The Midnight Chimes

by Paula Harrison

  Something stirred right above me. A thick book hovered overhead. Brown cover, gold lettering – smack!

  Pain blasted through my skull and everything suddenly went black.

  When I opened my eyes, Nora was leaning over me and something wet was dripping down my forehead.

  “Urgh!” I pulled off the wet tissue. “What’s that for?”

  “I thought it might make you feel better.” Nora helped me sit up. The room whirled a bit and I tried to focus. Why was everyone looking at me? Cryptorum was shooting me ferocious glances in between striding up and down the room, which he was finding tricky because of the mass of books on the floor.

  I remembered – the shadow, the pipe, Miss Mason.

  “Miss Mason’s the vampire!” I blurted out.

  “No, she isn’t!” Aiden stared. “She teaches recorders. Don’t worry, Robyn, everything’s going to be fine. You’ve just bumped your head that’s all.”

  I tried to stand up but the room started whirling again. “It’s true! She is the vampire. I saw her outside and she was acting really weird, and she had no shadow. Then I came up here and the shadow was pulling books off the shelves.”

  “Who is this Mason?” Cryptorum demanded. “Why are you even up here, Robyn? You tell me you can’t come to training and then I find all this!” He gestured to the piles of books.

  “Miss Mason’s our music teacher.” I told him what I’d seen, adding every little thing I could remember. His expression changed as I described the black veins criss-crossing Miss Mason’s cheeks. “Then I found the shadow in here and it was like Miss Smiting had been hypnotized.”

  Miss Smiting was sitting on the sofa with her head in her hands. She looked up with a faint hiss. “I wass snake-charmed, my dear. That monster! She knew what my weakness would be. I remember the music ssstarting to play and then nothing.”

  “But what do you think she was doing?” Nora said. “Why go for the books?”

  “It isn’t clear what this creature is up to!” Cryptorum started pacing again. “But the bats have sensed nothing so she can’t be feeding. My guess is that this is the same vampire that sent their shadow in before. I’d never have thought she’d have the nerve to return!”

  I tried to think but my head was pounding. “There was something that made me remember that vampire you told us about, Miss Smiting. It was the fake diamonds on her boots.”

  Miss Smiting rose to her feet. “You are talking of Pearl! It cannot be! I would have recognized her. I have ssseen this Miss Mason in the corridor with her recorders and tambouriness. She does not look like Pearl.”

  “But the black veins. . . I’ve read something about that,” Nora began.

  “The black veins are a sign of dark enchantment.” Cryptorum looked grim. “She may have changed her whole appearance – face-shifted. If I’d seen her I might have recognized some of the other signs, but I never did.”

  I suddenly remembered Miss Mason rushing out when Cryptorum was heard coming along the corridor. I’d thought she was just nervous about meeting him because he sounded so fierce.

  “Could it really be her?” Miss Smiting said.

  “It sounds like her,” Cryptorum growled. “The last time we met I fought her along the back alleys of Wendleton. She was wounded but she was still very strong. I tried to finish her off right then but she managed to escape. She promised me she’d be back one day for revenge.”

  “But that was so many years ago.” The snake-woman frowned.

  “Time means nothing to a vampire. I should’ve defeated her once and for all back then.” Cryptorum’s hand went to the blade under his coat. “Go home, all of you. Pearl is a powerful enemy and if this shadow-walker is her then no one is safe. There will be no more Bat Club until I’ve found and killed her.” He swung the door open and we heard his heavy tread on the stairs.

  “Wasn’t Pearl the leader of the vampires before Mr Cryptorum drove them out of town?” I said.

  “Indeed she was. We do not know for certain if this vampire is Pearl but if it is. . .” Miss Smiting twisted her hands. “I think you should know that Pearl was the one that killed Erasmus’s wife, Rebecca Cryptorum. It happened a long time ago. The vampire caught them unawaress one day. Erasmus fought her and in the confusion Rebecca was knocked down. She never fully recovered from the blow and died seven days later.”

  “No wonder he hates that vampire so much!” I said.

