The Mystery of the Lake Monster

by Paula Harrison

  For my dad, who always

  chased the monsters away

  Contents

  Cover

  Dedication

  Chapter One: Jax Makes Mischief

  Chapter Two: The Eyes in the Mist

  Chapter Three: The Legend of Spikey

  Chapter Four: A Meal for a Monster

  Chapter Five: The Trouble With Turnips

  Chapter Six: Collecting the Clues

  Chapter Seven: The Shadow on the Wall

  Chapter Eight: Mr Steen Gets Flustered

  Chapter Nine: Sacks and String

  Chapter Ten: The Empty Palace

  Chapter Eleven: The Hidden Jewel

  Find the Sapphire!

  Investigate the Lake

  Who has been swimming in the lake?

  Spot the difference

  Princess Butterfly Cupcakes

  Here is a peek at the next Tiara Friends adventure…

  Chapter One: The Artist of Bodkin Street

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Jax Makes

  Mischief

  Princess Amelia (who was called Millie, for short) raced down the servants’ corridor of Peveril Palace. Her satin dress swished around her legs and her pretty yellow shoes clattered on the stone floor. “Jess!” she called. “Wait for me!”

  Jess, a palace maid, swung round and grinned. She had a little white apron fastened over her black uniform and her mob cap sat crookedly on her golden-brown hair. “Quick, Millie! We have to swap before they notice we’ve gone.”

  Millie sped up, nearly skidding on the smooth floor. Steadying herself, she gazed into the kitchen where Cook Walsh was bustling around the stove. It was only two days till the Peveril Palace Festival and Cook had been working from sunrise to sunset all week baking pies and cakes for the competitions.

  Millie longed to go and help but princesses weren’t supposed to get their clothes covered in jam and flour. She breathed in deeply, enjoying the delicious cooking smells drifting into the passageway. “Mm, cherry pie!” she murmured.

  “Come on or they’ll catch us!” said Jess, laughing, and she grabbed her friend’s hand. Together they ran to the end of the passage, slipped into Jess’s chamber and closed the door behind them.

  Jess and Millie had known each other since they were babies and they’d been best friends ever since Jess came to work as a maid at Peveril Palace.

  The two girls were the same height and the same age (although Millie liked to remind Jess that she was ten days older). They both had glossy brown hair with golden tints that curled over their shoulders, and they both had rosy cheeks and hazel eyes. They were almost identical, except that Jess’s eyes were slightly darker.

  Leaning against the door, Millie tried to catch her breath. She and Jess had the most amazing secret: they shared clothes and swapped places with each other all the time! No one ever noticed that Jess became Millie and Millie turned into Jess because they looked so alike.

  Millie smiled. Having a best friend that looked the same was Very Handy Indeed. She and Jess often swapped places to do the things they liked the most. Jess would take Millie’s horse-riding lesson while Millie went to bake cakes with Cook Walsh. The kindly, grey-haired cook was the only person who knew their secret and she’d promised never to tell.

  Swapping places had become extra handy because mysterious things had started happening in Plumchester. First, a crown had been stolen from the palace and then a silk dress had gone missing from Jess’s parents’ shop in Bodkin Street. The girls had turned detective to solve these puzzles. It had been great fun!

  “We got away at last!” said Millie. “I was starting to think Mr Larum would never let me go. This morning he made me practise one hundred spellings.” She pulled a face. Mr Larum, her teacher, was a kind man but he was very serious sometimes.

  “Mr Steen said he doesn’t want the guests to see a single speck of dust while they’re here,” groaned Jess. “He made me polish the candlesticks ten times!”

  Mr Steen was the royal butler and liked everything to be shiny and perfect. Now that important guests had come to stay, he wanted everything even cleaner and shinier than usual.

  The visiting lords and ladies had come to see the festival which was held every year on the palace lawn. In two days’ time, the people of Plumchester would troop through the gates of Peveril Palace and set up stalls of fruit and vegetables as well as cakes, pies and jam. There would be games, singing and dancing too. Prizes would be given out for the very best thing on each stall. Cook Walsh was determined to win first prize for the pies and cakes of course!

