Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

W e each went in a different direction. This was familiar turf, even for me, and that meant we had the advantage. We knew where the best hiding places were, we understood the various creaks and their causes and, perhaps most importantly, we were determined to safeguard our home.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d feel the same about the Assigney mansion a few miles down the road, which technically was mine. I was only a guest here at Pemberville but I felt more at home here. Maybe it was because of Hugo, or maybe it was because this was where I’d shivered and vomited and hallucinated my way through my withdrawal from spider’s silk. In the end the reason didn’t particularly matter: what was important was my determination to track down whoever was threatening the safety of Pemberville Castle.

It didn’t take long to work out what had caused the loud crash. A suit of armour – the same suit of armour I’d pretended to check for intruders only an hour earlier – had fallen to the ground and its shiny pieces were strewn across the marble-tiled floor. Whatever – whoever – had knocked it over was nowhere to be seen. Just to be sure, I double-checked the other four suits standing to attention around the vast hallway but, alas, nobody was hiding inside.

I walked into every single room and looked around; given the size of Pemberville and the vast number of rooms that was no mean feat, but no matter how many curtains I pulled back or tables I ducked under, I couldn’t find anyone.

There was only one place where I thought I might be on the intruder’s trail. When I popped my head into the small cupboard where Otis and Hester kept their clothes and occasionally slept, Gladys buzzed. It was only a brief note, and the sentient sword sounded more surprised than vicious or angry, but there was nothing to see inside the cupboard beyond what I’d expected. Despite my repeated requests, Gladys remained silent throughout the remainder of my search.

After almost an hour, I returned to the main hall. Miriam had collected the pieces from the fallen suit of armour and was putting them back together, although that appeared to be more complicated than we’d expected. I was certain that she had the feet the wrong way around. Given her frustrated expression, I decided against telling her to swap the right and left boots. It wasn’t as if the hollow knight would be going into battle any time soon.

‘I’ve checked every room and I couldn’t find anything,’ I said. ‘Not even a whisper of an intruder.’

Becky nodded. ‘Rizwan and I searched the basement and the attic. There was nothing there.’

‘I have been through the ground floor,’ Duchess agreed solemnly. ‘I cannot sense anyone.’

Hugo paused halfway down the stairs. ‘Anything?’ he asked. We shook our heads.

Otis buzzed in from the right and Hester from the left, their faces blank.

‘Maybe it’s a ghost,’ Mark suggested.

Uh-oh. Hester immediately stiffened and started whipping her head from side to side in alarm. ‘Or maybe,’ I said quickly, before she descended into hysteria, ‘whoever knocked the suit of armour over escaped before we left the Bone Zone.’

Hugo’s expression was grim. ‘The doors are bolted and the windows are locked tight. The pane of glass that was smashed earlier was covered with plywood hours ago. I checked and it’s not been touched.’ He looked at me. ‘Is there a chance that Athair’s magic extends to this? Could he use his powers to reach inside a building? Or could he somehow transport himself here?’

I swallowed. ‘I don’t know,’ I whispered. ‘But if he can do that, I think we might be fucked.’

Miriam cursed and gave up on her attempt to rebuild the suit of armour. She’d reached his chest, but his shoulders and arms appeared to be a step too far for this time of night. She dropped the helmet to the floor and turned to face us.

‘If it was Athair, he’s not here now,’ she said in a brisk tone that suggested she wouldn’t accept any nonsense even from the most terrifying fiend the country had ever seen, ‘We should bed down for the night in the Bone Zone where we have a degree of safety. In the morning, we will complete another thorough search then engage the services of more witches to draw wards around the building, not just one room. It means no more visitors for the time being, but I think we all agree it is necessary.’

We all nodded. Even if her suggestion hadn’t been eminently sensible, I doubted anyone would have dared to argue with her.

Duchess jutted out her bottom lip. ‘I’m not staying inside. I’ll return to my bridge. Whoever sneaked in here only managed it because I wasn’t at my post.’ She pulled back her heavy, rounded shoulders. ‘It will not happen again.’

‘It’s not your fault, Duchess,’ Otis said.

‘It probably is your fault,’ Hester muttered, although this time she spoke quietly enough for the troll not to hear her. It was just as well; I had the beginnings of a very nasty headache pushing at the back of my eyes. I desperately needed some peace and quiet and, from their pale, exhausted expressions, everyone else did too.

It didn’t take long to transform the Bone Zone into sleeping quarters; our camping gear was still at the front door after our last excursion, so we simply had to pull out our sleeping bags and haul them through the castle before we bedded down for the night. But we were all uncomfortable and we had a fitful night. We didn’t know who had breached Pemberville Castle or where they were now.

