Mystery at Silver Spires (10 page)

“That's okay,” Nicole called out brightly.

Then Mr. Monk suddenly said, “You girls heard any other noises from the attic lately?”

I shook my head and we all answered him together in a rushing torrent.

“No.”

“Nothing.”

“No.”

“Not a sound.”

“No we haven't.”

“There can't be anything there.”

The echo of our voices seemed to hang in the air. Our answers had come far too quickly. It was no wonder Mrs. Pridham was eyeing us suspiciously.

“Emily?” she said, her eyebrows raised.

I didn't get why she'd singled out Emily, until I looked at my best friend and saw that she was bright red. Then my heart pounded even harder.

“Y-yes?” replied Emily shakily.

“You look a bit uncomfortable. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?” I know I didn't imagine it – Mrs. Pridham's tone was definitely harder.

“Well, I'll be off,” said Mr. Pridham, darting round the back of Forest Ash, where there's another entrance to their flat. I could tell he didn't want to get involved with whatever was about to happen. I wished I could disappear too, because I was filled with dread. Everything depended on Emily keeping her cool.

“No,” she replied, turning her palms up as though Mrs. Pridham had accused her of stealing something.

“So none of you has heard any more noises coming from the attic recently?” Mr. Monk repeated clearly and slowly.

This time there was a pause before any of us answered. “No…we haven't…” All the certainty had left our voices. And Emily hadn't said a word, as though she didn't trust herself to speak.

Mrs. Pridham walked over to us and we stood there silent and strained, waiting for the interrogation that was about to come. “Emily, do you know how this window managed to open itself?”

Suddenly I didn't think it was fair that poor Emily was being picked on, just because she's the one who goes red most easily. And I realized something else too. We were very close to being found out. So it would be better to tell the truth straight away. We'd known we'd have to tell Mrs. P in the end. And I had to be the one to do it. After all, I'm what I suppose you'd call the ringleader where Silver is concerned, so it was up to me to take responsibility and face the music.

I spoke quietly but kept my eyes on Mrs. Pridham. “
I
was the one who opened the window.” I could feel five pairs of eyes boring into me and stifled gasps like mini explosions going off around me.

Mrs. Pridham's gaze left Emily and swung round to me. “You went up to the attic?”

I nodded.

“Why, might I ask?”

I didn't hesitate. And I didn't look down at all, but kept my eyes on Mrs. Pridham's, because I wasn't scared of the trouble I was in. Only scared for Silver. “To see what was making the noise.”

My friends were completely silent. Waiting for the worst, I guessed.

“And what
was
making the noise, Bryony?”

“It was a cat!” chipped in Mr. Monk. “Cheeky thing. But I got rid of it, didn't I, and fixed the catch so it couldn't come back.” Over his face came a slow look of realization and with his next words, I saw his eyes widen even more. “I bet the pesky thing has come back!”

“And then you went up again and deliberately opened the window?” said Mrs. Pridham, entirely ignoring Mr. Monk but frowning hard at me.

Still I made myself keep my eyes on hers. “Yes, and I left food for the cat, because I felt sorry for it.”

“You went and fed a mangy old stray?” Mr. Monk spluttered, as though he couldn't believe anyone would be so stupid.

I swallowed.

“You've been very deceitful,” said Mrs. Pridham, lowering her voice, which sent shivers down my spine. She looked around the rest of us. “You
all
have. The Year Nines have been insisting they've heard noises and I've just shrugged off what they said as over imaginative. They've been getting themselves all wound up thinking there's a ghost up there. Do you realize how much your behaviour has upset them, Bryony?”

“Sorry.”

“Is that all?”

“Bryony's not the only one. I've been up there too,” said Emily in a gabble.

“And they wouldn't have gone in the first place if it hadn't been for me being so scared,” added Izzy.

“Is the cat still there?” Mrs. Pridham asked, raising her voice again and fixing her sharp gaze on Emily now.

