We shut up.
Chapter Thirty-one
IVY
earily, Bob traipsed back over to his armchair and sank down into it. “All right,” he said, not looking at us, “all right. Here’s the thing. You know what the village meant to me. They tore down my home, all of our homes, just to give water to some rich folks in the city. And some of those same rich folks came and opened a bloody hotel. They sat up on the hill and laughed at us. Their lovely lakeside view,” he spat, “where our homes had once stood.”
I started to say something, but he held up a finger. I waited.
“I had a farm,” he continued. “It was my family’s livelihood. I was raised to be a farmer, and then the land was all sold. What’s a farmer without a farm? They paid us off, a pittance, but my ma died and my da drank the money away. He’d lost everything. I went off and joined the Navy because that was all there was left.” He pulled down the collar of his shirt a little way to reveal a nasty-looking scar that spread across his chest, before pulling it back up again. “I got that for my troubles.”
“Didn’t you have any other family?” Ariadne asked gently.
Bob stared into the fire then, as if it might tell him the answer. “I had a sister, and a brother,” he said finally. “David. He signed up to help build the dam. Fell right from the top. Killed instantly.” He shook his head, the glassy reflection of the fire flickering in his eyes.
There was a long silence, but Ariadne finally broke it. “So you dive down and get the items from the church.” She sat down on the stone floor at Bob’s feet. “I saw the lights,” she said. “Under the lake. That was you, wasn’t it? And when my foot was grabbed …”
He didn’t answer her, his eyes blank and sparkling with the reflection of the fire. “Everyone took all they owned from their houses, but the vicar just locked up the church. You should see it down there … it’s so grey and still and cold and … dead. My sister, Evelyn … she died when she was small, and her grave was there. And now she’s under the lake.”
An image filled my head. The silent church, locked shut in the strange grey underwater light, rows and rows of graves where no one could ever read them. “But … you got inside the church?” I asked.
He looked at me for the first time, then. “Some of the builders must’ve smashed the church windows, you see. Thought there was no harm in it since no one would ever see it again.” There were deep furrows in his brow. “And the roof fell in under the weight of the water. The place where everyone I knew was christened and married and buried.” He shook his head sadly. “The prayer books I rescued beforehand. The rest … I go down there, and I bring bits and pieces back.”
I felt the prickle of oncoming tears, but I fought them off. Just because Bob had had a tragic life, it didn’t mean it was all right for him to do what he’d done. It was like Miss Fox – she’d been locked up in an asylum when she was younger, and then she’d gone on to try to control everyone else. She wanted to get her own back on the world.
But Scarlet, she’d been through the same, and she hadn’t let it change her. No, that was wrong – she had let it change her, but for the better.
You could fight the world, or you could try to change it.
“I understand,” said Scarlet slowly. “I understand why you’re angry. But why do all this? You could move on. You could try to stop this happening to others.”
I could hear Bob gritting his teeth. “I know.” He shook his head. “But they had to know what they’d done to us. I believe what I said about the spirits not being able to rest. I had to be their voice.”
“I know you think they’re laughing at you,” Ariadne said. “But they’re not. I promise. They’re just trying to make a living, like you were. I don’t think you’re getting the message across. You’re just making everyone scared and upset by what you’re doing. You’re making the Rudges feel guilty, but they’re not even responsible! The people who built the reservoir are responsible!”
Bob shrugged slowly. “None of them are here, are they? The hotel was easy. I knew the ways in. Besides, it was only some old objects, a bit of water and paint. I didn’t hurt anybody.”
“But … the rooms were ransacked,” I said. “Things stolen. And someone scared our horses, and our friend is missing …”
Bob’s frown changed to one of puzzlement. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. I don’t know anything about any of that.”
“Really?” Scarlet said. We looked at each other. This wasn’t going the way I’d expected.
“I’ve not seen your friend. I was out until just now, when the storm hit, you know, but I didn’t see anyone.”
“Are you sure, sir?” Ariadne leant forward. “This is really important. Did you see anything?”
“I heard that loud noise – that’s what startled your horses, is it? Thought it must be someone hunting. Good rabbit and deer in these woods.” He stood up, brushed himself off, and wandered towards the fire. It was like he was brushing away the thoughts of what had happened to his village, just going back to being plain old Bob Owens. “Heard the horses making a fuss. That’s it.”
I didn’t know what to think. Rose had disappeared in this nightmarish storm, and our number-one suspect knew nothing about it. And he didn’t know about the other things that had happened either. So that meant …
There was someone else.
Someone else was behind this.
And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Bob had been targeting the hotel, but someone else had been targeting us. Messing up the rooms, taking the necklace, planting it on Rose …
As Bob stared into the fire, a seed of a thought began to grow in my mind. I whispered to the others: “When we came to the hotel, we were supposed to be in the room that Elsie and Cassandra were given, weren’t we? But they moved us because we had Rose as well.”
The others nodded. “What’s your point?” Scarlet hissed back.
“Someone went through their room,” I whispered, “and they must have thought it was ours. They took Cassandra’s necklace, but it wasn’t what they wanted. Then they went through our room and couldn’t find anything, so …”
“They planted the necklace!” Ariadne gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.
