by Julie Sykes
Freya stiffened for a second, but Matilda didn’t seem to notice and, after a second, Freya found herself hugging her rather gingerly back.
“Is that all the engineering work done?” asked Matilda. “Can I paint the rest of it now?”
“Yes,” Freya stood back and squinted at the robot. “Do you think Honey will like it?”
“She’s going to love, love, LOVE it!” exclaimed Matilda. “All the unicorns are going to want one and…”
TAP. TAP. TAP.
A noise came from the fireplace. Matilda and Freya froze.
“What was that?” whispered Matilda.
“I don’t know,” Freya whispered back.
“Could it be a bird? We had one stuck in our chimney once,” Matilda said.
Freya went over to the fireplace and peered at the wooden board blocking it. She realised something. “This isn’t just a piece of wood – there are hinges on one side and a button on the other. It’s a door!” She put her hand on it.
Whoooooooooo! A long drawn-out moan echoed out from behind it.
Freya sprang back.
“It’s a ghost!” squeaked Matilda. “I bet it’s the ghost of the dead teacher that Himmat told us about! Quick, Freya, let’s get out of here!” She raced to the revolving wall. Freya darted beside her and pressed the lever. The wall turned and they found themselves in the dark of the cupboard. Both of them were breathing hard and their faces were pale.
“We heard a g … ghost!” stammered Matilda. “A real ghost!”
But now she was out of the room, Freya’s panic was dying down and her logical brain was kicking in. “It can’t have been,” she said, feeling a bit silly for running away like that. “Ghosts don’t exist. It must have been a bird.”
“A bird that says whoooooooo?” said Matilda. She shook her head. “No. I think it was a ghost and we should tell the others.”
“No!” Freya said sharply. “They’ll only want to come to the room and then they’ll see the robot. Please, Matilda, don’t say anything until after the party – that will also give us a chance to check if we hear anything again. If we tell them it’s a ghost and it is just a bird, then we’ll look really stupid.”
“OK,” Matilda agreed reluctantly.
They hurried downstairs to the dorm. Rosa, Violet and Ariana were sitting on the floor making enormous paper spiders to decorate the barn for the party. With its cosy rug, pink, lilac and silver duvet covers and sparkling fairy lights the dorm looked wonderfully cosy and safe. Freya felt a rush of relief until the other three looked up with cross expressions.
“Where have you two been?” Rosa demanded. “You were supposed to be helping us make decorations tonight.”
“Whoops, sorry!” Matilda looked contrite. “I completely forgot. I’ll help now!” She sat down and quickly picked up some scissors.
“It’s not fair for you both to let us do all the work for the party,” said Rosa, fixing Freya with a look. “There’s loads to do.”
“I know,” said Freya. “And I do want to help. It’s just, I’ve got to finish my invention.”
“Because that’s more important than anything, isn’t it?” said Rosa. “Freya, have you seen how sad Honey’s looking? I guess you can’t have done, or you’d have been in the stables, spending time with her this evening rather than with your invention.”
A guilty blush warmed Freya’s cheeks. “Honey understands,” she said defensively, squashing down thoughts of Honey’s upset face that afternoon. “She knows this is really important to me. As soon as it’s done, I’ll be able to spend more time with her, so stop having a go at me.”
“Rosa didn’t mean to upset you…” Violet started to say.
“I did!” Rosa interrupted. “Honey’s sad and we’re doing all the work for the party – Freya’s being selfish!”
Anger boiled in Freya’s stomach. “That’s not fair! I—”
A loud crash from the landing above interrupted her.
“What was that?” gasped Ariana.
Matilda’s eyes flew to Freya’s and Freya knew they were both thinking about the noises they’d heard in the secret room.
Rosa raced to the door, the argument temporarily forgotten. “Let’s find out!”
They scrambled for the stairs Rosa reached the landing first. “The statue!” she exclaimed, pointing at the marble unicorn lying on the floor outside the cupboard door.
For a moment they all fell silent. “OK,” said Violet slowly. “How can it have fallen over all by itself?”
