by Joe O'Brien
Josh leaned over Matty and raised his hand to the window as he spotted Henry stepping out from under a mature rhododendron bush that was beautifully covered from head to heel in large spectacular white flowers. Henry was leaning against a bench that sat beneath one of the many magnificent cherry trees that lined the drive up to the manor. He lifted his head and waved to the bus as it drove by, then, continued to tackle a clump of cleaver-weed that had tangled in his jumper.
All the boys on the bus turned and looked at Josh as if to silently acknowledge that they had seen his uncle who did indeed work at the estate. Josh blushed a little, but only because of Henry’s clumsy appearance; he had been fiddling with his clothing instead of performing some brilliant gardening task like felling a large tree or cutting the grass on the big ride-on mower.
As the bus approached the house, it circled around a tall copper fountain that trickled cloudy green water from three dragon’s mouths down into a large round pool covered in duckweed. There was a small group of ducks swimming in the pool. Their beaks were covered entirely in blobs of green matter from diving under the water and searching for any minute life form unlucky enough to please their appetites. This was very amusing to all the passengers on the bus, but the banter was quickly hushed by the voice of Mr Higgins at the front of the bus.
‘Now, boys, settle down. I know you’re all excited and of course, so am I, but I want you to listen to a few things I have to tell you.’
It took a few attempts for the teacher to get total silence. Herding a busload of excited school kids on an outing is not as easy as commanding a classroom of attentive pupils in a teacher’s natural environment.
‘Good,’ sighed Mr Higgins. ‘Now, I want you all to be on your best behaviour. Yes, you’re all very excited about this trip, but do remember that this is a fine stately home that deserves both respect and discipline. There will be a guide to take us around the house. I’ve been informed that not all areas and rooms of the house will be on show, so I don’t want anyone wandering off. We’ll all stick together as a group. And if you have any questions, leave them until the end, unless the guide says otherwise. All understand?’
Everyone just nodded.
‘Oh! And don’t touch anything.’
The bus emptied out quickly, until all thirty pupils and their teacher stood outside, gazing in awe at the general’s great house.
‘There’s something spooky about that house,’ sniggered Matty to Josh.
‘Don’t be stupid, Matty,’ huffed Josh. ‘It’s …’ Josh paused.
‘What?’ asked Matty.
‘It’s …’ continued Josh. ‘It’s just perfect, don’t you think?’
‘Perfect?’ repeated Matty. Then he looked at the house again. ‘I’m not even inside and it’s giving me the creeps already.’
Josh dragged his eyes away from the house for a second and smiled at Matty.
‘Well, I think it’s just perfect. Come on, they’re going in.’
Cherry Tree Manor didn’t have steps leading up to its front door. Instead, it had an unusual, sloped, winding, sparkling granite pathway that twisted and turned around sweet-smelling beds filled to the brim with hyacinths, lavender and tall, bushy mop-head roses covered in small juvenile buds, which would soon burst out in welcoming colours. All the boys huddled in front of the two grand black doors with their gleaming brass knobs.
Then, almost as if the house had chosen its moment, the doors creaked open, and a small, slim woman in a tweed skirt and jacket with a folder tucked under her arm invited everyone in. Josh was the last person in line. Just before he stepped into the house, he turned around and caught a glimpse of Henry trailing across the front lawn with a wheelbarrow overflowing with cut tulips of all colours. Reds, oranges, yellows and stripy ones too. It was as if a rainbow had fallen from the sky and settled in Henry’s barrow.
Then the doors closed behind him and, to his delight, the colourful but ordinary world outside was gone. In front of his eyes appeared a much darker more thrilling environment as he gazed all around the fascinating and eccentric hall of the general’s abode.
In an instant of stepping across the doorway, Josh felt something strange. It was like the house knew that it had visitors and it had suddenly woken from a deep sleep. Josh couldn’t quite work it out, but he felt it – the house’s energy, rushing through the walls and along the floor. He could hear the stretching of wood, followed by waves of draughts as if the house were breathing in and out. He began to feel less excited and more concerned.
Their guide in the tweed jacket, Ms Tredwell, was standing on the fifth step of the stairway in the centre of the hallway. At first she said nothing, but just looked around the gathering of boys. She occasionally fixed her glasses, which ridiculously appeared to be much too big to sit comfortably on her neat and narrow shiny nose.
She didn’t mind the delay. All the boys pointed around the hall, whispered comments, and made exaggerated facial expressions each time their eyes feasted on something new. She expected this. You see, Ms Tredwell had done the very same herself the first moment she had stepped into the manor.
Finally, as it appeared that everyone was beginning to settle, she addressed her tour, and as she did another lady appeared on the upper landing and walked down the staircase and stood beside her.
Josh thought he recognised her.
‘Good morning, everybody,’ Ms Tredwell said with a hint of inexperience and nervousness in her voice.
As is typical of boys, nobody answered at first.
‘Come on now, boys,’ smiled Mr Higgins.
‘Good morning,’ almost everyone replied.
