Alfie Bloom and the Secrets of Hexbridge Castle (15 page)

He swung open the doors to the hall and was hit by a wall of heat. A thick cloud of smoke billowed around him. Through it he could just make out orange flames licking up the stage curtains at the far end of the hall. “Jimmy!” he called over the crackling of the fire. “Are you there?” There was a loud crash as one of the lighting rigs fell from the ceiling on to the stage, splintering the floorboards. As the bulbs shattered he heard a yell from the wings of the stage.

Alfie stood frozen in the doorway, one foot still in the corridor as he frantically wondered what to do. The fire was spreading fast. If he went back to get the teachers they might not get to Jimmy in time. He took a deep breath as he made his decision. Tying his jumper around the lower part of his face, he grabbed a fire extinguisher and fought his way through the smoke calling out Jimmy's name. A sudden sharp stab of pins and needles prickled all over his body as he dodged around the pools of flame that spattered the hall. What could have caused a fire like this?

The prickling sensation got worse as he climbed on to the stage. As a strip of burning curtain dropped in front of him, something thumped in his chest and he felt a painful jolt shoot down his arms into his hands, where white sparks crackled like electricity under his fingernails. It felt as though something inside him was trying to get out. Could it be the magic? Was it trying to help him? He could almost feel it inside as he staggered on through the smoke: a churning power with a keen hunger.

“Jimmy!” he yelled again.

“Alfie!” called Jimmy's voice from the wings. “Over here. I can't get through the flames!”

“I'm trying to get to you,” called Alfie, following the noise of his friend coughing. “Try not to breathe the smoke!” He kept catching glimpses of Jimmy through the wall of flames – he was holding up a sheet of canvas to try and shield himself from the heat. Alfie reeled back as the flames flared higher, as if he was in the world's largest oven. Another insistent jolt shot through his arms making his fingers tingle. “Stop it! I don't know what you want me to do!” he shouted over a buzzing that sounded like a hive of bees inside his head.

“I've got a fire extinguisher,” he called to Jimmy. “I don't think it'll do much – so you've got to be ready to run,” he prayed Jimmy heard him as he pressed the trigger and staggered forwards, using the foam to clear a narrow path through the flames.

“OK, get ready,” he called as he battled to keep the route through the fire open. “Now, Jimmy, RUN!” As the last of foam dripped from the extinguisher, Jimmy burst through the flames with the canvas wrapped tightly around him. Alfie pulled him to his feet and they staggered from the stage, struggling to breathe as the thick smoke threatened to fill their lungs.

There was a loud crack above them. Alfie looked up as the curtain rail gave way and the heavy flaming stage curtains slid down towards them. He leapt off the stage, dragging Jimmy with him and rolling out the way as the vast blanket of burning velvet landed right behind them. Alfie screamed out in pain as his whole body jolted and the buzzing in his head became unbearable.

As Jimmy tried to pull him to his feet, the doors suddenly burst open. Men in face masks and helmets charged into the room calling instructions to each other as they arranged hoses and started to tackle the blaze. Before Alfie could even call out, he was picked up and thrown across the shoulder of a fireman who rushed him out of the building as steam and smoke billowed down the hallway behind them.

 

Alfie took deep breaths through the oxygen mask over his face as he sat in the ambulance wondering what had happened to him in the hall. Had the magic been trying to get him to use it, or was it out of control? He remembered the intense hunger he had sensed, as if it wanted to feed on the flames. He watched the paramedic apply butterfly stitches to a cut above Jimmy's eye. Madeleine, Robin and all of Jimmy's brothers and sisters were crowded around the open doors.

“Are they going to be OK?” asked Sinéad Feeney, Jimmy's oldest sister.

“They'll be fine,” said the paramedic. “Although, this one will have a nice little scar through his eyebrow.” Alfie thought Jimmy perked up quite a bit when he heard this.

“Did you see how the fire started, Jimmy?” he asked, lowering his mask.

“No idea, but it was bloody quick. I found my watch and was putting it on when I heard someone moving around in the hall. I poked my head through the curtains to see who it was and suddenly I was surrounded by flames, like someone was using a flamethrower! Thanks for coming to get me, mate, but you're a total idiot.”