“The same way the boxes in the cupboard just toppled over all by themselves,” said Ariana, her eyes widening.
“It’s a ghost!” squeaked Matilda.
Freya’s thoughts raced. The cardboard boxes had been her fault, but what about this? “It can’t be a ghost,” she said quickly. “Ghosts aren’t real.” But, even to her ears, her words didn’t sound that convincing.
Rosa went to pick it up. “Gosh, it’s heavy!”
“Let me help.” Freya heaved the statue up with Rosa. As they set it on its pedestal, their eyes met for a second. Freya felt her earlier anger fade away. Of course Rosa had been cross with her. It was only because she was worried about Honey and because she wanted the party to be a success. She sighed. “I’m sorry I haven’t been helping more, Rosa. I thought you were all having fun planning the party and it didn’t matter if I wasn’t involved.”
“We have been having fun,” said Rosa. “But it would be even more fun if you were properly involved too.”
Freya nodded. “I will be from now on. I promise.”
“And what about Honey?” said Rosa.
“I’ll spend more time with her and get her present finished too. When she sees it, if she likes it enough, then maybe … well, maybe we’ll finally bond.” Freya struggled to say the last words out loud. She hated admitting her feelings to people, even her friends.
Rosa’s expression softened. “So that’s why you’re working so hard on it? Because you think it might help you bond with her?”
Freya nodded.
Rosa sighed. “If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have given you such a hard time for not helping out. Sorry, Freya.”
“I’m sorry too,” Freya said. “And from now on, I promise I’ll help out more.” They exchanged smiles.
“I’ve just thought of something,” said Ariana as they headed back to the dorm.
“What?” said Violet.
“Well, if ghosts aren’t real then whoever pushed over the statue and those boxes has to be a person, doesn’t it?”
“Like a student or a teacher, you mean?” said Violet.
Ariana bit her lip. “Or the cloaked figure.”
They stared at her. “The cloaked figure who was draining magic from the Heart Tree and the waterfall?” echoed Matilda. “You think she could be here in the school?”
Ariana nodded. “She could be the one who made the pumpkins explode too.”
“But why?” said Freya logically. “It doesn’t make sense. Draining magic from the environment – that’s proper big, bad evil. Why would the cloaked figure come here to knock over statues and make pumpkins explode? It’s not the same kind of thing.”
“I suppose,” said Ariana, relaxing slightly.
“Freya’s right. I bet it’s not her. But if she does come to the school, she’d better watch out because we’ll catch her!” declared Rosa. “Won’t we, Diamond dorm?” She held her hand up.
“Definitely!” everyone chorused, meeting her hand with a group high-five.
“Even more pumpkins?” Ms Willow said, looking into the barn with Daffodil, as Diamond dorm unloaded a whole load of new pumpkins at lunchtime the next day.
“We thought we’d try again,” said Rosa brightly. “We really do want to play leapfrog.”
Ms Willow’s eyes strayed to one of the big hay bales where they had put a pile of decorations and torches. “Hmm. Something is telling me that you might have something more planned than just a simple gam
e of leapfrog, girls.” A smile tugged at her mouth. “It’s OK” she said. “I won’t tell anyone. Your secret’s safe with me.”
She left the barn with Daffodil. Exchanging relieved looks, Freya and the others began to unload the pumpkins.
Later that afternoon, Freya and Matilda headed up to the secret room. Freya’s skin prickled as the wall revolved. Would they hear any strange spooky noises again? But all was quiet, and she gradually started to relax.
“There!” said Matilda eventually, standing back and admiring the robot. She had given it a felt mane and tail and painted its body with delicate swirls of colour.
“It looks awesome now. Thanks, Matilda,” said Freya gratefully.
“It’s been fun,” said Matilda. “You’re so clever, Freya. I don’t know anyone else who could build a robot.”
Freya’s heart swelled with pride. Building the robot had been her biggest project so far. She couldn’t quite believe she’d actually done it. And she couldn’t wait for Honey to see it the following night. Oh, please let her love it, she thought.
