The Little Secret (6 page)

Jane did scream then, and it woke her up. She had left the bedside lamp on, and it was comforting to see the tidy, boring hotel furniture. What a ridiculous dream, she thought. She drifted back to sleep, smiling to herself as she remembered the bloomers.

THE LIGHT

Jane woke the next morning when Staffa knocked at her door.

“Good morning, Jane. I hope you slept well. Mother says you're to wear the blue skirt with a yellow cardigan and tights.”

“Can't I choose what I wear?” Jane asked crossly.

Staffa shook her head. “You'll find it easier just to do as she says.”

“She's very bossy,” Jane couldn't help saying.

“That, my dear Jane, is putting it mildly. She's used to being in charge, you see — everyone obeys her at home. You'll look odd if you don't.” Staffa glanced at her watch. “We're having breakfast in that private room. Don't be long, will you?”

Jane took a shower in her private bathroom (total bliss for a girl who normally shared a bathroom with six boys and a ton of mud), and dressed herself according to Lady Matilda's bossy instructions. The skirt and cardigan looked very nice when she put them on, and this made her less cross.

Staffa and her mother were already waiting in the private dining room. Lady Matilda was wearing a sort of soldier's jacket, with a matching peaked cap, in very bright shades of red and blue that made her look like a giant piece of Christmas chocolate.

“Jane, my dear child!” Lady Matilda said. “I'm afraid I've had some rather annoying news. I won't bore you with the details, but something has come up, and I will have to leave you and Staffa to travel alone for a couple of days.”

“You're leaving us?” Jane tried not to sound hopeful.

“Yes, but Prockwald knows where he's going, and it's not for long.”

Staffa looked worried. “Are you sure it's still all right to bring Jane?”

“Of course!” cried Lady Matilda. “Jane absolutely MUST come home with us! But there are one or two little things that have to be settled first — and I'm the only person able to deal with them. So I'll meet you in a couple of days.”

“May we buy some presents for the Boy Garden?”

“Oh, yes — what a sweet idea. Help yourself to money from the place in the car.”

“Thanks, Mother!” Staffa grinned at Jane.

“Before I leave, however,” Lady Matilda said, “I must remind you — both of you — to take very special care of the painted box.” The box was resting on a chair beside her. She patted it fondly. “Remember that it must never be tilted or jolted, but carried upright at all times. Staffa, if you're walking any distance with the box, please wear the harness — we can't risk dropping it.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Jane saw that the painted box was immensely valuable. Staffa and her mother were very serious.

“When you arrive at the hotel tonight,” Lady Matilda went on, “don't allow anyone else to carry the box to its room. And don't forget to set the two candlesticks in front of it right away. You'd better keep the key to the box's room under your pillow. Most important of all — Jane, I hope you're listening to this!”

“Yes, Lady Matilda.”

“Most important of all, THE BOX MUST NEVER BE OPENED! Do you understand?”

“Yes!” Jane gasped. When Lady Matilda yelled like that, it was like being caught in a strong gust of wind.

“Oh dear, I don't like leaving it behind!”

Staffa said, “Don't worry, we'll take care of it.”

“Well, I'll have to trust you. Don't forget that little bit of shopping either.”

“No, Mother,” Staffa said patiently. “You've reminded me a million times.”

“Please don't be flippant, Staffa — these are vital winter supplies.” Lady Matilda stood up, looming over the breakfast table in her gaudy uniform, like a shiny painted figure in a fairground. “Well, have a nice time, dears.”

She swooped to kiss them both (Jane was unpleasantly reminded of her dream), and strode out of the room.

Staffa and Jane stared at each other, hardly able to believe the sudden silence.

“We're free,” Staffa said. “We can do whatever we like!”

“We have to get that vital winter shopping,” Jane said.

“The chocolate, you mean.”

“Chocolate? I thought it must be medicine, or incubators for babies, or something.”

“Where we come from, Jane, chocolate is a very valuable commodity — highly prized, and worth a lot of money.”

“Is it?” Jane had never heard of anywhere like this. Staffa's home must be a very long way from the shops, she thought.

It was lovely to be alone with Staffa. Once Staffa had paid the bill (in cash), they set out in very high spirits. Prockwald drove them to a neat little market town, like King's Lumpton, but with smarter shops.

Staffa reached into the pouch for another thick pile of cash. “I'll leave Mother's list in the chocolate shop — then we can buy some presents for the boys. I want a red tricycle for little Ted, Gameboys for the twins —”

“Gameboys! You can't buy them expensive stuff like that!”

“Why not?”

Jane said, “I don't know. But it just doesn't seem right. You've given us so much already. I don't think my parents will like it.”

Staffa surprised her by grabbing both her hands. “Please, Jane — please! Nobody ever lets me do anything! And it would make me so happy! I've never had any proper friends before!” Her little voice was shrill with pleading, and she looked very childish. “This money isn't any use to me. Just for once in my life, I'd like to spend it in a way that will bring happiness!”

“Oh, well,” Jane said. Her parents might be a bit uneasy about expensive presents, but she wasn't going to argue anymore — it meant a lot to Staffa, and the boys would be thrilled.

Staffa took her mother's list into a small shop called “The Fine Chocolate Company” and then she and Jane bought wonderful presents for everyone at the Boy Garden, including Leonard the horse. It was fantastic fun. Some of the shop assistants looked rather doubtful when Staffa paid with her pile of cash — a couple of them held the bills up to the light in a suspicious way — but she always told them she was “Spending my birthday money.” And Jane noticed that she took care not to buy too much from the same shop.

