by Lyn Gardner
‘Listen,’ she said, suddenly stopping. There was a quiet tapping noise. ‘There’s that noise again. What is it?’
Storm shrugged.‘Ignore it.’ She felt increasingly wound up and frustrated by the waiting. It was now three nights since the terrible events at the Ginger House and she felt that Any was slipping away from her. She knew that unless they caught up soon, Any could be lost to them for ever. With increasing desperation she led them through the maze of cobwebby rooms full of wardrobes stuffed with mouldering ball gowns. Eventually they found themselves back at the top of the staircase that led down to the entrance hall. Looking down, Storm’s heart skipped a beat. There on the circular rosewood table was an ornate key lying across a large map. Beyond, the front door stood open, beckoning freedom. Storm felt light-headed. All the waiting had raised the tension in her stomach to the point where she was like an over-stretched elastic band ready to snap. In her excitement she forgot Netta’s warning. The key and map were within her grasp, and she was intoxicated by the sight. She didn’t hear Aurora’s desperate cry of ‘Stop! It’s a trick!’ She bounded down the stairs.
Aurora yelled frantically, ‘Don’t touch the key, Storm. It is there to test us. Don’t touch it!’
But all Storm saw was the means to save her baby sister. She grabbed the map and key triumphantly and ran for the open door. Beyond, Storm could see the snow-covered lawn stretching away to Hell Lane. Her heart pounding, she raced towards it, unheeding of everything except this tantalizing vision of freedom. She was a metre from the open door when it slammed shut, the sound reverberating with a dreadful finality around the hall. Still she didn’t halt. She reached the door and tugged furiously at the handle. It didn’t move. She turned to the windows. None budged. Distraught, Storm ran back to the closed door and threw her body against it like a caged animal.
‘Open! Open up, you stupid, stupid thing!’ she raged.
After a few seconds of fruitless pounding she fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Aurora came slowly down the staircase and bent over her sister. Storm shook her off in a fury, and as she did so the sisters heard the tapping noise again. It was much nearer this time.
The girls turned their heads fearfully to look up to the top of the stairs. The tap, tap, tap grew louder, and then something strange moved into sight: a huge decrepit old woman, dressed in a tattered, layered white dress so that she looked like a walking wedding cake that had been left out in the rain. The woman stared down at them through filmy eyes. The tapping that they had heard was the sound of the stick she used to find her way around the labyrinthine house.
The old lady’s face was cracked with anger.
‘How dare you!’ she said, pointing her stick at the girls. ‘How dare you come into my house and abuse my hospitality! I offered you everything that I had, but you are just like the rest. You try to take advantage of me and steal my mementoes from me. My most precious things. Is this the way to repay my kindness?’ She glared at them. ‘You will be punished!’ She felt in her pocket, pulled out a jelly baby and bit off the head as if to underline her threat.
Storm was so despairing that she couldn’t speak. Aurora took control of the situation. She squared her shoulders and headed up the stairs towards Mother Collops. Peering into the old lady’s rheumy eyes, she politely proffered her hand and said, ‘Hello. So pleased to meet you. My name is Aurora, and this is my sister Storm.’
The old hag’s face crinkled with suspicion, then split into a gummy smile. ‘I think I’ll find it more convenient to call you Lunch and Dinner,’ she said, popping another jelly baby into her mouth.
Storm followed her sister up the stairs and, smiling her best smile at the ogress, asked,‘Do you live here all alone?’
‘Yes,’ said Mother Collops mournfully. ‘Quite alone.’
‘It must be very lonely for you,’ said Aurora sympathetically.
‘It is, something bitter. My family all abandoned me long ago. I never get any post, except bills,’ said the ogress, sadness further clouding her milky eyes.
‘I wouldn’t like that at all,’ said Aurora in commiserating tones. Storm glanced down at the vast and saggy chaise longue positioned underneath the balcony, then stole a quick glance at Aurora, who shook her head imperceptibly and frowned.
Storm took no notice: she leaped forward and shoved Mother Collops hard. The old lady tipped forward and plunged over the top of the balustrade. She landed in the middle of the chaise longue and bounced up and down as if on a trampoline. Storm grabbed Aurora and pulled her towards the stairs.
