The Kids Who Lived In a Hole by C. G. Lambert

Author:C. G. Lambert [Lambert, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clamp Limited

INGENUE

The evening had wound down quickly and they’d left the Earl’s manor house with waves and promises of coffee and cake one afternoon later in the week. The weather had behaved and followed the forecast of a dry night, the near full moon light illuminating their trek back to the house.

The walk back home was highlighted by Aunt Meredith interrogating Uncle Reggie on whether he had been well-behaved over the cigars and brandy. Despite his protestations of innocence, or perhaps because of them, Meredith turned to Marcus. “Was he well-behaved?” she asked with one eyebrow cocked.

Put on the spot like that, Marcus could not pretend to be focussing on walking along the path, and had to come up with something. “Um, it was all very civilised, I thought,” he managed.

Aunt Meredith hmmed while giving him the side eye. “I’ll get the real story from Pandora, I think.”

“What did you and Zoe and Pandora talk about?” asked Marcus to shift the focus away from contentious conversations. He was surprised when Meredith seemed to colour slightly in the moonlight and changed the subject. He made a mental note to check with Zoe later. Two could play that game!

The next morning Marcus breakfasted with the others. The bustle of the kitchen reminded him of the chaos of his house back home—big families somehow generating a singular collective noise just by everyone doing their own thing. Zoe was set to go horse riding again, this time apparently through the forests along the paths that Marcus had explored. He suddenly realised that he was not going to be required to look after Zoe very much at all. He was so used to having to look after her and he had quite resigned himself to spending much of the holiday on custodial duties and now that he wasn’t tied to keeping her entertained he started to think about what else he might like to spend his time doing.

If he’d been the athletic type he might have made his way north to the paintball or laser tag arenas. Obviously, an equestrian would have tagged along with Zoe. If he’d been the gregarious type he might have tried to connect with the folks he’d met at the pub. A lothario might have attempted to chat up Samantha or Marie or find a girlfriend for the summer. If he’d been an Indiana Jones type he might have headed back into London or explored locally. But truth be told, when he wasn’t looking after his sister he could normally be found on the computer playing one or other video game with his older brother. But his PC was a million miles away and the only other thing he was really into was reading. And so on day five of their holiday, Marcus found himself heading to the library to see what books his Uncle had either inherited with the house or collected in his travels. Nothing wrong with curling up with a good book.

Just before he entered the Library, Marcus paused.

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