Standing behind the earl, Theo was regarding Ian quizzically Her face suggested she could tell that something was terribly wrong but she didn’t know what. “Of course,” said the earl, his good humor and enthusiasm still intact. He obviously wasn’t as keenly aware as Theo of Ian’s frightened appearance. “But first I should like to introduce you to your new schoolmasters and your new bunkmate—”
“If you please, my lord!” Ian interrupted, feeling an overwhelming panic build within him. “I’m terribly sorry, but I really must insist on having a word with you, now.” His eyes moved back to Theo, who appeared just as shocked as the earl by Ian’s rude behavior. None of the children had ever been so impolite as to interrupt their patriarch. “It’s the beast,” he said into the stunned silence as he locked eyes with her. “It’s out on the lawn.”
Theo turned starkly pale. “It’s here?” she asked in a squeaky whisper.
“What’s this about a beast?” Thatcher asked, stepping forward.
And then the silence outside was broken by the most horrible noise. That growling, snarling howl that had sent terror through Ian and Theo in the tunnel was back and echoing across the grounds. “What in the …?” Perry said as he crossed to the window. “Good Lord!” he exclaimed as he looked out on the lawn. “It’s some sort of giant black animal!”
Everyone but Theo rushed to the window. Ian turned as well and was just able to make out the loping gait of the great beast as it paced and sniffed at the grass where Ian and Searle had fought just a few hours before.
“It’s massive!” gasped Carl, gazing down at the beast.
“What is that thing?” asked Perry. “Some sort of wild dog, perhaps?”
“That’s no dog,” said the earl evenly as he stared through the window. “I’ve heard tales of such a beast. Some call it a hellhound, and if you believe the local legend, it’s a beast straight out of the depths of hell.”
“You’ve heard of this thing before?” asked Perry, staring at the earl, who had also gone a little pale.
“Yes, but I never believed the stories,” said the earl. “Until now. …” Ian was shocked that the earl knew about the beast, and racked his memory for any mention in the past by him, but he came up with nothing. “My mother used to say that when she was a child, a terrible beast roamed the land in search of children caught out past their bedtimes. She admitted to me years later that the stories had so frightened her that even as an adult she was careful not to be out alone past a certain hour. She also claimed to have known of a servant whose grandson was snatched from his bed one night and the only evidence of what had happened to him was a giant wolflike footprint by his bed.”
Ian’s thoughts momentarily drifted back to the memory of Madam Scargill the night Theo had arrived and her insistence that she had seen a similar creature when she was a child.
“Did your mother really believe the servant’s story?” asked Thatcher.
“She did,” answered the earl, staring with hard eyes through the pane. “And now I know why.”
All eyes returned back to the beast for a long silent moment, until the earl seemed to break out of the spell and stepped away from the window. In a most commanding voice, he said, “Come, gentlemen! We must get to Castle Dover! I have a collection of hunting rifles there. We must make sure that beast never puts another child in danger.” And with that the earl and the new schoolmasters rushed out of the room.
Theo was still in the middle of Ian’s bedroom, shaking from head to toe. Ian moved quickly over to her and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. “It’s all right, Theo,” he said. “The earl will shoot that beast dead.”
“We didn’t have things like that in Plymouth,” said Carl, nervously looking about the room as if he were trying to decide where to hide.
“Carl, is that your name?” Ian asked the thin lad.
Carl glanced at the space under one of the beds before meeting Ian’s eyes. “Yes,” he said, and extended his hand awkwardly. “It’s nice to meet you, Ian.”
Ian shook it quickly, then with an air of authority said, “Why don’t you go downstairs with the other children? We’ll likely be safer if we stick together as a large group. Theo and I will be along in just a moment.”
Carl nodded and hurried from the room.
“How did it find us?” Theo asked after he’d gone, her voice cracking in fear.
“It must have followed our scent,” whispered Ian. “It tracked us here.”
“What does it want with us?”
“Perhaps by escaping we’ve made it angry,” Ian said.
Theo gave him a grave look. “I knew we shouldn’t have gone down that tunnel. I wish you’d listened to me when I said I had a bad feeling.”
