The Lights Under the Lake

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Mrs Rudge nodded, though she didn’t meet our teacher’s eyes. “I can bring you up some bread and butter. I’m afraid that’s all I can manage with the kitchen closed. My husband is very particular about these things.”

Mrs Knight looked sympathetic. Miss Bowler looked like she was about to eat the reception desk.

“I’d love some bread and butter, actually,” Scarlet said to me under her breath. “Much better than stew.”

My stomach growled, and I had to agree.

“This way, please,” said Mrs Rudge.

She led us out of the reception area and along a dark corridor which we all trod in a line, like ducks following their mother. We were too tired for chatter. The walls were dark wood, the carpets plush and red. There was a staircase, with sconces going up it – some of the candles lit, others not. I wondered if they’d never been lit in the first place, or if a draught had blown them out.

There were three floors, not unlike Rookwood, though I wasn’t sure if the hotel was quite the size of our imposing school. But then it was dark, and how much of it had we actually seen? Once we’d made it to the top, Mrs Rudge went along unlocking all the doors and lighting the lamps, while Mrs Knight peered at her clipboard with the room assignments on it.

We leant against the wall as we waited for our names to be called. There were portraits running all the way down the stairs – portraits of long-dead strangers, as far as I could tell. I tried not to imagine that they were staring at me.

“Ivy Grey, Scarlet Grey,” Mrs Knight called from further down the corridor. “Ariadne Flitworth and, erm …” she lowered the clipboard. “Rose?”

Rose’s gaze flicked down to the floor, but she said nothing. If she had a surname, she wasn’t giving it away.

“This one here, please,” said Mrs Knight.

“That’s not fair, Miss,” Elsie whined as we made our way up the staircase past the other girls. “How come they get the big room? I thought it was ours?”

I was surprised that she’d made such an outburst in front of the teachers, but I supposed she was as tired as the rest of us. Luckily Miss Bowler was dropping off her bags into the teachers’ room at the other end of the corridor at that point, otherwise she probably would’ve bellowed a reply and woken the whole hotel.

“I’ve tried to put everyone together with their friends,” said Mrs Knight patiently. “And I’ve had to rearrange since we’ve lost Betty and gained Rose. No arguments, please.”

“Yeah,” said Scarlet, pulling a face at Elsie. “No arguments.”

We took our bags over to the open door where Mrs Knight stood, and peered in.

The room was huge, much bigger than our dorm rooms back at school. Dark red striped wallpaper coated the walls, and heavy curtains hung at the windows. And the beds! There were two enormous four-poster beds, each with cream drapes.

“Oh my word,” Scarlet exclaimed. It was the fanciest bedroom I’d ever seen, and I knew she was thinking the same.

“Oh, it looks just like my bedroom at home!” said Ariadne, beaming.

“Of course it does,” said Scarlet, giving her a friendly jab in the arm.

Rose wandered in, staring around at everything, fascinated. I followed her and dropped my bag to the floor. It only took a moment for Scarlet to run in and start bouncing on the bed.

“Wheee!” she cried, the mattress creaking as she jumped.

Miss Bowler’s face suddenly appeared in the doorway. “Stop that!”

Scarlet slowed her bouncing to a halt and then plopped down on to the covers. Miss Bowler marched on down the corridor.

There was furniture in the room too, big, heavy wooden pieces that looked like they were from the last century. And perhaps the strangest thing was a bath, in front of the windows. Not just a tin bath either, but a real bath with taps and silver clawed feet. “Look at this!” I said, walking over to it.

“Goodness,” said Ariadne. “A bath in a bedroom? Well, I don’t have that.”

It looked quite old, and it reminded me a little of the baths at Rookwood, but it was more ornate and expensive-looking. I turned the tap to test it, and listened as the pipes clunked below. There was an empty moment, and then the water began to gush out. It was a slightly odd colour, with leafy fragments in it.

“Urgh,” I said. “That doesn’t look right.”

Ariadne pointed out of the window. “Lake water, I think,” she said. “It would make sense. I expect that’s the easiest way to get it.” I followed her finger and looked out at the view. Even in the dark it looked impressive – a vast body of black water, the moon shimmering on the surface.

“Yuck,” said Scarlet. I looked over at her. She was now lying flat out on the bed like a starfish. “Do you think we have to drink that?”

“I expect they boil it first,” said Ariadne hopefully. Rose giggled.

There was a knock at the open door, and we looked round to see Mrs Rudge standing there with a tray. “Some bread and butter for you, girls,” she said. We all dashed over to her. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Ariadne move so fast. “There will be more food tomorrow at breakfast.”

We all took some and ate hungrily. It tasted marvellous – bread and butter was a rare treat, and it reminded me of living with Aunt Phoebe. I tried my best not to spill crumbs all over the plush carpet.

“I could get used to this,” said Scarlet through a mouthful of bread.

