Mystery at Silver Spires (12 page)

She was right, I shouldn't.

Because now I was worried sick about Silver.

That night I hardly slept at all, and neither did Emily. We kept on whispering in the dark, asking each other if we could hear anything. There were no sounds of kittens mewing, which filled me with a new dread, and every so often we heard an awful strangled cry from Silver. I found it unbearable to think of her in such pain, with nothing and no one to help her.

In the morning Emily and I went straight to Mrs. Pridham to ask her if we could see Silver and the kittens. We wanted to find out if she'd eaten her tablet the night before and to ask when Duncan was coming back too. She said he should be arriving any time and Emily and I begged to be let off breakfast. Mrs. Pridham hesitated, then agreed to allow it this once, as long as our friends brought us back some fruit. Her face seemed to be set hard when she looked at me and I feared the punishment I was due, but I kept on pushing it to the back of my mind so I could concentrate on Silver.

As soon as Duncan arrived we asked him if we could go up to see Silver with him, and he said that would be all right.

She looked so frail and thin, her chest rising and falling much too quickly as she breathed hard. Three of the kittens were suckling and she didn't seem to have the energy to stop them, even if she'd wanted to. The other three were rolling about nearby. At least the kittens seemed all right, but Silver… I swallowed.

“Is she going to be all right?” I asked Duncan, dreading the answer.

“Well, the next twelve hours are critical.” He paused, then turned a very grave expression on us. “I ought to warn you that it's not looking good, I'm afraid. You see, the problem was finding antibiotics that she could take safely while suckling her young.”

Emily and I exchanged a glance. She'd been right then.

“The ones I've given her might not prove to be as effective as some others could have been, but at least they won't affect the kittens.”

I looked at my watch and suddenly needed to know exactly what Duncan was saying. “Twelve hours? So if she's still…okay at quarter past eight tonight, she'll definitely be…all right for ever.”

Duncan looked at his own watch and paused before answering. I couldn't tell if he was calculating the time or wondering whether I could cope with the truth. “Yes, I'd say so… Yes.”

Emily squeezed my hand and I realized Mrs. Pridham was right behind us. I hadn't even heard her footsteps on the stairs. “You'd better come down now, girls. You can pop over again at lunchtime.”

It worried me now that Mrs. Pridham was being so kind and still hadn't punished me. It made me think she knew Silver wasn't going to survive and she was letting me see her alive for the last time. The morning passed more slowly than any other morning I could remember. Or so it felt. Emily and I bolted down the smallest amount of lunch, then rushed back to Forest Ash.

We knocked on Mrs. Pridham's door and as we waited I glanced sideways and noticed how pale Emily's face was beneath her freckles.

“I've been up there twice,” Mrs. Pridham told us quietly, as she followed us upstairs. “She's had her second tablet but it's not…looking good, I'm afraid.”

Those were the same words that Duncan had used. I didn't like them and didn't ever want to hear them again.

Walking across the attic floor was awful. Emily was holding my hand and I was gripping hers tightly, dreading what I was going to find around the corner. At first, when I saw Silver, I feared the worst had happened and felt my throat tighten. Wondering how her kittens could survive without her, I crouched down and stroked her head lightly, and her eyes opened just enough to blink at me very slowly.

“Don't die,” I whispered, feeling my tears gathering, but blinking them away, because I never cry. “Please don't die.”

“Only seven hours and ten minutes to go till the danger's over,” said Emily with a catch in her voice.

Mrs. Pridham patted my shoulder. “The kittens are doing wonderfully well, aren't they?”

I know she was only trying to cheer us up but it made me cross that she didn't seem to care about Silver.

I turned to Emily. “What'll happen to the kittens if…she doesn't make it?”

“I think they'll have to be bottle fed,” said Emily.

Then Mrs. Pridham's phone rang and she moved right away from us and spoke softly.

“That was Duncan,” she said, coming back a moment later to find us in exactly the same positions, taking turns to give Silver the gentlest of strokes. “He's coming round later to see how she is, but in the meantime we should try to help her drink some water.”

I was wondering how we could possibly do that when the water bowl was right next to Silver but she was just ignoring it. She'd hardly touched her food either, and Mrs. Pridham said she'd had to push the tablet into her mouth. She wasn't even certain that Silver had swallowed it. Emily said she thought she must have done, then she dipped her finger in the bowl and put it right next to Silver's mouth. After a moment, Silver licked off the tiny drop of water. We took turns offering our wet fingers after that, but even so she was only getting a tiny amount of water. Still, it must have been better than nothing.

“The lady that Duncan mentioned…” Mrs. Pridham began suddenly. “Well, it turns out that it's not convenient for her to have the kittens after all.”

“So why can't
we
keep them?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“No…I've told you, that's out of the question.” Mrs. Pridham had spoken very firmly, and I knew there was no point in pleading with her. I'd noticed she'd not mentioned Silver, just said that the lady couldn't have the kittens. And somehow I didn't think that was because the lady was quite happy to have Silver but not the kittens. No, it was because Mrs. Pridham didn't think Silver was going to live. My hand shook as I dipped my fingertip into the water bowl.

Emily and I came down from the attic feeling drained. She put her arm round me as we walked along the corridor, then we told the others the awful news in the dorm as they stood silently looking at us with big questioning eyes.

“The kittens are going to be okay but we're not sure about Silver,” I said immediately, because I suddenly couldn't bear their grave faces for a second longer. I could feel tears springing to my eyes but I looked down and blinked hard to make them go away.

Then Mrs. Pridham knocked and I noticed, as she opened the door, that there were quite a few girls hovering around on the landing just behind her. Mrs. Pridham explained to everyone that there was nothing we could do, and that the vet would be back in a little while to give Silver her next tablet.