“We'll wrap them tonight, at the hotel,” Staffa said happily. “And then we'll get the hotel to post them tomorrow. Won't the boys be pleased when they open the parcels?”

Jane laughed. “Are you kidding? They'll go crazy!”

“I wish I could see little Ted's face,” Staffa said wistfully.

“Staffa, there must be some way you can come back to the Boy Garden!” For the first time, Jane thought how dull it would be at home without her new best friend. “Can't you persuade Lady Matilda to let you visit us again?”

Staffa sighed and shook her head. “It's no use.”

“But why?”

“You'll understand when you see my home. Now, let's have some lunch — something Mother doesn't like, since she's not here.”

They had burgers, which neither of their mothers liked. When they returned to the car, they found Prockwald and a man in an apron loading dozens of boxes of fine chocolate into the trunk. Staffa paid the chocolate shop with more cash from the pouch in the seat — did the money in there ever run out? Jane's head was spinning with forbidden food and fizzy drinks, and the intoxicating pleasure of luxury shopping. Now that Lady Matilda was out of the way, she was having the time of her life.

Prockwald drove them to another country hotel. Once again, the painted box had its own room. Once again, Staffa set it very carefully on the table, flanked by its guard of gold candlesticks. When this was all done, she locked the door with an air of relief.

Jane asked, “Why does the box need a room to itself — I mean, wouldn't it be much cheaper if it shared your room? And why do you have to do the thing with the candlesticks?”

“Oh, you'll find out,” Staffa said vaguely. “Sorry, but I can't explain it in any way you'd understand.”

Jane saw that she'd have to be satisfied with this, as Staffa was frowning and wearing her stubborn look. But she knew that Staffa and her mother had a secret, and she longed to know what it was. There had to be some explanation for the odd things that kept happening — the money pouch in the car, which never seemed to be empty; the way the two of them seemed to worship the painted box; the mysterious “business” that had taken Lady Matilda away. She decided not to ask Staffa so many questions, but to keep her eyes open.

As long as Jane didn't mention anything awkward, she and Staffa had a great evening in her hotel room. They phoned the Boy Garden — careful not to mention either the presents or the fact that Lady Matilda was not with them. They ordered room service for dinner, drank more fizzy drinks from the mini-bar and watched a movie on the television.

“Jane, this is utter paradise,” sighed Staffa. “I wish we could spend the whole vacation like this.”

“Don't you want to go home?”

“Only while you're there,” Staffa said. “It's going to be ghastly when you have to leave — but let's not think about that now.”

The next day, there was more driving. Jane asked where they were going, but Staffa only said it was “in the North.” They drove past villages, fields, woods and rivers. Very occasionally, the huge car drove along a stretch of highway. Mostly, however, Prockwald stuck to the smallest roads — empty lanes, winding tracks — full of signposts to towns Jane had never heard of. All she knew for certain was that they were now in Scotland. They stopped only briefly, to buy sandwiches for lunch and a tartan tin of shortbread for Lady Matilda.

“Mother likes to eat it for breakfast,” Staffa said, “spread with snail paste.”

“With what?”

Staffa looked embarrassed. “Sorry — chocolate paste. Slip of the tongue.”

The scenery around them became wild and windswept. Jane saw bare hillsides and dark woods. As the light began to fade, she watched for the hotel where they would be staying. There was not a building in sight. They drove on and on, until they came to a flat, gray sea. Prockwald stopped the car at a deserted jetty, where a large, flat boat was waiting.

Jane saw that they had reached the very edge of Scotland. She asked, “Do we get out here?” She shivered. This place was bleak and blustery, and spookily empty, and felt like the edge of the whole world. Where was the wonderful castle she had been promised?

“No,” Staffa said. “We stay in the car. The crossing doesn't take long.”

“Where are we going?”

“To our island.”

“You OWN an island? Seriously?” Jane hadn't known such a thing was possible.

“It's too late to get to my home, so we'll be spending the night with Mr. and Mrs. Prockwald, at their farmhouse.”

Jane whispered, “Is Prockwald's wife like him? I mean, does she talk?”

“All the time,” Staffa assured her. “And she's an excellent cook too.”

Prockwald drove the car right onto the flat boat. It pulled slowly out into the sea. Jane looked out of the window, and saw nothing but gray sea all around them, as if the car were driving on water. In the gathering darkness, rocked by the waves, Jane and Staffa both fell asleep.

*   *   *

Jane woke slowly, with a feeling that something wasn't right. They were driving again, on a bumpy road. There was some kind of light shining through her closed eyelids. Was it already morning?

She opened her eyes. Outside the window, everything was black. But the inside of the car was filled with an eerie silver light, extremely bright and as sharp as a blade.

It was pouring through a hairline crack in the painted box.

Jane was very scared. She wanted to wake Staffa, but she could not move or speak. The box was not on fire, because this light was too steady and too bright to come from flames, and there was no smoke. Could there be something electrical hidden inside the box, which they had switched on by mistake? She wished she knew more about science. Perhaps they were carrying something radioactive — she was sure she had heard about radioactive things glowing in the dark. Had Lady Matilda left them in charge of a nuclear bomb?

Calm down, she ordered herself. Nobody puts a nuclear bomb in a painted box — not even Lady Matilda was that crazy.

She hissed, “Staffa!”

And the eerie light was suddenly gone.

From the other side of the car, Staffa asked, “What is it?”

“Oh — I thought you were asleep — didn't you see it?”

“See what?”

“The light in the box — there was light inside the box —”

Staffa chuckled. “Jane, you're the one who's been asleep. You've been dreaming.”

“It wasn't a dream, honestly. The light went out when I said your name.”