“So which beds shall we take?” Ariadne asked when we’d finished munching.

“I think Scarlet’s already claimed that one,” I said, pointing at the one that had been thoroughly bounced on. “So I suppose that’s me as well.”

“Don’t talk in your sleep,” said Scarlet.

“Don’t kick me!” I shot back.

“All right then,” said Ariadne with a smile, “Rose and I will have this one.”

“It’s lovely.” It took me a moment to realise who was speaking, since she was usually so silent. Rose was beaming. I supposed it wasn’t long ago that all she’d had was an old straw mattress on the floor of the school basement, where Violet had hidden her. And before that, a hospital bed. And the rooms at Rookwood didn’t exactly offer grand luxury either.

“LIGHTS OUT IN TEN MINUTES!” came a voice that was instantly recognisable as Miss Bowler’s. “LAVATORIES ARE DOWN THE HALL!”

“Could you … keep it down a little, perhaps? We have other guests,” I heard Mrs Rudge respond. I wasn’t actually sure if Miss Bowler could, though. Loud seemed to be her natural volume. And were there other guests, even? I hadn’t seen any.

We all pulled out our nightdresses and headed to the lavatories to get changed and brush our teeth. It turned out there weren’t very many stalls, so there was quite a queue. By the time we got back to the room, someone had already put the lamp out.

“Thank goodness I brought supplies,” said Ariadne. She dragged one of her small suitcases out towards the light of the corridor and pulled it open. It was full of candles.

Scarlet patted her on the back. “You’re very strange, Ariadne, but it certainly comes in handy.”

We huddled round the candle just inside the door of the room, and I suddenly noticed a glimmer of gold at Rose’s neck.

My twin noticed it too. “You wear your locket to bed?”

Rose nodded and quickly tucked it away inside her borrowed nightgown, out of sight. Whatever was in that locket, it meant something to her.

Suddenly, Elsie Sparks appeared behind Ariadne. “Miss said lights out, you little weasels!” she snapped.

She blew out the candle and then slammed the door shut, plunging us into darkness.

Chapter Eight (#ulink_a9c6118e-08af-5e58-83c1-7f27271d3d09)

SCARLET (#ulink_a9c6118e-08af-5e58-83c1-7f27271d3d09)

couldn’t sleep.

I lay awake in the dark. The four-poster bed was warm and comfortable, much better than what I was used to, even if it was a little musty. But there was a chill coming from the fireplace, and I couldn’t escape it without putting my head under the covers. And trying that had caused Ivy to prod me and whisper that I should stop messing around.

And on top of that, there had been the noises. Footsteps and dull banging and creaks from the walls. It was actually almost familiar – Rookwood was the same – but in a new place it was still unsettling.

Now Ivy was breathing steadily and twitching in her dreams, and I was pretty sure Ariadne was snoring. At least, someone was snoring, and Rose didn’t seem like the type.

I sighed and rolled over. We hadn’t shut the curtains, and there was a little moonlight, enough to cast the weird bath in shadow.

There was something odd about the Shady Pines Hotel, and whatever it was making me feel on edge. Stop being so stupid, I told myself. You wanted to get away from Rookwood. And you’re as far away from Miss Fox and the asylum as you’ll ever be.Nothing is going to go wrong.

That was when I heard a loud gasp from the corridor.

Well, now I was awake. I slipped out of the bed and over to the doorway, and pulled it open as gently as I could manage.

There were still lamps lit along the corridor, and Mrs Rudge was standing by the nearest one, staring at the wall opposite our door. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. Her face was pale and her hand was clamped over her mouth.

I shut the door gently behind me. “Mrs Rudge?”

She jumped and then turned to face me, lowering her hand. “Ah, Miss …” She trailed off, apparently realising she didn’t actually know my name.

“Scarlet Grey,” I said automatically. What had she seen? “Did something startle you?”

Her eyes flickered. “Well, you did, a little.”

“I meant before that,” I said. “I couldn’t sleep and I heard you gasp.”

“It was nothing,” she said quickly. She straightened her apron. “I was coming to put out the lamps for the night, and I thought I saw a mouse; I’ll, um … just finish putting these out, shall I?” She cupped her hand round the lamp and blew it out, and then hurried away to the next one.

I stepped into the corridor and examined the place she’d been staring at. There was a cross hanging from the wall. It was golden and quite ornate, and the nail it was dangling from looked haphazardly tapped in, like it was only just hanging on.

I frowned. I could’ve sworn that hadn’t been there before. It seemed out of place among the portraits of posh dead people. Why on earth was Mrs Rudge so frightened of it? She didn’t seem like a wet blanket – or at least I thought she couldn’t be, not living in such a remote place with such a cranky husband. She had to be tougher than she looked. But a cross on the wall had just scared the stuffing out of her!

Maybe Mrs Rudge is a vampire and that’s why she’s afraid of crosses