“What's going to happen to the kittens?” asked Nicole.

I swallowed. Everyone was assuming Silver wouldn't survive. Emily's arm tightened round my shoulder.

All eyes were on Mrs. Pridham.

“We've not decided yet,” she said firmly.

“But why exactly can't we keep them?” Nadia asked, pushing herself forward a bit so she was standing next to Mrs. Pridham.

“It's just not practical,” came the answer. “I know they're sweet little kittens now, but they're going to grow into cats and a boarding house isn't the place for a lot of cats.”

Then the bell went and Mrs. Pridham told us all to go off to afternoon lessons. “Try not to worry, you two. The vet will do all he can.”

As my eyes met Emily's, I realized it was true we were both worrying like mad. But my worry was for Silver, and Emily's was for me.

Afternoon school was even harder to get through than the morning had been. I'd switched my phone on in between lessons and found a text from Hannah and a message from Anna. Hannah's text read:
Whats happenin wi Silver and kitts?
Anna's voicemail was bright and breezy, saying she'd try again later, as I wasn't picking up. And I realized I hadn't even switched my phone on when I'd collected it from Matron that morning, I'd been so preoccupied with thoughts about Silver. I switched it off again immediately because I didn't feel like answering Hannah's question. It would only make her as sad as I was. Well…nearly. And I didn't feel like talking to Anna either. Or anyone really.

Mrs. Pridham met us as soon as we went in to Forest Ash. Even in the seconds before she spoke I was studying her face for signs of how Silver was, and I dared to allow myself the teeniest shred of hope – because her eyes were smiling.

“It's good news… Duncan thinks she's going to be all right!”

I closed my eyes with relief.

I was still brimming with happiness and hope as we set off to the attic to see Silver, but I stopped in my tracks when Mrs. Pridham said, “Ms. Carmichael's coming over shortly, girls. She feels, like I do, that we must make arrangements for the cat and her kittens to go to a proper home, as soon as possible.”

I drew in my breath slowly and let it out again with a sigh. Something told me that we were getting nearer to the time when I'd be given my punishment. Why did Ms. Carmichael need to pay a personal visit to see the kittens? No, she wanted to see me and Emily. That's why she was coming. But nothing was Emily's fault and I would make sure I explained that straight away. I was the one who was responsible for encouraging Silver to stay in the loft.

When Emily and I got to the attic, Silver was lying on her back suckling all six kittens at the same time. She looked exhausted, but you could tell she wasn't struggling any more. She was still and serene, and at the sight of us she did a massive yawn, which made us both laugh.

“Oh, Silver, you really are much better!” I said, stroking her and putting my face close to hers. I felt her wet nose rubbing on my cheek and wondered if that was a cat kiss. But then I felt sad again, because I'd only just had the lovely surprise of finding Silver better and now I had to get used to the idea of her leaving Silver Spires.

“Maybe they won't be able to find anyone to take them,” said Emily, reading my mind. “Then they'll
have
to stay here.”

“But we break up in under two weeks,” I reminded her. “And Mrs. Pridham said she was going away, didn't she?”

“Did your stepmum get back to you?” asked Emily.

“I'd forgotten about that. I'll ring her now.”

Anna picked up immediately and was in her usual cheerful mood. I tried to spin the story out, making it as dramatic as possible and laying it on thickly about how Silver had nearly died. It was when I began to describe how adorable the kittens were that she said, “Sorry, Bryony, if you're building up to asking me if we can have Silver and the kittens at home, then I'd better stop you right there. I'm afraid the answer is no. Dad seems to have developed some kind of an allergic reaction to Fellini – you know, watery eyes and shortage of breath. So there's no way he'd ever think about taking on
one
cat of our own, let alone seven! I'm sorry.”

I'd known they'd never let me adopt Silver and the kittens really, but I still felt awful as I disconnected because that was my last tiny ray of hope gone.

“Like we said before, we'll just have to hope it's someone near to Silver Spires who takes them on,” said Emily. She'd obviously guessed from my side of the conversation that the answer was a definite no.

I didn't answer. My spirits were too low for talking.

“Look at the little tiny one,” Emily went on. I could tell she was trying to cheer me up. “Its fur isn't so patchy now, is it?”

I told Emily something I'd been keeping to myself then. “In my head I call him Silver too, because he's the one who looks most like his mum and because if she'd died…” I could feel my voice shaking. “…I wanted there to be something kind of…left of her.”

“But now you can think of another name for him!” said Emily, and I felt sorry for her that she was having to work so hard at trying to cheer me up. “He looks the exact colour of old ash that you see in a fireplace, doesn't he?” she went on. “Not quite as silver as his mum, more greyish.”

“Ash,” I repeated thoughtfully. “Yes.”

Then we looked at each other and grinned. “Forest Ash!” said Emily with a note of triumph in her voice. “That makes sense. Only…Ash for short!”

And that's when we heard two voices and two sets of footsteps coming upstairs. Emily's eyes widened. “Ms. Carmichael!” she mouthed.

“Ah, so this is where it's been happening,” came Ms. Carmichael's calm, deep voice.

“Uh-huh,” said Mrs. Pridham.

I gulped as I looked round, hearing this new, unfamiliar set of footsteps, surprisingly quiet, approaching our precious corner of the loft.

“Hello, girls,” said Ms. Carmichael. But she scarcely gave us a glance. Her eyes were on Silver and the kittens. They were still nudging Silver for milk while she tried to clean herself. Ms. Carmichael broke into a smile as she bent down and tickled the side of Silver's face. I was glad that she did that before she said anything about the kittens. Mrs. Pridham was staring in surprise. “Oh my goodness, she's made an improvement even in the last hour!”