Invitation to a Stranger (6 page)

 

Granny Sullivan was an old lady with short white hair. She had faded brown eyes in a narrow brown face. She didn't really look ninety, Ronnie thought as they introduced themselves. She didn't look wrinkled enough and her eyes were too alert.

“Campion,” she mused. “You would be the grandchildren of that old rogue Colin Campion wouldn't you?”

“I suppose,” Jeff said stiffly.

“And Katie would be Fancy Jim Smith's granddaughter. He was a goer, that one.”

Ronnie looked at Katie, who had coloured up. Interesting, mused Ronnie. Who was Katie's grandfather that he could be an embarrassment to Katie?

“We're doing a school assignment on old houses, and Mum said your father was a builder,” Ronnie said. “What do you know about the mansion in Castle Street?”

“My Pa did all the brickwork and foundations,” Granny Sullivan said.

“What foundations?” Jeff asked.

“Wine cellars, cool rooms and storage rooms, I suppose,” Granny Sullivan said. “I remember how deep the cellar was when it was dug out. It was a real fancy house for those days. It had butler's pantries, and third floor rooms for the servants, and dressing rooms and a study and library, and music rooms. Believe it even had a secret passage.”

“Wow!” Jeff said. “Where would they put a secret passage?”

“From the top of the stairs on the first floor down to the kitchen,” Granny Sullivan explained. “Not really a secret passage, just back stairs for the staff, except Pa said they built a bookcase in front of the door so it would be less noticeable.”

“The house is built fairly high off the ground,” Ronnie said.
“
So would the poor servants have to access the foundation cellars and cool rooms from outside?”

“
Seem to remember Pa saying he pointed out to the new owners that their precious wine could get damaged if the servants had to access the cellars from the outside. They ended up ordering him to do another access from inside
of
the butler's pantry.”

“
Really,” Ronnie encouraged.

“In those days owners didn't worry how inconvenienced their staff were,” Granny Sullivan said with a chuckle. “But they were very concerned that their precious wine would get overheated or too cold from being taken through the yard.”

“
So whereabouts in the yard did he build the access to the cellars?”
Ronnie asked.

Before Granny Sullivan could answer, there was a soft knock on the door. A nurse came in.

“You'll have to visit some other time,” she apologised. “It's Mrs. Sullivan's dinner time.”

“And we've got to get back home before dark,” Jeff reminded the two girls as he ushered them out. “Or Mum will flip.”

“Do visit some other time,” Granny Sullivan said. “Always interested in talking to Fancy Jim Smith's granddaughter, and the grandchildren of old Colin Campion.”

“Thanks for seeing us,” Jeff said as they left.

“
She was really interesting,” Ronnie said as they hurtled down the road on their bikes. “I didn't know you had a grandfather called Fancy Jim Smith?”

“The skeleton in our family closet,” Katie said. “What about that old rogue, Colin Campion?”

“We won't ask you about Fancy Jim Smith if you shut up about learning about Colin Campion,” Jeff bargained.

They slowed down at Katie's place and she went inside. Ronnie and Jeff turned down the lane towards their own
house
.

“What about that old rogue Colin Campion?” Ronnie demanded. “What don't I know?”

“Nothing of importance,” Jeff said.

“I'll ask Dad.”

“Not before we've found our runaways,” Jeff said.

Ronnie sobered suddenly. For the almost ten minutes it took them to ride fast through the quiet streets towards their home, she had managed to put from her mind the
scary and
ever present worry oppressing their lives.

Now she had the riddle of the mansion with its underground cellars and even a secret passage to think about.

 

Sunday morning, Ronnie's mother was making scones and Ronnie was whipping cream. Katie turned up with her homework, escorted by her brother Will in time to join them for morning tea.

Somehow, it wasn't the usual nice atmosphere in their kitchen. Mrs. Campion had red-rimmed eyes, and looked as if she had lost weight. Mr. Campion was polite but grim and returned to tinkering in the garage. Jeff ate his scones and returned to his room muttering about homework.

Ronnie, Katie and Will moved into the back yard and paused. They didn't want to visit the hospital to see the still unconscious Jasmine. Much as they both liked Will it was no fun to drag him around to visit their other friends.

“Life is the pits,” Katie grumbled. “Wouldn't you have thought the police would have found some clue about
—”

“That your tree house?” Will interrupted as he gazed up at the big gum tree.

“Mainly Jamie's these days,” Ronnie said glumly. She sighed, and blinked back the ready tears. If only she could be sure that Jamie had run away and not been kidnapped.

“
So how does a little kid like him get up there?” Will asked. “No branches around for him to climb.”

Ronnie walked down the yard towards the big trunk and reached for the dangling rope and pulled. The rope ladder fell down.

“Wow,” Will said. “Must get a good look at the district from up there.”

He started climbing the rope ladder. Katie shrugged, rolled her eyes and followed him up.

Ronnie followed them up. She had outgrown tree houses ages ago. Although as tree houses went, her father had done a magnificent
job
of building it. The gum tree was one of the tallest in the district, and the platform and roof had been built as near as the top as was safe. Jamie loved it and spent a lot of his time up there.