“Yes, she is,” I answered quickly. “The others all wanted to tell you, but I told them not to because I thought you might…get rid of her.”

“And you were right there, Bryony. I will most certainly get rid of her. We can't have stray cats living in the attic at Forest Ash. It's completely unhygienic and unacceptable.”

Emily threw me the subtlest of glances, her eyebrows raised. I got her message. She was wondering whether or not we should tell Mrs. Pridham that Silver was pregnant. In a way it might explain our behaviour. But in another way, it might make us seem even more guilty in Mrs. Pridham's eyes, for not having reported something so important. I gave Emily the tiniest shake of my head when no one was looking.

Mrs. Pridham turned suddenly to Mr. Monk. “Let's deal with it, Terry. Right now.”

“No, please don't…” I blurted out as the two of them strode past us.

Mrs. Pridham pushed open the Forest Ash front door and called over her shoulder, “Go to your dorm! Now!”

We all trooped upstairs, Mrs. Pridham leading the way. But Mr. Monk couldn't keep up with her. I could hear him puffing a bit, because he's quite overweight. I looked round at my friends following meekly behind and thought how they seemed to have had the fight knocked out of them. They'd given in.

But
I
hadn't. I was remembering Emily's warning about not frightening Silver and I was determined to get to her before Mrs. Pridham did, so she wouldn't be traumatized. The thought spurred me into action and I started leaping upstairs two at a time, to my friends' amazement. Mrs. Pridham was pretty surprised too, as I overtook her on the last flight.

“Bryony, go to your dorm!” she repeated in an even sterner voice, as she followed me with brisk, firm footsteps.

I ignored her, because I was on a mission now, and I rushed on, dashing along the landing and round the corner into the cleaning room.

“
Bryony!
” I didn't think I'd ever heard Mrs. Pridham use such a sharp tone of voice, but still I ignored her. All I could think about was making sure Silver was all right. I even ignored Emily's worried call. “Bry…”

Running up the steep, narrow stairs to the attic I thought I'd managed to get quite far ahead of Mrs. Pridham. I was past caring about what might happen to me after this. The only thing that mattered was Silver and her kittens. I made myself slow down to walk across the loft, my head full of thoughts about how I'd stroke her and shield her from Mrs. Pridham and be like a human barrier, refusing to let anyone get near her, so no one could frighten her away. But then I turned the corner and stopped in complete amazement.

Silver was too occupied even to look up. Or maybe she recognized my tread and knew she was safe. She was licking a little slimy ball with a thin black and white coat, and I realized that this kitten had only just been born. Then my eyes widened as I saw that there was another little kitten nestling in the crumpled, messy pile of dust sheets. It had slightly more fur than the one that had just been born, and its tiny face was utterly beautiful. Its eyes were closed and it seemed so peaceful and serene.

“Oh, Silver! You clever girl!” I whispered in my gentlest voice, as I crouched down. “You clever, clever girl!”

Then from behind me came loud footsteps and I turned to see Mrs. Pridham striding over.

“Shh!” I told her strictly, as though I was the housemistress and she was the disobedient student. I softened my voice even though I really wanted to yell at her. “She's having kittens!”

I don't think I've ever seen such confusion on someone's face as that confusion I saw on Mrs. Pridham's just then. All the colour seemed to drain from her face and her hand shot out behind her in a signal to Mr. Monk to come no further. Then, as she took off her shoes and tiptoed barefoot across the loft, gliding and serious, I caught a glimpse of the others hovering behind Mr. Monk. They hadn't gone back to the dorm after all.

“See,” I whispered when Mrs. Pridham was right beside me. “See what a clever cat she is?”

Mrs. Pridham kneeled down, her face still pale, her eyes on the newborn kitten, who had somehow found where to suckle.

“Good girl, Silver,” I murmured. “Good girl.”

“Good girl, Silver,” came Mrs. Pridham's gentle voice beside me. And in that moment, the words of Hannah's text came back to me…

Mrs. P def not animal person but v symp so shd b ok.

