The Midnight Chimes

by Paula Harrison

  My eyes fell on a little white cupboard between the painting of Cryptorum’s parents and the bookcase. It was the same colour as the wall, which made it easy to overlook. When I found it was locked, I fetched the key I’d seen in the drawer. The key turned and the door swung open.

  Inside there was a small glass box – like a tiny fish tank. Floating inside the tank was a pale green bubble, its shiny surface flecked with purple. I knew straight away what it was – a wish.

  As I watched the wish bubble began to move faster, bumping against the sides and the top of the tank like a bird that wanted to be free. I leant in, trying to look at the picture inside the wish, but it was hard to see. Why did Cryptorum keep a wish trapped in here? What was so special about it?

  I spotted a photo frame lying flat on the shelf above and picked it up. I recognized the smiling woman with curly brown hair in the picture. I’d seen her in another of Cryptorum’s photos. She was wearing a woollen hat and her cheeks were shiny and red.

  Aiden came back. “Robyn, what are you doing? You’re missing all the mouse house fun.”

  Nora was right behind him. “I made a little mouse door knocker on my tub. You’ve got to come and see it!”

  “Guys, look at this.” I showed them the photo. “There’s a wish trapped in here and I reckon this is the same lady as the one in the other photo. Do you think the wish is about her?”

  Nora picked up the photo from Cryptorum’s desk and held the pictures side by side. In the second photo the lady was pictured with Cryptorum and Miss Smiting. “It’s definitely the same person.”

  The wish bumped against the side of the glass. In the middle of the gleaming bubble, I thought I glimpsed Cryptorum’s face.

  “Chimes! What have you done?” Miss Smiting whipped across the room and took the photos away from us. Her eyes flashed. “Why are you going through these cupboardss? Explain yourself!”

  “I was trying to find the sticky tape like you said.” My stomach plunged. “I wasn’t trying to snoop, honest!”

  “Thiss cupboard is private.” Miss Smiting replaced the photos where they belonged.

  “Why is that wish trapped in a box?” I tried to get another look but she closed the door and locked it firmly.

  “Because that’ss the best place for it,” she snapped. “Do not mention what you’ve seen to anyone. No one knows about the wish except for those who are close to Erasmus.”

  “We won’t say anything. We promise!” Nora said.

  “But who’s that lady in the picture?” I couldn’t help asking.

  Miss Smiting studied me with a stern look in her green eyes. “That was Rebecca, Erasmus’s wife, and the case containss her very last wish before she died. You must never, ever touch it.”

  Something Unexpected Lands on the Grimdean Lawn

  n icy wind was pulling the last leaves off the trees as I walked to Grimdean House the next morning. The shops in town had started putting up Christmas decorations in their windows. I knew Mr Cryptorum was back as soon as I heard his deep voice complaining to Miss Smiting. “So many children! I’d forgotten how loud they are. And where’s Eye? You can hardly blame her for hiding from this commotion.”

  Mrs Lovell announced in assembly that the damage to Ashbrook School was worse than everyone had expected. “It looks as if something gnawed the roots and caused the trees to fall down,” she explained. “Although I don’t know of any creature that could do that! But the building still needs a lot of repair work so we could be at Grimdean House for many weeks yet.”

  None of the kids seemed bothered by this. In a strange sort of way, being at Grimdean had started to feel normal. The assembly finished with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” played on the recorder by two girls in Nora’s class.

  Annie had been going on about the recorder at home. Miss Mason had offered to give lessons to some of the little kids and they all went to a recorder group on Monday lunchtimes. The squeaky sounds drifted down the corridors, driving everyone mad. Annie had pestered Mum and Dad until they gave in and paid for the recorder lessons, and now she wanted to put on “concerts” in the living room all the time. Still, that was the least of my problems.

  I was desperate to know what that wish trapped in the glass case was all about.

  “I’m going to ask Cryptorum,” I said to Aiden as we ran outside for Bat Club after school. “And I’ll ask him why he’s been gone so long too.”

  Aiden zipped up his jacket. “Don’t! You’ll only make him mad.”

  Nora was already down by the shed helping Cryptorum take out equipment ready for our training session.

