The Monsters of Rookhaven, стр. 14
Jem looked down. There was a dark patch on the ground. A blob that looked as if it might have the approximation of a human form if only its lines were a little sharper.
‘He wasn’t wearing his protection,’ said Dotty, displaying her pendant.
‘So he burned,’ said Daisy with a little too much relish.
‘Up he went like dry kindling,’ said Dotty.
‘I heard him screaming,’ said Daisy almost wistfully.
‘It was a long time ago,’ said Mirabelle.
Jem stepped off the silhouette with a look of horror on her face.
‘This is Freddie,’ said Mirabelle brightly, waving a hand in Freddie’s direction as he came towards them with his hand trolley piled high with boxes.
‘This is Jem, Freddie,’ said Mirabelle. ‘She’s staying for a while.’
Freddie seemed briefly surprised by Jem’s presence then gave a quick nod and mumbled ‘Hello.’
Jem nodded in return, and the twins giggled. Mirabelle tried to ignore the twinge of annoyance she felt and instead focused all her energies on Freddie.
‘Would you like some help?’
The boy shrugged. ‘If you like,’ he said quietly.
He pulled the trolley backwards up the steps, and they all followed him into the cool dark of the house.
Dotty and Daisy whirled in and out of the walls, keeping pace with the others. Mirabelle noticed how unsettled Jem was by all of this and she smiled encouragingly at her, while trying to hide her growing irritation at the twins’ interrogation of Freddie.
‘How are you, Freddie?’
‘Are you well?’
‘We missed you last time.’
‘It’s lovely to see you again.’
Freddie kept looking straight ahead, the gentle rumbling of his cart echoing and bouncing off the walls.
They all made for the larder. Freddie opened the doors with the practised weariness of someone used to doing the same task over and over again. Mirabelle shoved herself into the larder beside him and helped him unload the boxes. Jem followed suit. Dotty and Daisy stayed outside, giggling to one another.
Mirabelle watched Freddie as they worked. He looked so much like his brother James now that he was older. It was something she’d remarked on once and then immediately regretted when she’d seen the look of absolute devastation on Freddie’s face.
She thought about James and his easy manner, how he’d always had time for a chat. He’d been tall and handsome with the brightest blue eyes she’d ever seen, and he and his father used to have such a laugh with each other when they came to drop off deliveries. Freddie would come along too. He was just as quiet and shy in those days, but he’d found it easier to smile and look people in the eye. And from the way he’d looked at James it was clear that Freddie had worshipped his older brother.
Then there came a day when James didn’t turn up and there was only Freddie accompanying his father. Mr Fletcher told her proudly that James had gone off to fight in the war.
Much like the one that had come before, the war never touched them in the house. They got snippets of news from Mr Fletcher, but nothing more. He was bullishly cheerful about their chances. ‘We’ll show them’ was the phrase he used most often. Even Freddie seemed to have a zealous light burning in his eyes, and he carried himself proudly whenever James was mentioned.
Sometimes Mirabelle would stand by one of the high windows at night and look at the white flashes in the distance, over Southampton. She imagined the quiet crump of bombs, and the mournful howl of air-raid sirens, and she wondered why people felt compelled to fight each other. It was something she just couldn’t understand.
Uncle Enoch said it was the humans’ war, and it had nothing to do with them. But that didn’t stop Mirabelle feeling sorry for them and wondering what it was that made them hate each other so.
She was thinking about all of this when Jem dropped one of the boxes. It hit the floor with a popping sound as one of the corners burst open. Jem tried to lift the box, but this only allowed a slab of something wrapped in greaseproof paper to fall out and hit the floor with a smack.
Everybody froze.
Daisy moved first. As quick as a darting serpent, she became transparent and passed right through a horrified Jem. Standing right over the greaseproof bundle, Daisy’s eyes bulged. She reached towards it, but Mirabelle was quicker and snatched the package off the floor.
‘No!’ she said.
Jem was leaning one hand against a shelf in an effort to support herself while she clutched her chest with her other hand. She was panting hard:
‘Did you see what she . . . She went through . . . She . . .’
Mirabelle looked at Freddie, who was frozen in place, fists clenched as he stared at Daisy. Daisy’s pupils were expanding, and her eyes were now almost completely black. She pulled her lips back over her teeth and Mirabelle could already see the points sharpening.
‘No, Daisy,’ she hissed.
Daisy’s eyes went to the package in her hand and it was only then that Mirabelle saw the blood trickling out of the paper and down onto the floor. She shook her head at Daisy.
‘No.’
Dotty was sidling round the larder door, licking her lips and growling. Jem was still panting and wincing, completely oblivious to what was unfolding right in front of her.
‘Get out,’ Mirabelle said to the twins.
Daisy rubbed a hand across her mouth and started to advance towards Mirabelle.
‘OUT! NOW!’ Mirabelle shouted.
The twins stopped moving. Daisy’s face twitched, but she finally relented and she stepped out of the larder, ushering Dotty away with her, all the while keeping her eyes on the package in Mirabelle’s hand.
Mirabelle shoved the wrapped meat back inside the box, then went over to Jem and took her by the arms.
‘Are you all right?’
Jem nodded. She looked extremely pale.
‘She’s not supposed to do that,’ said Mirabelle. ‘Sorry.’
Jem swallowed and stood