The Morrow Secrets (9 page)

Tallitha had been right. There behind them, in the gloom, sat a sneaky shrove with his head cocked to one side, listening. Marlin lurked, watching and waiting, sniffing the air for their scents and smelling them in all the dark musty places. He grizzled, pleased with his artful deception. Marlin knew every nooky recess in Winderling Spires. There was no one who knew the house better than him. Over the years Marlin had explored every floor, mapping the mysterious twists and turns of the Spires in his devious mind. He was the cleverest of all the shroves. When the children climbed up to the balcony he had followed them, lying low on the staircase like a coiled snake. He hid noiselessly in the seeping darkness of the circular room. Tallitha had sensed something lurking behind them as his malevolence leached out. Marlin waited until they found the secret passageway but he didn’t need to follow them up the stone steps. He knew they would find Asenathe’s rooms. Silently he crept back to his shrove-lair to plan his next move.

Tyass was first to reach the top of the winding staircase. He stood on a tiny platform, took a few seconds to get his breath and called down to the others in the darkness.

He pushed open a small wooden door and stepped out onto a high gallery and into the dust-spangled light. Tallitha followed closely behind, shading her eyes, blinded by the brilliant sunlight streaming through the arched windows.

‘Wow! Look at this! We’re so high up,’ exclaimed Tyaas, holding onto the balustrade and peering down at the palatial room below.
‘It’s amazing. No wonder we were forbidden from coming up here. This has got to be it. These must be Asenathe’s rooms,’ said Tallitha, her face full of wonder.
They found themselves on a balcony that ran the whole length of the glass wall and projected out over the space below. It caught the sunlight from every angle and was the finest sun terrace they had ever seen.
‘Where are we?’ asked Benedict shading his eyes. Then he froze. ‘Get me out of here. I can’t stand heights!’ he yelled.
Tyaas grabbed his cousin and pulled him to the floor. ‘Stop it, toughen up can’t you? You’re being a real pain. Stay here, we’re going down.’
‘Don’t leave me alone,’ he wailed pathetically.
But Tyaas ignored him.
‘Oh do stop being a ninny. Who knows what we’ll find down there?’ replied Tallitha excitedly.
This wasn’t Benedict’s sort of thing after all but he would have to play his part if his cousins were to trust him. Nervously he helped them tether the rope to the gallery struts. Tallitha stepped over the edge and began to abseil down using one of the window columns to bounce off. Benedict could not bear to watch her rapid descent. Tyaas quickly followed, laughing as he bounced down the column.
‘Wow! That was almost as good as abseiling from my bedroom window. Just look at this room, it’s like a palace, it’s incredible. Where shall we start?’ he shouted, landing with a thud in the enormous chamber.
They began searching the drawers and cupboards, under the beds and in the closets. There were girls’ clothes, beautiful velvets and silks, storybooks and sweet-scented bathing gels. This had to be Asenathe’s apartment but curiously the room appeared to be lived in, as though someone was carefully looking after all the wonderful things in it.
‘Benedict, open your eyes! Tell us what you can see from up there!’
Benedict moved a couple of inches and made a mewing noise. ‘Oh, no‒I feel dizzy.’
‘Stop being a baby or we’ll call you by that name again!’ said Tyaas, teasing.
‘There’s a metal rail in front of you, so hang on to it,’ said Tallitha, sounding frustrated.
Benedict made the same pathetic noise, unscrewed his eyes and briefly looked down. Tyaas and Tallitha were looking up at him with an exasperated expression on their faces.
‘Come on!’ they shouted in unison.
Benedict moved slightly, gripping hold of the balustrade.
‘On the top of that wardrobe, there’s something there,’ he said pointing a shaking finger towards the far corner of the room. ‘A box, I think, and a roll of something, like wallpaper. That’s it. I’m closing my eyes now. How will I ever get out of here?’ he cried pathetically.
‘That’s a good point,’ said Tallitha laughing at him. ‘We aren’t climbing back up to get you, so you’ll have to go back the way we came.’
Benedict looked green and tucked his head between his knees. Tyaas pulled a chair over to the wardrobe, climbed up and began poking around on top.
‘Anything?’ asked Tallitha excitedly.
‘Some boxes. Errh, it’s filthy up here.’
Tyaas felt about in the dust until he found a long cardboard roll and a couple of wooden boxes which he passed to his sister. Tallitha pulled the map from the cardboard roll.
‘It’s unlike any map I’ve ever seen,’ she said in amazement, spreading it out on the floor, ‘Look at the writing in this corner. Tyass! Quickly! It says the name of that place‒Hellstone Tors.’
Tyaas leapt from the chair and crouched next to her, placing the two boxes on either side on the crumpled map to weight it down. The faded map was a curious collection of scribbled writing and signs.
‘It has strange writing and illustrations. But I can’t read it. Is it in Ennish?’ asked Tyaas.
But Tallitha didn’t know.
Benedict half- opened his eyes at the interesting news floating up from below, mewed pathetically and quickly closed them again. Tallitha tried to open the smaller box but it was locked. She blew the dust from the larger box to reveal a mother-of-pearl lid which clicked open easily. Inside was a hand-written note and Tallitha read it aloud:

