Lights Over the Marsh by Carol Prior

Author:Carol Prior [Prior, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Winchelsea Publications
Published: 2017-02-18T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Inside the Secret Room

‘Oh, you’re here now, that’s good,’ called Grandma from the sitting room. ‘Come and tell me what you’ve discovered this time.’

She couldn’t believe it when they told her about the secret way out of the garden and she insisted on going to see it straight away. The stone grating swung back easily this time so they all climbed down and made their way through onto the marsh and back round the house to the courtyard. Bluebell looked up in surprise.

‘I think we’ve confused the cat,’ said Grandma. ‘She watched us go into the garden so she must wonder how it is we’re out here. Anyway, that’s quite enough for one day, you can come and help me make the dinner and tell me what you’ve been up to since I last saw you. You’ve been dashing hither and thither since you arrived.’

By ten o’clock everyone was asleep. Professor Dan’s beautiful balloon had appeared in the twilit sky floating over the fields to its home by the undercliff. They were happy to see it drift past; it felt as if a friend was somehow keeping guard over the empty marsh.

Luke lay awake for a long time, he was thinking about the secret room. Why was it still there after so many years? Surely someone would have found it way before now. Anyway, what did that matter because he was certain they would find a way in and discover what, if anything was hidden inside. After a while, he got up and tiptoed over to Tom’s bed. He shook Tom’s arm lightly but he just snored and turned over.

Luke picked up the torch and went out of the room and down the corridor to the dark bridge that led to the west wing. Haha… he thought, the west wing, but then he shivered, partly because he was cold but also because suddenly he felt very lonely. Dark shadows crossed his path every time the moon went behind a cloud and he looked back into the darkness afraid that the ghost of Old Joll was standing behind him.

He was certain he could see the outline of a figure in the old four-poster bed but told himself to stop being so ridiculous. ‘Cushions!’ he exclaimed as he switched on the light. It lit up the room and suddenly everything seemed less scary.

‘Now,’ he said ‘to crack the code, it can’t be that hard! I wonder…’

He ran his hands over the strange writing; some of the letters seemed to stand out, just slightly. Not enough for anyone to notice in the normal way. It was easier to concentrate in the silence with no one else around to be distracting.

‘Jack be nimble, Jack be Spry, out of the Pudding, and into the Pie.’ He read the words out loud and they sent a chill down his spine.

He started to write the letters in the dust, the ones that seemed to stick out a little more than the rest. ‘That’s C in ‘Jack’,

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