‘Pierce is gone,’ she said.
‘I know.’
‘So you can tell me what the nightmares are now.’
‘I…No.’
‘Wendy, I saved Donald from the bull,’ she said, deciding a bit of bossiness was in order. ‘I’ll save you from your terrors, too, but I need to know what they are.’
There was a long silence. Then, ‘Dark,’ Wendy whispered.
‘Dark?’
‘I…Yes.’
‘There’s a night light in your room. Isn’t it light enough for you?’
‘Just…When I go to sleep…’
‘It’s dark when you go to sleep?’
‘The cupboard,’ Wendy said, and Shanni held her breath.
‘What cupboard?’
‘He puts me in it. He hates me, cos if he hits the kids I tell Mum. Mum’s in bed-she’s always sick. And every time…’
‘Is this Pierce?’ Shanni interrupted, appalled. The nightmare obviously was mixing past with present, horrifically.
‘No.’ It was barely a whisper. ‘The other…’
‘Another man?’
‘We were with him for ages. Mum said we had to stay with him cos she didn’t have anywhere else to go. So I didn’t tell her about the cupboard. I’d tell her if he hit the kids, but she got upset when I told her anything. I told the kids it was okay. I didn’t mind. I pretended it was a-a game. But it wasn’t. Then one night he hit Donald, really hard. He made Donald’s eye swell up and I kicked him, even harder than he hit Donald. But then he locked us both up. Only, Donald cried so loud that Abby went and told Mum. Mum got up and yelled and yelled, and Donald said I was always in the cupboard. Even when I told him not to say it. Then Mum cried all night. The next day, Mum put us all in the car and we went to Pierce’s.’
Dear God.
I’m not qualified to deal with this, Shanni thought desperately. I don’t know what to do.
But she was all Wendy had. Apart from Pierce, who Wendy was obviously mixing in her head with her mother’s ghastly partner. Only in her sleep, she thought, but it was enough to mean Pierce couldn’t help her now.
‘Wendy, that’s a dreadful story,’ she said. ‘It’s awful. How dare he treat you like that.’
‘I…’
‘He ought to be arrested.’ She was angry, and she decided it couldn’t hurt to let her anger show. ‘Of all the ghastly, scary things…Oh, Wendy, how could you bear it? And you had to look after the other children, too.’
‘It was…dark.’
‘And your mother didn’t know?’
‘Once I tried to tell her, but she got so upset she got out of bed and fell over. He told her I’d been naughty, and he said he’d only put me in there for a minute. But it was for hours and hours. And it was over and over again. All night, sometimes. Until Donald, I tried not to say.’
‘Oh, Wendy, love,’ Shanni whispered. ‘Oh, my brave Wendy. You’re the bravest kid I know. Bar none.’
‘I hate the nightmares,’ she said.
‘You know Pierce isn’t like this man.’
‘I…I know.’
Shanni took a deep breath, then swung her legs out of bed, got up and turned on the overhead light. This suddenly seemed of immense importance.
‘You know I saved Donald from the bull.’
Wendy nodded, not sure where Shanni was going.
‘Wendy, I swear to you, if anyone else were to hurt you I’d react exactly the same as if they were the bull. No matter who. Do you believe that?’ She put her hand under the little girl’s chin and forced her to meet her eyes. ‘Wendy, you have to believe it.’
‘I…I do.’
‘So, are you afraid of Pierce?’
She was holding her breath. Surely she couldn’t be wrong about Pierce’s character, she thought, but this child was trusting her, and suddenly Shanni knew the enormity of what was being offered. Trust…
‘Please,’ she whispered under her breath, but she forced her face to stay absolutely clear, absolutely empty, non-judgemental, not likely to react to the worst…
‘No,’ Wendy whispered.
‘You didn’t want him to come in just now.’
‘No, I…’
‘You what?’
‘It’s just the dreams,’ Wendy said desperately. ‘Our mum said Pierce was a friend. She said we could trust him for ever. She said we’d be safe. And we are, and he’s nice as nice, and sometimes I even hug him like the other kids, but at night I have dreams and he gets all mixed up with…with the other one.’
‘Has Pierce ever done anything to you in a way you don’t like? Anything at all?’ Was this Shanni asking these sort of questions? She was a city girl with no responsibilities, with her head in the art world. What was she doing, asking questions like these?
But she must.
‘No,’ Wendy said, and there was something about her that told Shanni she couldn’t lie about this. It was too important. For some reason she’d decided to admit Shanni to her confidence, and she was going as far as she could.
‘So there’s no reason to be afraid of him except the dreams?’
‘I can’t stop dreaming,’ Wendy said desperately. ‘I try and I try, but the dark comes.’
‘Oh, sweetheart,’ Shanni said, trying not to cry. ‘You’re safe now. You’re absolutely safe. I’m protecting you. Pierce is protecting you. So is everyone in this castle, and tomorrow we’re going for a swim at the beach before breakfast.’
‘I…I know.’
‘Who cut your hair?’ Shanni asked suddenly. The child’s crop looked as if it had been attacked by a pruning saw. Ragged and uneven, it ranged from almost touching the collar of her pyjamas to being almost scalp-short.
‘I did,’ Wendy said, distracted from nightmares for a moment. ‘When we had the chicken pox. Abby spilled her drink, and I was mopping it up under the table when Donald spilled craft glue. It went into my hair. I tried to wash it out but it wouldn’t wash. So I cut it.’
‘What did Pierce say when he saw?’
‘He phoned the hairdresser, but she wouldn’t cut it cos of the chicken pox.’ She put a hand through her ragged curls. ‘It’s okay.’
‘It’s not,’ Shanni said. Here at last was something she could do. Girl stuff. ‘After your swim tomorrow, what say you and me go into town and find a hairdresser? And a clothes shop. You’re wearing the same clothes as Abby.’
‘Mum said it was easier.’
‘Yes, but your mum was sick, and I like a challenge.’ She grinned. ‘There’s nothing like a bit of retail therapy to drive away nightmares. I’ll hit Pierce for an advance on my wages if he won’t pay.’
‘Retail therapy?’
‘Clothes,’ Shanni said. ‘Clothes and shoes and hair. Pretty stuff. Girl stuff. You’re eleven years old, Wendy MacLachlan. You can be a kid and have fun all you want to, but it’s time you had a play at being a young lady.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
