Class: The Stone House by A.K. Benedict

Author:A.K. Benedict [Benedict, A.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473530638
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2016-10-26T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

FALSE SECURITY

Miss Quill hands Tanya the extra EMF reader. ‘See if that helps you find your girl in the window,’ she says.

‘Is this handmade?’ Tanya says, looking down at a black box with wires sticking out of it, half impressed, half disappointed that they don’t have shiny ghost-catching equipment. It’s stopped bleeping at least. It was getting annoying.

‘I soldered it myself,’ Miss Quill replies, stroking the box.

‘What should I do if it goes off?’ she says. ‘I wasn’t expecting to deal with actual ghosts.’

Miss Quill tuts. ‘Variations in the electromagnetic field do not necessarily indicate the presence of spirits,’ she says. ‘There are many alien life forms that have a different magnetic resonance. It could even be based on geological conditions – the earth has a pretty strong magnetic field. You’d be in trouble if it didn’t.’

‘So it could be what’s underneath the house?’ Tanya says.

‘Possibly. They’re intending to dig out the foundations. Any tests could have disturbed it.’

‘There could be an old graveyard underneath,’ Matteusz says.

‘Could be,’ Miss Quill says, ‘many areas of London are built upon graves and plague pits.’

‘Just what we need to hear, thanks, Miss Quill,’ Tanya says. ‘I’ll never be able to walk around London without thinking of that.’

Miss Quill frowns. ‘Ignorance is not a position of strength. It brings false security. Now. You have a meter reading to do. If you locate areas of fluctuation then that would be a start. Go off with Charlie and Matteusz. Try and be civil. My group is going to try and find the basement.’

‘Basement?’ Tanya says. ‘I thought there were only three floors.’

‘Didn’t I say?’ Miss Quill says, rummaging again in her rucksack and pulling out a blueprint and a map. ‘This was the other reason I was late. I obtained a blueprint for the new development and then thought that a map of the house would be useful. I found the layout of the house from when the conservatory was put on.’ She thrusts it at April.

April studies it. ‘There’s a door down to the basement in the kitchen,’ she says. ‘We missed it before.’

‘And you want us to…?’ Tanya says, turning to Miss Quill.

‘Go somewhere other than the basement. That way if we meet our deaths down there in a horrifying yet, no doubt, noble fashion, you will live to tell the world,’ Miss Quill says.

‘You think something’s down there, don’t you?’ Ram says.

‘What else have you been keeping back, Miss Quill?’ Tanya asks. ‘And why?’

‘Tanya,’ Miss Quill says. ‘Knowing more than anyone else is one of your defining features. It’ll be good to challenge that, won’t it?’

Tanya’s jaw cranks backwards and forwards.

‘I have some suspicions but it doesn’t add up,’ Miss Quill says. ‘There were two types of web present in the sample, one of which is not from this planet.’ She holds a hand out to stop Tanya speaking. ‘I don’t know any more yet. There’s still more testing to do. You’re going to have to trust me for now.’

Tanya nods. ‘OK.’

Matteusz picks up the stepladder.

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