The Woman in the Wood by Lesley Pearse

Author:Lesley Pearse [Pearse, Lesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405921077
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2017-06-28T22:00:00+00:00

14

Maisy concentrated the torch beam on to the floor, going round the whole room looking at the floorboards. Just beneath the bedroom window at the front of the house she saw a piece of old carpet. She pulled it back and there was a trapdoor, secured with two bolts.

She drew back the bolts and pulled on the metal ring attached to the heavy door. As it opened the evil smell which rose up nearly made her drop the door to cover her nose. It was a vile mixture of excrement, mould and blood, a smell that said something hellish was down below.

She fixed the trapdoor back against the wall and shone the torch down. There she saw two white faces staring up at the light. They were lying down beside one another and even without being able to see clearly Maisy knew they were badly hurt. Close to the boys she saw three, no, four pairs of eyes glinting in the torchlight. Rats!

She shuddered. How could she go down there?

‘Grace is here with me, Duncan,’ she said, trying to keep her voice calm and measured. ‘But she’s outside and the doors are locked. I came in through the roof. I’m going to try and open a window up here so she can get in and help me, but I may have to send her off to get the police and an ambulance. Just bear with me for a few moments.’

There were no steps down to where the boys were, but she had seen a wooden ladder lying on its side across the room. First she needed air. Trying to suppress the urge to vomit at the smell she went over to the window. The glass was broken already, and she knocked the rest out with the jemmy.

Grace was there immediately, wanting to know what she’d seen. Through the cracks in the boards Maisy reported about the boys, the terrible smell and the rats. She was sucking the fresh air from the window into her lungs as she spoke, and trying very hard not to cry.

‘You must go for help,’ she said. ‘We won’t be able to get them out of that cellar on our own. But I’ll see if I can get the boards off the window while you’re gone.’

‘Will you be scared in there without me?’ Grace said, her voice the softest Maisy had ever heard it.

‘Yes, I will be,’ Maisy said, ‘but the sooner we get help, the sooner we can be away from here. You could knock on anyone’s door where they’ve got a phone line. It’s an emergency.’

‘OK. You’re right, it’s the best thing to do, but I don’t like to leave you.’

‘Oh Grace,’ Maisy sighed. ‘I thought you were supposed to be the witch of the forest with no kind feelings.’

‘So did I until I met you and your brother,’ Grace replied, her voice trembling with emotion. ‘Bye. Be brave, little one.’

She must have run to the van because Maisy heard the sound of the engine starting up just a few seconds later, and then the van pulling away fast.

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