  Footsteps sounded in the corridor. Millie crouched down and put her eye to the keyhole. “It’s Mr Steen.” She watched the lanky butler prowl down the corridor in his black suit and white gloves. Every few seconds he paused and held a large round glass to his eye. “He’s using his magnifying glass,” she whispered. “I wonder what he’s up to.”

  “I bet he’s searching for dust,” muttered Jess.

  Millie put her hand over her mouth to stop a giggle escaping. At last she straightened up, her eyes sparkling. “He’s gone now! Are you ready to swap?”

  “Ready!” Jess nodded her head so energetically that her mob cap fell off.

  Millie took off her yellow satin dress while Jess pulled off her maid uniform. Underneath they were both wearing cotton slips that looked like thin white dresses. Jess handed the maid clothes to Millie, and Millie gave the satin dress to Jess. A moment later they were wearing each other’s clothes.

  “Just one more thing!” Jess popped her white mob cap on Millie’s head and tied up her own hair with her friend’s yellow ribbon.

  Millie looked in the little, square mirror that hung on the wall. No one would guess she was a princess now! “I’m going to see if Cook wants any help with those cakes.”

  “I’m going to visit the horses!” said Jess.

  Opening the door a little, the girls peeked out. The corridor was empty.

  “Meet you back here later!” Millie held out her little finger and Jess linked her pinkie with Millie’s. This was their secret sign that they were best friends.

  “See you later, Double Trouble!” Jess grinned before slipping out of the back door into the stable yard.

  Millie hurried towards the kitchen, stopping when she heard a torrent of barking at the far end of the passage. It must be Jax, her golden cocker spaniel. Millie’s heart sank. She hoped he wasn’t getting into trouble again.

  Holding her mob cap to her head, Millie dashed down the passageway. All the very important guests, who were staying to see the festival, were gathered in the entrance hall.

  The Duke and Duchess of Sherbourne, a short couple with grey hair, were talking quietly. Lady Snood, a thin woman in a frilly dress, was checking her face in the hall mirror. Lord Dellwort, a dark-eyed man with a silky moustache, stood watching everyone.

  Barking broke out again from inside the State Room.

  “This dog needs proper training!” Millie heard her father, King James, say sharply. “Where is Mr Steen? Find him at once, please.”

  A palace guard ran out of the State Room. “Has anyone seen the butler?”

  Millie hurried past him. Her father loved animals but he didn’t like it when Jax got overexcited. “It’s all right – I can help,” she told the guard as she went inside.

  King James was taking a shiny silver key out of a wooden desk. Marching across the room, he unlocked the Royal Jewel Cabinet and let its glass door swing open. The Jewel Cabinet was the place where all the most precious royal things were kept. The shelves were filled with masses of bracelets, tiaras, shiny goblets and crystal glasses.

 
; Jax was gambolling round the room, his floppy ears swinging. Every now and then, he bounced up to Millie’s father and gave the king’s velvet robe a playful tug.

  “Stop it, Jax!” Millie pulled her mob cap down low, hoping that her father wouldn’t notice it was her wearing the maid dress. She caught hold of Jax. The spaniel gave a woof of delight and licked her hand.

  “Oh, thank goodness!” said the king. “I’ve never seen him act so naughty.”

  “He must need a walk.” Millie crouched down, rubbing Jax’s fluffy coat. “I’ll take him outside right now.”

  “It’s all right, everybody!” the king called to his guests. “Come in and I’ll show you the goblet I was talking about.”

  The duke and duchess, Lady Snood and Lord Dellwort, trooped in. King James picked up a gleaming golden cup. “This was given to my grandfather by Queen Isidora of Plutenburg more than a hundred years ago. The gold was mined from beneath the Trummel Mountains.”

  “Yes, very nice!” Lady Snood dismissed the goblet with a wave of her hand. “But what’s that shiny blue necklace at the back?”

