The House of Puzzles

by Richard Newsome

  Chapter 15

  Mr Beare stood with a pointer in his hands before a large map on the wall and waited for the teams to settle.

  A buzz of excitement ran through the room as students, gathered in their tight clusters of four, craned their necks in search of classmates among the crowd of expectant faces.

  ‘Where is everyone?’ Sam said to Gerald. ‘Half the camp isn’t here.’

  ‘They didn’t complete the first leg in time,’ Gerald said. ‘I hear they have to stay back and do extra maths lessons.’

  ‘They ought to be doing geography,’ Felicity said with a sniff. ‘Honestly, it wasn’t that hard.’

  Sam scoffed. ‘Says the person who rode there on a horse.’

  Gerald slapped at the back of his neck as if a giant wasp had just stung him. ‘Ow!’ he yelped. He spun around in time to see Alex Baranov whipping something at him from across the room. Gerald flung a hand out and snatched the object out of the air.

  He unfurled his fingers. A bright red mint rested in his palm.

  Gerald jumped to his feet and barged across the room to where Alex was sitting with his teammates. ‘It was you!’ Gerald said, his eyes ablaze. ‘I knew it was you.’

  Alex Baranov stood up, his smile bright and bold. ‘Of course it was me,’ he said. ‘Me and a slingshot. A bloody good shot it was too. You should be thanking me. I was doing you a favour.’

  Gerald couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘Doing me a favour?’ he said.

  ‘Of course,’ Alex said. ‘You could do with a mint. Your breath is toxic—especially if you’re going for a romantic horse ride in the woods with Miss Snooty.’

  Gerald weighed up the benefits of smacking Alex Baranov square in the mouth, but before he could wind up and unleash, Mr Beare called for quiet. ‘Be so good as to join your teammates, Mr Wilkins, and we’ll get underway.’

  Gerald scowled at Alex and shuffled back across the room. He ignored the boy’s parting call of, ‘Say hello to Miss Snooty for me.’

  Felicity took hold of Gerald’s arm as he sat next to her. ‘Did he just call me Miss Snooty?’ she asked. Gerald dismissed the question with a grunt.

  Mr Beare waited for silence. ‘Congratulations to you all for making it this far. As you can see we have lost half of your number already. We are down to twenty-five teams and I expect to lose half of you again on this next leg. For those of you who do succeed, you can be well satisfied that you have shown resilience and intelligence of an extremely high order. For those of you who fail… there will be extra history lessons with Miss Whitaker.’

  Sam leaned in close to Ruby. ‘Lucky you,’ he said. ‘You can’t lose.’

  ‘One day I’m going to send you to the vet to get fixed,’ Ruby replied. Sam shrank back into his seat.

  Mr Beare raised his voice again. ‘The second leg of the Triple Crown starts today. As soon as we finish here, coaches will take you to the ruins of an ancient castle.’ He stabbed the pointer at the map, which showed the outline of a vast medieval complex: moat, battlements, castle keep, bailey, towers, stables, orchards. ‘Miss Whitaker tells me it was once a summer house of the boy king of Scotland, James VI. We are very fortunate to have access to the site as it has been closed to the public for decades. Hidden somewhere in the ruins is this.’ He held up a large picture of the red stamp that Felicity had found at the checkpoint: an oval surrounded by a band of dots. ‘The reason you are here and not becoming more familiar with Pythagoras’s theorem is because you found this symbol in the first challenge,’ Mr Beare said. ‘This same symbol is located somewhere in the confines of the castle complex. Each team will be given a satellite locator. You must record the exact longitude and latitude of the location of the symbol. Those teams who get it right will go on to the third leg of the challenge and the opportunity to make history as the first team to ever complete the Triple Crown. The others will have an appointment with their history books. Are there any questions?’

  Sam stuck a hand in the air.

  ‘Yes? Valentine?’

  ‘How long do we have to find it, sir?’ Sam asked.

  ‘Good question. You will have twenty-four hours from your arrival at the castle. Camping equipment will be waiting for you there.’

  Sam put his hand in the air again. ‘So we don’t have to pack a tent?’ he asked.

  Mr Beare arched an eyebrow. ‘No, as I said camping equipment will be provided.’

  ‘Terrific,’ Sam said, flicking a glance at Ruby. ‘Just wanted to be sure.’

  Mr Beare brought his hands together with a thunderous clap. ‘Be out in the driveway in ten minutes. The buses will leave on time. No exceptions.’

  There was a rush of bodies towards the cabins as people scrambled to collect warm clothing for the adventure ahead. Gerald was trailing Sam out the door when he was collared from behind and shoved hard up against a wall.

  Alex Baranov gripped Gerald’s shirtfront with white knuckles. Gerald could feel the heat of the boy’s breath on his face.

  ‘What is your problem, Baranov?’ he said, struggling to lift his shoulders away from the wall.

  ‘Maybe I haven’t been clear enough,’ Alex said coolly. He lifted Gerald away from the wall then slammed him back against the timbers with tooth-rattling force. ‘Or maybe you don’t hear so well. You will not try for the Triple Crown.’