‘There must be a back way out of here,’ she hissed.‘We must get out before she recovers herself.’
‘What if she’s really hurt?’ whispered Aurora.
Storm pointed to Mother Collops, who was still bouncing helplessly on the chaise longue, legs akimbo and clothes flapping around, a sound suspiciously like a giggle rising from her lips.
‘Look, she’s perfectly fine,’ said Storm impatiently. Mother Collops immediately stopped bouncing and lay very still.
‘I’m going to check,’ said Aurora. ‘She seems like a sad lost old lady to me, not a blood-drinking ogress.’
‘Oh come on, Aurora. She’s trying to trick you. Save your sympathy for somebody who deserves it. Like your defenceless baby sister,’ said Storm angrily.
‘No, you’ve gone too far this time. I’ll just make sure she’s not hurt,’ said Aurora.
Storm’s face twisted with disbelief. ‘Really, Aurora, can’t you see it’s a trick?’
‘I’ll catch you up,’ said Aurora firmly.
‘Don’t bother. I never want to see you again as long as I live,’ screamed Storm, and she raced down the stairs and through the door beneath the gallery.
Aurora headed slowly down towards the chaise longue where Mother Collops had fallen. The old lady lay quite still, with her head bent at an awkward angle and her eyes closed. Aurora reached out to feel her pulse, and at the moment the ogress sat up suddenly, grabbed her by the wrist, and burst into peals of laughter. Aurora screamed.
‘Only pretending, ducks! Oh, it’s such fun. Look at your face. I keep the chaise longue there for just such eventualities. It’s not the first time I’ve been tipped over the balustrade by naughty children. Is your sister always so impulsive?’
‘Yes,’ said Aurora in a shaky voice.
‘Oh, I like a girl with attitude. Your sister is a girl after my own heart.’
‘Then why do you want to eat her?’ demanded Aurora.
‘It’s what ogres do, my chick,’ said Mother Collops sadly. ‘It’s expected of us.’
‘Well, I am glad she’s got away,’ said Aurora indignantly.
‘Oh, she won’t have got far,’ said Mother Collops confidently.
She was right.
Holding Aurora in a surprisingly strong grip, Mother Collops set off through the rambling castle, arriving at last in a vast stone-flagged kitchen with a huge range in one corner and a door in the other. Suspended above the door in a net was a squirming, snarling, snapping creature. It was Storm.
Mother Collops was delighted. ‘One of my booby-traps. The castle is covered with them. It gives me something to do on the long, dark winter evenings. Playing tiddlywinks against yourself gets very dull,’ she added miserably.
Up in the net Storm twisted this way and that like an exceptionally angry wild tiger.
‘I’ll let you down,’ said Mother Collops, ‘if you hand me the key and the map.’ She slowly lowered the net.
Released, Storm sullenly handed them over.
‘Now, my little chickadees,’ said Mother Collops settling into a chair and helping herself to another jelly baby, ‘why do you want the map and key so badly?’
Storm was beyond speech, so Aurora explained about Dr DeWilde, the orphanage and Any’s disappearance, only leaving out the bit about the pipe. When she had finished, Aurora said imploringly, ‘So will you help us? Please, Mother Collops, please.’
The ogress sat quie
tly for a while, as if fighting her own emotions, and then she said, ‘I don’t like being taken advantage of; give an inch and people take a mile. I’ll tell you what: we’ll play a game. Hide and seek. You’ll hide, and I’ll seek. If I don’t find you in sixty minutes I’ll give you the map and key and let you go. But, if I do discover you, then –’ once again it looked as if Mother Collops was undergoing a terrible internal struggle – ‘then, I’ll have you both for my dinner.’
Aurora’s face betrayed her fear for just a second, but then she collected herself. ‘It’s a deal,’ she agreed, offering to shake the ogress’s hand. ‘No double-crossing, mind you.’
‘Wouldn’t dream of it, ducks,’ said Mother Collops, cutting through the net that enclosed Storm. ‘I’ll count to a hundred. If I haven’t found you when the clock has finished chiming midday, you’ll be the winners. If I have, I win.’ She began counting.