Scarlet frowned. “So you’re saying … someone is after Rose’s locket? Or after Rose?”
“Maybe both,” I said. Was someone trying to set her up? But who?
Bob turned round. “You three ought to go,” he said. He seemed stern but sad. “Your teachers will be looking for you.”
Scarlet walked up to him. “You should tell them, Mr Owens. Tell them what you’ve told us. We can accuse you of all of it …”
“… but then they won’t know the real story,” I finished. “They’ll just call the police and you’ll never get to tell anyone again.”
For a moment, I was truly frightened that we’d done the wrong thing – that if we told Bob Owens we were going to accuse him, he would shout at us, or lock us up in the tower, or throw us in the lake.
I think he saw the fear written across my face, because he just sighed and said: “I’m not going to stop you, girls. But maybe I’ll think about talking to them. Maybe it is time.”
He didn’t seem to want to say more after that. I hoped he would think about it. Haunting a hotel wasn’t going to bring his family or his home back. He seemed to be seeing that more clearly now.
Ariadne stood up, and we walked back towards the door with trepidation – the rain was still pouring outside, and none of us wanted to go back out into it. We left Bob Owens staring into the flames.
I leant against the cold wall in the hallway, feeling drained, missing the warmth of the fire.
“Now what do we do?” I asked. “We have no idea where Rose is. And someone could be after her. Even if they aren’t, anything could have happened to her out there.”
“How are we going to find her?” Ariadne wailed.
I really had no idea. Miss Bowler had
looked for her and not found anything. How were we supposed to do any better?
“Girls?” Bob was calling us from back in the main chamber. We all turned round and went back to look at him.
“I did see something,” he said. “But I didn’t think anything of it. One of the rowing boats was missing when I was down there. Now, I know those boats well. I see them every day. I thought someone had just gone out on it, but now I think about it, with the weather … It was the Skylark. The Skylark was missing.”
Scarlet looked at me. “If someone took the boat, then …”
“They might have taken Rose!” Ariadne cried. “We have to find that boat!”
Chapter Thirty-two
SCARLET
e ran back out into the rain, on to the little bridge, this time armed with a pair of Bob’s binoculars. Ivy and Ariadne used their arms to form shelter and keep the rain off them, but even then it was hard to see. In fact, everything was a blurry mess.
I fiddled with the focusing knob and soon I could make things out more easily. To the left I could see the hotel and the jetty where we’d rowed from. If they’d taken the boat from there, then surely they must be heading for the other side of the lake. I moved to the right side of the bridge, the others following me, and looked up to the far end. I could make out the biggest of the gushing white waterfalls that fed the lake, and as I looked further, right up to the north … “There!” I said. “I think I can see it!”
“Can I look?” Ivy asked. I handed the binoculars to her and pointed her in the right direction. “I think you’re right, that’s definitely the boat.”
“Come on, let’s go!” I hastily returned the binoculars to the inside of Bob’s tower and then pulled the enormous door shut behind me. Ariadne was already climbing down into the boat, and I heard the thud as she landed on the wet boards. Ivy was next on the ladder, and then I jumped in behind her. The boat rocked and wobbled, but it stayed afloat.
I missed the warm, dry tower as soon as we’d stepped out, but I was so soaked that I was becoming used to the rain.
This time, Ivy took the oars, and she rowed as fast as she could while we shouted directions. I was distracted by my thoughts as the boat cut through the water – was Bob right? Would the teachers be panicking because we’d gone, or would they be too busy looking for Rose to notice? We had no time to worry about it. They wouldn’t be able to find Rose, because they didn’t have a clue where to look – and now we did.
It took some time, but as we got nearer to the shore I could see the boat properly. It was definitely the Skylark; I could read the peeling paint on the side. It was wedged on the shore like someone had hastily abandoned it. Ivy rowed closer until the boat ground to a halt on the rising pebbles. I hopped out, the cold water splashing on my already-soaked legs, and tied the boat to a nearby tree.
I trudged through the pebbles and peered into the Skylark.
“Can you see anything?” Ariadne called out.
There was something black half hidden under the wooden bench. I reached in with both hands and tugged it free, and realised what it was: a helmet.
It was Rose’s riding helmet.
Wordlessly, I held it up to the others. Ivy gasped. Rose had been in this boat. But with who? And where had they taken her?
Ivy and Ariadne helped each other out of the boat and came over to me. There was another roll of thunder overhead, and we all jumped. I just wished it could all be over, that we could find Rose sheltering somewhere and head back to the hotel and, more importantly, to the warmth of the fireplace. But a sick feeling in my stomach told me that wasn’t going to happen.
“Where could she have gone?” Ariadne wailed.
I looked around. There seemed to be a track leading off from the little pebble beach, heading up the hill. But how could we know for sure if Rose had gone that way? She could have gone off into the woods again.
Ivy went over to the track, and I watched as she stared down at the ground. “There’s something here,” she said. “Footprints!”