  “Erasmus wass wild with grief. He fought monsters night after night without resting. He broke the Mortal Clock and swore he’d never let anyone else in Wendleton be cursed with Chime powers.” Miss Smiting glided to the door. “Go home, children, and do not venture out again till morning. I shall ssee this place is locked up.” She hurried out of the room.

  “Poor Mr Cryptorum! It’s sad and romantic at the same time,” Nora said. “To lose the person you love like that. . .”

  “Made him as grouchy as he is today,” I finished. I did feel sorry for Cryptorum though. It was obvious his life hadn’t been easy. I wobbled a little as I stood up.

  “Are you all right now, Robyn?” Nora offered me the wet tissue again.

  “I’m OK!” I picked up a thick book with gold lettering lying by my feet. It had to be the book the shadow had hit me with. The title read How to Relax and Find Inner Peace. “Great!” I muttered. “Trust me to be knocked out by that.”

  “Don’t faint again,” Aiden told me. “We’ve got to get home.”

  “It was horrible seeing you lying still like that,” Nora gabbled as we went downstairs. “And all the books thrown everywhere.”

  “Where were you guys anyway?” I asked. “I couldn’t see you in the garden.”

  “We went into town,” Aiden said. “Cryptorum saw the bats leave the barn in a rush and we followed them. We took weapons and everything!”

  “What? Not fair!” I cried. “I didn’t know there’d be a trip out. What was the monster?”

  “A grodder! Strange to see one right in the middle of town. I hit it with an arrow before Mr Cryptorum destroyed it,” Nora said proudly.

  “Huh! And I thought you’d just run away from that evil-looking bird. What was that thing anyway?” My friends’ faces told me they didn’t know what I was talking about. “I saw it outside. It had black feathers and a really sharp beak. It was massive – bigger than a dog.”

  We’d reached the entrance hall where Miss Smiting was checking the locks on the windows.

  “Hold on a minute! You saw a huge black bird with a sharp beak?” Nora screwed up her face as if she was trying to remember something. “With beak that pierces bone and feathers black as coal, the etting hunts you down to take your mortal soul.”

  “Geez!” I didn’t like the sound of that. It might have been the beak that pierces bone part. “What did you call it?”

  “An etting. Legends say that they can predict who will die. Once they’ve found someone who won’t live long, they follow them around to feed on their departing soul as they take their final breath.”

  I swallowed. I suddenly realized I was the only one to have seen the bird. Somehow I didn’t feel too great about that.

  We Use a Ton of Garlic

  slept badly. My dreams were full of birds with knife-like beaks and music teachers with gigantic fangs. The birds opened their beaks and began a strange screeching song. I woke with a start.

  Annie was sitting on her bed, playing her recorder.

  “Annie, cut it out!” I cried. “It’s six-thirty!”

  Annie’s face crumpled and tears came to her eyes. Feeling bad, I went over and put an arm round her. “Sorry! You just woke me from this weird dream that’s all. Why don’t you play after breakfast?”

  “But I’m getting really good.” She clutched the instrument tight. “I’m one of the best in our recorder group and I can play most of ‘Jingle Bells’.”

  “That’s great.” I gave her a squeeze. I didn’t tell her that recorder group was probably over now. She wouldn’t see M
iss Mason again. Not if Cryptorum got hold of her first.

  I left early, grabbing a piece of toast to eat on the way. I wanted to find out if Cryptorum had traced the vampire and whether he had a plan. I dashed down the street, almost slipping on the icy pavement. Frost edged the tree branches like a furry white caterpillar.

  As I turned into Demus Street, I saw the limo parked up in front of the mansion. Cryptorum was loading duffle bags into the boot. I could guess what was in them – weapons. There was a large wooden chest stowed inside too.

  “Last one!” Aiden emerged from the house carrying another bag. Miss Smiting followed with a map tucked under her arm.

  Nora ran up behind me. “Are they leaving?”

  “Looks like it,” I said.

  Cryptorum waited as we gathered round. “Pearl – that’s the vampire you know as Miss Mason – has fled town. I caught sight of her on the westbound road last night but she was too fast for me.” He grimaced. “Mr Dray’s found where she may have been hiding. There’s an abandoned farmhouse to the north of Kesterly Manor where lights have been seen at night. It could be that Pearl is forming a vampire gang and planning an attack.”

