lions would come to life and eat me. Vicky said he was just making it up and told him to shut up. I stopped counting the steps.
Three big birds were sitting on a low roof at the end of the house. They weren’t made of stone, they were greeny blue with long feathery tails. One of them swooped down near us making a squawky noise. I jumped behind Vicky.
‘It’s all right Re. They’re only peacocks. They won’t hurt you.’
I still didn’t like them. Another one flew down and they both started pecking the ground near to where we were hiding. Their tails were so long they dragged on the ground behind them. Suddenly one of them lifted its tail up and spread it out like a big fan. The feathers had yellow and blue and green eyes. It was beautiful. Mrs Edwards helped us make fans at school when it was hot. It’s quite difficult because you have to fold the paper one way then you turn it over and fold it the other way and then back the other way and so on until it looks like stairs when you open it out. I helped Maxine because she can’t do folding. Some of her fingers don’t work. They’re twisted up. She can do colouring, just about, so we spent ages decorating them. Mine was purple because that’s my favourite colour. It didn’t have eyes on it but it did have some glitter that was left over from when we did snow pictures at Christmas. Mrs Edwards stapled the bottom edge for us so it made the fan shape. We took them into the playground at break-time but Charlene Slackton snatched them off us and squashed them into balls and threw them down the toilet and everyone laughed except me and Maxine and Mr Harris the caretaker because they got stuck down there and he had to put his special gloves on to get them out.
There was green stuff growing on the house. Vicky said it was ivy. It was everywhere. All over the walls and the roof. It was even growing over one of the lion’s backs and up the front door and on some of the windows, coveringthem up. The rest of the windows were very small and dark with diamond shapes on the glass and the curtains were ripped. It looked the sort of house an evil old witch would live in.
‘Maybe Mrs Frankish lives here.’
‘Don’t be daft Re. We’re miles and miles away from home. It would take her hours to get to work every day.’
Not on her broomstick, I thought.
‘I don’t think anyone lives here any more,’ said Vicky.
I wasn’t sure about that. I looked up at one of the windows and saw the curtain move.
‘Look, there she is!’
‘Re – stop it!’
‘But Mrs Frankish was peeping out from behind that curtain!’
I pointed up at the window. Some of the glass was missing and the curtain was blowing to and fro.
‘It’s just the wind Re,’ said Vicky. ‘There’s no one there.’
‘This place is really creepy,’ said Jamie. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Chapter 16
The gardens were totally wild and out of control, but underneath all the chaos and confusion it was a sad sort of place, forgotten and neglected. At one time, years ago, it must have been truly beautiful, somewhere people lavished time and effort and care. A real paradise. Now no one looked after it so it was slowly taking its revenge, putting up its own barriers: scratching, grazing and stinging anyone who dared to enter or try to explore it. I didn’t blame it.
We tried to stay on what was left of a path that skirted the house and seemed to take us in the direction we needed to go but it was hard fighting through the scrub and bushes that blocked our way. Suffocating amongst the nettles and brambles that stung and scratched us were exotic-looking shrubs with sweet-smelling flowers and trees with strange patterned bark. Although we were alone in this jungle Ikept having a weird feeling that someone else was there, following us, watching every move we made.
I didn’t say anything to Jamie or Re and tried to push the thought out of my head. It wasn’t easy. I told myself I was just being stupid. I
Three big birds were sitting on a low roof at the end of the house. They weren’t made of stone, they were greeny blue with long feathery tails. One of them swooped down near us making a squawky noise. I jumped behind Vicky.
‘It’s all right Re. They’re only peacocks. They won’t hurt you.’
I still didn’t like them. Another one flew down and they both started pecking the ground near to where we were hiding. Their tails were so long they dragged on the ground behind them. Suddenly one of them lifted its tail up and spread it out like a big fan. The feathers had yellow and blue and green eyes. It was beautiful. Mrs Edwards helped us make fans at school when it was hot. It’s quite difficult because you have to fold the paper one way then you turn it over and fold it the other way and then back the other way and so on until it looks like stairs when you open it out. I helped Maxine because she can’t do folding. Some of her fingers don’t work. They’re twisted up. She can do colouring, just about, so we spent ages decorating them. Mine was purple because that’s my favourite colour. It didn’t have eyes on it but it did have some glitter that was left over from when we did snow pictures at Christmas. Mrs Edwards stapled the bottom edge for us so it made the fan shape. We took them into the playground at break-time but Charlene Slackton snatched them off us and squashed them into balls and threw them down the toilet and everyone laughed except me and Maxine and Mr Harris the caretaker because they got stuck down there and he had to put his special gloves on to get them out.
There was green stuff growing on the house. Vicky said it was ivy. It was everywhere. All over the walls and the roof. It was even growing over one of the lion’s backs and up the front door and on some of the windows, coveringthem up. The rest of the windows were very small and dark with diamond shapes on the glass and the curtains were ripped. It looked the sort of house an evil old witch would live in.
‘Maybe Mrs Frankish lives here.’
‘Don’t be daft Re. We’re miles and miles away from home. It would take her hours to get to work every day.’
Not on her broomstick, I thought.
‘I don’t think anyone lives here any more,’ said Vicky.
I wasn’t sure about that. I looked up at one of the windows and saw the curtain move.
‘Look, there she is!’
‘Re – stop it!’
‘But Mrs Frankish was peeping out from behind that curtain!’
I pointed up at the window. Some of the glass was missing and the curtain was blowing to and fro.
‘It’s just the wind Re,’ said Vicky. ‘There’s no one there.’
‘This place is really creepy,’ said Jamie. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Chapter 16
The gardens were totally wild and out of control, but underneath all the chaos and confusion it was a sad sort of place, forgotten and neglected. At one time, years ago, it must have been truly beautiful, somewhere people lavished time and effort and care. A real paradise. Now no one looked after it so it was slowly taking its revenge, putting up its own barriers: scratching, grazing and stinging anyone who dared to enter or try to explore it. I didn’t blame it.
We tried to stay on what was left of a path that skirted the house and seemed to take us in the direction we needed to go but it was hard fighting through the scrub and bushes that blocked our way. Suffocating amongst the nettles and brambles that stung and scratched us were exotic-looking shrubs with sweet-smelling flowers and trees with strange patterned bark. Although we were alone in this jungle Ikept having a weird feeling that someone else was there, following us, watching every move we made.
I didn’t say anything to Jamie or Re and tried to push the thought out of my head. It wasn’t easy. I told myself I was just being stupid. I
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