Nobody voiced their worries aloud but we were all thinking the same thing: if it was Athair who was lurking around the castle, he was strong enough to break through the ward surrounding the Bone Zone and attack us when we were at our most vulnerable. The fact that Hugo wrapped his arms tightly around me and refused to let go even when he fell asleep, indicated his state of mind just as my inability to sleep indicated mine. It was a rare night indeed when sleep eluded me.

Dawn still came relatively early to Scotland, even though the summer solstice was weeks behind us. The Bone Zone was a windowless room but my body clock had adjusted sufficiently for me to know when the sun was rising without needing to see any glowing rays of sunshine or to look at my watch.

I extricated myself from Hugo, stood up and stretched before I walked to the long table and located his phone. Something about the photos he’d shown us last night was niggling at me; there was something I’d seen that felt peculiar. Unfortunately I wasn’t sure what it was.

I was as familiar with the password to Hugo’s phone as I was with his body, from the faint silvery scar on his hip where he’d fallen during his first official treasure hunt to the perfect curve of his impressively tanned arse. Even so, I turned and held it up with a questioning look. He nodded from the cocoon of the sleeping bag where he was watching me. I inputted the password, unlocked the phone and located the photos.

I paused at the map of the British Isles, zoomed in to peer more closely and then zoomed out to get a view of the whole thing. Thirty-two places around the country had been numbered neatly in black ink. Had Athair done that? And if so, why? I nibbled my bottom lip and squinted harder. Hmm.

‘What is it, Daisy?’ Slim asked softly.

I jumped, surprised to hear his voice. When I looked around, I realised that everybody was awake and watching me; clearly I wasn’t the only person who had struggled to sleep.

‘I don’t know. Maybe nothing.’ I turned the phone around. ‘Rizwan, you said you were getting this printed out and enlarged?’

Rizwan was already wriggling out of his sleeping bag. ‘I’ll do it now.’

‘I didn’t mean do it right now. It’s still early. After breakfast is fine.’

‘It’s no problem. I’ll do it now.’

Now I felt guilty that I’d hauled him out of bed. ‘In that case,’ I said, ‘I’ll nip to the kitchen and get coffee on for everyone.’

‘And bacon rolls?’ Becky asked hopefully.

I looked at the group and grinned at their expressions. It might have been a difficult night but if everyone had an appetite then things weren’t that bad.

‘I’ll help,’ Hugo said, finally sitting up.

Becky groaned. ‘What?’ he frowned at her. ‘You don’t like my cooking?’

‘It’s not that.’

‘What then? I can’t leave Daisy to go to the kitchen alone,’ he protested. ‘Our intruder might still be out there.’

Nothing had attempted to breach the ward surrounding the Bone Zone, and there had been no more sounds of anyone lurking inside the castle. I was beginning to think there was nobody out there; I was certainly hoping that was the case.

Becky mumbled something inaudible so Hester translated. ‘Hugo, if you go with Daisy, it’ll be hours before we get so much as a crumb for breakfast. The two of you will get distracted and start canoodling over the bacon…’ Otis pulled a face ‘…and we’ll be lucky if we get any food before noon.’

I felt my cheeks start to warm but Hugo only winked. Miriam stood up. ‘I’ll go with them,’ she said.

‘We don’t need a chaperone,’ Hugo told her.

I looked at the raised eyebrows; apparently we did. I blushed harder, suddenly remembering the previous week when Hugo and I had wandered off ostensibly to make tea for them all and returned three hours later without a single hot beverage in our hands.

‘You’d never catch me acting like that,’ Hester proclaimed loudly.

‘Give me a hot young man and I would,’ Miriam said with a wink.

‘Me too,’ Becky agreed.

Slim nodded. ‘Me three.’

Hester rolled her eyes. ‘You lot have no sense of decorum.’

‘Come on,’ I nodded at Hugo and Miriam. ‘Let’s get breakfast sorted and make sure the castle is intruder free along the way.’ I injected a firm note into my voice. ‘We’ll be no longer than twenty minutes. As you’re all so wide awake, let’s see what the rest of you can accomplish in that time.’

‘Trying to cover up your embarrassment with authority?’ Hugo enquired.

‘Yep.’

‘And failing miserably?’

‘Yep.’

Everyone grinned. I fanned air at my cheeks and scooped up Gladys. At least my trusty sword wasn’t laughing at me.

She hummed loudly. Unbelievable.