Alice Parker & the Curse of Fate (13 page)

‘
You don’t
think Alice is interested in
him
,
do you?’ sneered Thomas. ‘He’s not good enough.
Alice is aiming high.’

Tears of mirth
created clean streaks down Isabella’s grubby face. She was in
stitches. Alice found it extremely unnerving. Even Lukas seemed
disturbed by Isabella’s uncontrollable cackling.

‘
Oh, you are
so funny, Thomas! You’d be quite cute if you weren’t so
pathetic. You’ve no idea what the future holds for your
darling little sister! If only you knew!’

‘
Don’t
worry,’ snarled Alice, ‘we’ll read up on it when we
get home.’

‘
Brace
yourself! It’s more a horror story than a fairy tale!’

‘
Tip the rest,
Ingrid!’ shouted Thomas.

‘
No!’
called Alice. She lowered her voice. ‘I’m sorry,
Thomas. I do want rid of her, but I don’t want to be a
murderer.’

‘
Like me, you
mean?’

‘
That was
different. It was self-defence. I know you didn’t mean to
kill
Lionel.’

‘
This
is
self-defence.’

‘
Yes, but ...
remember how Hugh changed after I saved his life? This could be an
opportunity to change her.’

‘
Oh for pity’s
sake, Alice! This one will never change!’ yelled Thomas in
frustration.

‘
I will!’
screamed Isabella, pressing herself flat against the side of the pit
as earth piled in at an alarming speed. ‘I don’t want to
die!’

‘
Me also!’
shouted Lukas. ‘I am not deserving this. She pays me –
that is all. I meet her last week only.’

‘
Where?’
demanded Thomas.

‘
In the
village.’

‘
And where’s
that?’

Lukas hesitated.

‘
Under the
Brandenburg Gate,’ replied Ingrid. ‘I know, you see.’

Lukas scowled.
Clearly Ingrid was right.
‘Lass
uns bitte raus!
’
he growled.

‘
I will
change. I’ll leave you alone, I promise,’ wailed
Isabella. ‘Don’t kill me, please!’

Ingrid had lowered
the trailer slightly, slowing the flow of earth in to the hole. She
looked at Thomas expectantly, her finger hovering over the hydraulic
control.

‘
Aaargh!’
he growled. ‘Have it your way, Alice. But be warned; it’s
on your shoulders if she doesn’t keep her word. I for one
don’t believe her for a second.’

Ingrid climbed down
from her seat and produced a ladder from behind a nearby tree.
Swiftly she extended it down in to the hole.

‘
Hold on! Why
... how did you know we’d need that?’ asked Thomas.

Ingrid smiled. ‘You
are Finwips.’

Thomas mumbled
something inaudibly and positioned himself at the top of the ladder.
‘Give me your phones, or you’re going nowhere.’

Grudgingly they
threw them up to him. Lukas had to be helped out of the hole –
he could hardly see without his glasses.’

‘
I wondered
why you didn’t stop the trailer from tipping. You couldn’t
focus on it because you couldn’t see it clearly!’

Lukas responded to
Thomas with a rude gesture. Isabella simply stood with her arms
folded, as if waiting for something.

‘
What?’
asked Alice.

Isabella gawped at
her. ‘A change of clothes? A taxi?’

‘
You must be
joking!’ snorted Thomas. ‘Clear off, both of you! It
will do you good, a long walk through the countryside, stinking of
...’

‘
Train station
there,’ said Ingrid, pointing far in to the distance. Alice
and Thomas climbed on to the trailer as she started the engine.

‘
You could try
and hitch a ride on the main road,’ sniggered Alice. ‘But
no one will take you in that state.’

She couldn’t
resist waving goodbye as they left their pungent-smelling foes
shivering in the middle of the field.

Chapter 11

The
Fall of a Warrior

‘
Where have
you been?’ asked Grandma when they entered the kitchen. She
and Brigitte were having breakfast with Heinrich and his family.

Alice glanced at
Ingrid. ‘We went for an early morning walk. To clear our
heads, you know.’

‘
Did it help?’

Ingrid smiled.
‘Yes. I think so. What are your plans for today? Something
nice?’

‘
Of course
not! How can we even think about enjoying ourselves after what
happened last night? We can’t leave you here in this mess! We
want to help,’ protested Grandma.

‘
Ach, nein!
What can you do? I must speak to the ... er ...
Versicherungsgesellschaft.’

‘
Insurance
company,’ said Alice without thinking.

‘
Yes! That is
all I can do. So go! Have fun! Enjoy your holiday. You go home
when?’

‘
Tomorrow,’
replied Brigitte promptly, as if she had been counting the days.

‘
Not long to
go,’ said Alice, wondering if her aunt would celebrate when
they left.

‘
You’re
sure you’ll be all right, Ingrid? I feel terrible leaving you
like this when you were so kind to invite us,’ said Grandma.
‘I just can’t imagine how you must be feeling.’

‘
I am fine,’
declared Ingrid. ‘We are all living and healthy, are we not?
That is important.’

‘
Very true,’
agreed Thomas. ‘So, are we going to see the Externsteine
before
we go back to Berlin, then?’

‘
What’s
that?’ asked Alice.

‘
They’re
huge rocks. You can climb on them. The views are supposed to be
magnificent.’

‘
Not a chance!
That place is too dangerous for you two. I’ve been there many
times. I can imagine you falling off a walkway and plunging down to
the ground,’ said Grandma, shuddering at the thought of it.

