Monster (10 page)

‘ “B
ut it was not the sight of her body, nor yet was it that of the body of Hugo Baskerville lying near her, which raised the hair upon the heads of these three daredevil roisterers, but it was that, standing over Hugo, and plucking at his throat, there stood a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon. And even as they looked, the thing tore the throat out of Hugo Baskerville, on which, as it turned its blazing eyes and dripping jaws upon them, the three shrieked with fear and rode for dear life, still screaming, across the moor. One, it is said, died that very night of what he had seen, and the other twain were but broken men for the rest of their days”.’

‘Oh good. Glad you’re not filling her head with scary
Beast stuff,’ I said, upon finding Maggie in the Fiction Library. Tabitha was on her lap, sucking her thumb and holding the copy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s
The Hound of the Baskervilles
for her to read.

‘She chose it,’ said Maggie, as Tabitha climbed off her lap and came over to greet me.

‘I got your stuff, Tabby,’ I said. ‘Take it up to your bedside chest and don’t let Matron catch you with it.’ I handed her the bag and her change and she went to the Roald Dahl shelf, pressed it hard and it popped out, as though on a spring, revealing the Hidey Hole behind it. She stepped inside and the shelves moved back in place as though she’d never been there.

‘Handy that, innit?’ said Maggie, gesturing to the shelves.

‘Yeah, but we’re only supposed to use them in an emergency.’

‘Well, not being arsed go to all the way to the front hall to get up to the dorms
is
an emergency.’

Maggie got up off her beanbag and came to the table. ‘Clarice hasn’t bothered her. ‘I gave her a “stay away” stare earlier and I haven’t seen her since.’

‘Good. So Tabby’s been okay?’

‘Yeah she’s been fine, stuck to me like frickin’ superglue. Why are you so concerned about the little squirt anyway? You her real mum or something?’

‘I just worry about her. I remember what it’s like being that small at boarding school. Prefects like Clarice can be horrendous. And what with both her parents being in a war zone and all that.’

‘Oh yeah. That’s pretty cruddy.’

‘Any sign of Babbitt?’

She shook her head. ‘Nope.
Rien du tout.
’

‘This Beast thing’s annoying the hell out of me too.’ I slumped down into a chair at the reading table beside a shelf full of Enid Blytons, so old they still had the racist bits in. ‘Regan refuses to let it die. This old woman at the shop gave her some claw she’s been carrying about in her handbag for decades.’

‘Never mind that, did you get any goss out of Princess Di? Did you see Charlie Cheesepuff? Did he ask you out? Did you do Upstairs-Outsideys?’

‘Don’t be silly.’

‘Downstairs-Outsideys?’

I just looked at her.

‘Did you get my chocolate? What about
Con Air
?’

‘Which would you like me to answer first?’

She thought for a second. ‘The most important one, did you get my chocolate?’

I slid the large slab of Dairy Milk across the table towards her and she tore the packet open, breaking the corner with her teeth, immediately dying of ecstasy, closing her huge brown eyes to savour the moment. ‘Oh my God that’s worth waiting for.’ I started counting out her change. She pushed it away. ‘Keep it. Honestly. I’ve got more goddamn coins up there than Scrooge McDuck.’

‘Oh, thanks,’ I said, scraping them all off the table into my pocket. ‘There isn’t much change anyway. I got your
Con Air
as well,’ I said. ‘I put it on your bed.’

‘Wicked!’ she said. ‘We’ll watch that one night. Get some corn popping and stuff.’ She went back to her chocolate. I wondered if they should be left alone, so adoringly was she gazing at the slab. ‘So, did you see Chucky Cheese then?’ she asked through another mouthful of brown sludge formerly known as Dairy Milk.

I nodded. ‘Charlie? Yep. And he saw me.’

‘And?’

‘And, nothing really.’ I started picking at an old boiled sweet stuck to the side of my chair. ‘He cut the cheese.’

Maggie frowned. ‘He farted? In front of you? Well, that’s not gonna get you dropping your knickers, is it?’

I fell into hysterics. ‘No, I mean literally. That’s what he was doing. He cut some cheese for Matron. And some ham. And he bagged up some sweets. And he has asthma. I learned that today too.’

‘Très intéressant.
Not.’

‘And he asked me to go to the Gorge with him.’

‘Oh my God!’ Maggie almost choked on her chocolate. ‘That’s it, tick virginity off the list then! Consider it passé!’ She held up her hand for a high five but I didn’t take the bait.