Aurora held out her hand to her sister but Storm brushed her away with a glare. She opened her mouth to say something barbed just as Mother Collops said ‘Ten’ in a very loud voice. The girls fled, racing along the corridor up the curved staircase and through more rooms.
‘Where are we going to hide, Storm?’ asked Aurora breathlessly.
‘In the tall tower,’ her sister replied. ‘You can only access it via the stairs on the other side of the castle. It will take her ages to get there.’ From far away they heard the ogre’s excited yell, ‘I’m coming to get you, ready or not!’ The girls sped through the castle and up the narrow spiral staircase that led to the tower room. Once inside they clambered into one of the wardrobes, pulled the door closed and slumped on the floor behind the ball gowns and feather boas. It smelled of moth balls, and the feather boas tickled Storm’s nose, making her sneeze. ‘Sssh!’ warned Aurora. Storm held her nose and shuffled closer to her sister.
After what seemed like hours they heard the sound of Mother Collops’ stick on the stone floor. The tap, tap, tap came closer and the door to the room creaked open.
‘Come out, my little chicks. I know you’re there,’ said the ogress.
The sisters held their breath.
‘Where are you, duckies? Are you under the –’ there was a pause as Mother Collops tapped her way across the room – ‘bed?’ There was the sound of her cane scraping under the bed.
‘No little chicks under the bed,’ the ogress sighed disappointedly. ‘But I know my little ducks are in here somewhere. I can smell them.’ The tap, tap, tap came closer still. The sisters could hear Mother Collops’ raspy, excited breath. ‘Now I’ve got you, my little ones!’
The door of the wardrobe was pulled open and Mother Collops peered sightlessly into the dark interior. Her stick jabbed wildly through the clothes. ‘I know you’re in here, my little chickadees,’ she called. Again her stick poked through the clothes, coming dangerously close to stabbing Storm in the eye. It plunged about viciously again and again, but only encountered thin air and fur coats.
The ogress sighed dejectedly. ‘No chicks for Mother Collops here,’ she said, pushing the wardrobe shut.
The old crone turned to leave and the girls heard the castle clock begin to chime midday. Bong. Mother Collops reached the door. Bong. The girls held their breaths. Bong.
The ogress’s stick had dislodged one of the feather boas and it had fallen across Storm’s face, making her nose itch. A sneeze began to build. Bong. Mother Collops pulled the door of the tower room closed as Storm, unable to stop herself, let out an explosive sneeze. Bong. The tapping of Mother Collops’ stick ceased. The ogress turned back. Bong. Tap, tap came her stick across the floor. Bong. The door swung open again. Bong. Storm and Aurora could hear Mother Collops wheezing over the sound of their own blood thumping in their heads. Bong.
‘Come on, my pretties. I have you now!’
Mother Collops raised her cane and rifled through the wardrobe with it again. Bong. The hard tip connected with soft flesh, prodding Storm and Aurora in the ribs and causing them to cry out. Bong.
‘Found you! I win. I win!’ cried Mother Collops triumphantly. The clock chimed the last stroke of the hour with a dreadful finality: BONG!
Storm and Aurora scrambled dejectedly out of the wardrobe, close to tears. Quick as a flash, Mother Collops yoked them together, pulled them down to the kitchen, tied their hands and suspended each from a hook on the wall.
Storm immediately began covertly playing with the knots as Mother Collops tapped her way over to a huge pot bubbling in the centre of the range.
‘The perfect temperature, duckies,’ she announced.
Storm struggled to free her hands. If she could just get loose, there was a meat clever on the edge of the table within easy reach. The last knot came free just as Mother Collops turned back towards her, smiling brightly as if she was offering Storm a wonderful treat.
‘You first, little chick,’ she grinned.
Storm dropped from the hook and lunged for the cleaver. But as her fingers brushed the handle, she felt something dig into her collar at the back of her neck. Her feet left the ground and she was swung dizzyingly through the air and left suspended high above the cooking pot.
Mother Collops burst into excited laughter. ‘It works! Another one of my little booby-traps. Look! Now I only have to pull this lever and you’ll drop straight into the pot.’