She pulled herself into the platform. She blinked away tears again as she saw the neat accumulation of Jamie's treasures on the side bench. All his favourite toy soldiers, his battery operated car and a pair of binoculars.

“He was using them for bird spotting,” Ronnie's voice had a quaver in it. “Guess he forgot to bring them down again.”

Will picked the binoculars up and looked through them. “Terrific view of the district with them, except for the trees on the other side.”

“There used to be a line of them along the back fences but some had to be removed,” Ronnie explained.

“
Some activity at the Demento place,” Will remarked.

Ronnie snatched the binoculars off him and stared through them. There was a delivery van parked in the driveway
.
Jasmine's brother Mike was delivering boxes of stuff.

“Just Mike delivering take-away,” she reported.

Katie took the binoculars. “He's making several trips. Must be taking in a lot of stuff.”

“Just for the three of them,” Ronnie said. “That's odd.”

“Maybe they buy in bulk and store it,” Will said.

“Mike said he is always delivering large piles of take-away to that place,” Katie said.

“Maybe they are having a party,” Ronnie said.

“Drake won't be eighteen for another week,” Katie said. Ronnie looked at her. Katie flushed. “I asked him when it was, because I thought he might have a pool party to celebrate.”

“Except the pool is still mucky,” Ronnie said.

“Maybe his Dad is having a party?” Will suggested. “Olds often do have parties and entertain.”

“They don't entertain,” Katie said. “Never any spare cars or people, and the place is never lit up.”

“Are you staying here with Ronnie?” Will asked.

“Guess so,” Katie said.

“Positive?”

“Yeah.”

“
So I can head off?” Will asked.

“I'll ring your mobile when I need to go home that great and dangerous distance,” Katie said.

“You know what Mum said,” Will warned, as he slithered over the platform and down the ladder. “Not even out the front door without company.”

“The entire district is terrori
z
ed,” Ronnie said sadly. “We may as well all be in prison, the way the olds are carrying on.”

“It is so nice and peaceful up here,” Katie said. “What say we have an instant holiday and bring up our MP3 players, our homework, some cushions and books and just stay put?”

Mrs. Campion looked relieved when they said they intended to spend the day in the back yard in the tree house. “You can have a picnic up there. I'll get out the basket and pack it with picnic gear and fill the thermos flask.”

They collected rugs and cushions, their books and the well-stocked picnic basket. Ronnie scrambled up and Katie tied their stuff into bundles so that Ronnie could haul it up to the tree house. Then they both settled for the afternoon.

It was a clear, cold but sunny day. The wind rustled through the leaves and the tree house seemed detached and peaceful from the gloom and desperate unhappiness spreading across the district below.

The afternoon wore on. They finished their homework and lay on their cushions chatting. Ronnie was watching the Demento place through the binoculars.

“Funny how there is never anyone around,” she mused.

“What if they spend all their time down in the cellars,” Katie suggested.

“Wonder where the other entrance to the cellars
is
?” Ronnie said.

“Probably from under the back steps,” Katie said.

“What if it's further down the back yard?”

“Why would the staff have to go into the backyard to get into the cellars?” Ronnie argued.

“What was
Mr. Demento
doing with his spade in the backyard?” Katie demanded. “What if the reason he didn't see Jasmine in the backyard was because he was under the house?”

“So what would he be digging in the cellar?” Ronnie said.

Katie looked at Ronnie. Her face went an odd shade of grey. “What about bodies
?
”

“Rot,” Ronnie said very fast. “Absolute rot!” The sun was setting and the light fading and somehow it was spooky rather than pleasant in the tree house. “Time to pack up and take everything down again.”

They had just dropped the cushions and blankets over the side and lowered their homework when they heard a penetrating and familiar whisper.

“Ronnie, Katie.”

They both looked around. The whisper sounded as if Drake was right beside them, but they were the only two on the platform. He wasn't on any of the other branches of the tree. It was getting darker and harder to see. Ronnie squinted at the other big tree beside their tree.

“Ronnie, Kate,” came the oddly penetrating whisper again. “Will you invite me into your tree house?”

“He's in the big tree beside this one,” Katie whispered. “He could probably swing across to the tree house.”

“So why does he need an invite?” Ronnie whispered back.

Katie and Ronnie stared at each other in the dusk. Why indeed?

“So come on over,” Ronnie called.

“
Rephrase that formally,” came the whispered reply. “I invite you of my own free will, into my territory.”

Katie shrugged. “I invite you of my own free will into my territory.”

“Not you, Katie, it's Ronnie's place,” came back the penetrating whisper.

“I invite you of my own free will into my territory,” Ronnie gabbled.

Drake suddenly landed on the platform. “Thank goodness,” he gasped. “You are all in the most terrible danger!”

 

“Danger!” echoed Ronnie.

“Danger!” Katie
said
.

They peered at Drake through the dusk. Despite the cold, he wore a short sleeved black tee shirt over black jeans. His long hair was unbound and flowed around his face and over his shoulders so he looked an almost stranger.

“You've gotta understand,” he said in his slow drawl. “The family has decided to settle here. Their hunger is unbounded. They will take the entire district. Brod is out hunting and Jerain
e
has arrived as well.”