“I'll say!” said Miss Reynard, appearing at the ambulance doors. Alfie had never seen her angry before. “The firemen were on their way and we asked you all to wait outside for your own safety. Alfie Bloom, by going back into the school, you not only endangered yourself but also created another person to be rescued. It was extremely foolish of you.” Alfie had to look away from his teacher's stern green eyes as she stared gravely at him.

“He is the Winter King, miss,” laughed Edward Snoddington, hurrying over to enjoy the show.

“Yeah, miss. He probably thought he could put the flames out with his ice powers,” added Hugo with a snort.

Alfie's face felt even hotter than it had among the flames.

“That's enough from you two,” snapped Miss Reynard. Her face softened as she turned back to Alfie and Jimmy sitting shamefaced in the ambulance. “Foolishness aside, I am very glad to see you both safe. The firemen told me that they might not have reached Jimmy in time if you hadn't got him away from the flames. The entire stage and much of the hall has been destroyed. You were both very lucky.”

Jimmy's sisters cried out in alarm when they heard this and leapt into the ambulance to smother their brother with hugs and kisses. His older brothers heaped their gratitude on a sheepish Alfie as he watched the two hecklers drift away, obviously disappointed at their entertainment being cut short.

Miss Reynard turned to Alfie and said quietly, “I can't condone your actions, and it was very wrong of you to rush in there, but…” her eyes twinkled as she treated him to a dazzling smile. “Well done, Alfie. Very well done indeed.” Alfie's stomach did a little leap at the unexpected praise from his favourite teacher as she rushed off to reassure the frantic parents who were starting to turn up at the gates.

 

The school wasn't closed for long, much to everyone's disappointment. Only the main hall had been damaged by the fire. Alfie and Jimmy hadn't suffered more than a few scratches and sore throats from the smoke, so by the time the school reopened they were declared perfectly well enough to join their classmates. However, Miss Reynard had told Alfie's dad what had happened during the fire, and he had been grounded for the foreseeable future. His dad had never spoken to him so sternly before, but what had upset him most was seeing the worry hidden behind the anger. He had made Alfie promise never to do anything so dangerous and impetuous again. Alfie had to admit that he had been let off lightly; he knew how stupid he had been. Guilt still squirmed in his stomach as he hoped he could keep his promise.

Although the whole building had been well aired, it still smelt strongly from the fire. It reminded Alfie of the smells that sometimes wafted from his dad's workshop. The hall had been made safe so that work could begin on the fire-damaged areas, but it was off-limits to the pupils. It was obvious that it would take months to rebuild the stage and repair the rest of the damage.

That afternoon, Alfie sat shoulder to shoulder with the other pupils as they crammed into the small dining hall for assembly.

“As we won't have a main hall for a few months, things will have to be a little cosier for a while,” said Miss Reynard. She had been leading assembly during the headmistresses' mysterious absence, and it was a lot less daunting now that no one had to worry about being singled out by Murkle and Snitch. However, Alfie could see that everyone was a little on edge today. They were expecting bad news.

“I know you were all looking forward to the school play…” Alfie groaned along with the rest of the gathered pupils as everyone gloomily predicted Miss Reynard's next words. “But, as you know, we no longer have anywhere to perform. So it is with great regret that we have decided to cancel the play this year.”

Dozens of voices called out in protest at the news, particularly from pupils with major parts.

“That's not fair!” called one of the sixth-formers. “We've been rehearsing for months.”

“And all the props and costumes are safe in the art rooms,” added another. “We spent ages making them!”

Someone behind Alfie started shouting about how unfair it was that the hall had burnt down before the play rather than during exam time, and suddenly everyone was shouting and pleading for the play to go ahead. As the teachers tried to calm everyone down, Alfie had a brilliant idea. He rushed over to Miss Reynard and could see Madeleine and Robin straining to hear what he was whispering to her.

“OK, everyone, settle down,” called Miss Reynard as Alfie went back to his seat. “Quiet, please!” Mr Ramdhay finally caught their attention by playing loud dramatic chords on the piano.

“Alfie Bloom has just made the school a very generous offer.” The squabbling died down as everyone shushed each other to listen to Miss Reynard. “If everyone still wants the school musical to take place before Christmas –” a couple of whoops went up from the back of the hall “– Alfie has offered to let us use the Great Hall in Hexbridge Castle.” At this a massive cheer went round the room.

“All in favour of performing at the castle next month, raise your hands.” Nearly every hand in the hall shot into the air – the only two that didn't were those of Edward and Hugo as they scowled through the applause and whistles that filled the room.