There were fresh footprints of different sizes in the mud leading up the track. They were mixed up and hard to make out, but it definitely looked like more than one person had been here. And there were ruts too, like someone had been dragged while resisting.
“This is not good,” I said. I turned and started hurrying in the direction the prints led.
Ivy grabbed me. “Scarlet …” she started as I whirled round. “We should turn back and find Miss Bowler. We have no idea who Rose could be with! What if they have a shotgun or something? We can’t just go up there alone.”
“Are you mad?” I snapped back, shaking her hand away. “There’s no time! We need to find her now! And besides, there are three of us! That’s hardly alone!”
“But what if—”
“Every time you say ‘what if’ is another moment we could be saving Rose!” I couldn’t believe my sister sometimes.
Ariadne put her arm on my shoulder. “Ivy’s right that we ought to be careful. If we go running up there like headless chickens, we could do more harm than good.”
She had a point. “Fine,” I said begrudgingly. “But we still need to hurry. We’ll just do it carefully.”
The track led to a set of steps that were little more than rocks jutting out of the hill, slick with rain. We scrambled up them, trying our best to avoid making any noise. It was hard, but if we didn’t talk then at least the storm would drown us out.
We emerged through some trees into a barren, muddy clearing. I looked out in horror at the scene.
Rose. She was standing on the edge of the cliff, crying, the wind whipping at her hair.
And there were two figures advancing on her. Figures I recognised.
They were Phyllis and Julian Moss.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I know, people say that all the time, but I really couldn’t. I blinked a few times, suspecting that my eyes were lying to me. But each time I opened them, Phyllis and Julian were still there, moving threateningly towards Rose.
The Skylark, I realised. Of course that was the boat Julian would choose!
I pulled Ivy and Ariadne behind a rock. Rose was right on the cliff edge. If we jumped out now, something could go badly wrong.
“It’s really very simple,” Julian said, his voice raised to be heard over the wind and the rain. He sounded nothing like the mild-mannered birdwatcher I’d believed him to be. “You give us the locket, and you can go back to your friends safe and sound. If you refuse, well … you’re crazy, aren’t you? There’s no telling what a crazy girl might do. What if she tragically threw herself in the lake?”
“Do what he says, Rose,” Phyllis called. “Then nobody will have to get hurt.”
Rose was just shaking her head over and over, terror in her wide eyes. I was terrified that she would lose her footing and fall straight off the cliff. I willed her to stay put with all my might.
“You can’t even find the words now, dear cousin?” Julian spread his arms out wide. “You see? You’re not right. You’re broken. That’s what we’ve been telling you all along.”
“Cousin?” Ivy whispered.
A horrible feeling began to grow inside me. I remembered what Rose had told us back in our room the other day. About the people in her family who didn’t want her to get her inheritance, the very people who had had her locked up in the asylum. And I realised, the nasty ball of guilt growing bigger and bigger, that this was exactly what Violet told us last year. And I hadn’t believed her.
“Julian, please,” Phyllis said to her husband. “Rose, just tell us where your necklace is. You know it’s the right thing to do. We’ll look after the estate, I promise.”
Ariadne leant forward. “They don’t know where it is!” she mouthed. They might have guessed Rose wore it, but they’d never seen it.
Julian ignored his wife and carried on yelling into the rain. “We know where the safety deposit box is kept! All we need is the key. We went to a lot of effort to find out that your
mother kept it in her locket, you know, not to mention to find out that you were here. We had to do some persuading.”
I didn’t like the sound of that one bit. I was shaking with anger now. How dare these people do this? Who did they think they were?
Rose said something, then, but I couldn’t hear it.
“What was that?” Julian cupped a hand to his ear dramatically. “Speak up! Are you making your choice? Give us the necklace, or …” He pointed at Lake Seren, cold and grey and majestic behind her.
Her mouth opened again, but no sound came out. She turned and looked out at the lake.
“Oh no,” I whispered. Was she considering jumping? It was too high, I knew that much. She’d never make it. She’d be seriously hurt, even if she didn’t die. And who knew what was under these cliffs? There could be sharp rocks lurking beneath the surface of the water. “Oh God, Rose, don’t do it …”
I couldn’t let it end like this. Nobody deserved that, and especially not Rose. She didn’t deserve to fling herself into the lake believing that nobody cared, that everyone thought she was a freak. I had to do something.
And that was when I made a stupid decision.
“Stay hidden from him,” I said to Ivy and Ariadne. “Promise me.”
They blinked at me, nodding, before they’d even realised what I was going to do.
“HEY!” I shouted. I jumped up from behind the rock and ran forward, right in front of Phyllis and Julian.
Rose gasped through her sobs.
I raised my fists, ready to fight. “Don’t you dare touch her!”
Phyllis and Julian looked shocked for a moment, but then a nasty smile spread across Julian’s face. He stepped up close to me. I realised, then, how much taller and stronger than me he was. What had I done?
“You,” he said. “I told you to stay out of trouble, didn’t I?”
I glared at him. “I prefer to go looking for it. Let Rose go, or I’ll …”
“Or you’ll what?” he laughed. “We don’t need you.”
The Lights Under the Lake Page 17