‘
I
wouldn’t!’
whispered Alice. ‘But Thomas might.’

‘
Hermannsdenkmal,
perhaps?’ suggested Brigitte.

‘
I’ve
heard of that at school. It’s a huge statue of Arminius, isn’t
it? Let’s go there! I’d like to see it.’

‘
I think you
must go quick,’ advised Ingrid, looking out of the window at
the sky. ‘More snow comes. We call him Hermann, his German
name. He defeated the Romans, you know.’

Alice and Thomas ate
a hurried breakfast of warm crusty bread with cheese and ham while
Brigitte and Grandma said their goodbyes to Ingrid and Heinrich.
Brigitte never took long over such things, and carried their bags out
to the car while Ingrid spoke to Grandma in hushed tones, holding her
hands tightly.

‘
Thank you,
Erika, for this visit. Your grandchildren are very special and
always welcome. When my house is better, you return, OK?’ She
winked at Grandma knowingly.

Surprised, Grandma
looked at Alice and Thomas for an explanation, but they just grinned.
Brigitte was back in the room.

‘
One visit to
the bathroom and I am ready to go,’ she announced, heading
upstairs.

Alice hugged Ingrid
and the dogs before she went out to the car.

‘
Don’t
worry, Grandma,’ she said in a low voice. ‘About
Isabella, I mean. Everything will be all right now – I can
feel it in my stomach.’

Thomas shook his
head in despair. ‘I’m afraid you’re wrong, Alice.
You’ve eaten too much cheese, that’s all.’

*

In less than half an
hour they arrived in the visitors’ car park at Hermannsdenkmal.
The only other vehicles there were a builder’s van and an old,
pale blue and white VW campervan. Perhaps the weather had put
visitors off. Ingrid was right; snow was beginning to fall already.

‘
We should
have gone straight home. It’s too cold to wander around a
tourist attraction,’ Grandma moaned.

‘
We
can stay in the car,’ said Brigitte. ‘We have seen it
before, after all.’

‘
No. It will
be warmer in the cafe. I’ll pay for the coffees, don’t
worry.’

‘
I am not
worried. The cafe is closed,’ Brigitte pointed out.

‘
Oh, that’s
just wonderful.’

Braving the bitterly
cold wind Alice and Thomas hurried along the footpath winding through
the trees to find the immense monument. From the car park it was
hidden from sight by the forest.

‘
I wish I’d
worn my hat,’ said Alice, shivering. ‘Don’t you?’

‘
Er, I’m
afraid they went up in smoke. We left them on the radiator in
Ingrid’s kitchen.’

Alice sighed loudly,
still wracked with guilt about the fire. After a few minutes of
walking in silence, they reached the end of the path and emerged on
to a circular area at the foot of an enormous flight of steps. At
the top of the steps was a grand stone plinth. Poised on top of
that, pointing his sword up to the sky, was Hermann.

Alice stared
open-mouthed, oblivious to the snow which was now falling more
rapidly around them. She already knew it was huge, but nothing could
have prepared her for the reality of this incredible monument.
Standing proudly above Teutoburg Forest, it was over fifty-four
metres tall. From his sandals to the tip of his sword, Hermann
himself was a metal giant of twenty-seven metres. Against the
backdrop of the trees he was a striking, intimidating spectacle.
Alice felt a little afraid of him. Perhaps it was the lifelessness
of his metal eyes.

‘
Well, he’s
pretty impressive!’ admitted Thomas. ‘Give me your
phone, I’ll take some photos of you in front of Hermann. Then
we’ll climb up inside the plinth to see the views.’

Thanks to the snow,
their views across the countryside from the top of the plinth were
limited.

‘
That was a
waste of time,’ complained Thomas. ‘I wish I hadn’t
put the money in the machine just to come up here.’

‘
I’m
sure you could get it back if you put your mind to it! Anyway, I
heard that it was possible to climb up inside the statue as well.’

‘
Not today, it
seems. There’s no mention of it anywhere. Shame, that would
have been interesting. Look, that metal ladder goes up to a door in
the roof. That must be the access point.’

‘
Never mind.
We should get back to the car, really. Grandma will be fed up,’
said Alice.

‘
Rubbish. I
bet they’ve both fallen asleep! We might as well take a look.’

‘
Up there? No
way! We’ll get in to trouble!’

‘
How? There’s
no one here. This place is deserted.’

Before Alice could
reply, Thomas was at the top of the ladder, opening the door above
them. He switched on a light to reveal rungs on one side of a
tubular metal structure within the monument.

‘
Come on!
Just a short way up to see what it’s like on the inside.’

Alice hesitated.
The Hermann statue sent shivers down her spine, so she had no desire
to climb inside it. But she didn’t want to stay in the plinth
on her own either. It was so quiet, it was eerie. Reluctantly she
followed Thomas. She would just climb a few feet, then get out of
there.

‘
You’re
lucky you’re wearing gloves,’ called Thomas. ‘My
fingers are almost freezing to these rungs!’

‘
Mmm. Perhaps
you should abandon this idea. There’s nothing to see in here
anyway.’

‘
I just want
to reach the end of this straight run, then there might be another
light switch. I’d like see more of the internal structure.
The scale of this thing is incredible.’

‘
I’ve
seen enough already. I don’t like it. It smells funny; old
and metallic and ...’