“Such a very kind offer,” said someone from the back of the hall.

A shiver ran down Alfie's back as he recognized the razor-sharp voice. He could feel the joy draining out of the room. Murkle and Snitch were back.

“An offer we are very grateful to accept as the school appears to have been partly destroyed in our absence,” sneered Snitch.

“Miss Murkle, Miss Snitch,” said Miss Reynard, clearly as surprised at their arrival as the pupils who were suddenly trying to sit as upright as possible. “I didn't realize you were coming back today.”

“I'd say it's fortunate that we have,” snapped Snitch.

“Otherwise there might not have been a school left for us to return to,” added Murkle. The two women were clearly enjoying catching everyone off guard. They strode proudly to the front of the room, sweeping Miss Reynard aside. Alfie stared up at them in dismay. They looked even bigger and more dangerous than he remembered.

“It appears that standards have slipped over the past few weeks!” announced Snitch as everyone in the room redoubled their efforts to look like model pupils. Then she said something Alfie found very surprising. “Not to worry. We'll whip everything back into shape in no time. However, young Alfred's most generous offer has certainly lined our clouds with silver.” She flashed a smile at the gathered children. Alfie found himself flinching in astonishment with the others – it was obvious that no one quite knew how to react to Snitch being nice.

“Let's hear three cheers for Alfie Bloom!” beamed Murkle.

“What the…?” burst out Madeleine in amazement as the whole hall hip-hip-hoorayed. “Do you think they had personality transplants while they were away?”

“I don't know,” said Alfie, unsettled as he looked at Murkle and Snitch's smiling faces. “But I'm starting to think I've just done another very stupid thing.”

 

Murkle and Snitch were behaving like different people since their return, and it was making Alfie very suspicious. They weren't exactly nice, but now they were only dishing out detention for
real
rather than
imagined
rule breaking. Even their punishments had lost their edge. Jenny Wheeler had dropped a can of lemonade in the hallway and had been made to clean all of the corridors, but only those on the ground floor of the building.

“The weirdest thing,” she told Alfie incredulously as they studied maps of tectonic plates in Mrs Shoebottom's geography class, “was that they gave me a mop. I expected a toothbrush!”

The headmistresses were also taking quite an interest in the school musical and had even turned up to rehearsals. Robin swore that he had heard them singing one of the songs as he passed their office window.

“It's because you've given them an easy way in, isn't it?” said Madeleine that weekend as they sat on Alfie's raft skipping stones across the lake. “That's why they're so happy.”

“I think so,” said Alfie as he glumly watched his third stone disappear without a single bounce. “But that's not what's really bothering me.”

“What is it?” asked Robin, giving up on the stone skipping as Madeleine counted her seventh bounce.

“If they're so happy about getting an invite to the castle, who do you think arranged the fire?” The twins stared at him as the terrible realization dawned on them too. “They set the fire while they were supposedly on holiday…”

“So no one would point the finger at them,” finished Madeleine. “Of course!”

“We're only guessing here,” said Robin. “There's no real proof.”

“Then we need to find it,” said Alfie. “They've got the talisman, I know it. And I'm going to take it back.”

 

Over the next few days, Alfie and the twins watched out for Murkle and Snitch and marked down everywhere they went and when. The only regular pattern he could see was at lunchtime when they collected their luxury steak dinners from the kitchens and took them to the staff room where they spent at least thirty minutes before returning to their office.

“No wonder all the other teachers eat in the canteen with us,” said Robin as he watched the headmistresses disappear into the staff room with their trays and set his watch to time them. Alfie led the way to the headmistresses' office, but he couldn't even get into the Hall of Penitence. The doors were firmly locked.

“Well it was worth a try,” said Madeleine, rattling the door handles.

“We're not done yet,” said Alfie.

“It's no good. We can't get in without the keys.”

“Exactly.” Alfie grinned. He had noticed that Murkle and Snitch always carried their keys on them – Snitch on a long chain that hung around her neck, and Murkle on a cord that ran from her belt to her cardigan pocket. He had decided that Murkle's keys would be the easiest to steal and had been looking for his chance to get close to her.

An unexpected opportunity arose on Friday afternoon as the bell rang for lunch. Alfie was on his way from a double history class to the canteen when he saw Murkle screaming at a second year boy who had accidentally stepped on the back of her shoe. Snitch had marched on ahead to get her lunch. Alfie noticed the caretaker's wheeled mop bucket in the nearby stairwell and nipped behind Murkle, unable to believe his luck.