How right those words had turned out to be. It had taken an outsider to point out something none of us had fully realized: Mrs. P
was
sympathetic.

But would it be okay?
Or put another way, would Mrs. Pridham let Silver stay?

Come to think of it, would she let
me
stay?

“Amazing!” said Sasha in a hushed whisper.

A fifth kitten had just been born, and Silver had an audience of seven people all encouraging her with gentle words. Earlier on Emily hadn't been happy about the audience. She'd suggested I should be the only one to stay with Silver, but, while Mr. Monk tiptoed off, the others simply couldn't tear themselves away. Even Mrs. Pridham. And we'd all watched the third kitten being born, keeping the deepest silence out of respect for Silver, but mainly out of sheer wonder at what we were lucky enough to be witnessing. The kitten had been dripping wet and very slimy around its mouth and Silver had spent ages cleaning it up until it looked as lovely as the other two. Then, just like those other two, the third one had started to suckle its mother.

When Emily had explained that we might have to wait another half-hour or even an hour for the next one to be born, the others had crept away, and so had Mrs. Pridham, leaving just Emily and me. We'd looked at each other wide-eyed and filled with two sorts of wonder – the wonder of nature and a fearful wondering about what the future held for Silver.

“How do you know if there are more kittens to come?” I'd asked.

“I can just tell from the shape of her,” Emily had answered. “I've seen farm cats having kittens.”

And now it was about an hour and half later and Mrs. Pridham and the others were back, watching the fifth kitten suckling its mother. This one was beautiful.

“Look! It's totally black,” said Izzy. “That means it's lucky!”

“Isn't it sweet, Mrs. Pridham?” said Antonia, beaming like mad.

Mrs. Pridham nodded. When she didn't speak I glanced sideways at her, but I couldn't read her expression. Maybe she was thinking about the punishment she was going to give me as soon as she'd dealt with Silver and her family.

“The black one's my favourite!” said Nicole. “Why don't we call him Lucky?”

Then the others each said which was their favourite, all choosing a different one. Except Emily, who was quietly concentrating on the birth.

“What about you, Bry?” Sasha asked me. “Which is your favourite kitten?”

“I…don't really have one,” I answered, as I watched Silver's limp body being prodded and pushed by her little kittens, who had nearly all scrambled their way to a teat now and were sucking away. It was true, I didn't have a favourite. Well, apart from Silver herself. She meant so much to me. I would do anything I could to help her.

Sasha turned to Emily. “I wish I could hold one, but I suppose they're too young, aren't they?”

But Emily was watching Silver intently. “She's about to have another one,” she said, ignoring Sasha's question.

“How can you tell?” asked Nicole.

“See how she's kind of shuddering? She's having contractions.”

“She must be exhausted,” murmured Mrs. Pridham.

Emily was frowning.

“Is she okay, Ems?” I asked, starting to feel prickles of concern.

Emily didn't reply, and we all stayed silent for a good five minutes until a sixth kitten slid out of Silver and lay quite still. It was absolutely minute, and didn't resemble a kitten at all, but for its little tufts of grey fur sprouting out from wrinkled red skin. So ugly. Definitely my favourite kitten.

From behind me I heard a gasp. I think it was Sasha.

“Oh dear…” murmured Mrs. Pridham, and I swallowed, turning sharply to look at Emily to see why she thought this kitten was so still.

Silver got up suddenly, her kittens tumbling and rolling off her. They stumbled on their weak little legs and fell over again while their mother only seemed to care about the still little kitten that lay on the very edge of the dust sheet. She began to lick it, giving it all her attention, until slowly, slowly it started to move. Then it let out a high-pitched mew and Silver flopped down again. A moment later the kitten latched on to one of her teats, and before long it was sucking away just like the others. Its mother looked exhausted, and though the kittens all latched on happily, Silver was shuffling around. She seemed uncomfortable.