A Spectre in the Stones

by John Kitchen

  “What would explain a lot?” said Lloyd.

  But the professor just grinned. “Just a little hypothesis,” he said. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to come back with you tomorrow and take a look at this Sarson Hall.”

  “Yeah, but what is it with this hypo thing?”

  The professor wouldn’t give, though, and there was a hint of mischief in his eyes. “It’s just an idea. But I may be barking up the wrong tree, so wait till we get back tomorrow and, if what I’m thinking is right, then I’ll tell you. It’s one of these annoying things about academics. They like to be certain before they say something.” He looked at Justin, his eyes twinkling. “Isn’t that right, Justin?”

  Justin laughed. “It certainly is, Professor James.”

  But Lloyd was already on another tack. He was watching the chemistry with the professor and Justin, and he said: “With this guy as your professor, man, how come you dropped out of university? I mean, you two, it’s like you talk the same talk.”

  James gave the loudest laugh of the day and he clapped Lloyd on the shoulder. “That’s exactly what I’ve been telling him, Lloyd,” he said. “And don’t you give up either. With a bit of luck, we’ll get through to him in the end.”

  “I mean, it’s obvious,” Lloyd said. “I reckon the guy’s crazy, hanging around down Sarson Hall when he could be up here doing all this. If it was me, no way would I swap this for gardening down that dump.”

  “Would you like to be doing all this?” Professor Appleyard asked.

  “If I had the brains, yeah, that would be awesome. You’d like that too, wouldn’t you, Rudi?”

  Rudi grinned. “If I could afford it,” he said, and Professor Appleyard laughed again.

  “That’s not a big thing, Rudi, man,” said Lloyd. “The education what you get – that’s the important thing.”

  Professor Appleyard was still laughing. “It would be nice if a few of my students had that attitude, eh Justin?” And Justin had that smile on his face.

  “Yes,” he said. “But Lloyd’s a one-off. Besides, he’s still young enough to have ideals.”

  “If I had the brains, I’d still want the same thing when I was your age. That’s certain, that is,” said Lloyd.

  The professor leaned back. “You’ve got the brains, Lloyd, I’ve no doubts about that,” he said. Then he looked at Rudi. “And you too, Rudi, I shouldn’t wonder.”

  They went into the Egyptian Hall after that and it was mind-blowing.

  Then they took the tube to Kentish Town, and caught a bus to Highgate village where the professor lived. They left the travel bag and Justin’s holdall there.

  “Are we still in London?” Lloyd asked, as they made their way back to the bus. “Because your house, it’s got this garden, and it’s like, country, isn’t that right Rudi? I mean it’s all fields and woods and stuff over the road.”

  “That’s Hampstead Heath,” said the professor. “We’ll go over there tomorrow if you like – take a picnic, and a ball to kick about.”

  They took the tube to Waterloo and came out through a labyrinth of paths and roads, meandering under brick archways and over crossings, until they saw a concrete building, which the professor said was the Royal Festival Hall. They went down the side and out onto the Thames Embankment, and it was magic.

  The London Eye was just downriver, and over on the other bank was Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. “It’s just like you see in pictures, isn’t it, Rudi? What do you think of all this now, man?”

  Rudi’s eyes were sparkling. “Brilliant,” he said, and seeing his mate so blown out made Lloyd feel really good.

  The professor’s wife, Jenny, was waiting for them in the foyer of the Festival Hall and she was really nice – small, slim, with dark curly hair. It bounced around her face. She gave Justin a hug just like the professor had. Then she shook Rudi and Lloyd by the hand, and her face seemed ready to break into a smile at any excuse.

  They went into a restaurant down by the side of the Festival Hall, and that was awesome, because it was built into a railway arch and the brickwork of the arch was part of the restaurant.

  “Are there trains up there?” Lloyd said.

  “All the time,” Jenny laughed. “Amazing, isn’t it?” She looked around. “I love this place. It was my idea to bring you here.”

