The Lunatic's Curse (17 page)

Hildred put the burnt book down. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, and changed the subject. ‘I heard that there are haunted catacombs beneath the asylum.’

‘Dunno about ghosts,’ said Mrs Runcible with a shrug, ‘but there’s certainly a maze of tunnels,’ and that was about as much as she would say. Hildred got the
distinct feeling that Mrs Runcible preferred not to think about the past. She had then volunteered to make a start on clearing up the mess from the fire and Mrs Runcible retreated happily to the
kitchen where she was generally perfectly content among her pots and pans.

When Dr Velhildegildus had finally arrived he came down during the course of the day to the kitchen to meet Mrs Runcible. Hildred noticed how she and Walter, but not so much Gerulphus, seemed to
latch on to every word he said and were visibly relieved when the doctor said that he had no intention of interfering in their business. Hildred thought him an interesting character. Certainly his
face was unusual but she felt disinclined to have much to do with him.

So tonight she lay on her bed and considered her new life. It was a pleasant introduction to the world of normal folk, folk who didn’t have to earn their living from their freakishness. If
she was completely honest with herself, it had not been as easy as she made out to leave the Panopticon, and more than once in the last few days she had wished with all her heart to be back among
her family.

‘Sometimes it’s important to try things that scare you,’ Mr Ephcott had said, and Hildred knew that he was right. Well, this isn’t too scary, she thought, and it is only
temporary.

And then she pulled on her cloak, took a small lamp and went off into the night to explore further the recesses of her new home.

There was a boy arriving the next day and he might well interfere with her plans.

26

Rex stood on the jetty and watched as Walter Freakley rowed his boat towards him. Its silent motion barely caused the water to stir, as if it was on a great lake of dark
treacle, and only if he listened very hard could Rex hear the soft lap of the water. There was a small bag at his feet containing clothes and his precious book. In one pocket he had the diamond and
his picklock, in the other his little brazen egg.

‘Ahoy, there,’ called out Walter over his shoulder. He approached the jetty in a series of rather awkward manoeuvrings, bumping heavily against a post and causing the flimsy
structure to shudder violently. Rex was both unsteadied and unnerved at his unusual technique. After all, he was going to have to cross to the island in this man’s care. Walter flung a rope
out, which Rex caught and looped over the post.

Walter grinned and his face crumpled as if it was collapsing in on itself. ‘Are you young Rex Grammaticus, coming over to the asylum?’

‘I am,’ said Rex.

‘Not afeared, are you?’

Rex shook his head. ‘Not at all, it will be a relief to get away from the town.’

Walter didn’t question this. He took Rex’s bag, and then Rex climbed in and they set off across the dark water.

‘What brings you to the island?’ asked Walter.

‘I have been told I am to work with Dr Velhildegildus,’ replied Rex. ‘But I am not sure what it is exactly that he wishes me to do.’

‘Probably to help out in the kitchen with Hildred.’

‘Hildred?’

‘Young girl, works with Mrs Runcible the cook,’ said Walter. ‘About your age, she is. She’ll be glad enough to see you.’

‘Oh,’ said Rex. He had not thought who else might be there. Then he asked, ‘How long have you been the ferryman?’

Walter smiled. ‘Oh, long enough,’ he said. ‘But it’s not as easy as it looks, you know.’ He changed the subject. ‘I met your father once,’ he said.
‘Seemed a nice enough chap.’

‘Did he say anything about me?’

‘He did. Very proud of you he was.’

‘But did you think he was mad?’ pressed Rex.

Walter frowned and shook his head. ‘Your father, ’e was different, certainly he was troubled, but I don’t know if he was as mad as they made out.’

‘I don’t believe he was mad,’ said Rex. ‘Did he tell you about his hand?’

‘The hook? Yes, told us ’ow ’e’d lost it in an engineering accident.’

Rex sighed and rested his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He looked down at his feet and saw something on the bottom of the boat. He picked it up.

‘Careful, lad,’ warned Walter. ‘It’s as sharp as a cutthroat.’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s a tooth, from the monster in the lake; you find them on the shore occasionally.’

‘You mean there really is something there?’

‘Oh, most definitely there is,’ said Walter, and he began to whistle.

Rex was in no doubt that Walter believed the creature existed. It certainly looked like a tooth, triangular in shape and yellowing, and very large indeed. Freakley continued to whistle and Rex
was almost certain he could hear someone whistling back. A trick of the night, he thought, but before he could say anything else there was a violent jolt. They had reached Droprock Island.

Rex followed Freakley carefully, counting the steps – one hundred and fifteen in all. He thought again of his idea about the elevating machine. By the time they reached the top Rex was wet
from the mist and feeling the cold. He shivered and looked up. The asylum stood silently before him, filling his field of vision. Enveloped as it was in the mist, it looked even more unearthly than
he could have imagined. Dread washed over him. This was the place wherein his father had lived out his final days. The sight evoked in him a mixed reaction: great sadness; a sense that some of his
journey was over; and mounting horror as he relived in his mind that terrible night back in Opum Oppidulum. Rex touched his head. He could still feel a slight ridge where he had cut it on the
shingle. He made a great effort to put the dark thoughts from his mind. He was here with a purpose: to prove that his father wasn’t mad and that Acantha was, at the very least, a common thief
and at worst a treacherous murderer.

Don’t fly too close to the sun or on your head be it
, thought Rex. From constant repetition, his father’s words had begun to run together.