  Bang. He slammed him into the wall again.

  ‘Or the Billionaires’ Club.’

  Bang.

  Alex Baranov’s eyes narrowed to a laser-sharp intensity. ‘You do not need anything more, all right?’ he said. ‘Your fortune is assured.’

  Gerald stopped his struggle. ‘What are you talking about?’ he said. ‘What’s my fortune got to do with this?’

  Alex drew his mouth into a taut line. He tightened his grip on Gerald’s shirt. ‘You know as well as I do what that symbol represents,’ he said. ‘And what it’s worth. You don’t want to get in my way of finding it.’

  Then Gerald sensed someone had joined them.

  ‘What are you pair up to?’ It was Mr Beare, his voice dripping with suspicion. ‘The buses leave in five minutes, with or without you.’

  Alex gave Gerald one more shove against the wall. ‘Nothing, sir,’ he said, with a forced smile. ‘I was just making sure Gerry packed a change of underwear. You know, in case he sees a ghost.’

  Mr Beare eyed them both with distrust. ‘Five minutes,’ he said.

  Gerald shouldered past Alex and headed for his cabin, his brain a lashing tempest.

  Gerald now knew what he was up against. Whatever mystery lay behind the Triple Crown and the egg-shaped symbol, and whatever treasure was hidden at the Billionaires’ Club, Gerald would have to go past Alex Baranov to get to it. But as he thundered along the path, he was at least able to crack a smile. In the grand hierarchy of threats that Gerald was facing, little Alex Baranov and his father came off a distant second to Sir Mason Green.

  Dark clouds cloaked the sky as the last of the teams stepped from the buses outside an imposing stone wall that was coated green and grey with centuries of lichen, moss and neglect. Inside the outer wall, visible through a fi
ne mist, stood the crumbling edifice of a once-mighty castle.

  Sam paused on the bottom step of the bus and peered out. ‘What a miserable place for a summer house.’

  ‘I doubt even Miss Whitaker would find this place interesting,’ Ruby said. They stepped down and joined the rest of the students by a large pair of gates set into the outer wall. Mr Beare wandered among the teams, handing out the satellite devices. ‘Once you find the hidden symbol, press the red button to record your exact location. Then make your way back to the courtyard to report in. Just to make it more interesting, the first team back here with the correct coordinates will enjoy a home-cooked meal.’

  While Mr Beare was talking, Gerald kept a thoughtful watch on Alex Baranov. While Alex’s teammates, Owen, Millicent and Gretchen, chatted in anticipation of the challenge ahead, Alex was silent. He had about him the cool reserve of a poker player holding a spare ace.

  A sharp jab to the ribs dragged Gerald from his thoughts. ‘Come on, daydreamer,’ Felicity said. ‘We have five minutes to grab whatever gear we want.’

  She hooked her arm into his and pulled him to a long trestle table, where students were picking through a trove of equipment. Battery-powered lamps, coils of rope, hiking sticks, backpacks, water bottles, first-aid kits, snack packs. ‘Take as much or as little as you think you’ll need,’ Mr Beare called out. Sam and Ruby were pulling on down-filled parkas.

  ‘The symbol is hidden somewhere inside the castle, not at the South Pole,’ Gerald said. ‘Do you really need all this heavy-duty stuff?’

  Ruby tossed him a jacket and a headlamp. ‘We’ve decided we’re not sleeping till we find it,’ she said. ‘That means searching through the night. See if you can keep up.’

  Gerald pushed an arm through a sleeve and said to Sam, ‘Is Ruby always like this in a race?’

  ‘Oh no,’ Sam said. He glanced at his sister as she elbowed her way past Millicent to grab a spare water bottle. ‘Sometimes she can be really competitive. It can be kind of scary.’

  Twenty-five teams poured into the vast castle complex. Gerald caught up to Ruby and Felicity and pulled them to one side. They waited by an ivy-covered column as the rest of the teams scurried into the crumbling maze of buildings. Within seconds they had all disappeared: into outbuildings, through the keep into the castle proper, down into cellars. The outer courtyard was deserted apart from Gerald, Ruby, Sam and Felicity.

  ‘This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint,’ Gerald said. ‘We may as well take our time and do it logically.’

  Sam looked at Gerald as if he had lost his mind. ‘Were you not listening?’ he said. ‘There’s a hot meal on offer here.’

  Gerald took a beanie from his pocket and pulled it onto his head. ‘Do you think Professor McElderry will be tucking into a home-cooked meal tonight?’ he asked. A piercing wind whistled through the ramparts above their heads. Sam studied the tops of his boots. Gerald could not make out his mumbled reply.

  Ruby pointed to the far corner of the yard. ‘Let’s start over there and work our way around,’ she suggested. She took Gerald’s gloved hand and led him towards the ramshackle remains of a stone outbuilding. Granite blocks lay scattered on the ground like a giant child’s discarded playthings. ‘Look, I know you’re worried about the professor,’ Ruby said to Gerald. ‘We all are. But don’t be too harsh on Sam, okay? He’s trying to help.’ She cast an eye back to her brother as he trudged along beside Felicity. ‘Well, his version of help anyway.’

