She pushed her brother towards the opening, both of them treading carefully even though in haste. The sound from the landing above was getting louder.
Every few seconds now.
They scuttled through the gap, as quietly as possible, Seraphina tight behind Quentin as though they were playing spoons. By the light that stretched across the hall from the tall window, they could see a stairway leading down to a basement area. Quentin had to descend two steps so that his sister could squeeze in after him.
Almost one sound.
Footsteps now. Soft footsteps that made the boards of the stairs under the window creak.
Seraphina pulled the door they hid behind closed; mercifully the hinges did not squeak. She was very careful not to make a noise when the door shut completely. They were in darkness. When their eyes adjusted, they could only make out a line of light from beneath the door. They waited, trying to control their panicky breaths in case they were overheard.
A pungent, musty, dank smell and a soft rushing sound came from below. Seraphina soon realized its source. Her mother had also told her of the well in Crickley Hall's cellar; it dropped to the underground river that eventually joined the Bay River before reaching the sea. Mum and Megan never went down there, not even out of curiosity. Neither of them liked the idea, but couldn't say why exactly.
Cold draughts came up the cellar steps to chill the girl and her brother even more. Seraphina felt Quentin shivering next to her as they crouched in the darkness and she became aware that she was shivering too. And it wasn't because of the cold.
'Can you hear it any more?' Quentin whispered close to her ear.
She thought she could, but the background sound of rushing water and the closed door itself muted it.
Distant.
And then there was a noise behind them. They turned their heads and stared into the pitch-black below, straining their eyes to see and their ears to listen.
It was faint. At first. But it grew slightly louder. A shuffling. Like a shoe scraping stone, underneath the noise of the underground river but audible nevertheless.
That sounded louder, as if someone were coming down the hall's stairway.
But again, that
Quentin was scrabbling around for something in the dark; his elbow kept prodding her. He was looking for something in his anorak pockets.
The boy bit his lower lip. It wasn't in the right-hand pocket. It had to be in the left. A gasp of relief as his shaky fingers closed around the mini-torch he always kept in his anorak. The mornings were growing gloomier as winter approached and he carried the little plastic torch with him on the egg round so that he wouldn't trip over anything in the dark. He brought the torch out now, but his sister caught his attention by swearing under her breath.
Seraphina had been kneeling on the top step, her ear pressed against the door. But she had jerked away when water from the hall oozed under it like slick oil. It had soaked the knees of her blue joggers and was beginning to trickle down the stairs. She stood, careful not to lose her balance and topple backwards. Quentin startled her by switching on the torch.
Its beam was poor, the batteries weak, but a circle of light appeared on the door they hid behind. He lowered the angle so the light went to the bottom of the door.
They saw a broad stream of water seeping through the gap at the bottom, spreading and slowly flowing over onto the first step. The water crept forward until it overflowed onto the second step.
Louder than before, but still muffled by the constant flow of the underground river.
That came from downstairs, from the pitch-black cellar.
His hand trembling wildly, Quentin turned the torch so that its limited beam shone down the steps. They heard the
They barely noticed that the water from outside had reached the third step and was beginning to flow like spring water.
Although the torchlight was feeble, Seraphina and Quentin could make out a small area of the cellar. Something was coming into view.
Seraphina also screeched at the umbrageous form that stood near the foot of the steps. The shadows emphasized its undefined horror rather than concealed it.
Almost hysterical, Seraphina pushed open the door so hard that it swung wide, the handle smashing into the wall behind. Despite her terror, she halted in the doorway and Quentin, scrambling to get out behind her, gawped over her shoulder.
The hall was flooded as if all the small puddles had expanded into one great lake. The water was shallow, but it completely covered the flagstones. The bigger shock, though, was the figure standing at the turn of the stairs, blinding light shining through the window at its back so that the front was in shade. But not so shaded that Seraphina and Quentin could not see it was a naked man.
The man was skinny and sunlight behind created a halo effect with his white hair. But the image kept fluctuating, fading in and out so that it had no substance. One moment it looked solid, the next it was transparent and they could see the stairs and circular torchere through it. He held something in his right hand—a stick, a long stick of some kind—and as the sister and brother watched, the man raised it high over his head, then brought it down so swiftly it became a blur. The cane smacked against his own thigh, its end splaying over the flesh.
Again, almost one sound.
Now Seraphina and Quentin shrieked in terror.
Hand in hand they ran, splashing through the water as they went, their shrieks filling the great hall and echoing off its thick walls.
37: GHOST
The plan had been to get Loren to a doctor first thing, have her checked out and, if there was nothing physically wrong with her (she seemed fine this morning, if a little tired—but then with four in a bed again, none of them got a good night's sleep) and her pain last night was not a portent or symptom of serious illness (growing pains couldn't be that violent), they would drop her off in time for school; he would return to Crickley Hall with Eve and Cally, then take himself off to Ilfracombe and get on with the job for which he was being paid. That was the plan. It didn't work out that way, though.