Walter led Rex up to the formidable double doors just as a tall, pale, freakishly thin fellow came out.

‘Master Rex,’ he said. ‘Dr Velhildegildus is waiting for you.’

Walter bade Rex goodbye. ‘Gerulphus here’ll look after you,’ he said, and crossed the hall to disappear through a narrow archway.

Rex followed Gerulphus, all the while marvelling at how wan and emaciated the man was, in the opposite direction. Unnaturally sensitive these days to its odour, Rex thought he could smell fish.
They passed under a wider archway and travelled down a long carpeted corridor. There were pictures on the walls, landscapes and portraits, and the rug underfoot was of good quality.

Perhaps it wasn’t so bad for Father after all, thought Rex, and he felt a little better.

Gerulphus walked on, unsmiling – he rarely smiled, as Rex was soon to discover – and he said as little as he could get away with. Finally they came to a halt outside
Dr Velhildegildus’s study.

‘Knock,’ said Gerulphus.

Rex knocked timidly. He was surprised to find that his mouth was dryand thathis knees weretrembling. He steeled himself for his second encounter with Dr Velhildegildus.

‘Enter!’

The study was large and light and warm. Tibor himself was standing by the fire holding a glass of brandy. He was wearing a burgundy velvet smoking jacket, a paler silk foulard around his neck
and dark trousers. The fire reflected in his polished shoes. Rex felt a shiver down his spine at the thought of their last meeting. He had still not wholly recalled what he had said under the
influence of the Lodestone. He wondered if he ever would.

As soon as Tibor saw him he placed his glass on the mantel and approached with his big smile.

‘Dear boy, how marvellous to see you again,’ he said agreeably. ‘You needn’t look so worried – my Lodestone is safely packed away!’

Rex managed a smile. From hearing just those few words he realized again that so much of Tibor’s power lay in his voice. It was creamy like a healing unguent, soporific like a sedative,
persuasive like temptation.

Tibor continued, ‘Did you have a safe journey? I must say it’s not such a pleasant thing to cross that lake in the mist. Old Freakley seems to know what he’s doing though. Take
a seat. Would you like some refreshments?’

Rex sat by the fire and Tibor pulled the servant’s bell. A minute or so later a young girl walked in. Perhaps ‘walked’ isn’t quite the right word – she had an
awkward loose-limbed gait – but her blue eyes were quite startling in their intensity.

‘Hildred,’ said Tibor, ‘meet young Rex. He is to stay here with us for a while. Perhaps you could bring a drink for the young man.’

Rex gave her a smile, which she returned with warmth before leaving.

‘Now, Rex,’ said Tibor, sitting opposite and leaning forward. ‘I have been most anxious to see you again. Have you any idea at all why you have been sent here to me?’

Rex chewed on his lip. ‘I believe my stepmother thinks I am troubled over my father’s death,’ he ventured cautiously.

‘Ah, good, good,’ said Dr Velhildegildus smoothly. ‘Certainly that is what she intimated to me, and there is no doubt I can help you with that, and of course that will be a
priority, but while you’re here I . . . er, see no reason not to take advantage of your other skills.’

‘My skills?’

‘I know that you are a talented boy, Rex, you are your father’s son after all, and actually, heh, heh, I have other plans for you.’

‘Oh?’ said Rex. Was anything what it seemed these days?

‘I’ll get straight to the point. I have come up with a rather marvellous invention. I am in quite a fever about it and I do so want to build it. Alas, I am a doctor of the mind, not
an engineer like your poor father was. I will need some help.’

At the second mention of his father Rex paid even closer attention to Dr Velhildegildus’s hypnotic voice.

‘Rex, I need
your
help.’

‘I should be glad to look at it,’ said Rex carefully. This was not at all what he had expected.

‘But there is a condition. You must not tell anyone what we are doing,’ he warned. ‘Can I trust you?’

‘Of course.’ Rex was now absolutely intrigued by Dr Velhildegildus’s creation – whatever it might be.

‘You see,’ continued Tibor, and although his face remained impassive, his voice altered and his honeyed tones were now spread with the thinnest layer of menace, ‘I realize that
your stepmother has your best interests at heart, but I also understand that you have no wish to return to her. Well, as long as you are here you are, how shall I put it . . . safe from Acantha,
which, you might recall, you told me is what you say your father wanted. But I have undertaken to assess your troubled mind and to report back to her on your progress. I can take as long or as
short a time as I wish. But if I cannot trust you then I will have no choice but to send you back to your stepmother immediately. Do you understand?’

‘So,’ said Rex slowly, but thinking rapidly, ‘if I help you with your invention, and tell no one about it, then I can stay here as long as I wish?’

‘Absolutely,’ said Tibor.

‘Then let me see this invention,’ said Rex.

27

Rex watched excitedly as Tibor unfolded a piece of stiff paper on the desk and flattened it out. He saw immediately that it was a plan for some sort of vessel, by the looks of
it an underwater vessel, and it caused his heart to beat a little faster. Thinking hard, he pored over it for a long time, tracing the lines with his fingers, his lips moving as he made internal
calculations, lingering over some parts but not others. All the while he was acutely aware of both the brazen egg in his pocket and the sense that Tibor’s eyes were firmly fixed on him.

‘I see from your face that you are surprised by this,’ said Tibor at last. ‘Perhaps you did not think a man such as I could be capable of such creativity?’

‘It is not that,’ said Rex, struggling to master his emotions. ‘It’s just . . . well . . . a Perambulating Submersible? It’s incredible.’