‘It’ll be dark soon,’ she said. ‘You should wait until tomorrow to look for the necklace. It’ll be too hard to find it in the woods once the sun goes down.’
That was fair. ‘Alright. We’ll hunt for it first thing in the morning,’ I told her. ‘Let’s meet back here at midday to exchange what we’ve found.’ Or not found, I added silently, thinking of Athair’s supposed secret gold.
Amy pursed her lips and nodded, then she grinned, stood up and started to jog away. ‘Watch your backs!’ she called out.
We watched her go. ‘Interesting girl,’ Hugo said. ‘Strange but nice.’
‘Yep,’ Hester said. ‘She’s not as strange as Otis though.’
‘But she’s a lot nicer than Hester,’ Otis snapped.
I groaned. ‘I thought you were past this.’
‘We are! We’re all friends now.’ Hester gave her brother a tight hug and he winced in response. ‘See?’
I sighed. ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Let’s find somewhere to camp.’
Hugo quickly agreed. ‘And before anarchy descends again.’
I tried my best not to think of the spiders we’d meet the next day. I wasn’t particularly bothered about the eight-legged variety that so terrified Amy, it was the ones that came in pill form that caused my heart to thud with fear. If I was going to struggle every time I saw a real spider because it reminded me of my fizzy pills, I would be in serious trouble. Maybe this would be a good test of my will power and I’d come out stronger in the end.
Then Hugo gave me a soft smile and I realised that his little dimple would be distraction enough. Screw spiders. Real or otherwise.
There wasa lot to be said for having purpose, even if that purpose was only searching around a few old trees for a lost necklace. Purpose provided motivation, it gave meaning – and it improved my mood no end.
The next morning, as we walked through the quiet streets of Hammerwich towards the woods where Amy’s prized possession was located, I found myself breaking into a happy hum. Within a few beats Hugo had joined in, drumming a beat on his thighs that matched my tune. If we hadn’t been dedicated to the art of treasure hunting, we could have formed a duo.
Otis performed several spirals in the air, dancing in time to our acapella music, and even Hester yielded and started to tap her foot on my shoulder. This was all I needed out of life: good company, good fun and a reason to get up in the morning. Athair would never understand that.
There had been no update from the research team back at Pemberville Castle but I reasoned that no news was good news. The lack of information meant that they were safe and hadn’t been troubled by the vamps; they were simply too busytracking down leads related to Lincolnshire to get in touch. Yep, something to do with the fresh air and the morning sunshine was definitely making my mood buoyantly optimistic.
That sensation continued all the way to the woods, but as soon as we crossed the tree line my positive feelings vanished.
From a distance the woods looked pleasant; the variety of trees suggested this was ancient woodland that had been here for centuries. As we entered it, I expected pretty plants, tangled undergrowth and an atmosphere imbued with the best that nature had to offer; what I got were dark shadows, a smell of rotting meat and a sense of foreboding so strong that my footsteps faltered barely a few steps in.
Hugo’s expression was tense, and Hester and Otis looked wide-eyed and fearful. ‘I’m not the only one who feels that, am I?’ I said darkly.
Hester swallowed hard. ‘There’s something wrong here. We should leave. We’re not supposed to be here.’
She was right. It was as if something was clinging to the air, warning us off: the woodswantedus to leave. It put me in mind of a mosquito alarm that emitted a high-frequency tone that could be heard only by people under the age of twenty-five and was designed to discourage teenagers from loitering in certain areas, or an ultrasonic cat deterrent.
Beads of sweat broke out across my forehead. It was difficult to resist the urge to turn tail and run out of the woods but I held my ground and Hugo reached for my hand. ‘Amy wandered into these woods of her own free will,’ I muttered,
‘I can’t imagine why,’ Hugo said. ‘Do you want to give up? We can leave now and tell her we can’t find her necklace.’
I glanced at him. I knew he’d abandon the woodland in an instant if I asked him to, but I also knew he wanted to go further inside for the same reason that I was determined to stay: something desperately wanted us to leave this area andthat made me desperately want to know why. ‘Not a chance,’ I murmured. He grinned.
‘You two are crazy,’ Hester said, burrowing under the collar of my jacket. ‘I’m staying out of the way. Tell me when it’s safe to came out again – preferably when we’re back out in the open.’
Otis watched his sister disappear into the folds of fabric; usually he’d follow her, but this time his jaw set hard. Their recent argument was obviously still lingering in his mind and he wanted to prove he was different to her; he wanted to act independently, even when his instincts told him otherwise.
He dragged his eyes away from Hes and looked at me. ‘I’m perfectly fine,’ he said. ‘Let’s start searching for the necklace.’ He pulled back his shoulders and flicked his wings defiantly. ‘I bet I find it first.’
‘Probably.’ I tried to sound cheerful. ‘But stay close so we’ve got a chance to spot it too.’ I didn’t add that I needed to keep sight of him at all times in case something untoward happened.
Otis tried to disguise his relief at the order. ‘Sure.’ He pointed to his left. ‘Let’s go that way first.’
We picked our way carefully through the trees. The pressure to leave the woods didn’t diminish but thankfully it didn’t get stronger. We kept moving, pushing against the invisible force that seemed determined to expel us as we scanned the ground for Amy’s necklace. I kept my eyes on the left-hand side while Hugo searched the right and Otis scanned the area in front of us.