  Cryptorum leant a bow against the shed wall. “We’ll start with a reminder of the basics,” he said to us. “Swords then bows.”

  “Um . . . sir?” I said. “Can I ask you something?”

  “What’s that?” Cryptorum dumped a quiver of arrows on the ground.

  I went cold. I’d forgotten how fierce he looked. His eyebrows seemed even thicker than before. “Er . . . I just wondered what monsters you found while you were away.”

  “There’s no time for that.” Cryptorum gave a frostblade to each of us. Aiden had taken our torchblades back so he could check how they were working. “Right, show me your defence position.”

  I gripped my blade tightly. Why did he have to keep everything a secret? We were Chimes too. “But we’ll be facing monsters soon, won’t we? So we need to know what’s out there.”

  “That depends on how much progress you make.” Cryptorum fixed me with a glare. “I’m not letting you run around Wendleton if you don’t know what you’re doing. Now show me your defence position.”

  Gritting my teeth, I got into position – legs shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent and two hands holding the blade.

  “Now show me your side swipe and over-the-head attack moves,” Cryptorum growled. “Give yourself more space, Nora, or you’ll skewer Aiden.”

  I did the side-swipe move. I’d got this stuff right ages ago. When were we going to do something new? A buzzing grew and grew inside my head. I thought it was me getting annoyed, but then a bright light swept over us and the rhythmic chopping and droning got even louder.

  “Get back!” Cryptorum’s voice was almost drowned out by the noise of the helicopter. He grabbed Nora who was gaping at the sky.

  We backed up towards the shed. The helicopter landed halfway down the lawn and the rotating blades spun slowly to a stop. The pilot jumped down and helped a man in a dark suit from the back of the helicopter. The man had black hair greying a little at the sides and a lean face with watchful eyes that made me think of a leopard. He rested on his silver-topped cane and studied us, smiling. “Erasmus! I couldn’t resist popping in.”

  “Dominic.” Cryptorum frowned. “My neighbours tend to complain when you land here. They hate the noise of that thing.”

  The visitor waved the objection away. “Oh, we shan’t disturb you for long.”

  Three figures dressed in black leapt out of the helicopter behind him. The tallest was a blond-haired boy around a year or two older than me and Aiden. There was also a girl with a sleek, dark ponytail and a thin boy with a pale face. They each held a slim metal cylinder and their black leather jackets fitted them perfectly – nothing like the chunky ones that Miss Smiting had bought us. On their wrists, they wore identical black watches with curved screens that looked pretty expensive.

  “Robyn, Aiden, Nora.” Cryptorum turned to us. “This is Mr Dray. He’s a Chime and a long-time friend and associate. I visited his home, Kesterly Manor, while I was gone.”

  “So these are the trainees.” Mr Dray’s gaze swept over us, lingering on our badly fitting jackets and bare frostblades. His smile widened. “I wanted to bring my own apprentices to meet you. It’s so important to make connections, isn’t it? This is Rufus.” He pointed to the tall blond boy. “And Portia and Tristan.”

  “Hi!” Nora said excitedly. “I didn’t realize other Chimes were training nearby. It’s so great t
o meet you.”

  “Yeah.” Portia rolled her eyes and I felt myself redden on Nora’s behalf. I didn’t like that girl’s attitude and I didn’t like the smug way the blond boy was looking at us either.

  Mr Dray waved his silver-topped cane towards the house. “Let us go in, Erasmus. I have gathered further information since last week relating to the vampire activity in the north. We’ll leave the youngsters to get acquainted. I’m sure they’ll have a lot to teach each other.” He called to the pilot. “Come inside, Sanders.”

  Cryptorum locked the door to the weapons shed before following Mr Dray. “I won’t be long,” he told us.

  As the adults disappeared inside, I stared doubtfully at the three new kids. They looked way too perfect in those leather jackets and what were those cylinders they were holding? I didn’t want to ask and look stupid.

  Aiden broke the silence. “So you’re training as Chimes too.”

  “Well, Mr Dray belongs to the International Federation of Chimes,” Portia told us. “And once we’ve earned our certificate we will too.”

  I exchanged looks with Aiden. There was a certificate?