She began picking up her tools from the floor. As she did so, her eyes fell on the fireplace. With everything that had happened she had completely forgotten that she had found out that the board blocking the fireplace was actually a door. She went over to examine it. Yes, there were definitely hinges and an indent that looked like a button on the other side.
“What are you doing?” Matilda asked, as Freya explored the indent with her fingers.
“Just investigating.” Freya pressed. There was a click and the door in the fireplace swung open.
Matilda gasped as a blast of cold musty air wafted into the room. “It’s a door!”
Freya peered inside. “And look what’s behind it. A tunnel!” A dark tunnel with stone walls and a low ceiling sloped steeply downwards.
Matilda joined her. “Where do you think it goes to?”
Freya glanced at her. “We could find out.”
“But what if we meet a ghost?” said Matilda.
“We won’t. Ghosts don’t exist,” Freya said firmly. Now she could see a tunnel she felt much happier. A tunnel behind the fireplace explained things. Someone – a person – could have come up it and tapped on the door and made noises to scare them. OK, she had no idea why someone would do that but at least it was a theory that she could believe.
She fetched a torch from her tool bag. “Are you coming with me?”
Matilda followed Freya through the fireplace and into the stone tunnel. Even with the light of the torch it was hard to see what was ahead of them. They were definitely heading downwards, fast. Where were they going to end up?
Freya heard the drip of water. It grew louder as they continued walking and the floor levelled out. Suddenly the tunnel opened up into a small chamber. Freya shone the torch around. There were two more passageways leading away from the chamber and multicoloured water was dripping down the walls, forming puddles on the floor.
“I reckon the tunnel has brought us out of the school and through the gardens,” she said. “I think we’re under Sparkle Lake.”
“I wonder where those tunnels go to?” said Matilda, pointing at the other two passageways.
“Only one way to find out,” said Freya with a grin. This was exciting! She headed down the left-hand tunnel, which was slightly wider and higher. For a while it went straight and then it started to slope upwards.
“Oh, no. It’s a dead end,” said Matilda, as they reached a stone wall.
Freya shone the torch on the wall. The beam revealed some hand- and footholds carved into the stone. Glancing up, she caught her breath. Above them there was a trapdoor with light shining around the edges of it. “Look!” She stood on tiptoe and ran her hands over the wooden surface. Finding a small indent, she pressed it. There was a faint click and she felt the trapdoor loosen. She heaved upwards and it opened.
Freya pulled herself up the wall using the hand- and footholds and climbed out. “We’re in the barn!”
The trapdoor was hidden away in a dark corner of the barn. A layer of straw had been covering it. I guess that’s why we never noticed it, thought Freya.
“Wow!” Matilda breathed, climbing out. “A secret passageway from our tower all the way to the stables! Isn’t this brilliant? Just wait until we tell the others!”
“After the party,” said Freya quickly. “Or they’ll want to explore it and see the secret room. It’s perfect! I was wondering how to get my robot out to the barn without anyone seeing. Well, I can use this passageway!”
“Should we go and see Pearl and Honey while we’re here?” said Matilda.
Freya hesitated. Honey had been really distant and reserved with her ever since the day before. “Um, let’s not,” she said quickly, not wanting another awkward encounter. “We should go back and get ready for supper before anyone starts looking for us.”
“OK.” Matilda grinned at Freya. “A secret room and secret tunnels! How amazing is that?”
After supper, there was a knock on Diamond dorm’s door. It was Isla and Molly from Ruby dorm. “We’ve made some cakes,” said Isla shyly. She opened the lid of a massive cake tin full of spider cupcakes.
“And toffee apples,” added Molly, holding out a plate. “We thought we’d take them to the stables now. Is that OK?”
“Sure, we’ll come with you if you like? We can finish off putting up the decorations,” said Rosa.
They all headed down to the barn. On the way, they stopped at the stables to say hello to their unicorns. All the unicorns trotted out of their stalls to greet their riders – all apart from Honey.
Freya went into her stall. Honey’s nostrils fluttered in a whicker but then she seemed to stop herself, turning it into an unhappy snort.