  “You mean this one?” King James put down the goblet and took out a beautiful blue stone shaped like a teardrop which hung from a gold chain. “This is the famous Sky Sapphire named for its wonderful light blue colour. Most sapphires are quite a dark blue but not this one! It’s the largest jewel in the whole kingdom and I gave it to Queen Belinda on our wedding day.”

  “What a lovely gift,” said the Duchess of Sherbourne. “I bet it’s worth a lot of money.”

  “All jewellery looks the same to me!” said Lord Dellwort, yawning.

  Jax gave a short bark. Millie suddenly remembered she was supposed to be taking him for a walk, not staring at the jewel cabinet. As she hurried the spaniel out of the room, she caught sight of Lady Snood reaching out to touch the sapphire necklace.

  Millie saw the lady’s expression darken as the king put the jewel away. Her elegant eyes narrowed and her pale forehead scrunched into a frown. Millie remembered that stare as she bundled Jax outside. Lady Snood looked as if she wanted the Sky Sapphire all for herself.

  Chapter Two

  The Eyes in the Mist

  Millie clipped Jax’s lead to his collar and took him past the guard at the palace door. Jax’s ears pricked up and he wagged his tail as they set off across the grass. Mist hung in the air like a pale curtain making it difficult to see very far.

  Millie looked around for Jess. She was probably still in the stables petting the horses, or gathering apples in the orchard.

  “Woof!” barked Jax, pulling on the lead.

  “All right – I’ll hurry up!” Millie laughed, letting the spaniel pull her past the tall hedges of the maze. She kept a tight hold on his lead as they passed the vegetable garden. Last week he’d trampled over rows of cabbages and Mr Polly, the head gardener, had got really cross.

  Many of the vegetables Cook used in the palace kitchen were grown in this garden by the orchard. The round purple tops of the turnips peeped out of the ground next to rows of feathery-leaved carrots. Behind the carrots were rows of fat pumpkins and potato plants.

  As soon as they’d passed the vegetable plot, Millie unclipped the lead and Jax hurtled across the grass in the direction of the lake. Millie ran after him but the golden-haired dog was soon swallowed up by the mist. “Jax!” she called. “Wait for me!”

  “Millie!” Jess dashed up to her, bits of hay clinging to her yellow dress. “I thought you’d be in the kitchen making pies.”

  “Jax was being naughty so I brought him out for a walk,” Millie explained, scanning the mist up ahead. It was so thick she couldn’t even see the lake at the bottom of the slope.

  There was a distant splash.

  “I bet that’s Jax trying to make friends with the ducks again!” Jess raced down the hill. “Jax! Come back!”

  Millie ran after her. “Jax! Come here, boy.”

  They stopped at the lake shore and gazed at the mist swirling above the water.

  “Jax! Where are you?” Millie’s voice echoed. She stopped, listening for a bark or rustling in the bushes nearby, but there was silence.

  Millie shivered. There was something a little creepy about the mist and how it hid things from view. “It’s so quiet! Shall we split up to try and find him?”

  “Good idea! I’ll go to the bridge and you look by the boathouse,” said Jess. “I’m sure he can’t be far away.”

  Just then, there was a terrible shriek. Millie edged backwards, nearly tripping over a bramble.

  “Oh my goodness!” gasped Jess. “Who was that?”

  “There’s a monster!” squealed a girl. “A monster in the water!” Then footsteps quickened like the pounding of a drum.

  “That’s Connie!” said Millie, recognizing the older girl’s voice. “She must be on the bridge.”

  Together, Millie and Jess raced along the bank. They reached the bridge just as Connie, another palace maid, scuttled across. Her face was pink and her eyes were wide with fright.

  “Connie, are you all right?” asked Jess.

  The older girl clutched the railing at the side of the bridge. Her shoulders heaved as she struggled to get her breath back. “There’s a monster right there in the water!” she gasped. “Its eyes … they were so terrible and black! And its mouth was so wide!” She gave a shudder and then ran on towards the palace.

  Millie and Jess exchanged horrified glances. Connie usually acted like they were too young for her to talk to. They’d never seen her in a panic before.

  “How can there be a monster?” said Jess. “I’ve never seen anything like that in the lake.”

