The Amber Pendant

by Imogen White

  “But the cup was dug up?” Rose asked.

  “Yes, Rose, it was. Enna and I were there on the sorry morning they excavated it. From that moment, a dark energy started to grow again.” She shook her head. “The cup now rests in the Brighton Museum – safely under lock and key. Thank goodness.”

  Miss Templeforth held her pendant aloft. Rose’s gaze was drawn to it, the space between them filled with static charge.

  “Each pendant follows the separate bloodline of the brothers, as both sired a child in this world. The two pendants hold a special magic all of their own, independent of the cup, a power that can be used for good or evil. The spirit of every guardian – a memory of them is preserved within the amber. This one once belonged to Albion.”

  The old lady gave Rose a pointed stare. Albion? Rose’s skin tingled.

  “The pendant chooses its own champion. You, Rose Muddle, are the next guardian to Albion’s.”

  “Truly?” Rui’s eyes shone. “Rose, you never said!”

  Rose gulped and forced a nod.

  “But how can I be related to you…to Albion?” she asked the old lady.

  “Rose, I am sorry that I do not have all the answers to your questions – we will find these in due course, but you must stay vigilant, these are not safe times. Things have been quiet for many years. Verrulf has been silent. We were foolish to think that would last…”

  “What? You mean he is back?” Rui gasped, drawing his seat closer.

  “Yes, dear Rui. He is attempting to come back. Things started about six months ago, when I became ill with the tuberculosis.” She sighed, looking up to the ceiling. “It was then the dark visitations started. The pendants share a connection, even after all this time. The guardian to Verrulf’s pendant is strong; he’s worked out a way to send Creeplings to torment my mind. He wants me dead.”

  “Miss T!” Rui exclaimed.

  “Hush now, Rui.” Miss Templeforth tapped his knee. “My time is almost up. And Verrulf’s guardian knows it. They are after my pendant when I die and it will be vulnerable until it bonds with Rose properly – during this transition time it could be taken from you, Rose. You must protect it with your life.” She choked a little. “You must discover who is the guardian of Verrulf’s pendant and…stop…them.” Her words trailed into panting breaths and she lurched forward upsetting her soup bowl; the broth dripped down the tablecloth.

  “Miss T?” Rui rushed to her side, his eyes wild.

  “Ma’am, are you all right?” Rose asked, grabbing for her medicine.

  Miss Templeforth’s eyes rolled upwards and her whole body shook. “A…visi…tation…” Miss Templeforth rasped, her hands beginning to tremble uncontrollably. The remaining bowls and the glasses on the table vibrated and chinked.

  “They have come for me!” the old woman gasped. The flames in the grate roared and stilled, then roared again, as if being pumped by a set of bellows. “The…Creeplings!”

  Rose picked up the bell and shook it furiously. “Help!” she shouted.

  The library door flew open and Mr Crank dashed in. “Ma’am, I am here,” the butler said, snatching the glass of medicine from Rose. “Get out of here,” he sneered at her. “She needs me.”

  “Should I get the doctor? Or Miss Lee?” Rose asked, stepping closer, feeling helpless. Miss Templeforth’s frail body shook over and over again.

  “I am all she needs,” Crank said, stroking Miss Templeforth’s forehead. “I know what to do. Now leave!” he barked.

  Speechless, Rose and Rui backed out of the room.

  They turned to face each other. “Dark visitations,” Rui muttered, his brow creased with worry. “Creeplings… Whatever is going on here?”

  Rose stood in the lobby unable to speak.

  “Master Rui.” Mr Gupta suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase. “It’s time for your tutorial. He will not be needing your company again today, Miss Rose.”

  “B-but,” Rui managed. “Miss T is…ill.”

  “Then she must rest,” Mr Gupta clipped, the monkey poking its head from behind his legs. “We have much we need to cover.”

  Reluctantly, Rui climbed the stairs, leaving Rose alone with her thoughts. She watched him disappear from view, her head swimming with images of a black sun, warring half-brothers, evil Creeplings and magic as Miss Templeforth’s pitiful moans echoed around the big house. How was Rose ever to find the guardian to the dark pendant?

