Goodly and Grave in a Deadly Case of Murder

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“Go back to him, girl. Get him!” Lucy cried to Bathsheba.

Bathsheba turned and bounded off towards the man again. But instead of attacking him, she flopped down at his feet and rolled over on her back. The man paused in his search and scratched Bathsheba’s belly as though she was a fluffy kitten and not a potentially lethal panther. He then continued his hunt, leaving Bathsheba sprawled contentedly on the grass.

Realising Bathsheba was a lost cause, Lucy turned her attention to the angel. It was almost upon her once more, looking as though it had some serious avenging in mind.

“I thought you’d changed sides!” Lucy yelled in frustration. She gathered all the mental energy she had left and pictured the angel turning round yet again and going after the graverobber. To her joy, after a few seconds, the angel did indeed change direction and began stomping back towards the graverobber, who cried out angrily when he realised what was happening. This time, Lucy didn’t let anything distract her thoughts. She was controlling the angel now and wouldn’t let this man get the better of her! Concentrating harder and harder, she pictured the angel attacking the graverobber. Sure enough, the angel made a swipe at the man, he ducked just in time to narrowly miss a skull-cracking blow from the stone fist. He then decided that discretion was the better part of valour and took off in the opposite direction.

As Lucy watched him vanish into the night, her concentration wavered. The angel clumped along for a few more steps before coming to a stop. Lucy sagged to the ground in relief. A few moments later, Bathsheba came trotting back over and licked her face.

“A lot of help you were. You’re supposed to be a pitiless predator not a lap cat!” Lucy said crossly. But she hugged the panther just the same. Then, to Lucy’s very great relief, Lord Grave began to stir. She helped him sit up.

“What’s that statue doing over there? Did it bash me over the head? I can’t quite remember.”

Lucy quickly explained what had happened and how she and the graverobber had battled for control of the angel.

“You animated it?”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means that you made an inanimate object come to life. It’s a very rare skill.”

Lucy wanted to ask more about animation, but this wasn’t the time. Lord Grave had turned as grey as the stone angel. “We should get back to the Hall, sir. You look terrible.”

Lord Grave ignored her concern. “We need to retrieve that book. It’s an important clue,” he said, his voice beginning to sound worryingly slurred.

Lucy snatched up the lantern, which luckily hadn’t gone out. “You stay here. I’ll find it. I think I know roughly where it landed.” Lord Grave didn’t argue, much to Lucy’s surprise. That surprise became apprehension when she realised he had dozed off.

“Stay with him, Bathsheba, I’ll be as quick as I can.” She hurried off, scared that Lord Grave’s injuries were more serious than she’d first thought and that he might die before she found the book and got them all back to Grave Hall.

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_cf0006d1-ff9b-5b75-8ddd-c2ddae86d658)

THE SNAKE OUROBOROS (#ulink_cf0006d1-ff9b-5b75-8ddd-c2ddae86d658)

Lucy’s fears were unfounded, however, and a couple of hours later, she was safely back at Grave Hall and sitting with Lord Percy and Lady Sibyl at the table in the MAAM meeting room. She had managed to retrieve the graverobber’s book after a few minutes of searching and then opened a shortcut back to Grave Hall where Bertie, Lord Percy and Lady Sibyl had been anxiously waiting. They’d helped Lord Grave, who was semi-conscious again, through the shortcut. Mrs Crawley had then carried him up to bed.

Smell was on the table, padding around and sniffing at the book. Lucy had been surprised to find it was simply a blank notebook. She had been expecting it to contain spells or something of the sort. However, the cover was intriguing. It had been damp and muddy when she found it, but Lady Sibyl had carefully cleaned and dried it and now the tiny jewels embedded in its green leather cover gleamed.

The meeting-room door crashed open, making everyone jump. For one wild moment, Lucy expected the murderous angel to burst inside. But instead, the Beguildy twins rushed in.

“Where have you two been?” Lord Percy snapped. “We’ve had a real emergency here.”

“We decided to have dinner with friends. Lady Sibyl’s coachman flew us back as soon as we heard. Is Lord Grave all right? Where is he?” Prudence said breathlessly. The small ship she wore in her piled-up silvery hair had tilted sideways and her cloak was hanging half off one shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Prue,” Lady Sibyl said, patting Prudence’s arm. “He’s safe in bed at the moment, with a rather large bandage round his head. Young Bertie’s with him; the boy won’t let him out of his sight.”