They climbed on to the window seat and began scouring the landscape of Wycham Elva. There had to be a sign, but what was it?
‘What are we looking for?’ asked Tyaas, scratching his head.
‘Whatever it is, has to be out there, just like the stone steps in the secret passageway, but we just can’t see it yet,’ said Tallitha sighing. She pointed towards different landmarks, but nothing made sense. ‘Think this through logically. There have to be other windows in here. The plans in Mrs Armitage’s cupboard showed more rooms, so let’s find them.’
Tallitha leapt from the window seat, quickly followed by Tyaas.
‘Through here,’ she said, making for a door in the corner of the room.
First they looked through the study window. Then they ran into the next room and looked through the sitting room window. But both rooms had the same view from a slightly different perspective. The library was next. It was a cosy room and Tallitha could have spent many happy hours leafing through books and studying the paraphernalia displayed on the shelves. The view from the window however proved to be the same as all the others. Tallitha sat down on the swivel chair and spun round, mulling things over.
‘We’re missing something,’ said Tyaas.
‘What you doing?’ a distant voice called from the gallery.
‘He’s an idiot,’ said Tyaas to Tallitha, then shouted up to him, ‘you’ll have to come down and see for yourself! That should shut him up.’
‘There’s something curious about these rooms,’ said Tallitha, spinning round on the chair. She closed her eyes and allowed the sensation to develop. She felt too big in the room and a little bit claustrophobic. She looked up at the ceiling‒it was much lower than the great room. There must be another floor above this one, but where was the entrance?
‘That’s it! We have to find a ladder or a staircase.’
Tallitha ran back into the great room and called up to Benedict. ‘Can you see an entrance to another floor, by that wall?’
Benedict shook his head. There was only a large painting hanging over a dresser. All three looked at the painting at the same time. It was of a girl sitting in a room with the sun shining through a lattice window whilst she did her needlework. Tyaas shrieked.
‘There’s the window. Look, in that painting!’ he shouted, jumping onto the dresser and pushing the painting to one side.
There it was, hidden beneath the painting, a hatch to the secret floor, just waiting for them to find it.
‘Come on!’ shouted Tyaas excitedly.
They climbed through the hatch door and into a dark little room. Tyaas lit the lantern and the room took shape before their eyes. It was a wonderful hidey-hole with a sofa and a desk. Tallitha noticed a wall ladder in the corner which went up to a trap door in the ceiling. She stuck her head out of the hatch and called to Benedict.
‘Move along the gallery, there’s a ladder at the far end which you can climb down.’
Benedict didn’t fancy finding his own way back alone so he did as he was told. He edged along the gallery trying to keep his nerves under control. Don’t look down, don’t look down, he kept saying to himself. The next thing, Tallitha saw the soles of his shoes coming shakily down the ladder.
‘There must be more clues in here, perhaps the key to that box,’ Tallitha said excitedly as Benedict stepped from the ladder. ‘Here take a look at this.’
Benedict squidged onto the sofa next to Tallitha and began poring over the map.
‘This is in Ennish,’ he said authoritatively, ‘but it’s bewildering. I only know a few of the words.’
‘Does the map make any sense?’ asked Tyaas. ‘Does it tell us where to start?’
Benedict shook his head. Tallitha walked to the hatch door and peered out.
‘The light’s fading. We can’t miss dinner. Let’s pack up, we can search tomorrow. Raisethorne’s sick so there’s no school.’
They took the map and everything they had found, climbed out of the trap door, scrambled over the gallery and back down the dark staircase. It took less time than they thought and soon they were back in Tallitha’s study.
‘Are you staying tonight?’ asked Tyaas.
He was getting used to having old Benedict around, even if he could be annoying at times.
‘Yes, I guess so, but I need to do my school work. You go to dinner and I’ll have something sent to my room.’
As Benedict settled to his work an unfamiliar feeling began welling up inside him. He felt decidedly odd, as though he belonged somewhere for the first time in his life.