  “Noooooooo!” Mr Crank’s despairing cry reached Rose’s attic bedroom the following morning.

  She sat bolt upright in bed, waking from a terrible dream in which a black sun had eclipsed the earth’s sun, and shadowy creatures had pulled at her sheets and body. She squinted at the October sunshine streaming in through her attic window as another pitiful scream rang out from below.

  Rose flung off her covers and in a flash she was on her feet, tearing down the attic stairs and along the corridor, her new nightdress trailing behind her.

  She heard Rui’s door open as she passed. “What’s happened?” he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

  Rose leaned over the bannister. The heavy library door below swung back, smacking the wall. Mr Crank stumbled out and collapsed onto all fours. Rose ran down to him as fast as she could. She glanced at the grandfather clock in the lobby. It was already gone nine. “Sir,” she kneeled by his side, “what’s wrong?”

  “A dark visitation took her.” He pointed a quivering finger through the open library door. Miss Templeforth’s arm hung limp by the side of her chair.

  Rui sped past them both in his striped pyjamas. But when he reached Miss Templeforth, he staggered backwards.

  “What is it, Rui?” Rose asked, her heart in her mouth.

  “She’s dead!” he whispered. “My dearest friend is dead.”

  Miss Templeforth lay slumped to one side, her head pushed back, with lips dry and parted. Her high-necked blouse was partly unbuttoned, revealing the bare white flesh beneath.

  “And the pendant’s gone!” Rose covered her mouth. She turned towards a chill breeze. The heavy curtain billowed into the room, away from the open window behind it.

  “Her pendant’s gone?” Mr Crank mumbled in a daze as he got to his feet.

  Rose rushed to the window and leaned out. The narrow walkway running between the neighbouring houses was deserted. If someone had got in through the window they were long gone now.

  Pale with shock, Rui ran his fingers along the frame of the sash window. “The window was opened from the inside. It has not been tampered with.”

  “I-I opened the window earlier,” the butler said from behind them. “At Miss Templeforth’s request. After she had breakfasted with Mr Gupta.”

  Rose flinched. She had breakfast with Gupta?

  “I administered some medicine and left her to rest. I’m sure she was wearing the pendant then…” he managed through broken sobs. “A few minutes later I heard her moans. I rushed to her…but I was too late. I found her…like this. I don’t understand!”

  He only left her for a few minutes? Rose’s mind ticked. So whoever got in through the window would have had to be quick. Quick like a…monkey. Rose’s eyes darkened. “Where’s Mr Gupta now?”

  “Death is but the greatest adventure,” Mr Gupta announced from the doorway, the monkey clinging to his neck like a grotesque scarf.

  Rose twisted to face him. How long has he been standing there?

  “She was a woman of tremendous spirit,” Mr Gupta continued. “May her soul be liberated.” He bowed his head.

  “Yes, she was wonderful!” Rui sobbed. And then, as if the realization had just registered in his brain, he shouted, “NO, no, no!”

  Rose steadied him, but her gaze remained on Mr Gupta.

  There was no surprise on Gupta’s face – as if he already knew Miss Templeforth was dead. The monkey glared back at Rose. Every sinew of her body told her that nothing in this room was as it seemed. He arrives from the East. The book travels with him – the c
up awaits him at the museum. The words of the man in the carriage rang in her mind. Was they talking about Mr Gupta? And now Miss Templeforth is dead and the pendant’s gone! The pendant! Panic coursed through her. Miss Templeforth had warned them that Verrulf’s guardian was after it. Her shoulders tensed. I’ve got to get it back – I’m the guardian now. I’m the rightful keeper. The enormity of Miss Templeforth’s expectations felt crushing.

  The scene before her played out in slow motion. Mr Crank leaned over Miss Templeforth. He lowered her eyelids and pulled up her blanket to cover her face. Rose threw aside her terrible memories of the workhouse and the despair that accompanied death in that horrible place. She had to be strong.

  The butler took an unsteady breath as he stood back from the old lady’s body. “Excuse me, please, I must compose myself.” Sobbing, he squeezed past Mr Gupta in the doorway. “There is so much to do, so much to prepare. I must send for the physician… Oh Lord, we are all doomed. Without the mistress, what will become of us?”

