by Alex Bell
“Well, Shellycoat seems happy enough in the house,” I said, trying to find some logical objection to what she was saying.
“She never goes upstairs,” Lilias said. “Never. She doesn’t mind being downstairs, but if you try to take her upstairs she goes crazy. Cameron tried to take her up there once, when they were putting new carpets in downstairs. She almost scratched his face off. And the yowling. I never heard any cat sound like that before. Cameron said it was like she’d turned into a different cat. He said that something must have spooked her. But I know it was the Frozen Charlottes. They never speak to boys – only girls – so Cameron’s never heard them. He just thinks they’re creepy dolls.”
“What about Dark Tom?” I asked. “Would he go upstairs?”
Lilias considered this for a moment, then shrugged. “Dark Tom is Dark Tom,” she said. “Anyway, the butterflies used to make me really sad. The Frozen Charlottes ripped off their wings and left them all around the house. Once I pulled back the covers to get into bed and it was covered in wings.”
“What was?” I asked, startled.
“The mattress,” she said. “I told Cameron, but he didn’t believe me about the dolls. He thought Piper had done it and he got really angry with her.” Her voice took on an almost dreamy quality. “They were all different colours. Pretty. So pretty.”
The unwelcome image of the vase of flowers in my bedroom came into my mind, all fresh and beautiful when I first arrived at the house but shrivelled up and dead by the time dinner was over.
“Their faces are inside the tree,” Lilias said.
“What?”
“The dolls. Their faces are in the tree.” She twisted and pointed at the dead tree behind us.
I looked around to follow her pointing finger and, this time, I saw what I hadn’t noticed before. Part of the way up the trunk, just where a few scorched boards still nestled between the burnt branches, were a whole load of faces. You had to know they were there in order to see them, since they were tiny and blackened and blended in with the rest of the tree. But now I could see that there were a dozen or so Frozen Charlotte heads peering down at us from the bark.
“How… How did they get there?” I asked, shivering at the sight of them.
“Daddy says they must have melted into the tree during the fire,” Lilias said. “There used to be a tree house and Rebecca was playing up there with the dolls when the fire started.”
“Was Cameron there too?” I asked.
“No, he saw the fire from the house,” Lilias said, “and he ran out to save Rebecca. Don’t you think that was brave of him? Daddy says Rebecca probably would have died in the fire if it hadn’t been for Cameron. She was stuck up there, you see, and Cameron got her out. That’s how he hurt his hand.” She looked at me and said, “Do you think it would be better to burn or to freeze to death?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“What would you choose if you had a choice between burning to death, freezing to death or being sliced up with a knife?”
“It doesn’t sound like much of a choice,” I replied. “I wouldn’t like any of them.”
“Me neither,” Lilias said. “But I think I’d rather burn or freeze than get the knife. I think the knife would hurt the most. Daddy has lots of knives in the kitchen,” she went on. “He locked them away because he thinks I might try to cut out my bones, but I’d never do that. I’m stronger than the evil skeleton now.” She fingered her collarbone through the fabric of her turtleneck and I felt the sudden urge to take her hand and squeeze it.
“There is no evil skeleton, Lilias,” I said gently. “There’s only you.”
“The Frozen Charlotte dolls killed Rebecca,” Lilias whispered, ignoring what I’d said. “They didn’t manage it the first time so they had to try again.” She glanced up at the tree and said, “It’s good that they’re up there. They’re trapped – they can’t get out of the tree.” Then she looked at me with those serious eyes of hers and said sadly, “But there’s still all the other ones back at the house.”
Piper appeared just then, walking across the lawn towards us. She’d wiped her eyes dry but they were still red and blotchy. It was the first time I’d seen her look anything less than perfect.
“Sophie, would you help me with something in the house?” she asked.
“What is it?”
“Just a small thing. Come on, I’ll show you.”
I left Lilias under the tree and went back to the house with Piper, following her up the stairs to her room. As she shut the door behind us, I noticed the bandage around her right hand.
“What happened to your hand?” I asked.
“Oh. It’s silly, really. I fell off Brett’s bike last night and twisted it. That’s why I need your help, actually.”
“You fell off the bike?” I said, alarmed. “Are you all right?”
“Oh yes, I’m fine. But the problem is that I promised to write to my friend, Sally – she’s just moved to England, you see. Only now that I’ve hurt my hand, I can’t do it. Would you mind writing the letter for me?”
“Now?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Don’t you email?”
“Oh no. Email is so impersonal. I prefer to write letters. You don’t mind, do you? Only she’ll worry if she doesn’t hear from me.”
I thought today of all days was a strange time to be bothering with such things, but I took the pen and paper she gave me and proceeded to write down the words she dictated.
It was a pretty boring letter, mostly about the weather they’d been having, and the different birds Piper had spotted on her clifftop walks. As I wrote it out for her, I found myself feeling more and more annoyed that she could be bothered with something like this when her brother’s priceless piano had just been destroyed, probably by her own boyfriend.
“So did you actually see Brett drive away?” I asked, handing her the finished letter.
