Mischief at Midnight by Esme Kerr

Author:Esme Kerr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2016-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

She was in bed, but still awake, when Janet appeared an hour later and flung a hard metal object into her suitcase.

“What’s that?” Edie asked sullenly. “It looks like a murder weapon.”

“A bicycle lock. Lyle gave it to me.”

“What for?”

“Er — like, try locking up bicycles,” Janet replied.

“But you don’t have a bicycle.”

“No. But I’ve got a bicycle lock. Anyway, what happened to you?” she said.

“You saw what happened,” Edie said furiously. “It was called Lyle.”

“He’s not so bad,” Janet said, standing at the sink. “At least he’s funny.”

“No, he’s not. He’s stupid, and mean.”

Janet shrugged. “We’re all stupid and mean sometimes,” she said.

“Rubbish!” Edie replied, her voice shaking. “I’m not! And I thought, before tonight, that you weren’t either! Whenever you complain about your mother, I’ve always taken your side. How would you feel if I came home on an exeat with you and ganged up with her at your expense! Well, that’s what it feels like now!”

Janet put down her toothbrush with a sigh. “Listen, Edie, all I’m saying is that there are always two sides. Yes, I know it’s boring, I know it’s what grown-ups say, but it’s also true. You have a story about your cousins. They have a story about you. It’s not the same story — but you can see how it joins up.”

“What do you mean?” Edie asked, outraged. “How do you know? Have you been talking to them about me?”

“Don’t go mad,” Janet said. “I didn’t start the conversation.”

“What did they say about me?” Edie demanded.

“They asked if I liked you, and I said that of course I did, and I asked why they didn’t like you too — and they told me all about you coming to live here, and about you making it clear that you hated them all, and that you despised them for being country cousins who didn’t read books, and that you never wanted to join in but just sat by the pond moping and talking to a fish.”

Edie burned at the injustice of it. “Did they tell you what happened to the fish?”

“No, what happened?” Janet said.

“They caught her, and they cooked her, and they tried to make me eat her,” Edie said in a low, trembling voice.

Janet frowned, and chewed her lip. Then, to Edie’s disbelief, she started laughing. “OK, OK, it’s horrid,” Janet spluttered, giving up all attempt at control. “But … oh God, Edie, you’ve … you’ve got to admit it … it is quite funny!”

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