Inch by inch, he wheeled the bucket out behind her. He winced as the wheels let out a little squeak, but Murkle was yelling too loudly to hear a thing. Over the shoulder of the quaking boy, he saw Madeleine and Robin coming towards him. Robin's mouth had opened into a shocked little O as he saw what Alfie was doing. He quickly slid the bucket into place and rushed to meet them.

“Hey, Rob, Mads – coming for lunch?” Murkle was too busy screaming to even notice him.

“Alfie, what were you—” began Robin.

“It's liver and onions today. Smells good,” he said loudly, cutting Robin off. Murkle had finished her tirade and was watching the boy scuttle away. She gave Alfie and the twins a narrow-eyed glare then span around to march into the hall, tripping straight over the bucket and landing in a very untidy wet heap on the floor.

“Miss Murkle!” cried Alfie in mock horror as he ran towards her. “I can't believe that was just left there. Come and help me!” he called to Madeleine and Robin as he tried to pull Murkle to her feet. The twins reluctantly ran over to help. “Are you OK, miss?” he asked as they finally got her to her feet. Murkle snorted at them furiously, her nostrils flaring as she seemed to oscillate between embarrassment and fury. Finally, she shook her hands free and charged away into the school hall.

“I saw that,” said Edward, from the stairs. “You tripped her over on purpose.”

“Looked like she tripped all on her own to me,” said Robin.

“I saw
him
move the bucket,” sneered Edward, nodding towards Alfie.

“So what are you going to do, tell her?” asked Alfie.

“Maybe,” said Edward, a sly smirk playing around the corners of his mouth.

“Really?” Madeleine moved almost nose-to-nose with Edward, glaring him down. “In the mood she's in?” Edward didn't look so sure of himself any more.

“Got a photo to prove it?” asked Alfie. Eventually Edward backed down with a snort. “Maybe I won't bother. You seemed to enjoy the last punishment too much – bet you're just trying to be some kind of school hero again. Who cares what you do anyway?” He stalked off into the canteen without looking back.

“What did you do that for?” exploded Robin. “We're supposed to be watching Murkle and Snitch, not winding them up!” Alfie made sure Edward was out of sight then grabbed the twins' arms and pulled them into the stairwell.

“Look,” he said, holding up a cord and swinging two iron keys in front of them like a pendulum. “I swiped them when we were helping her up.”

“Oh, Alfie, you're brilliant,” laughed Madeleine. “You got it exactly the same way they took the talisman from you.” Alfie let her snatch the keys from his hand, his pulse racing as he wondered if he really dared use them.

“You're not suggesting we sneak into their office right now to search for the talisman are you?” asked Robin incredulously.

“No,” said Alfie quickly. “I'm going in alone. I don't want you two risking your necks too.”

“That's exactly what we're going to do,” said Madeleine immediately. “Now, before you say anything, we've got at least thirty minutes while they eat lunch. If all three of us search together we'll be in and out in no time.” She darted out of the stairwell. “Well…? Are we going to get it back or not?”

Alfie didn't have the time to even try to talk Madeleine down. He raced after her, glancing back at Robin who seemed to be trying to calculate if there was any chance the plan wouldn't end in disaster. His cousin finally let out an exasperated sigh and followed them to the Doors of Doom.

The Hall of Penitence was quite a shock to Alfie as they entered the corridor that led to Murkle and Snitch's office. He had almost dismissed it as legend. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in hundreds of bizarre punishments, including Billy Reynolds's football necklace.

“This is crazy,” said Robin, examining a pair of dainty Victorian boots mounted on the wall over a plaque that read:
EMILIE
WINTERTON
.
ONE
INCH
HEELS
. Tiny words were scratched into the leather in neat lines that swirled around the boots covering them completely:

NEVER
AGAIN
WILL
I
FLAUNT
THE
FAIR
AND
JUST
RULES
OF
WYRMWALD
HOUSE
BY
CRAVING
MORE
HEIGHT
THAN
I
DESERVE
.

“
Look at this!” said Robin in amazement. “Murkle and Snitch are just carrying out a tradition. Headteachers must have been doing this since the school opened.”