  After they’d eaten, they crossed over Hungerford Bridge and took a boat down the Thames. They passed some fantastic places – the Globe, the Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern and, when they got to Greenwich, they disembarked and had a tour around the O2. And that was like a massive domed tent with a town inside. There were shops and restaurants and exhibition centres. They even had a multiplex cinema – and this huge arena where top groups had gigs.

  Then they went back to Charring Cross and up the London Eye, finishing in McDonalds, and all the time they talked and laughed and joked, and the professor pulled Lloyd’s leg because he kept saying: “Isn’t that right, Rudi?”

  And all the time, Lloyd’s brain was wrestling with the avalanche of good feelings. Being with James and Jenny – it was a little microcosm, and it was as near to…

  Rudi was the one who forced his brain to face what he’d been fighting. They were settling into bed that night, and he said: “I suppose this is what it’s like all the time for other kids.” And immediately Lloyd sat up.

  “What you saying, man?”

  “Well, being a family. Doing stuff together with people that are there for you. Having a good time, like today.”

  “The professor and Jenny aren’t there for us,” Lloyd said.

  “I’m not saying that. It’s just…”

  But Lloyd turned, resting his elbow on the pillow, with his hand supporting his head, and he stared Rudi straight in the eyes. “Look, Rudi, mate,” he said. “We got to face up to this. They’re nice people, okay? But that’s all. The professor’s up for this ghost thing back at the home, and that’s great. And they want to give us a good time, right? But by Monday, we’ll be out of their heads. We’re kids that haven’t got no family, and that isn’t going to change. It’s no good you thinking about parents and brothers and sisters and all that stuff. That’s got to be dead stupid, because, you start thinking that, you start getting your hopes up and then, these people have gone – they’re out of your lives, and you got kicked in the teeth. And there isn’t going to be no one around to pick up the pieces neither. That’ll be down to you, so don’t go there. Believe me, I know. I’ve been there. I got the T-shirt.”

  Rudi didn’t say anything for a minute, but then he sighed – and there was a hitch in his voice. “I guess you’re right,” he said. “… But it’s hard.”

  “It is hard,” said Lloyd. “That’s why you can never trust people, not even the professor and Jenny.” He paused, and then chuckled, flinging himself back on the bed. “They’re okay though. And while the professor’s doing this ghost stuff it’ll be great. We got to make the most of it, isn’t that right?”

  Next morning after breakfast they went across to Hampstead Heath. Jenny cooked an amazing breakfast – sausages and bacon, eggs, mushrooms, beans and fried bread. She joked to James that, as far as he was concerned, it was a one-off, because she wasn’t having some pot-bellied overweight jelly for a husband and, from tomorrow, he’d be back to fruit and muesli. She packed a picnic basket with coffee, baguettes, salad, ham – and all kinds of other stuff for the Heath.

  Lloyd and Rudi took the basket and, in spite of what he’d said to Rudi last night, Lloyd was having a massive tussle with his head.

  This was what normal kids did in proper families, and it was hard because his brain kept trying to run around the idea of James and Jenny, fantastic people, intelligent, great house – treating him and Rudi like normal kids with no hang-ups. Justin was like one of the family too, almost like a big brother. The ideas were there, banging at the back of Lloyd’s mind, oozing into the cracks and crevices, and it was Bill and Jean all over again.
But James Appleyard had young guys going through his hands all the time and probably some of them came back at weekends. They were at university for a few years, and that was that – a new lot in and the last lot gone. That was what he did for a living. Justin was part of it, or had been, and Justin understood. In a way Lloyd and Rudi were part of it too, now, because it was Sarson Hall he was really interested in. He was a professor of archaeology. That was his life.

  Somehow though, it was more difficult with him and Jenny than it had been with other people. With others Lloyd could put up barriers – shield himself… but with James and Jenny, he couldn’t, and that meant there was nothing to hide behind. They were laughing, teasing him and Rudi about the weight of the basket, pointing out bits of London they could see from the Heath, stopping and splaying out on the grass in the warm sunshine, kicking a ball about. It wasn’t like with the carers and the social-workers in any way.