  Rufus laughed. “Didn’t you realize there are Chimes all over the world and new ways of killing monsters? Cryptorum’s a bit stuck in the past, isn’t he? It must be really annoying.”

  I scowled. He was really annoying. “Have you been training for long then?”

  “Since I was four,” Rufus said. “You?”

  Portia smirked. “They’ve been training for a few weeks, remember? Mr Dray told us.”

  “How did you train at age four?” I said. “Did you really have Chime powers that young?”

  “Course we did!” Rufus said. “We got our abilities when Mr Dray had a Mortal Clock fitted to the Kesterly town hall. He says he knew there would be talented Chimes like us in the town.”

  I wanted to ask them what creatures they’d faced so far but I had a horrible feeling they’d seen a lot more action than Aiden, Nora and me.

  “Luckily for us Mr Dray’s equipped Kesterly Manor with masses of training equipment.” Rufus went on, pushing back his blond fringe. “There’s a climbing wall, environmental controls so that we can practise in different weather conditions – oh, and awesome gear.” He pressed a button on the metal cylinder in his hand and a pale gold blade leapt into the air. If you looked closely the metal seemed to be moving all the time like water pouring from a tap. I must’ve looked surprised because he grinned. “Ultrasonic blade, see!”

  “Oh!” Nora gasped. “You mean it uses sound waves to disrupt a monster’s life force? That’s . . . um. . .” She tailed off as she caught my glare.

  Rufus carried on. “And our watches monitor our vital signs – heart rate, oxygen level, stuff like that – so Mr Dray can check our health when we’re fighting hostile creatures.” He held out his arm and the screen on his watch lit up, flashing different numbers as he pressed the display. “Cool, isn’t it?”

  “Sure the sword looks pretty,” I said. “But how fast can you beat a monster with it?”

  “Let’s have a competition and find out.” Rufus turned. “Trist, get the subthermal scanners and meta-tensile rope out of the helicopter. Whoever catches a creature first is the winner. Doesn’t matter if it’s dead or alive.”

  “Robyn, we can’t. . .” Aiden muttered.

  Aiden was right. We couldn’t leave the Grimdean garden or Cryptorum would kill us, but I didn’t want to tell these kids that. “Why don’t we fight instead?” I held out my sword. “Me against you.”

  “Sure! If you think you can handle it.” Rufus began circling me, his gold blade shimmering. I wondered if it hurt more to be hit by one of those things than a normal sword. I had a feeling I was about to find out.

  “Wait!” Nora jumped between us just as I aimed a side swipe at Rufus. I had to throw myself backwards to avoid hitting her. Losing my balance, I fell over and dropped my sword. Portia snickered.

  “Look at the bats – they’ve sensed something!” Nora pointed to the stream of dark shapes pouring from the barn.

  “The subthermal scanner’s picked something up too.” Tristan was holding a small grey box covered with flickering red and green lights.

  “I’ll notify Mr Dray.” Portia turned towards the house but Cryptorum and Dray were already coming.

  “Dear, dear, I hope any duels were amicable.” Mr Dray looked from the mud smears on my jacket to the frostblade I’d dropped on the ground. “You can’t expect such recently recruited trainees to be a match for my Beast Undercover Tracking Taskforce.”

  Cryptorum’s eyes flashed. “Robyn, Aiden and Nora make a good team and they’re a match for anybody. Now, if you don’t mind.” He glanced at the bats wheeling through the darkening sky.

  I flushed. A match for anybody. It was the first time Cryptorum had said anything nice about us.

  “It was a pleasure to see you, Erasmus.” Mr Dray nodded, before letting the pilot help him back into the helicopter.

  “Maybe we’ll finish that fight another time.” Rufus twirled his ultrasonic blade.

  “Fine by me!” I said.

  “I’m surprised he can fit his head inside that helicopter,” Nora muttered as we watched them climb aboard.

  I smiled. Nora was always so nice – it was funny to hear her say something mean.

  “Beast Undercover Tracking Taskforce,” Aiden repeated. “That’s great when you shorten it.”

  “BUTT!” I nearly collapsed with laughter.