“What happened exactly? Did you make a hash of it, Lucy?” Beguildy asked.

“She couldn’t have made less of a hash of it. Lucy saved Lord Grave’s life and her own,” Lord Percy said sternly. “I’ll explain later. Come and look at this.”

Beguildy looked decidedly pouty as he and Prudence joined everyone else at the table, where Smell was still meandering around the notebook, stopping every now and then to gingerly sniff at it.

“If only my detector hadn’t been broken.” Lord Percy sighed regretfully. The silver pencil-like detector had been smashed to pieces when the angel attacked Lord Grave.

“I don’t need no detector, not with my nose,” Smell replied. “This thing reeks of magic. But not a type of magic I’ve smelled before.”

“What does this mean? Does anyone know?” Prudence asked, pointing to the symbol that decorated the edges of the notebook’s pages in a repeating pattern. It was a snake holding its tail in its mouth.

“The snake ouroboros,” Lord Percy said thoughtfully. “An ancient symbol in alchemy. It can mean a number of things: infinity, creation, destruction.”

Before anyone could ask any questions about the snake ouroboros, the door opened once again. This time, Lord Grave wobbled into the room. He was dressed in his nightshirt, dressing gown and slippers and had a large bandage wrapped round his head. Bertie was hovering anxiously behind him.

Prudence rushed forward to help Lord Grave. He resisted at first, but then leaned on her arm and tottered over to the table where the notebook lay open.

“You should be in bed, Lord Grave!” Prudence said.

“That’s what I told him!” Bertie agreed.

“Too much to do,” Lord Grave said, half falling into the chair that Lord Percy had hastily pulled out for him. “Lucy. Are you all right? You look exhausted.”

“I’m fine,” Lucy said, although in truth she was feeling horribly tired now and was finding it hard to concentrate.

“Now, has anyone any ideas about this notebook?”

Prudence began fussing around Lord Grave. “Your bandage is coming loose, let me just—”

“Prudence!” Lord Grave said a little snappily. Then more gently, he added, “I appreciate the concern, Prue, my dear. But there’s no need for it. I’m perfectly well.”

Prudence looked rather upset. As she dejectedly sat down next to her brother, her gaze met Lucy’s and they exchanged sympathetic smiles, although Prudence’s was slightly tremulous round the edges.

“Smell is certain that the notebook has magical properties,” Lord Percy said. “But we haven’t progressed any further than that.”

Lord Grave rubbed his forehead wearily, as though his head ached. Which was quite possible given he had recently been clonked over the head by a stone fist. “I think we should call in Angus Reedy.”

“Good idea,” Lord Percy said. “An experienced bookbinder like him should be able to give us some insight. I could send him one of my chits?”

“Yes, thank you. I believe he’s on his way back from France, but the chit should still find him.”

Lucy was very curious to find out what a chit was, so she watched carefully as Lord Percy went over to a writing bureau that stood against the wall next to the window. He opened it, took out a sheet of paper from one of the numerous drawers inside, and wrote a message on it, before rolling it up. He then carried it over to the window, which he unfastened. He placed the tube of paper in the palm of his hand and spoke to it. “Angus Reedy. Believed to be travelling back to England from France.”

There was a buzzing noise. The paper trembled and sprouted two tiny wings. It flew out of Lord Percy’s hand and buzzed off out of the window.

“That’s amazing!” Lucy said. Although she was becoming more and more used to seeing magic now, much of it still surprised and delighted her.

“Another of Lord Percy’s clever contraptions,” Lady Sibyl said, looking fondly at him.

“It really is excellent,” Lucy said to Lord Percy, whose face creased into a rare smile.

“I suppose there’s not much more to be done tonight,” Lord Grave said, bracing his hands against the arms of his chair and easing himself upright. “I suggest we all get some sleep.”