Ms Tredwell managed a trembling laugh, ‘Well, I’m Ms Tredwell, and I have the very lucky job today of guiding you all around this – I’m sure you’ll all agree – magnificent and fascinating historical house, which was once owned by General Pennington.’
She turned around and waved her right hand up to an enormous portrait of the general hanging on a wall of the first stairway landing behind her.
‘He looks proper grumpy,’ giggled Matty to Josh.
‘He’s a general,’ smiled Josh. ‘He’s not supposed to look any other way.’
Ms Tredwell turned to the lady standing beside her. ‘This is the general’s daughter, Claudia Pennington, who has kindly invited you all here today.’
Mr Higgins began to clap and gestured to everyone else to join in.
Josh noticed the general’s daughter looking toward him. He blushed a little and then turned his eyes away from her.
I’ve seen her in the gardens before! he thought. Maybe that’s why she’s looking at me, she must recognise me!
As the general’s daughter returned upstairs and Ms Tredwell babbled on about certain paintings in the hallway that the general had collected, all the class jotted down random pieces of information in their notebooks. Josh’s eyes were fixed on the portrait behind his guide; he stared so inquisitively at the portrait that his guide’s voice sounded muffled to his ears.
Suddenly he felt a shiver down his spine as his eyes made direct contact with the general’s dark, glazy eyes. For a split second it was almost as if he wasn’t staring at a mere painting. He felt that the face was almost staring back at him with thoughts and judgements and questions of its own.
Matty was right! This house was spooky.
Josh tried to get back the enchanted feelings he had when he entered the hallway for the very first time. But then he noticed the ghastly carvings of small, winged creatures in the wooden architrave that roped around the walls of the hall. There were large, ferocious beast heads that hung above each doorway. These weren’t the heads of lions or tigers or moose or other creatures that would be hung as trophies after a triumphant safari venture, but more sinister creatures of an abnormal ferocity.
To Josh’s disbelief, among all of this extremity of the abnormal, dainty little Ms Tredwell had somehow distracted everyone’s attention towards a collection of boring old paintings of h
orses and carriages and lakes with bridges and roaring red skies in the background.
Totally bonkers! thought Josh. The whole lot of them. This is not what this house is all about. When is the real tour beginning? Why isn’t she talking about all the strange things in front of everyone’s eyes, the things that struck electricity into us all as we walked in through the doors? This house feels alive!
Chapter 4
The General’s Library
Josh elbowed Matty to get his attention and then pulled him aside. ‘What’s going on here?’ he asked.
Matty just gazed at his friend, bewildered with his frustration. ‘The tour,’ he answered.
‘Look around,’ said Josh.
Matty did as Josh asked, then returned his eyes to his friend with the same bewildered expression as before. ‘What?’
Josh pointed to the walls and to the doorways. ‘Look, Matty,’ he gasped. ‘Have you ever seen creatures like that before?’
Matty just laughed. ‘Yeah! In the zoo! They’re only stuffed animals’ heads, Josh. Look, there’s a lion and there’s some sort of deer, or something that kind of looks like a deer. Do deer have big horns?’
Kyle Thomas turned around swiftly to the two boys. ‘It’s a gazelle.’
‘Really?’ said Matty. ‘It looks like a deer.’ He put his arm around Josh, ‘Relax, Josh. They’re not real.’
Josh just nodded, but he was secretly freaking out.
What’s going on here? he thought. Why can’t they see, like me?
Ms Tredwell interrupted Josh’s thoughts.
‘Now, if we can move out of the hallway and in to the main living room, I’m sure you will all be intrigued by some of the many wonderful artefacts that the general collected over many decades of travelling,’ she instructed as she guided everyone to the far right corner of the hallway.
Mr Higgins turned around and gestured a Come on! to Josh, who was still standing by the entrance of the hallway.
‘Coming,’ he answered. The teacher headed into the living room shaking his head.
Josh was just about to follow when he suddenly heard a sort of thumping noise from behind.
He considered ignoring this noise at first, but his curiosity was now on full alert. He thought that this noise was coming from behind him; he felt sure that it would most certainly be of much more interest than whatever Ms Tredwell had planned to discuss in the sitting room.
He turned around and heard the noise again. He glanced over towards the doorway of the sitting room to check if Mr Higgins was looking for him, but Mr Higgins had obviously forgotten about him, and the door was now almost closed.
Josh heard another thump. He spun around the big empty hallway and fixed his eyes upon a door at the far-left side of the stairs. It was where he thought the noise was coming from.
This door had two signs on it.
A polished, small, brass ‘Private’ sign was stuck to the top panel of the door, and on the wall above the door was a plastic ‘No Entry’ sign.
Josh slowly walked over to the door, thinking that this must be one of the areas or rooms that Mr Higgins had been told was not part of the tour.
I wonder why? he thought as he carefully turned the handle. The door opened effortlessly. A library!
Looking over toward the far side of the hallway once more to see if anyone was coming, Josh stepped into the general’s library, then quietly closed the door behind him. He stood in the centre of the book-lined room, his heart racing and his head light as the blood rushed through his veins with venomous speed. He hesitantly awaited the next thump, but there was nothing.
Was it all in his mind? Had the hideous creatures in the enormous hallway caused his mind to play tricks on him?