Tallitha and Tyaas hid their precious discoveries, cleaned themselves up and were ready just in time for the dinner gong. When they reached the dining hall, Great Aunt Agatha and the sisters were sitting at the enormous table but there was scant conversation. Tallitha hated the formal dinners and couldn’t understand why they had to endure them when they would all rather eat in their own sitting rooms. On this occasion it was because Great Aunt Agatha had acquired a new cook and the family had gathered to taste her cooking.

Snowdroppe arrived looking elegant in an indigo-blue gown with deep sapphire earrings, her hair perfectly coiffed in coils and braids. Maximillian, on the other hand, looked even fatter, with shiny red cheeks as though someone had just scraped them with a cheese grater. He guffawed loudly, cuffed Tyaas cordially on the head and went back to his large glass of burgundy. Snowdroppe gave her corpulent husband an acid look, then indicated with a flourish that Tallitha should sit next to her.

Tallitha was on her guard. Why was their mother interested in them all of a sudden? Snowdroppe only cared about herself and the amber ball of fox fur with the sticky-out ears. The dreadful creature had his very own place setting and was eating food at their table!

Tallitha mouthed to Tyaas to be quiet. She would deal with their mother.
‘Why, nothing much, sewing and schoolwork,’ replied Tallitha, trying to look innocent.
Snowdroppe’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile and she clicked her tongue at Tallitha who stiffened as her mother drew closer. Her mother’s wicked laugh started prettily in her throat and ended rattling snake-like in Tallitha’s ear.
‘But a little bird has been telling me you have been somewhat distracted from your studies of late,’ she murmured nastily.
Tallitha edged away from her mother’s unsettling proximity and tried to eat her melon. She was cornered by her appalling family. Sitting opposite was her ridiculous Grandmother and Great Aunt Sybilla. Had they been snitching on her behind her back? She flashed a hateful glance in their direction, sitting like two overindulged peacocks, pick-pecking away at their food, analysing every minute mouthful before tasting it. They smiled at Tallitha, a little too sweetly, and carried on dissecting their first course with relish.
‘I don’t know what you mean. Grandmamma and Great Aunt Sybilla seem pleased with my progress,’ implored Tallitha, looking at the sisters for confirmation.
The snivelling pair kept their eyes averted, fixed compulsively on their food as though their plates were about to be removed at any moment. Snowdroppe laughed wickedly at her daughter, gave her leg a nasty pinch under the table and summoned Grintley to pour more wine.
‘Do stop telling fibs dear, you can’t carry it off,’ said Snowdroppe caustically.
Tallitha’s cheeks began to burn with rage. By this time Maximillian was tiddly and Snowdroppe was bored with his foolishness. She moved her chair closer to Tallitha, all the while smiling sweetly at the rest of the family seated around the table.
‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to, my adventurous one. My spies are everywhere. Never forget that Tallitha!’
She dug her pointed nails into the soft skin on Tallitha’s leg and the girl let out a yelp. Snowdroppe’s words fell like poisonous droplets from her vicious red lips as she turned from her daughter and began snapping at Maximillian. Tallitha’s eyes pricked with hot tears, partly from her mother’s nails but also from her cruel, unloving words. Their mother was onto them.