Lucy made her way to bed, feeling more exhausted than ever. Her bedroom, which she shared with Becky Bone, was high under the eaves at the front of Grave Hall. Lucy didn’t like sharing a room with Becky, who could be grumpy and unpleasant, but she loved the view her from bedroom window as she could see out over to Grave Hall’s wildlife park. She could have happily spent hours watching the animals. There were so many fascinating creatures roaming around. Elephants (Lucy once had an unfortunate run-in with one of them), giraffes (ditto), lions, zebras and numerous other animals, as well as an abundance of birds. And Bathsheba was there too at times, of course. Although the panther spent her days padding around after Lord Grave, at night she slept in her hut in the wildlife park, because she had a regrettable habit of raiding the kitchen when everyone was asleep.

Lucy always liked to have a last look out of the window each evening before going to bed. Treading carefully so as not to wake Becky, who would give Lucy a bad-tempered earful if woken, she went to the window and opened the curtains a little. Under the bright stars, the wildlife park was calm and still apart from the shadowy outline of one of the giraffes strolling along. Bertie had informed her that giraffes only slept in short bursts because they had to get up frequently to keep their circulation moving.

Eventually Lucy yawned and closed the curtains. She changed into her nightgown and slipped into bed. Narrowly escaping death at the hands of a stone angel really was a tiring business and she was looking forward to having a good rest.

It seemed as though she’d only been sleeping for a few minutes when the screaming woke her.

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_3a28a62c-3cc8-51b0-8cbb-48a5cda507a7)

THE BREAK-IN (#ulink_3a28a62c-3cc8-51b0-8cbb-48a5cda507a7)

Lucy leaped out of bed and stood shivering in the dark. Something banged in the house below.

“Did you hear that, Goodly?” Becky asked, sounding frightened. Lucy could see the housemaid’s shadowy form sitting up in bed.

“Y-yes.”

Usually Becky would have made a nasty comment about Lucy’s shaky reply as she never missed a chance to be horrid. But fear seemed to be bringing out her best side as she simply said, “We need some light.”

There was the scrape of a match and welcome candlelight began to flicker and glow. United for once, Lucy and Becky hurried out into the hallway. Mrs Crawley was already there, carrying a candle. She was wearing a pair of unlaced boots and had flung a coat over her beribboned nightdress, but her beard was still in the three plaits she always wore it in for bed. She looked unusually stern.

“You girls stay here,” she said as she headed towards the stairs. “I mean it, Lucy!”

Mrs Crawley clattered off, almost tripping over her bootlaces in her haste. Lucy waited for around a minute before setting off after her with Becky in tow. They followed the sound of voices and commotion, which led them to the bottom of the house and the entrance hall.

The whole household had gathered there. The enormous front door stood open. A huge hole had been gouged out where the lock had once been and the lion’s-head knocker had a dent in it. Vonk, the butler, was sitting on the tiled floor, a blood-soaked handkerchief held to his head.

“Oh,” Becky whispered. “Look at Vonk. All that … all that … I think I’m going to …” She slumped to the floor. Nobody noticed apart from Lucy, who quickly bent over Becky to make sure the housemaid had simply fainted. Lucy knew she should really attract the attention of one of the grown-ups, but she wanted to take the chance to have a closer look at what was going on. Becky would come round on her own soon enough with no harm done.

She moved closer to the knot of Grave Hall residents and guests. Mrs Crawley was helping Vonk to his feet.

Lord Grave was there too. He was very shaky still from his own injuries and was having to be steadied by Bertie. Lady Sibyl and Lord Percy were carefully inspecting the damage to the front door. Lucy spotted Smell, nipping between people’s legs and sniffing around. He trotted over to her, casting a cautious look at Becky.

“It’s all right; she’s only fainted.”

“That your doing, Luce? I know you don’t like ’er, but—”

“No! I think it was the blood that set her off. What’s happened to Vonk?”

“Tussle with a burglar. Don’t know ’ow they managed it; that door is as strong as they come. Vonk was ’aving ’is bedtime cocoa in the butler’s pantry. ’E ’eard a kerfuffle. Someone was out ’ere, about to take off with that notebook you found.”

Lucy gasped. “It’s been stolen? Oh, but it was our only clue!”

“What’s been stolen?”

The sleepy voice behind Lucy made her flinch in surprise. She wasn’t the only one to be startled. Being a cat, Smell’s reflexes were much sharper than Lucy’s and he leaped several metres into the air, his back arched.