“Gosh, your handwriting is a bit of a mess, isn’t it?” Piper said, peering at it with a concerned expression. “I do hope Sally is able to read it.”
“Piper, did you see him?” I asked, refusing to be put off.
“Who?” She looked up at me. “Cameron?”
“No, Brett! Did you actually see him drive away from the house?”
“Oh yes, he drove away all right,” she said. “I don’t believe he was the one who destroyed the piano for a second.” She sniffed and said, “But it would serve Cameron right if he had.”
I stared at her. “That’s a terrible thing to say.”
She seemed genuinely surprised. “Is it? You saw the state of Brett’s back. Isn’t attacking another person far worse than dismantling a piano?”
I supposed she had a point, but I found her behaviour a strange contrast to the tears she had shed so copiously earlier.
“I’m devastated for Cameron, of course,” she said. “Simply devastated. But I can’t say he didn’t have it coming. Come on – let’s go and make lunch.”
Cameron didn’t come down for lunch and the rest of us ate around the table in silence. Afterwards I went to the schoolroom and reexamined the photo of Rebecca on the wall. I’d been so intent on her face last time that I hadn’t noticed she was holding something. It was a Frozen Charlotte doll.
“Poor Rebecca,” Piper said from behind me in a sad voice. I turned and saw her standing in the doorway, fingering her Frozen Charlotte necklace. “Things would have been so different for all of us if she hadn’t died.”
“Why do you think she left the house in the middle of the night?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Sophie. Really, why would anyone go out in the middle of the night when it was dark and howling a gale and there was snow everywhere? She knew she wasn’t allowed to. She ought to have been at home in bed.” She sighed. “But anyway, I came to ask if you’d like to come camping with us on the beach tomorrow?”
“Us?”
“Me, Brett and a few other friends. We often go down
to the beach during the summer, make a fire, have a barbecue and sleep outside. It’s great fun. You can borrow a sleeping bag.”
I thought back to how angry Uncle James had seemed earlier. If my mum or dad had caught me sneaking out like Piper had done, even without the piano incident, I probably would have been grounded for weeks.
“But … what about your dad…”
“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Piper said, waving her hand. “I said that we’d already arranged the camping, just for you, and that you’re really excited about it and everything. You will come, won’t you? He might not let me go otherwise. I was going to ask you before, I just never got round to it.”
“Won’t we get washed away in weather like this?” I asked, glancing out of the window at the trees bending in the wind.
“Oh, it’s going to die down tomorrow. I checked the forecast.” She smiled at me. “I think it would do you good to get out of the house. You look terribly tired, you know, even Dad’s noticed it and he never notices anything. I don’t think you can be sleeping very well here. A night on the beach, in the fresh air, will probably do you the world of good.”
In fact, ever since last night I’d just wanted to go home. After what had taken place in Rebecca’s room, and finding out Piper’s secret, and then what had happened to Cameron’s piano, home seemed so warm and safe and normal. But a night spent away from the Frozen Charlottes and this stifling, airless house would be something at least. “All right,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Great. We’ll head down there around six-ish. Oh, and Sophie, would you mind not mentioning that Brett’s going to be there? I sort of skipped over that part with Dad. You know what parents are like.”
I couldn’t help it – I groaned out loud. “Piper, look, I’m not a snitch but I’d rather not have to lie to your dad.”
“You won’t have to lie to him,” Piper said. “Don’t worry, he’s not going to start questioning you about it. You just have to keep your mouth shut, that’s all. You can do that, can’t you? Please, Sophie? As a personal favour?”
I sighed. “All right.”
She beamed. “I knew I could count on you.”
After she left, I went upstairs and saw that Mum had sent me an email in response to the one I’d sent the night before. I couldn’t be bothered to reply right then so I ran a bath instead. But even though the water was hot when I first stepped in, it seemed to cool down really quickly. Frowning, I reached out, intending to turn the tap on for another blast of hot water. But my hand was only halfway there when I gasped – the water in the bath wasn’t just cooling down now, it was ice cold, freezing in fact. I put my hands on either side of the bath, intending to pull myself out.
The moment I lifted out my hands, the water in the bath started to freeze, actually freeze, around me. Ice blasted across the surface, snapping and crackling as it went – burning me with a ferocious cold that made my skin feel like it was being stripped from my bones in slices, like my body was no longer flesh and blood, but porcelain that would shatter at the slightest touch.
Although my arms were free, I couldn’t get out of the bath because the ice had sealed me in completely, the same way the plaster had sealed the Frozen Charlotte dolls into the wall of the basement. When I tried to pull myself up I felt my skin tear and a red swirl ran through the ice, scarlet mixing with white in a way that was disturbingly beautiful.
I opened my mouth and screamed.
Or at least I tried to.
But I couldn’t make a single sound because my throat was suddenly clogged up with something, something that threatened to choke me. My chest heaved and I found myself coughing up great clumps of black sand that landed in wet lumps upon the frozen surface of the water.
And then it was over. As quickly as it had started, everything was gone – the ice and the sand, and I was once again lying in a steaming-hot bath.
