The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson

Author:Maureen Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2015-01-08T16:00:00+00:00

17

ENGLAND IS STRANGE IN MANY WAYS, AND ONE OF THOSE ways is that they leave things like Stonehenge sitting at the side of the road. I think I expected something more like Disneyland, with all kinds of buildings nearby, and maybe a waterslide called Druid Dunk! or something. Maybe I thought it would be larger, or behind a wall. No. It was just there, in the field. It wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. Several of the stones had fallen over, so really, it was just a pile of rocks. Important rocks, to be sure. England loves important rocks. Everyone loves important rocks.

Chanceford was outside of a town called Amesbury. The grounds were on the River Avon. The entire place was surrounded by a high brick wall and there was a wrought-iron gate we had to pass through to get inside. What we found waiting for us was a tiny stone castle—turrets and portcullis and the whole works. But really small, like a castle that had been put in the dryer and shrunk.

“It’s a re-creation of a castle from the fourteenth century,” Freddie said. “Lord Williamson was an unusual man.”

This became very clear as we got closer, and I noticed that many of the stones were carved into the form of faces or goats’ heads. There were pillars by the main doorway that had clawed feet. There was a gothic spire on top of one of the turrets, and a spinning golden globe as some kind of weathervane. That was also the only thing Freddie said in the car, because I think she had gotten the message that casting aspersions about Stephen had been a bad move, even off-the-cuff ones. She slept for most of the ride, snoring softly with her head against the window.

The plan was laid out in the car. Thorpe was to go inside with Freddie. Freddie, after all, had the best working knowledge of the weird stuff and had translated the code in the book. Callum, Boo, and I were to stay together. Thorpe felt that Lady Williamson wouldn’t want four young people coming into her house under the auspices of doing some research work. She apparently hadn’t been that happy about letting anyone in at all on such short notice. We were to stay on the drive and remain mostly out of sight, keeping an eye on the house. It was always possible that if Jane and her people knew where the stone was, as Charlotte said, then they knew about this place.

We watched as Thorpe and Freddie went to the door, where they were greeted by Lady Williamson herself. I expected a lot from a Lady, but she was just a woman in her fifties who wore a purple cardigan and a pair of khakis. She didn’t look thrilled.

“Thank you for allowing us to come, Lady Williamson,” Thorpe said.

“I’m not happy about this. What can be so important that you need to be here now? This bloody . . .”

We could hear her muffled complaints after the door was shut.

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