“Honey, don’t be like this,” begged Freya. “Please.” She went over and stroked her, but Honey turned away.
Freya’s heart twisted in her chest. She knew Honey’s feelings had been badly hurt. She wanted to say she was sorry and tell her how much she loved her, but it was so hard to put her feelings into words. She wished she could be more like Matilda and just blurt out whatever she was thinking.
Instead, she cleared her throat and picked up Honey’s water bucket. “I’ll get you some more water,” she said.
She scrubbed the bucket and refilled it, then put more sky berries in Honey’s manger and fluffed up the straw in her bed. “I’ll … um, see you tomorrow then,” she said, hesitating in the doorway, desperately wanting to say more.
Honey gave a small nod. Walking away unhappily, Freya joined the others, who were now decorating. By the time they had finished, the barn looked amazing, covered with fake cobwebs, giant spiders, cut-out ghosts and cauldrons. There were hay bales to sit on, pumpkins set out for leapfrog racing, a load of popping pea pods and a massive pile of apples on one of the straw bales ready to be put in a bucket for apple bobbing.
Rosa looked around and gave a happy sigh. “You know, I really think this is going to be the best party ever!”
Freya didn’t sleep very well that night. She kept thinking about Honey and how miserable she had looked. She had pictured over and over again the grand moment when she would pull the blanket off the robot, revealing it to Honey in front of everyone. She had imagined Honey’s delighted face and a strand of her own blonde hair turning red and gold like Honey’s mane as they bonded. She really wanted that, but she didn’t think she could bear another day of Honey looking so miserable. Maybe I should just forget about the surprise and tell her what I’ve been doing, she thought. She tossed and turned and by daybreak had made a decision. She was going to tell Honey what she’d been doing even if it meant ruining their chance to bond. She couldn’t carry on making her unhappy.
Leaving the others asleep in the dorm, she crept out to the hallway. But as she headed down the staircase, she heard footsteps at the bottom. She froze. It must be a teacher! Moving as silently as she could, she went back up the stairs, past the dorm and into the secret ro
om.
Letting herself into it, her eyes fell on the robot. An idea formed in her mind. Why didn’t she take the robot to Honey now? After all, it was Honey’s birthday already. There was no reason she had to wait until the party that evening. I’ll do it, she thought, feeling a rush of excitement. Tucking the blanket under her arm and getting her torch and some rope from the toolbox, she lifted the robot into the tunnel.
“Robot… Forward!” she commanded. The robot started to trundle down the slope at her side, its wheels clattering on the stone.
When they reached the chamber under the lake, Freya glanced at the right-hand passageway. Where did it lead to? If the stables were to the left, then the right must lead in the direction of the walled vegetable garden. Curiosity pricked at her, but she shook her head. No, there was no time to explore it. She needed to get to Honey and explain.
A noise came from the tunnel behind her. Freya swung round just as a stone bounced out of it into the chamber. She stiffened.
“Is anyone there?” she demanded, stepping forwards bravely.
There was no answer. Freya breathed out in relief. The stone must just have been dislodged by the robot’s wheels. “Robot… Forward!” she said, turning it towards the passageway that led to the barn. The robot trundled on.
It was tricky getting it through the trapdoor at the end but with the rope she managed to heave it into the barn. As she climbed out, an idea formed in her head. Maybe she could reveal the robot to Honey in here and still make it a bit of a surprise? She put the robot in the centre of the barn, covered it with the blanket and headed towards the door, but as she did so there was a flash of violet light from the direction of the tunnel. She swung round.
POP! POP! POP!
The pea pods that were piled on one of the hay bales started to explode, the peas whizzing through the air like marbles fired from a catapult. “Ow!” gasped Freya as one giant pea hit her and then another and another. She dodged from side to side as the peas bounced into the opposite wall. What was happening? To her horror, she saw one of the pumpkins start to swell. The pile of apples next to the pea pods started to shake and then an apple suddenly exploded off the pile and shot straight towards her head!