  James and Justin weren’t that rubbish at football either.

  “You’re dead athletic, man, for a professor,” Lloyd said. He wrestled the ball away from James and he was panting. “Even after you ate all them sausages – you’re still fit.”

  James laughed and darted the ball away, dribbling it faster than Lloyd could run, and skimming it across to Justin.

  Jenny was laughing, sitting by the basket on a car rug. “He’ll run rings around you, Lloyd,” she shouted. “He’s merciless. One thing you’ll learn about James, he’s got to win at everything – no matter what and no matter who he’s playing with.”

  Lloyd threw himself on the grass beside her and grinned. “Give me five minutes to get my breath back, okay?” he said. “Just five minutes. Then I’ll show him what football’s all about.”

  They walked some more after that and talked about Sarson Hall and all the stuff Lloyd had discovered. James had loads of questions. Some of them were quite difficult. It made Lloyd think in ways he hadn’t thought before, and Justin started laughing. “He thinks he’s doing a tutorial, Lloyd,” he said.

  James was laughing too. “This is nothing like a tutorial. Students in my tutorials don’t have answers. You leave him alone. He’s playing a blinder.”

  “Yeah,” Lloyd said. “A bit of tough talk, that shows respect, man.”

  After lunch they set off back to Sarson Hall.

  Before they left, Jenny kissed Lloyd and Rudi and she gave Justin a hug, like she did when they met on the South Bank.

  But the party was over.

  As they headed back from London, it seemed they were driving out of sunshine into thick fog again. The blue of the sky faded to flat greyness and the chill of winter closed over the landscape. They were in another world, another season, another age.

  James diverted to Didcot to pick up Justin’s van, and then they headed for Sarson Hall, and it was as bleak as an Arctic winter.

  Somehow, being away from it had softened Lloyd. He’d forgotten how all-powerful and menacing this place was, and, when he saw it again, he shuddered.

  Even James noticed.

  He stood on the gravel forecourt and looked around, whistling between his teeth. “It’s got the feel of steel about it, this place, hasn’t it?” he said.

  They headed for Dave’s office and it was interesting to watch Dave face up to the professor.

  He leaned back in his chair and smiled, his little row of teeth gritted in his jaws. “Professor Appleyard,” he said. “We weren’t expecting you. I hope these two haven’t created havoc in your homestead.”

  “On the contrary,” James said. “Two more charming, intelligent boys I have yet to meet.”

  Lloyd watched Dave’s eyebrows arch. “We do try to teach them the niceties of social behaviour,” he said, and Lloyd’s fists itched to smack him one.

  “They’ve been an absolute delight. Don’t worry Mr Trafford, I certainly haven’t come here to complain. They’ve been filling me in on some of the amazing phenomena that have been manifesting themselves around Sarson Hall.”

  Dave smiled a weak, sickly smile that camouflaged the bile. “I’m not sure you should take too much notice of the fertile imaginations of two teenagers,” he said.

  But James shook his head. “I don’t think this has much to do with imagination, Mr Trafford. It smacks of authenticity to me, and Justin has verified a lot of it. That’s why I’m here.”

  Lloyd could see the colour welling up around Dave’s neck, just like it did when he wound him up. But the smile was cemented onto his face. “I’ve heard Lloyd’s theories about curses and the supernatural,” he said.

  “There are other things, though,” said James. “From what he’s told me, I suspect there’s some ancient link between this place and the henge up at Brookley. What I’d like to do, if I have your permission, is to take a look at the Tudor wing and then go with the boys up to Brookley Henge.”

  Dave didn’t want it to happen. Lloyd could see that, but the guy was a blagger. All this rubbish about teaching them social etiquette – there was no way he dared get into opposition with the professor. “That would be fine,” he said. “It’s our policy at Sarson Hall to encourage the young people to take an interest in academic pursuits. But I’d appreciate it if they kept their findings to themselves. Some of the young people here are emotionally very fragile, you understand, and prone to hysteria.”