  Rose felt certain Miss Templeforth would have sorted things for the staff – she knew she was dying. But had she had time to include Rose in her plans? What if she hadn’t? Anxiety gathered in her chest. Crank would surely get rid of her, given the chance.

  This all feels so final, so quick…too quick.

  “The pendant – her pendant,” Rui spluttered. “The police must be informed that Miss Templeforth’s pendant has been taken!”

  Rose nodded.

  “I will see to it, Master Rui.” Mr Gupta swept into the lobby. “Miss Rose, you must stay with Master Rui and comfort him,” he shouted back. “Please, return to your quarters at once. Neither of you should leave the house.”

  Rose helped Rui out of the room.

  Mr Gupta continued speaking as they reached him in the lobby. “I will inform your uncle, the maharajah, of this tragedy. Master Rui, we will be cutting short our stay and returning to London as soon as I have attended to some…private business at the museum.”

  “Leaving?” Rui protested.

  What private business at the museum? Rose tensed.

  In the lobby, Mr Crank was on his knees. Mr Gupta helped him up and assisted him down into the kitchen below. The butler’s sobs quietened as the two men disappeared from sight.

  Rose gripped Rui’s shoulders. “Rui, I must find the pendant. With Miss Templeforth gone, I’m the guardian now. And if I don’t find it, terrible things will happen.”

  Rui’s large eyes stared at her, bloodshot and weepy. “I vow I will not leave this place until we find it,” he sniffed.

  Rose tried to keep her thoughts still. “Enna Lee,” she murmured to herself. “I need to find Enna Lee.”

  “Rose?”

  “Rui, there’s someone I gotta go see,” she whispered, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “The gypsy lady who slipped you the note from Mrs Templeforth at the station. She’s called Enna Lee. I must find her.”

  Rui drew a deep breath and straightened. “Then we will go together. We must leave the house undetected.” He wiped away his tears. “To do this, I require a disguise. Even if Miss T’s death looks to the outside world to be natural, we know the truth. The shock of the visitation killed her. Rose, she was murdered.”

  A steely resolve filled Rose’s eyes. Whatever had happened here this morning, whoever had taken the pendant, she was determined to get to the bottom of it, to avenge Miss Templeforth’s death and get her pendant back.

  Rose held on to the canvas loop of the carriage they’d boarded outside the house. With Rui opposite her, they jolted back and forth. They were heading to the Pleasure Gardens to find Enna Lee.

  Rui picked at the filthy coat and breeches he’d insisted on swapping with Jack Billings next-door. Rui said he didn’t want to draw attention to himself in his fancy clothes, and Jack had been happy to oblige – for the right price. Rui’s eyes looked sore from crying, but he’d been determined to come with her. And she was glad of his company.

  Back at the house things had moved quickly. Crank had already sent Cook and the day maids home – he’d seemed quite crazed after the shock of losing his mistress. Rose knew the only reason she remained there was because she was Rui’s companion. And the thought niggled at the back of her mind, that once Rui went too, the butler would have her shipped back to the workhouse quicker than she could say Jack Robinson.

  But the workhouse and Mrs Gritt seemed the least of her worries right now. Time was ticking away. They had to find Enna Lee and tell her that poor Miss Templeforth was dead, and that the pendant had been stolen. Rose hoped Enna would know what to do.

  She knew they didn’t have long outside the house. Rose and Rui had sneaked out, taking Cook’s discarded house keys with them so they could slip back in. They had to wait until Mr Gupta had left for the museum and Mr Crank was accompanying Miss Templeforth’s body in the mortuary carriage. It only gave them a couple of hours at best before they had to be back, and it was already gone three o’clock as it was.

  Rose squinted through the carriage window at the whitewashed houses bobbing by outside. “Answers is what we need.” She hadn’t meant to say it aloud.

  “Indeed we do.” Rui looked up, his mouth set in a grim line. “You think your gypsy friend will help us?”

  Rose nodded, straightening her bonnet. “I hope so.”