  “Mr Dray and those kids will find her, won’t they?” Nora said eagerly. “They’ve got those special scanners.”

  “Flashy gadgets are no substitute for the instincts of a Chime!” Cryptorum snapped. “Half the time those scanners just pick up fox trails. In any case, Mr Dray doesn’t agree that Pearl could be gathering other vampires. He’s decided that one vampire isn’t a good use for his precious resources so I doubt they’ll help any further.”

  “You mean they can’t be bothered?” I said. “But Miss Mason got inside this house!”

  “Quiet, Robyn! We’re don’t want everyone hearing.” Cryptorum glanced round.

  “Dray has alwayss put money first,” Miss Smiting hissed. “He never doess anything for nothing.”

  Cryptorum scowled and handed me a key. “Here’s the key to the shed. Find the big bag of garlic on the bottom shelf and crush some on every window sill and door frame in the house. If any more vampires come into town it will keep them at bay.”

  “Does that really work?” I said. “It’s just a vegetable, isn’t it?”

  “It works,” Cryptorum said shortly. “Wendleton is yours to defend. Remember – some vampires can walk in sunlight. Try not to do anything stupid – and remember to feed the bats, please. Their food’s in the shed too.” He climbed into the limo and Miss Smiting got into the driving seat.

  Aiden exchanged looks with me as the limo roared up the street. “Looks like we’re in charge then.”

  “I can’t believe that Mr Dray won’t help Cryptorum.” I folded my arms to keep out the cold. “Especially when he has all that equipment.”

  “Maybe he’ll change his mind and they’ll track down Pearl together,” Nora said.

  Aiden held the front door open. “We haven’t got much time. We’d better get on with finding the garlic.”

  We raced down to the shed, dug out the garlic and squashed it on to the window sills and door frames. Even though we spread the stuff out, we only completed the downstairs rooms before it was gone.

  “We can buy some more after school,” I whispered to Aiden in French class.

  “Ugh, Robyn! You stink!” Hector hissed as he dumped a Textbook Français on my desk.

  I sniffed my hand when no one was looking and my head swam. I’d forgotten to wash my hands after crushing the garlic. It wasn’t just vampires that this stuff repelled.

  The wind whistled round the house all day, and yellow-grey clouds hurried across the sky, heavy with snow that didn’t fall. After school ended we went to Lipson’s groceries, but all we managed to find was powdered garlic in a jar.

  “Do you think it’ll work the same?” Nora asked doubtfully as Aiden and me shook the powder over the window sills upstairs.

  “It’ll have to do.” Aiden took the jar and headed into Cryptorum’s study.

  I hung back, my stomach turning over. I couldn’t help remembering last night and the shadow pulling the books off the shelves. I thought of Miss Smiting hypnotized by the pipe music – what other horrible skills did Miss Mason have?

  Nora noticed my expression. “What is it, Robyn?”

  I didn’t want to admit to being scared, especially to Nora who was a year younger than me and Aiden. I made myself walk into the room which was now completely tidy with every book back on the shelf. The padlocks were still on the wish cupboard. “I was thinking about Miss Mason and why she pretended to be working here for weeks.”

  “She must have wanted to know what Cryptorum was up to so she used the shadow-walking to look around.” Aiden shook the last of the garlic powder over the window sill.

  “That’s the last room, isn’t it? No vampire can get in now,” Nora said with forced cheerfulness. “Let’s go and feed the bats before we go home.”

  As we ran down the garden, a handful of snowflakes drifted from the sky. Darkness was falling and the wind was a blast of ice against my face. I took out the key Cryptorum had given me and unlocked the shed. On a shelf inside were three trays of overripe peaches and mangoes which we’d spotted that morning while hunting for the garlic. But something else caught my eye.

  I took the special frostblade from the weapons rack and pulled it from its sheath. The silver blade gleamed and its swirly markings looked like an alphabet from ancient times. I swung it back and forth just to test it out. It felt so much stronger than the practice swords and torchblades I’d used. I was desperate to borrow it and try it out properly but I was sure Cryptorum would know.