“Their, they?” Katie questioned.

“Their kin will be here for our...” Drake paused. “Awakening.”

“A sort of Bar Mitzvah,” Ronnie asked.

“Birthdays?” Katie asked.

“Mrs. Kotsos believes in vampires and the undead and evil,” Ronnie said.

“Yeah, I reckon Mrs. Kotsos is somewhat right,” Drake admitted.

There was a pause. Katie and Ronnie looked at each other and then at Drake hunched beside them on the tree house platform. Katie was the first to speak.

“We're not very bright, and would like you to spell it all out in words of one syllable,” Katie said.

Ronnie felt a rush of gratitude for her quick-witted friend. Why was Drake sitting in the dusk hinting at bad things instead of telling them what was wrong?

“My grandfather and his people come from a backward country in the middle of nowhere,” Drake explained. “Their
ways of getting nourishment are
...” another pause. “Different.”

“Blood suckers?” Katie asked.

“Just different feeding patterns,” Drake said. “Once the ceremony of my naming comes up, I will also join the family in my feeding patterns.”

“What happened at Munawala?” Katie asked. “It wasn't just the drought was it?”

“When the population began to leave, the ill health and...” Drake hesitated, “malnutrition among the rest became noticeable.” Drake's voice became bitter. “There were enough cattle to feed on, but grandfather preferred humans.”

“Cannibals!” Katie's voice had risen to a squeak.

“Not literally,” Drake returned. “A mob came up and burned the house down. Father left two skeletons in the ashes for closure and we moved away. One of us can return and claim the property as the heir.
”

“
So we are all in danger,” Ronnie said, trying to get back to the basis of their odd conversation. “Are you here to help us?”

“If you will help me,” Drake replied.

“Help you?” Katie asked.

“I want a chance to finish my engineering degree and have a settled identity and live like a proper human being,” Drake explained.
He paused as if thinking of how to express himself. “I hate them and their absolute power over
us. I want to escape.”

“Will said you are doing well with your studies,” Katie said. “Why do you need help?”

“I am much older than I look. I finished the degree years ago, but because we moved around so much I had to keep re-enrolling under different names. I only have a few units to do to finish at this college. Also without the wealth of my family behind me, I will need money to survive.”

“
So how can we help?” Ronnie asked.

“I need a job to go to if I manage to escape the family.”

“Dad has a very small engineering company,” Katie said slowly. “I don't know if he is large enough to employ you. As it is he is holding a space open for Will when he graduates.”

“Perhaps he might hear of other vacancies?
"
Drake sounded suddenly desperate. “Before the ceremony next week at the full moon.”

“Perhaps,” Katie said thoughtfully.

Ronnie pulled her jumper around her more tightly, and shivered. It had got very cold
and
dark up in the swaying gum
tree, and
no longer pleasant. Also their conversation was getting a dreamlike, no, a nightmare like quality to it. How else could she explain sitting in the darkness talking to an almost vampire?

“There are the missing animals and children and there are probably others
,
aren't there?” Katie's voice accused through the darkness.

“I will show you how to rescue them if you hide me from their vengeance,” Drake's voice whispered. “You have no idea how powerful they are.”

Ronnie gulped. Did this mean that her little brother Jamie and his mate Herbie were still alive? Were they going to be able to rescue them?

“How?”
Ronnie asked.

“None of us can come in to anyone's place without a formal invitation,” Drake's voice explained. “Keep them out of where ever I am hidden.”

“How can we rescue the people and the animals and perhaps discourage your kinfolk?” Katie repeated.

“I can show you the entrance to the underground cellars and a whiff of ammonia should rouse the captives enough to get them out,” Drake whispered. “But I've never heard of any way of killing them except by fire.”

“Ronnie! Katie!” Mrs. Campion's voice came from down below. “What are you doing up there in the darkness and why are these rugs and cushions still all over the ground?
Will's turned up to collect Katie. Come down at once.”

“Coming right now,” Ronnie called down to her mother.

“Meet you up here tomorrow night,” Katie whispered to Drake. “I'll talk to Dad about a vacancy around the industry.”

Ronnie felt the platform sway as though someone had jumped off it.

Katie fumbled for the rope ladder.
“
Should have bought the torch up here,” she muttered.

“You can tell where it is by feel,” Ronnie said. “You go first and I'll follow you down.”

The yard itself was brightly lit with the outside light. Katie and Ronnie collected blankets, cushions and homework. Will leaned against the back door waiting.

“Catch up with you at school tomorrow,” Katie promised as she piled the extra cushions and blankets on to Ronnie. She then left with Will.

“And about time,” her mother said irritably. “What on earth were you doing up there in the cold and dark.”

“Just thinking,” Ronnie said meekly.

There was a lot to think about. Her little brother was still alive and they were going to try to rescue him somehow. What sort of weird creatures Drake's kin were if they took nourishment off human beings, but weren't vampires?

She suddenly remembered Drake saying that they raised meat cattle, not beef cattle. Was that a slip of the tongue or did he really mean something more sinister?
She shivered.

“Been outside too long,” Mrs. Campion scolded. “You're chilled right through.”