My Sister Jodie Read online

  ‘Try this one!’ I said, selecting a stout old-fashioned iron key that didn’t match any of the others.

  Jodie tried it. It fitted perfectly! It was very stiff though. Her knuckles went white as she tried to twist it.

  ‘Careful! It might snap off altogether,’ I said.

  ‘You do it then if you’re so clever,’ she snapped.

  So I tried, pushing the key in harder and giving it a little jiggle so that suddenly it connected and turned with a click.

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  ‘You beauty!’ said Jodie. ‘We’ll come back after tea, and bring Harley with us, OK?’

  I put my hands flat on the door, as if I was trying to keep it shut for ever. I sensed the darkness on the other side of the thick wood. I could feel how cold it was through the cracks.

  ‘Let’s lock it up again,’ I whispered.

  ‘Don’t be silly.’

  ‘I’m not. I’ve just got this horrible feeling. Please don’t let’s go up there, ever.’

  ‘You’re just playing at being scared, Pearl,’ said Jodie, gathering the keys into the T-shirt. ‘Come on, we’ve got to get these back before Dad gets out of his bath.’

  ‘I feel awful here,’ I said, clutching my tummy.

  ‘You’re just hungry, idiot,’ said Jodie.

  ‘No, I’m serious. It’s a feeling of dread,’ I said earnestly, nearly in tears. ‘I’m sure something terrible’s going to happen.’

  ‘Look, I’m the one who makes up the spooky stories,’ said Jodie. ‘Well, I’m definitely coming back after tea. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, Pearl.’

  We got the keys back to Dad’s bedroom with seconds to spare, just as he came padding out of the steamy bathroom with a big towel tied round his waist. He stuck out his tummy.

  ‘Me Big Chief Wobble Belly,’ he said, thumping it.

  ‘Dad! You’re so gross,’ said Jodie.

  ‘Me want cheesy baps for tea,’ said Dad.

  ‘Me too, me too,’ said Jodie.

  ‘Me too,’ I echoed, though I was in such a state I could hardly eat anything, even though Mum’s baps were hot from the oven and crisply golden with 266

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  melted cheese. She’d made egg mayonnaise and tomato salad too. There was a rhubarb fool with sugar shortbread biscuits for pudding, all my favourites, but I could only manage a mouthful.

  Jodie sidled up to Harley on the bench, whispering in his ear. His eyes opened wide. He peered along at me. I nodded.

  Zeph started messing about with his shortbread, putting two sticks into his mouth to make vampire fangs. He pretended to bite Sakura and Dan. They shrieked half-heartedly, not really scared. I made out I was scared too, to be obliging. I knew I was playing at being scared of Zeph. The feeling I had about the tower room was real, no matter what Jodie said.

  As soon as Undie herded the three littlies out of the dining room, Jodie, Harley and I cleared the dishes into the kitchen for Mum and then ran off.

  ‘Don’t you be long now, Pearl. You’re having an early night tonight,’ Mum called. ‘You’re looking really peaky, pet.’

  I smiled at her wanly and followed the others.

  Miss French and Mr Wilberforce were lurking in the big hallway. We couldn’t go upstairs in front of them so we had to hang around while they talked endlessly about this and that. Miss French made a big fuss of Jodie, telling her she had a brilliant future career as a dog-trainer because Old Shep was so much more relaxed and obedient now.

  Mr Wilberforce must have thought I felt neglected because he told me how much my little visits meant to his wife. It made me feel dreadful because I didn’t visit her very often, and when I did, I just seemed to upset her. I wondered what 267

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  she’d say if she knew we were about to go up to the tower room. I’d promised her we’d never go there. I couldn’t help shivering.

  ‘Goodness, Pearl, you can’t possibly be cold,’ Miss French said briskly. ‘Maybe you need a good long run as well as Old Shep – get that circulation going.’

  I knew why Mum found Miss French so irritating.

  ‘You could do with taking up running too, Harley.

  You need to put a bit of beef on, broaden out a little,’

  she said. ‘You’re such a string bean.’

  Harley’s lips flicked in the briefest smile. I wanted to slap Miss French. We didn’t make personal remarks about her grey hair or her wrinkles or her general dumpiness. I couldn’t work out why Mr Wilberforce always gazed at her as if she was a film star.

  They stumped off together eventually. We all breathed out deeply, sticking out our bottom lips and blowing up our nostrils.

  ‘God, I thought they’d stay rabbiting all evening,’

  said Harley. He looked at us. ‘So, let’s go!’

  We hurried up the stairs, Jodie and Harley racing ahead of me. I couldn’t seem to get my breath. They were ducking behind the cupboard out of sight by the time I’d started down the corridor. I hung back, tempted to sidle back down the stairs to the safety of my bedroom. Then Jodie called me.

  Well, it had to be Jodie, though her voice sounded ghostly and muffled.

  ‘Is that you, Jodie?’ I called anxiously.

  ‘No, my child . . . I am the poor melancholy wraith who haunts the tower . . . the sad white whispering woman—’

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  ‘ Stop it! ’ I shrieked.

  ‘Well come on, stupid,’ said Jodie in her own voice, putting her head round the back of the cupboard.

  She reached out her hand. I seized hold of it and she pulled me through, into the stale strange air of the past. We stumbled up the stairs together.

  Harley was already at the end of the corridor, stretched to his full extent, jabbing at the bolt.

  He gave a sudden grunt, and then a yelp of triumph.

  ‘Come on, Pearl!’ Jodie said. ‘He’s done it!’

  She ran full tilt along the corridor, her footsteps loud and clattering. I imagined all the locked doors opening, and all the Melchester inhabitants frowning out at me, furious because I was disturbing their peace. I saw the four crumbly monkeys crawling out into the corridor, leaving a little trail of withered rubber in their wake.

  I rushed after Jodie, terrified of being left on my own.

  ‘OK!’ she said.

  Harley went to turn the handle but she slapped his hand out of the way.

  ‘No, it’s my tower!’ she said. ‘Let me, let me!’

  Harley sighed, raised his eyebrows and gave her a little bow. ‘After you, madam,’ he said sarcastically.

  Jodie reached out and turned the handle. She opened the door very, very slowly and then peered inside.

  ‘What can you see?’ I whispered.

  ‘Nothing!’

  ‘There must be something!’

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  ‘No, really, I can’t see anything, it’s pitch black.

  Give us your torch, Pearl.’

  I gave it to her. My hand was shaking and I think hers was too, because she nearly dropped it. She fumbled, caught it, and then clicked on the light. She opened the door wider and shone the torch around.

  There was still nothing much to see – a little round room with a small spiral staircase leading upwards. There was no furniture, but a pile of rubble littered the floor. Jodie stepped inside.

  ‘Be careful! Watch the floorboards!’ I begged her.

  ‘It’s fine – solid, look,’ said Jodie, stamping her high heel. ‘Come in, you guys.’

  Harley held out his hand to me. I gripped it tightly and we stepped inside too. It was smaller than I’d thought, as if the brick walls were closing in on us. Jodie swung the torch wildly round and round, making m