Storm hung limp in defeat. She could see Aurora struggling, but she knew that even if her sister succeeded in freeing herself, it would be too late. Storm closed her eyes and thought of Any. The pipe around her neck began to burn so hot it singed her skin. Suddenly she hated the little instrument. Almost nothing had gone right since her mother had given her the pipe. Raising a hand, she ripped it from her neck, breaking the chain, and flung it across the kitchen. It bounced on the floor and landed at Mother Collops’ feet. The old lady bent to the floor and groped for it. She ran her fingers over the surface and a look of amazement passed across her face. She pulled out a huge magnifying glass and peered at the pipe. The look on her face turned to joy and she sank into her rocking chair with tears falling.
Suspended above the pot, Storm was becoming uncomfortably warm as steam rose from the bubbling liquid below. The ogress looked up from the pipe and seemed horrified.‘Oh, my chickadee, I better get you down,’ she said anxiously. ‘I never intended to hurt you. I only wanted to give you a bad fright.’ She quickly swung Storm away from the pot and helped her down.
Bewildered, Storm quickly cut the ties on her sister’s wrists, then both girls looked curiously at the weeping ogress.
Mother Collops suddenly clasped Storm’s hands and whispered, ‘Zella’s girl. I should have known.’ Then with a solemn look, she returned the pipe to Storm.
‘You knew our mother?’ Storm asked, astonished. Mother Collops nodded.
‘She died,’ said Aurora quietly.
‘You poor mites,’ sighed Mother Collops.‘You’ve got quite enough to deal with, without thinking I was going to make you into child roly-poly.’
‘Exactly how many children have you cooked and eaten?’ asked Aurora fearfully.
Mother Collops looked flustered.‘None. To tell the truth, I’ve never eaten a single child. Not even a small one.’
‘Then you’re not really an ogress?’ asked Storm.
‘Certainly not. I am a life-long vegetarian,’ replied Mother Collops testily.
‘So you were only pretending that you were going to cook us and eat us?’
‘Yes, ducks,’ said Mother Collops sheepishly. ‘I know it’s wrong, but it’s lonely and isolated out here and if I didn’t make people fear me, they would come in the night and throw stones. Or worse. I had to find a way to protect myself. People are afraid of what they don’t understand – of anything different. And I’ve always been different, even when I was a girl,’ she sighed. ‘It’s partly my fault: I have a truly terrible temper.’
‘So do I,’ confessed Storm sympathetically.
‘It runs in the family,’ nodded Mother Collops sorrowfully
.
‘What do you mean? Runs in the family?’ whispered Storm.
‘Because you are my great-granddaughters, of course. Both of you. Rapunzel – Zella as she preferred to be called – was my granddaughter.’
‘Zella was your granddaughter?’ asked Storm, unable to believe her ears.
‘Yes,’ sniffed Mother Collops. ‘Her mother, my daughter, came to a sad end, running off like that. That’s the trouble with children, they always abandon you,’ she said weepily. ‘You give them everything and then they grow up and leave you with only your memories of the past and your fears for the future. You never realize you are living happiness until it’s squandered and you are quite alone. Now I rattle around this old house with only loneliness and fear for companions. It makes me suspicious and nasty.’
‘I don’t think you’re nasty,’ said Aurora kindly. ‘But you must stop pretending that you eat children. It doesn’t give a good impression.’
Mother Collops nodded tearfully and offered her bag of jelly babies to Aurora and Storm. She leaned forward confidentially. ‘Make sure you eat the legs first, my dears, so that they can’t run away.’
Storm smiled and took one. ‘How did you know we wanted the map and the key?’
‘Some people read palms, some read tea leaves, some people read between the lines. I read hearts,’ smiled Mother Collops. ‘Tell me all about your journey here.’
So they told her everything, and when they reached the part about the echo cavern Mother Collops was shocked. ‘It was lucky you didn’t stay. It’s the home of a honey dragon and it’s got a dreadful temper. Much worse than yours and mine, Storm.’
‘But I thought honey dragons had the sunniest disposition of all the members of the lizard family,’ said Aurora.
‘Oh, that’s the two-headed version,’ said Mother Collops. ‘This one is so angry about having only one head that it eats small girls and any passing royalty for breakfast. It’s had two princesses and a minor duchess in the last year alone.’