‘It’s just to see the caves or go for afternoon tea, that’s all. He said there’s crazy golf too. I think he just felt sorry for me being stuck here all Christmas.’

‘You’re going to play crazy golf? That’s basically code for “don’t bother wearing knickers”.’

‘No, it’s not!’ I couldn’t help smiling. ‘I am excited though. It’ll be nice. If he meant it.’

‘Stop pouring cold water on it.’ Maggie sighed. ‘He likes you. I could sense it that time we went in there last month. He couldn’t take his eyes off you. Wake up and smell the erection. You and he are going to have hot sex up against the cave wall in Bathory Caverns or my name’s not Margaret Lynette Zappa.’

‘Is your name Margaret Lynette Zappa?’

‘Yep.’

I sighed. ‘I gave him the school number as I couldn’t give
him mine and he said he’d call but I don’t know. I don’t think he will. I think you’re more his type actually.’

‘Moi?’
Maggie squawked, breaking off another chunk of chocolate. ‘He can’t stand
moi,
remember? He’s gonna prank the living daylights out of me next time I see him. Serving it well cold, obviously. I’m surprised he didn’t send you back with a pie for me filled with chicken and razor blades.’

‘Yeah, but the pranking is just flirting, isn’t it?’

‘Oh no. We mean business. He’s not my type anyway.’

‘What, loyal? Hard-working? Nice?’

‘Always got blood under his fingernails,’ she finished.

‘No, he hasn’t. They were very clean today as a matter of fact.’

‘Ooh, get a good long look, did you? What else did you get a good long look at I wonder? Pecs out, were they?’

‘Like bullets.’ I grinned and we both fell about in hysterics. As soon as I caught sight of the wall map above the bookcase, I felt bad for laughing, for forgetting about Seb for one moment. I honed in on Colombia and all the blue space between here and there. It immediately sucked all the joy out of my thoughts.

‘Charlie will call you, I know he will,’ said Maggie. ‘He likes you and I can tell you really like him.’ She finally folded down the packet of her half-eaten chocolate bar and shoved it in down her jumper. ‘Mm, major noms. So what deets did you get out of Princess Di about her woodland shenanigans?’

I leant back against the Point Horror books. ‘Not much really. Actually, not anything. I think she might have told me something if I’d kept on but …’

‘But what?’

‘There’s definitely something about her and those woods.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Yeah. I just can’t add it all up. She’s hiding something in there, I know she is.’

‘Come on then, Sherlock,’ said Maggie, leaning back on the creaky wooden chair. ‘Hit me with it. What could it be?’

I stood up and paced the floor, jingling the coins in my pocket. I paced back, past the Judy Blumes, towards the Point Horrors and back again. I stopped and looked at Maggie. ‘No, that’s not helping.’ I sat down again.

‘Okay, what are the facts then? Sherlock always collates his facts first.’

‘We saw Dianna going up to the woods with a full white bag. About half an hour later, we saw Dianna returning from the woods
sans
bag.’

‘Oui,’
said Maggie.

‘She refuses to talk about what’s on her mind, which isn’t unusual, but might be noteworthy.’

‘Vrai …’

‘She wanted to swap chores with me so that she could do the two outdoor chores, litter and walking the dog. And she got quite agitated when I said she couldn’t.’

‘Which means?’

‘Which means she wants to be outside more. Which
could
mean she wants free rein to go into the woods whenever she wants.’

‘Right.’

‘Oh, and another thing. You know I said Regan got given this claw? The old lady who gave it to her was saying she had first-hand experience of the Beast. Or rather, her husband had. They used to own a farm and he saw it attacking his sheep once. It took some turkeys at Christmas. Regan
said she was going to camp out in the woods so she could see it.’

‘Yeah …’

‘Yeah, and Dianna got annoyed and forbade her from camping in the woods.’

‘Forbade?’
cried Maggie.

‘Yep. And since when has Dianna
forbidden
anyone from doing anything ever?’

‘She does it all the time!’

‘Does she?’ I said.

‘Yeah. She forbids the Pups from touching her muesli and forbids the cooks from using her wholemeal pasta in the big pot with everyone else’s spaghetti.’

‘Yeah, but it was the way she forbade her,’ I said, pacing again. ‘Like, in anyone else’s mind it would be like “Okay, Regan, you wanna go and camp in the woods overnight to look for some abominable thing, you go right ahead”, but Dianna said it like she was afraid of what Regan might find if she went up there.’