  “She looked pretty scared though.” Millie peered at the green-blue water.

  “That’s true!” Jess stepped away from the bridge. “Maybe we should come back and look when the mist has cleared.”

  Millie was about to agree when an awful thought popped into her head. “But where’s Jax? We still haven’t found him!” She dashed on to the bridge, her heart hammering. What if there was something awful in the lake? What if Jax was in danger?

  Jess hurried after her. Halfway across, she leaned over the wooden rail to stare into the water. “Shall we call Jax again?”

  “No, don’t!” Millie whispered, looking over the opposite rail. Usually the lake sparkled in the sunshine but today the water looked so deep and mysterious. “Connie must have been on the bridge when she saw the thing that scared her. Whatever it was could be really close by.”

  “Maybe it was an otter,” said Jess. “Although otters don’t have horrible eyes.”

  The water beside the bridge started to ripple. Millie’s hands tightened on the wooden rail. Was there something under the surface or was it just water weed?

  The ripples grew deeper.

  “Or perhaps it was a goose,” Jess continued. “I don’t like geese because of that horrible hissing noise they make.”

  “Jess! Look at this!” whispered Millie, watching the moving water. Whatever was causing those ripples must be right underneath the bridge.

  “And swans are just as bad.”

  “Jess!” Millie took her friend’s arm and pulled her closer. “Can you see that? Do you think something’s down there?”

  Jess leaned out to look just as a large shape with big black eyes floated from underneath the bridge. The beast was wrapped in water weed, making it hard to see its mouth. It had a large brownish-orange head and its glassy eyes glared at the girls spitefully.

  Millie shuddered. With a head that size, goodness knows how big the rest of its body was! She wanted to run away but her legs had turned to jelly. Mist swirled over the creature, making it hard to see whether it was still staring at them.

  “What IS that?” hissed Jess.

  “Shh!” squeaked Millie. “It’ll hear you!”

  As if it really had heard, the monster spun round and glided under the bridge again.

  The girls dashed to the opposite railing but the strang
e creature didn’t reappear. Millie looked down at the wooden slats, her heart thumping. “It’s right underneath us!” she whispered. “Do you think it’s dangerous?”

  “It doesn’t look very friendly to me.” Jess leaned further over the railing. “I can’t see it any more. Do you think it’s dived under the water?”

  “Jess, don’t!” Millie tugged her friend’s arm to pull her back from the edge. “What if it jumps out at you?”

  Paws tapped on the bridge and Jax appeared, his coat dripping. “Jax! Thank goodness you’re all right.” Millie clipped his lead on quickly. “I think we should go!”

  Jax barked as if he agreed. Then he galloped across the bridge, pulling Millie after him. Jess ran too and they all kept going until they reached the stable yard.

  Millie stopped to catch her breath and she couldn’t help staring back at the lake. Curls of mist drifted over the shore and the bridge had disappeared behind the haze. “That was so strange! Do you think it was some kind of lake monster?”

  “I don’t know.” Jess leaned down to give Jax a rub. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  An upstairs window opened and the queen’s face appeared. “Amelia! Mr Larum wants you to practise your handwriting. And Jess! Mr Steen is looking for you.”

  Jess nudged Millie. “We’d better go back inside,” she murmured. “Shame we can’t have one more peek at that creature.”

  “Maybe we can look later!” Millie’s racing heartbeat grew calmer and her eyes gleamed. “You know what? I think we’ve just found our next mystery!”

  Chapter Three

  The Legend of

  Spikey

  Mr Steen wanted so much cleaning and polishing done that Jess didn’t have much time to wonder about the creature in the lake. At five o’clock she hurried downstairs to help Cook and Connie get everything ready for the evening banquet.

  A huge pot of tomato soup was bubbling on the stove and a chicken pie was baking in the oven. Connie was putting the finishing touches to Cook’s dessert – a magnificent tower of jelly, meringue and strawberries, decorated with swirls of cream. Jess helped the older girl add sprinkles of chocolate to the top making the jelly tower wobble alarmingly.