  I reluctantly put it away. “So what do we do – just leave the fruit outside for them?” I asked Nora.

  She shrugged. “I dunno. I’ve never read anything about looking after bats.”

  This was a bit of a shock. I had begun to think Nora knew everything. I leant down to get a tray just as a dark figure appeared in the doorway making me spill fruit across the floor.

  “You young’uns are here late.” Obediah Brown’s gnarled face came into view. He wore an old grey overcoat and his hands were covered in mud. “You have to leave the bat food inside the barn. That’s what Cryptorum does.”

  “Thanks – we’ll do that,” I said, scooping up the peaches.

  “And be careful.” He disappeared into the dusk. “There’s danger about tonight. I can feel it in my bones.”

  The flurry of snow petered out, leaving a dusting of white across the grass. We carried the fruit to the bat barn and the smell inside made my head spin. Rows of little dark creatures hung from the rafters. I got the feeling they’d been waiting for us. We set down the fruit and backed away as, one by one, the bats spread their leathery wings and dropped to the floor. Crawling over the fruit, their black eyes shone in the darkness.

  “I still don’t like them that much,” I said.

  “I think they’re kinda cool,” Aiden said. “And useful too. Cryptorum’s taken some with him to help track the vampire.”

  “They haven’t helped much with that so far.” I dropped my voice. I knew the bats couldn’t understand me – but still. “Otherwise we’d have spotted what Miss Mason really was sooner.”

  “They can only detect a vampire when they feed,” Nora reminded me. “She must have been getting by on human food.”

  We backed out of the door, leaving the fruit to the crawling, flapping bats. Night had fallen now and I couldn’t even see to the end of the garden. Grimdean House was protected with garlic but out here anything could reach us. Suddenly I was desperate to leave but I didn’t know how to say it without sounding chicken.

  “I wonder what Miss Mason really wanted, last night,” Nora said suddenly. “Her shadow had taken every single book off the shelves as if she hadn’t really found what she was looking for.”

  “Weird . . . when I saw her shadow the first time it went straight to the cupboard with the wish.” I broke off.

  “What is it?�
�� Aiden asked me.

  “The shadow was searching for a book, and we all chose books and took them home days ago. What if the book she wanted wasn’t there – because one of us has it?” I said.

  “Well I’ve got Spring Mechanisms in Bows and Catapults,” Aiden said. “Why would she want that?”

  “I’ve got Unseen Creatures of the Lake and Swamp,” Nora frowned. “And you took Advanced Moves With a Frostblade, didn’t you?”

  “I took another one called Wishes and Mysteries.” I ducked as a bat brushed my head with its wing. “Miss Mason must know I have Chime powers. Her shadow was there when I trapped the kobold in the kitchen and she saw me here again last night. What if she tries to look for the book at my house?”

  “Oh, Robyn, that’s horrible!” Nora gasped.

  “But Cryptorum’s tracking her now,” Aiden reminded me. “He caught sight of her leaving town and Mr Dray had clues to where she might have been hiding.”

  “What if they’re both wrong? What if she’s still here?” A nasty fluttery feeling was growing inside my chest as if a bat was trapped inside me.

  “I’m sure everything’s fine,” Aiden said. “Let’s get some more garlic and you can put it all round your house just to be sure.”

  We ran back to Lipson’s. Rows of newly hung Christmas lights flashed outside the toyshop and the hairdressers. The shop assistant looked at us like we were crazy when we bought three more jars of powdered garlic.

  Sticking one of the garlic jars in my pocket, I rushed out of the shop with Nora and Aiden behind me. I sped round a corner, sliding on the snowy pavement. The Christmas lights on the houses were flashing on and off like a disco. I glanced up at a model sleigh fixed to a rooftop and caught sight of a black shape skimming over the trees. I couldn’t see it properly in the dark, but a picture of an etting – the bird that followed those who were to die soon – flashed through my mind.

  I heard Aiden shout behind me. I waved and ran on. He and Nora would be going back to put garlic around their own homes.