  We stood back as the propellers started to spin and the helicopter rose in a whirl of dust and noise. At last it flew off into the dark.

  Cryptorum stared at us from under lowered eyebrows. “Don’t be distracted by Mr Dray and his fancy devices. Being a Chime isn’t about flashy blades and silly gadgets. That’s enough for this evening – head home, the three of you.”

  Before we left, Aiden gave us our torchblades back. I flicked the switch and the torch glowed. No one would ever guess that there was a sword hidden inside. It may not have been an ultrasonic blade, but Aiden had made it himself. I bet none of the BUTT kids could actually invent stuff.

  As we turned a corner, something reared up in front of us. I leapt into action, my hand on my torchblade. The wind gusted and the white thing fluttered away – just a piece of paper caught against a drainpipe. My shoulders slumped.

  “You’re jumpy today,” Aiden said.

  “Don’t you think Cryptorum should have taken us with him?” I said.

  Aiden gave me a look. “Is this about the BUTT squad?”

  I grinned. Aiden knows me pretty well. “It’s not just that. Cryptorum wants us to practise but apart from that one time on Blagdurn Heath we haven’t actually done any monster fighting.”

  “Cryptorum’s not going to let us out just because you want him to.” He turned into his road. “See you tomorrow.”

  I knew Aiden was right. Cryptorum wasn’t going to do anything he didn’t want to. He hadn’t even told us about the International Federation of Chimes. I couldn’t stop thinking about the wish in his cupboard too. It seemed such a weird thing to do – to keep a dead person’s wish. It did belong to his wife, I suppose, but I still found it creepy. What did people wish for before they died, anyway? I’d checked the cupboard before Bat Club but it was locked and the key wasn’t in the desk drawer any more.

  Cryptorum definitely liked keeping secrets, but now I had one of my own.

  Last week, Miss Smiting had told us we could borrow one book each from Cryptorum’s study as long as we didn’t show it to anyone and brought it back before the holidays. She’d nodded approvingly when I’d chosen Advanced Moves With a Frostblade, which had instructions about sword moves inside and looked super-useful. She’d turned to help Aiden – who wanted something with tons of diagrams because of his dyslexia – so she hadn’t seen me slip a smaller book called Wishes and Mysteries inside the bigger one. It had a picture of floating wishes etched across the front cover. I’d spotted thi
s book earlier and I was curious about what was inside.

  I promised myself I’d put it back safely once I was done. Both books were in my rucksack, wrapped inside the raincoat that Mum had made me take to school.

  “Hey, spacy!” Ben, who’d just got off the bus, caught up with me as I went down the path to the kitchen door. “So how’s life at the House of Grim?”

  I shrugged. “It’s all right.”

  The kitchen was a wall of noise and steam. Annie and Josh were in a tug of war over a colouring pen.

  I dashed upstairs. I wanted to figure out somewhere really good to hide Cryptorum’s books while Annie wasn’t in the room. She had a knack for discovering things you didn’t want her to find. I stashed them under my bed and pushed them right to the back. I was just about to open my torchblade and try out some moves when Annie burst in, recorder in hand.

  “Can I play you my new song?” She made her eyes big and round like she always does when she wants something.

  “Um, I can’t right now.” I edged to the door. “You stay here and play your recorder. I’ll leave you to it.” I fled to the bathroom and locked the door. At last I was by myself. Maybe here I could practise sword moves in peace. I pressed the torch button and the blade sprang free.

  Bang! Bang! Someone thumped on the bathroom door.

  “Who’s in there?” Sammie called. “Get out! I need to use the bathroom.”

  “Go away! I was here first,” I yelled back.

  Sammie stomped away, muttering. Honestly, there were just too many people in this house.

  I held up the frostblade and tried to focus. What were the three Rs of sword play? Be ready, assess risk, then react. Cryptorum had repeated that over and over. The main risk was Sammie wanting the bathroom. That and the really hairy spider that was lurking on the ceiling.

  I swished the blade lightly then I went through the basic moves – blocking and thrusting – before trying some of the fancy stuff. The silver blade gleamed in the bathroom light as I started getting into a rhythm. Those kids with their helicopter thought they were so awesome, but I bet we were just as good as them.