered angrily from over by their door.
“Yes, yes,” I said, hurrying along. “Keep your hair on.” But from a quick glance at the footprints, I could have sworn that they were bigger than Rose’s.
Elsie held the door open, gesturing towards the wall with her other arm. Ivy and I stepped inside, and looked up.
I saw, in large, hastily painted letters as red as blood …
Chapter Twenty-three
IVY
he terrifying writing was huge, angrily slashed across the wall.
“Now do you believe us?” Cassandra said.
I didn’t know what to think. Rose had sleepwalked, and she’d got into the bath fully dressed. What was to say she hadn’t painted this strange message? Those footprints …
“I really don’t know,” I said. I stepped back from the wall. I wanted to get as far away from the words as possible. It didn’t matter who had written them. They made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Scarlet yawned. “I don’t know either. You don’t have proof it was her. And let’s say it was—”
“It was!” Elsie snapped.
M
y twin ignored her. “Let’s say it was. She was sleepwalking. She didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Firstly,” said Cassandra, who was leaning against the bedpost with her arms folded, “that’s if you believe her about the sleepwalking, and secondly, if she did it in her sleep, that’s even more weird.”
Elsie pointed out of the open door. “She’s possessed. That’s what it is.”
I swallowed. I remembered Rose standing on the balcony, her eyes like glass. She had almost looked possessed.
“Well, if she’s possessed, then blame the evil spirit that you think did it and not her,” Scarlet said, rolling her eyes. She turned to leave. “I’m tired of this nonsense. It’s the middle of the night.”
“You expect us to go back to sleep with this?” Cassandra waved at the writing.
“You’re supposed to be prefects. Why don’t you go and tell the teachers?” I suggested. “Instead of attacking Rose?”
“That would be too obvious,” Scarlet said in a stage whisper.
Both of them glared at us intently, and I decided it would definitely be a good time to leave. I took Scarlet’s arm and led her out of the room before she decided to try to hit them.
“They probably painted it themselves,” Scarlet muttered as the door slammed shut, leaving us with only the light of the little candle.
I tried to rub some of the warmth back into my body. Everything just felt too cold. “You don’t think there’s a chance that Rose … did this? You didn’t see her when she was sleepwalking. It was really strange.” I wasn’t sure that even quite did justice to it. It was otherworldly, almost. “And you saw the footprints.”
“I did,” she said, her hand resting on the door handle to our room. “And I know it looks bad. But there’s something off about them. They looked too big.”
I scrunched up my face. “So someone else came in? But …” A memory came back to me. “The front door was bolted. I pulled it back when I ran in. They must lock up at night.”
“So it was either someone staying at the hotel …” Scarlet mumbled.
The Lights Under the Lake Page 12