Splashing water everywhere, I scrambled out of the tub and landed in a shivering heap on the bath mat. Even though the water was now warm again, I could still feel that ice against my skin, a cold that pierced all the way through to the bone, and try as I might, I couldn’t stop my teeth from chattering and my skin felt frostbitten and sore.
Finally, I managed to get to my feet, and that was when I saw the words written in the condensation on the mirror:
Charlotte is cold…
Chapter Twelve
He cracked his whip,
He urged his steed much faster than before
And thus five other dreary miles,
In silence were passed over.
Pausing only to grab a towel to wrap around myself, I ran out of the bathroom and down the stairs to find Uncle James. He was sitting at his easel and looked startled when I burst into his studio.
“Sophie,” he said, standing up. “What—”
“I can’t do this,” I said. “I’m sorry, I thought I could, but I can’t. I’ve got to go. I’ve got to go home right now.”
“Home? But… But why? What’s happened?”
I shook my head, feeling close to tears. I couldn’t tell him. He’d never believe me. No one would. I barely believed it myself. “Nothing. I just want to go home.”
“All right, we’ll talk about it but … but would you mind putting some clothes on first?”
“What’s going on down here?” Cameron said behind me. I turned and saw him stood in the doorway, staring. “Why are you running around half naked like that?”
“I … the bath, it… Look, it doesn’t matter! All that matters is that I’m going home.”
Uncle James was starting to look quite alarmed. “But what would your mother say? I mean, they’re not even in the country. I can’t just let you go back to an empty house. Whatever the problem is, I’m sure we can sort it out.”
I wished I’d paused to put some clothes on. Dripping wet, I was starting to shiver. Cameron must have noticed too because, to my surprise, I suddenly found his jacket draped over my shoulders. I glanced round at him, startled. “Thanks.”
He shrugged.
I turned back to Uncle James and said, “If you won’t drive me back to the ferry then I’ll call a taxi. You can’t stop me from going.”
Uncle James looked helplessly at Cameron.
“Well, she’s quite right,” Cameron said. “We can’t keep her here against her will. She’s not a prisoner, after all.” He looked at me and said, “I’m sure you’ve got other friends you can stay with at home, haven’t you?”
I nodded. “Yes, I’ll call someone from the car.”
“Well, I really wish you’d reconsider,” Uncle James began. “I mean, whatever’s upset you—”
“Maybe she just needs to be around friends right now, Dad,” Cameron interrupted in a mild tone. “Let’s just do as she’s asked and take her back to the ferry.”
Uncle James ran his hands through his hair. “But I don’t know if they’ll even be running in weather like this.” As if on cue, the windows rattled in their frames as the wind outside shook the house. “There was even talk of closing the bridge this morning.”
I could feel sobs of frustration bubbling up inside me and I had to fight hard to shove them back down.
“Then I’ll stay in a B&B and catch a ferry in the morning,” I said. “I have to go. I can’t stay in this house another minute.”
“That’s that then,” Cameron said. “Call me when you’re ready and I’ll carry your bags down.”
I nodded, thankful for once that Cameron had always been so eager to get rid of me. I went back upstairs before Uncle James could argue with me any more, got changed as fast as I could, and practically threw my stuff into my bags. When there was a knock at the door I thought it would be Cameron coming for the suitcase but, in fact, it was Lilias.
“Are you leaving?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “I am.”
I felt like such an idiot for thinking I could do this in the first place. I wasn’t a detective or a ghost hunter. I never should
have come.
“She says I have to tell you before you go,” Lilias said.
“Who? Tell me what?” I was only half paying attention to her as I finished throwing clothes into my bag.
“Rebecca. She says I have to give you the message.”
I stopped what I was doing and looked at her. “What message?”
“She said to tell you that Jay says hello.”
I felt all the blood drain from my face.
Jay says hello…
The words were like a kick in the gut. I felt cold all over, and tears prickled my eyelids. I blinked quickly, trying to force them away, trying to keep myself together. The expression on my face must have worried Lilias for she shrank back from me, as if she was afraid I was going to smack her or something. She looked terrified all of a sudden.
“I don’t want you to go,” she said quietly. “And neither does Hannah.” Then she turned and ran from the room, almost colliding with Uncle James in the doorway. He was wearing his jacket and had a worried expression on his face. His car keys dangled loosely from his hand.
“Is it because of this business with Cameron’s piano?” he asked. “Is that why you want to leave?”
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s nothing like that. I’ve just been feeling a bit homesick.”
“Well, stay tonight, at least,” Uncle James said. “And if you’re still feeling homesick in the morning then I promise I’ll take you to the ferry.”
Part of me wanted to insist on leaving right now. I so badly wanted to go. But what would happen then? Rebecca would still be here. Lilias would still be afraid. My uncle and cousins would still be in danger. And Jay and I were the ones to blame for all of it. If we’d never messed around with the Ouija-board app, none of this would have happened. Jay was gone. I was the only person left who could try to undo the damage we’d done.
“Please, Sophie,” Uncle James said softly. “If you leave upset like this you might regret it by the time you get home.”