  “Good.” His brow creased. “With the pendant missing we are in grave danger. We must discover who the evil guardian of Verrulf’s pendant is and find yours, Rose, before it is too late. I owe it to Miss T.”

  “Yep.” Rose’s eyes flickered. She had her suspicions about who had taken it. Her mind switched to Mr Gupta. He’d had breakfast with Miss Templeforth and straight after that the pendant had been nicked. Who else could it have been? Plus, he hadn’t stopped talking about the cup since his arrival at the house. She looked over at Rui. There seemed nothing to be gained from keeping quiet about it.

  “Your Mr Gupta,” she began. Rui shot her a sharp look, but she carried on. “No matter which way round I look at things, him and that monkey of his seem stuck in the middle of all this.”

  “You can’t possibly suspect Mr Gupta!” Rui protested, sitting forward.

  “I do. He never got the police this morning like he promised, did he?” She didn’t give Rui a chance to reply. “And you heard the same as I did, him going on about the cup in the museum and how surprised Miss Templeforth seemed about it. I don’t think she trusted him one bit neither. He was the last person to speak to her, and with the library window left open, his monkey could have easily sneaked in and taken the pendant. Plus, even with all what’s gone on in the house, Mr Gupta still went for that meeting at the museum. And—”

  “Coincidence does not equal guilt,” Rui cut in. “I think you are very wrong about him.”

  “Hmfff.” Rose folded her arms. “Well, if you’re the detective, explain how I’m wrong.”

  “Mr Gupta is a scholar of antiquities and a good man. Given his specialist studies of mythical cups, his prior knowledge about Hove’s Amber Cup is hardly remarkable. Nor is it remarkable that he would be arranging to see it during his stay here.” Rui pulled at his jacket collar. “Having travelled halfway around the world to see it, I’m not in the least surprised that it’s a priority for him to get to the museum. No.” He shook his head. “With the window left open, anyone could have taken it. Fact.”

  “A’right then. If you say he didn’t take it, who do you suppose did?”

  “Well, who did Miss T fear?”

  Rose thought about this for a moment. “Them dark visitations what haunted her?”

  “Yes, Rose. And who did she suppose sent those…dreadful creatures?”

  “The one who’s got Verrulf’s pendant.”

  “Do you think it is Mr Gupta who has the other pendant? And that he is the one responsible for her death?”

  Rose knew that the man inside the carriage had the other pendant; she’d seen it with her own eyes. “No,” she admi
tted.

  “Precisely. So we may deduce that it must be the other pendant holder who Miss T feared, and not Mr Gupta.”

  “I s’pose.” Rose looked down, hoping that Enna Lee would hold the answers to these questions. “The way you say things, it makes it all sound right somehow, but how can all the stuff about evil cups be true? Do you really believe that story what Miss Templeforth told us?” Her eyes flashed at him. She just wanted his reassurance.

  “Indeed I do. I believe everything that marvellous woman ever told me. Why would I not?”

  “It’s just…I’ve been thinking. How would she know about stuff that went on all them years ago? What if the cup was dug up in Hove, like what she said, and she made up the story to jolly you along? I mean, to believe it all really happened is just—”

  “Extraordinary? In India, the ordinary is in constant flux with the extra-ordinary. The world of our gods exists in everything. It is everywhere.”

  “Well, it ain’t like that in Hove.” She doubted these words even as she spoke them. “Not usually.” The memory of holding the pendant and all that happened flared in her mind. She knew she had to come clean and tell him everything. They were in this together now. “Or…at least it wasn’t until about five o’clock the other night when I first held the pendant.”

  Rui’s face lit up. “Tell me, Rose. Tell me exactly what happened.”

  Bouncing up and down in the carriage, Rui listened intently as Rose recounted the events of that fateful evening in the library when she’d first held the pendant.

  Rose explained how she’d seen the hand of Verrulf’s pendant guardian, and the tattoo of the black sun on his ageing wrist. The way she’d been inside his head, listening to his conversation with the stranger – and how, when he’d realized she was inside his mind, he had set the Creeplings onto her too. She held Rui’s attention and he didn’t flinch once, just nodding his encouragement until she’d finished.