‘But
what
might Regan find if she went up there?’ Maggie urged. ‘Come on, Nash, think. What could it be?’

I slumped. I’d peaked too early and I had absolutely nowhere to go but down. ‘I have no idea. Something to do with the Beast maybe? She seemed to get pretty het up when Regan was banging on about it. We need evidence. Why don’t we sneak up there tonight and have a good look round?’

‘It’s dark already,’ said Maggie.

‘So?’

‘So, we won’t be able to see anything.’

‘We’ll take our torches.’

Maggie seemed like she was looking for an excuse. I called her on it.

‘You’re not afraid of this Beast thing too, are you?’

‘No, of course not,’ she scoffed.

I didn’t know how long Regan had been at the door, but when I turned my head she was just standing there. The door was wide open. Neither of us had heard her come in.

‘Yes?’ I said, rather too abruptly.

‘There’s a phone call for you.’

I instantly feared the worst. If it was about Seb, it would be all my fault. I’d barely given him a second thought all afternoon. ‘Oh God. Who is it?’

‘It’s that boy from the village shop, Charlie.’

I breathed out. Maggie was wolf-whistling and catcalling and generally just acting like a complete and total winder-upper.

‘Ooh, see, I told you. I told you he’d ring!’

Still recovering from the shock, I smiled embarrassedly at her, as Regan stood aside to let me through the door.

When I reached the school phone, on the shelf outside the staffroom, the receiver was resting on the telephone directory. I picked it up.

‘Hi, Charlie,’ I said, unable to keep the smile out of my voice.

‘Nash, hi. Yeah, uh, how are you?’

‘I’m still okay, thanks. I only saw you about an hour ago.’

‘Yeah, I know. I thought, well, no time like the present. I wondered if you’d be free on Wednesday to go to the Gorge. You know, like, with me, kind of thing?’

My ears were ringing with bells. ‘Oh, that sounds lovely, Charlie. So your dad let you have the day off?’

‘I haven’t asked him yet, but Wednesdays are always quiet so it’ll be fine. What do you say?’

‘I’d have to ask permission.’

The line was silent at his end.

‘I’m sure it’s okay though. The school knows your dad and everything so there shouldn’t be any problem there.’

‘Great, that’s great. Well, what’s say I pick you up about ten o’clock in the morning or something and we’ll just go up the Gorge?’

‘Okay,’ I said, smiling down the receiver.

I could feel him smiling too. ‘I’m looking forward to it,’ he said.

‘Me too. I’ll see you at ten then, all being well.’

‘Yeah. Text me … sorry, let me know if you’re not allowed and I’ll come up to the school and we can just chat or something.’

‘Okay. I’ll send a carrier pigeon maybe. I think they still allow us to send one of those out from time to time.’

He laughed like I’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard. Then he stopped. ‘Bye.’

‘Bye, Charlie.’ The line went dead for a few moments. I hadn’t heard a click.

Neither of us had hung up.

‘Charlie?’

‘Yeah.’

We laughed. We did this a couple more times, said bye and then stayed on the line. I have no idea why it was funny but it was. I hadn’t been relaxed enough to laugh like that in a long time. Eventually, when we did both hang up, I knew this was what I needed. Time away from the school, time with someone who wasn’t really connected with the
school or my family. Time just to play and be happy and worry about nothing.

The staffroom door opened and Matron appeared, locking it behind her with one of the many keys on her bunch.

‘Hello, Matron.’

‘Natasha.’

‘May I be excused on Wednesday twenty-first to go out with a friend?’

‘Where with a friend?’

‘To the Gorge. Just for the day.’

‘Who is this friend?’

‘Charlie Gossard.’

‘From Bathory Stores? I don’t know, Natasha, that doesn’t sound very—’ She stopped talking all of a sudden and looked at me. I must have visibly deflated without realising it. ‘His father will need to sign a permission slip.’

A smile cracked my face in half.

‘But be back in good time for dinner and Prep.’

‘Yes, Matron.’

I stopped just short of hugging her or curtseying, and bounced back along the corridor in the direction of the dorms. Matron had a bad rap at Bathory for her harsh features and there were some unkind rumours that had always persisted about her once being a man. But I liked her, always had. So what if she
had
once been a guy? Matron was kind and fair to me so I had no reason to dislike her at all. At that precise moment in time, I loved her to death for letting me go out with Charlie.