  “I’m sure you can rely on them,” James said. “But there’s material around here that interests me very much. The boys have found out a lot. With Justin’s help they’ve done some very creditable fieldwork. You should be proud of them.”

  It was hard not to start falling about laughing because asking Dave to be proud of him was like asking the guy to swallow a cup of cold sick.

  Dave got up, like he always did when he wanted to dismiss the assembled company. “It’s nothing more than we expect,” he said. “And we’d like the boys back by six if you could manage it, for their dinner, you understand?”

  “Absolutely,” said James. “Nothing must come between boys and their stomachs, isn’t that right, Lloyd?”

  “It’s not just a matter of their stomachs, Professor Appleyard,” Dave said. “It’s what keeps this place running – respect for house rules.” And that was such a load of garbage Lloyd had to grip one fist with his other hand. That bloated face was just asking for a smack.

  They went out onto the forecourt and around to the North Wing and, as soon as James saw it, he stopped and nodded, looking at Justin, “As I suspected,” he said. Then he ran his finger over the stone. “The clue is in the name, you see, Justin.”

  Justin grinned. “It’s a bit obvious now you’ve pointed it out.” he said.

  “So, what do you think is going on here?” the professor asked.

  It was as if they were doing their own private tutorial, and Lloyd was listening with a hunger to be part of it.

  “The Tudors ransacked Brookley Henge?” Justin said.

  “That’s my guess.”

  “Broke up the stones and brought them here?”

  “Either that or they brought them whole and broke them up on site.” And Lloyd’s eyes widened.

  “You saying this place was built out of stones from Brookley Henge?” he said.

  “That’s my thesis, Lloyd,” said James. “The clue is in the name of the hall, you see.”

  “How come?” said Lloyd, and Justin grinned.

  “Sarson Hall,” he said. “Sarson is a derivative of sarsen – that’s the stone the Beaker people used for the larger monoliths down at Stonehenge. It’s a local stone and it’s highly likely they used it for Brookley Henge too.”

  “We’ll know for certain when we go up there,” James said. “But, if this place was built out of stone taken from the henge, that could explain the paranormal disruption.”

  “That’s amazing, man,” Lloyd said. “It’s like they practically shifted the henge off its site, away from the course of the ley lines, and that’s why there’s readings all around here. Some of the forces came with them.” />
  “Show him,” Rudi said. “Get the divining rod and show him what it’s like.”

  Justin fetched the hazel twig and Lloyd took it. He held it loosely, gradually getting closer to the wall of the North Wing and it began quivering. It grew stronger as they got nearer and he heard James gasp.

  “That is absolutely astounding, Lloyd,” he said.

  “You want to see it down the cellar, man. It twists like a snake down there.”

  James was almost knocked over by the oppressive atmosphere in the cellar. “This place makes my flesh creep,” he said.

  Justin glanced at the wall and raised a questioning eyebrow and James nodded. “Sarsen stone, no doubt,” he said. “And my guess is, we’ll find exactly the same stone up at the henge.”

  Lloyd showed them the strength of force in the cellar, and it blew James’s mind. “And all this is coming through you into the rod?” he said. “Can I hold it?”

  He handed it over, but, with James holding it, it just lay inert.

  A twig plucked from a hedgerow and he shook his head and handed it back. “It’s been a privilege,” he said. “I shall never forget this.”

  Lloyd grinned. “It’s nothing special. It’s like I was born with the power, and I didn’t know – not until the ghost showed me.”

  They drove out to the henge, and the professor wandered around for a while. It was bleak and abandoned and, when he’d done his survey, Lloyd showed him how he’d found the ley line back towards Stonehenge and then he searched the field running north again and it was clear the lines had been broken towards Avebury.

  James confirmed the stones up at the henge were sarsen stone – and that gave Lloyd a whole new line to think about.

  The Tudors must have ransacked the place way back. Over four hundred years ago they’d built Sarson Hall with the stones from up here. That was why this supernatural chaos was raging back there now. At last, it was beginning to make sense.

  Chapter 13

  Lloyd and Rudi sat on one of the upended stones.