“Hey, look, here's yours, Alfie,” said Madeleine. Alfie barely heard – he was too busy staring at the punishment next to it. His heart leapt as he read the plaque below a beautiful hand-embroidered image of the school in brightly coloured wool. It read:
JENNIFER
MERRYWEATHER
.
INAPPROPRIATE
SCHOOL
ATTIRE
. Staring at his mother's punishment, he recognized the bright colours from a cardigan he had seen in an old photograph of her. Murkle and Snitch must have made her unravel the whole thing. He realized that they couldn't have taken too much pleasure in this trophy. It was so pretty to look at that it cheered up everything on the wall around it. He was proud that his own punishment sat right next to it on the wall. He ran his finger over the embroidery and whispered proudly, “Well done, Mum.”

“Alfie, come on,” called Madeleine as she swung open the heavy panelled door to the office.

Alfie's heart was in his mouth as Madeleine locked the door and they looked around the daunting office with its ancient wallpaper, surly grandfather clock and dark wooden furniture. Flames crackled and spat in the large blackened fireplace. The room had a strong smell: a combination of leather, burnt wood and furniture polish that would have been almost comforting if it wasn't for a rotten undercurrent. Alfie noticed a small stool in front of the huge desk and imagined the fear of every student that had ever sat on it. They had to face two sets of headmistresses: the real Murkle and Snitch and the glowering portraits on the wall behind them. They huddled in the centre of the room wondering where to start searching. Even Madeleine seemed too nervous to touch anything.

“OK, we need to be quick about this,” said Alfie, taking charge. “They'll be about thirty minutes, but I don't want to be in here for more than ten. Maddie, you check the cabinets, Robin, you look for a safe, and I'll check the desk drawers and files. Make sure you leave everything exactly as you found it or they'll know someone was here.”

Everyone leapt into action. Alfie began going through each of the desk drawers, carefully removing items then putting them back exactly where he found them. Robin sent generations of spiders scurrying from their homes as he looked under the portraits while Madeleine carefully searched through the contents of the glass-fronted cabinets. The headmistresses had quite a hoard of strange and disturbing objects, from statuettes and ornate jars, to a dusty shrunken head that sat on one of the shelves watching their every move.

“Look at this!” Madeleine called as she staggered over with an enormous scrapbook. She held it out to Alfie. “News articles going back to the 1800s. They're about the rustlers and sightings of a strange creature in the skies over the north east. It's the dragon! They've collected everything ever written about it. They know that's what has been taking the animals!” Alfie took the book and leafed through page after page of articles on missing animals, strange fires and incidents across the region, including Mrs Emmett's disappearance.

“It's all here! Everything the dragon has done. How do they know?” He paused and looked at the others, “and why are they so interested in it?”

“This might sound crazy,” said Robin slowly, “but what if dragons are a bit like dogs? What if they need a master?”

There was a cold silence.

“You don't think … they're controlling it?” asked Alfie, hardly daring to consider the possibility.

“No way,” said Madeleine. “Even if they wanted to, how could they possibly control something like that?”

“Jimmy seems to think they've got some kind of hypnotic power over everyone's parents, so why not dragons?”

Alfie's mind reeled at the terrible possibility. But why would Murkle and Snitch even
want
to control a dragon? Then he remembered the great wings flapping around the castle at night and Robin's idea didn't sound quite so crazy. Had they been trying to use the dragon to find a way into the castle?

“We've got to take this and show Mum and Dad,” said Madeleine, grabbing the scrapbook.

“We can't,” said Robin, trying to pull the book from her hands. “They'd know we had it, and besides, what does it even prove? That they're interested in strange events?”

Alfie tried to push Robin's theory to the back of his mind as he took the book from the twins and shoved it back into the cabinet. “Come on, we don't have time for this. Let's keep looking.”

As his cousins sprang back into action Alfie sat down on one of the throne-like chairs at the enormous desk and went back to searching through the piles of folders and papers in the desk. He leapt back as he finally opened the last drawer. It was filled with meaty bones like the ones Uncle Herb fed to his sheepdogs.
Dragon snacks?
Surely they weren't keeping it anywhere nearby? Slamming the drawer shut, he rested his elbows on the desk, hands clasped over his head. They weren't going to find the talisman. Murkle and Snitch probably carried it around with them and he had just missed a perfect chance to check Murkle's pockets. They had been in the office too long already – they would just have to think of another plan.