  Gerald kicked at a rock and sent it skittering across the ground. ‘I just feel this weight,’ he said in a low voice. ‘This weight of—’ he sighed, ‘— this weight of expectation. We’re not playing for a plate of baked beans on toast. Professor McElderry’s life depends on us deciphering a coded message and a challenge that no one has ever completed before. It’s too much.’

  Ruby tightened her grip on Gerald’s hand.

  They walked in silence for a moment. Then Ruby spoke. ‘Do you ever wonder what Mason Green wants so badly that he’s willing to kill to get it?’ she asked.

  ‘The last thing he wanted was to rule the world,’ Gerald said. ‘It’s hard to imagine this will be a big step down from that.’

  ‘Then maybe we shouldn’t be helping him.’

  Gerald brushed his thumb across the back of Ruby’s hand. ‘Tell that to Professor McElderry.’

  Gerald stooped and picked up a rock about the size of a cricket ball. He brushed it clean of dirt and moss, then wound up and tossed it as hard as he could over the battlements. A second after it cleared the top rampart they heard the sound of shattering glass, followed by a shout of anger.

  Gerald’s eyes popped. ‘Crud. I must have hit a bus.’ He looked back towards the main gate and saw Sam and Felicity bolting towards them. He cast about and his gaze fell onto a set of stone stairs that disappeared into the ground. ‘Quick,’ he said to Ruby. ‘Down here.’ Gerald stumbled down the slippery steps, his boots shuffling across years of undisturbed moss and muck. A dozen steps down and he came face to face with a tangle of dead vines blocking the way.

  ‘What’s the holdup?’ Ruby asked. Felicity scrambled down to join them. ‘The bus driver is coming,’ she said, catching her breath. ‘And I don’t think he’s very happy.’

  Gerald grabbed a handful of vines and yanked them to one side. ‘You didn’t happen to pack a machete, did you?’ he asked.

  Sam bundled down the stairs right into Felicity’s back. ‘Careful!’ she called over her shoulder.

  ‘Sorry,’ Sam said. ‘But one of the drivers has just stormed into the courtyard and he looks mighty cross.’

  Gerald buried both hands into the curtain of foliage and shoved hard. He did not want to be pulled out of the challenge because of a broken bus window. He squeezed through the vegetation and blundered further down the stairwell with the others behind him. An earthy aroma of damp decay filled his nostrils as he fished the headlamp from his pocket. He flicked the switch and strapped it on. Yellow light fell onto the grimy steps ahead.

  ‘Where’s this taking us?’ Ruby’s voice followed Gerald as he ventured deeper into the dark.

  ‘Away from grumpy bus drivers seeking revenge,’ he said. ‘I think there’s an opening up ahead.’

  The torchlight fell on an ancient oak door set into an archway in the stone. Gerald took hold of a heavy iron ring bolted into the timbers. He tensed his shoulders and pushed. The wooden portal disintegrated in a puff of dry rot, showering dust everywhere. Gerald staggered through the opening still clutching the iron ring. Ruby, Felicity and Sam stumbled in after him.

  ‘What did you do to that door?’ Ruby asked, gaping at the splintered remains, piled up like termite droppings on the floor.

  Gerald looked back at her in surprise. ‘I don’t know my own strength,’ he said. ‘Remember that the next time you choose to annoy me.’

  Three more beams of light filled the room as Sam, Ruby and Felicity flicked on their torches. ‘I suppose this is as good a place as any to start looking for the symbol,’ Gerald said.

  A quick scout of the room turned up nothing. ‘The only thing you’ll find in here is a potential case of pneumonia,’ Ruby said. ‘Let’s keep going.’ She led them through
a doorway in the far wall and into a narrow tunnel carved through the bedrock.

  The four headlamps shone down a passage and disappeared into the darkness. They walked single file into the unknown.

  ‘I bet no one has been down here for years,’ Felicity said from the back of the line. ‘Maybe decades.’

  ‘Maybe centuries,’ Ruby said. Her boots scuffed through a carpet of dust.

  Sam tapped Gerald on the shoulder. ‘You don’t suppose there would be any rats down here, do you?’ he asked.

  Ruby laughed from the front of their little caravan. ‘I’ll keep an eye out for you, hero,’ she said.

  They passed a series of deep alcoves on either side of the tunnel. The headlamps illuminated racks of decaying wine casks and even a rusted suit of armour. But there was no sign of the egg-shaped symbol.

  After what seemed hours of fruitless searching along the dank tunnel, Ruby suddenly stopped. The others piled into her back.

  ‘What is it?’ Felicity whispered.

  Ruby squinted into the gloom ahead. ‘I thought I heard something.’

  ‘Rats?’ Sam asked.

  Ruby shook her head. ‘You and your stupid rats. No, numbskull. Voices. Come on.’

  Felicity, Sam and Gerald bunched together behind Ruby as they crept along the passage to a narrow opening. Ruby paused. She flicked off her headlamp and motioned for the others to do the same. Darkness surrounded them.

  Ruby peered through the gap, her eyes struggling to adjust.