He began to turn around, gazing up at the vast rows upon rows of shelves packed tightly with books of all textures and sizes.
At the very top, almost touching the intricately cobwebbed ceiling, there were great big thick leathery books with their spines all engraved in golden squiggles.
The general must have been a very fast reader, thought Josh.
Suddenly, it happened. THUMP!
Josh spun around. He felt dizzy.
THUMP!
He quickly gathered his senses and looked down towards the very bottom shelf, facing him, near the floor.
Did I just see what I think I just saw?
Resting on the dull parquet floor was a small, thick hardback book.
He turned his head to the side, just enough to read the title:
Beyond the Cherry Tree.
Josh knelt down on the floor and reached his trembling hand out towards the book.
He gently lifted the book off the floor and, as he did, felt a warm tingling sensation trickle through his hand and dart straight up his arm. Afraid, he let the book fall.
The instant the book touched the floor, it leapt up onto the bottom shelf and tucked itself back in between two bigger books, where it had previously been sitting.
Josh fell back onto his bottom and slid backwards across the floor, as far away from the book as he could get. He leaned against a row of uncomfortable books, but he didn’t care about comfort – he was shaking with fright.
What’s happening here? he thought frantically. What kind of magic have I stumbled across? I’ve got to get out of here!
Just as he was about to get up from the floor, he heard a voice in the room.
A man’s voice.
Josh slowly looked up, but there was no one there.
The deep powerful voice spoke again.
Could it possibly be? the trembling boy wondered.
He hesitantly glanced over at the far wall of the library.
Right above a shelf lined with crystal decanters of whiskey and brandy and a small crystal glass sat a portrait of the general just like the one in the hallway, but smaller. Josh noticed that the medals that stretched from one side of the general’s uniform to the other appeared to be glistening, especially the last one to the right.
Josh jumped back with fright, as the painting twitched its long curly moustache, and its lips began to move. Then it spoke:
‘Don’t be afraid to grasp your destiny, boy!’
What’s happening? thought, Josh. This place is haunted!
Josh’s initial desire was to get up and run straight out of the library. But Josh Bloom was curious, and it was that very curiosity that had lured him into the library in the first place. It was that curiosity that stopped him from running away.
So, very cautiously, he leaned over towards the bottom bookshelf and reached out one hand towards the book while trying his very best not to take his eyes off the portrait.
He held the book in his hand. No tingling this time.
He began to flick through its pages.
Nothing!
It seemed that all the pages were blank.
What kind of book is this? thought Josh. Is it a book at all? Surely to be a book, a real book, it must have words in it!
Just as he was about to put the book back on the shelf, it started to jump in his hands. It hopped from one hand to another and back again. It was almost as if he was trying to hold a hot loaf of bread that Aunt Nell had just baked.
Then the book just stopped, and its pages began to flick all by themselves, getting faster and faster and faster. The number of pages seemed endless. Josh didn’t remember flicking through so many. Where were they coming from?
He held on tight as the book shook violently in his hands. He felt like the bones of his hands were piercing through his skin, as the whiteness of his knuckles gleamed bright through his flesh.
Suddenly the book stopped shaking and the flicking pages began to slow down; just before completely stopping, one page shot up into the air, gently floated its way down to him and softly rested on his head.
Josh let go of the book and took the page from his head.
The book leapt back into its place on the bottom shelf.
Josh watched in awe as the title, Beyond th
e Cherry Tree, slowly faded until finally it vanished all together from the spine of the book.
He felt that same tingling sensation in his hands.
He looked down at the page he was holding.
On the top of the page, glistening in golden words, he read,
‘The Destiny of Joshua Bloom, Beyond the Cherry Tree …’
And, beneath these fascinating words, there were more glistening words. Just as Josh was about to read on, he heard his name being called.
At first he looked up at the portrait, but the voice wasn’t coming from it. It just sat on the wall, not twitching and most certainly not speaking, just looking like a painting, as it should.
Josh heard the calling again.
It was distant, but getting closer.
He jumped up, folded the page and tucked it safely into his trouser pocket. Then, very slowly, he opened the library door and peeped out. It was Mr Higgins.
Josh waited for a few minutes and watched his teacher frantically pace around the hallway of the manor. As soon as he noticed him opening the main door and heading outside, he slipped out of the library and jogged across the hallway in search of the rest of his class.
Chapter 5
The Riddle
It was quarter to eight and Henry was late.
Claudia Pennington had invited Uncle Henry and Aunt Nell to a special dinner at the manor in memory of her dear, long-lost father.
Henry was in the kitchen struggling to close the top button of his shirt, part of a most uncomfortable suit that Nell had rented for him.
Henry didn’t like suits.
He wanted to attend the dinner out of respect for the general, but it was the whole fuss that was attached to the evening that bothered him.
Henry Bloom loved living by routine. Being a simple gardener was enough for him. It made him feel comfortable. Henry knew plants. Some would even say in the village that Henry understood plants and plants understood Henry, and that is why the gardens of Cherry Tree Manor were highly acclaimed from town to town for many miles around.