Ian’s cheeks flushed with shame at having endangered them all with his foolish explorations. “I’m really sorry, Theo,” he said. “Next time I’ll listen to you.”
Theo’s hard look softened. “Come on, then,” she said gently, tugging on his sleeve as she turned toward the door. “The headmistresses might need our help with some of the younger ones.”
Downstairs the mood was bordering on panic. The earl, who seemed to be the only calm voice in the room, was giving clipped instructions to the headmistresses. “This creature is nothing to be trifled with,” he was saying. “Every-one must remain indoors until the beast has been killed or captured.”
“I told you, Maggie!” snapped Madam Scargill as her cousin regarded her worriedly. “I told you I heard that beast eight years ago. I know I heard it out in the night! And now, here it is on our grounds. Oh, the children!” she wailed. “What are we to do about the children?”
“Shutter all the windows on the lower level,” directed the earl. “Then take them to the highest point in the castle and keep guard until we come to tell you it’s safe.”
Just then Landis burst in through the front door carrying a gardening hoe. “There’s a massive beast out on the lawn!” he gasped, his face tight with fear.
“Yes, Landis,” said the earl. “Do you perhaps have a rifle in your cottage?” Landis’s small home was tucked behind the keep near a grove of trees.
Landis ran a hand through his graying hair. “Aye,” he said with a frown. “The problem is I haven’t any shells to put in it. Been out of ammo for near three years now.”
The earl’s face looked grave. “Very well,” he said. “Then you’d best come with us back to the castle to retrieve my hunting rifles. Are you with us?”
“Yes, my lord!” said Landis. “I’m with you.”
“Excellent,” said the earl; then he regarded the frightened faces of the children standing nearby. His eyes lingered on Ian for a brief moment before he said, “We’ll need a scout by the front door to let us in when the beast has been killed. Who’s up for that task?”
Before Ian could raise his hand, Carl surprised him by stepping bravely forward. “I’ll do it, my lord,” he said with a small gulp.
“Good man, Carl,” said the earl. “You’ll need to secure the bolt behind us when we leave and watch through the spy hole. Don’t open the door for any reason unless we ask you to, all right?”
“Right,” said Carl.
Turning to Landis, the earl asked, “Where did you last see the beast?”
“Back o’ the keep, my lord, behind the shed.”
“Good. Let’s hurry out, then, before this creature has a chance to make its way to the front!” The earl opened the door and he, Landis, Thatcher, and Perry dashed to the earl’s motorcar. As they jumped in, Carl quickly shut the front door and pulled the bolt across, locking it tightly.
Ian thought he might take up watch with Carl, but changed his plans when Madam Dimbleby said, “Ian, would you help me shutter the windows and make sure all the other doors are secure?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, glad to be put to use.
“I can help with that too,” Theo offered.
“Very well,” said Madam Dimbleby; then, turning to her cousin, she
said, “Gertrude, gather all the children and take them to the west tower. It’s the highest point and you can lock the door from the inside.” Ian thought that the stairway leading up to the west tower might also be too narrow for the beast to navigate. It was barely wide enough for the adults to walk up.
“It’ll be a tight fit up there with all thirty-two of us,” remarked Madam Scargill as she wrung her hands on the skirt of her dress. “The east tower has more room.”
“Yes, but the children are frightened of that room. Best not to unsettle them any more than is necessary, Gertie. Do what you can to fit them all in, will you?”
Madam Scargill nodded, then caught her cousin by the arm. “You’ll be right up, won’t you, Maggie?”
Madam Dimbleby patted her cousin’s hand and said, “Of course, of course. If things get sticky down here, we’ll be right behind you.” Turning to Carl, she instructed, “Master Lawson, should that beast look like it might get inside, do not hesitate to make your way through the parlor and over to that door on the right.” She turned him slightly and pointed to the door. “It leads to the west tower, where the other children will be hiding.”
Carl nodded smartly, then dragged a nearby chair to the door so that he could stand level with the spy hole and watch for the beast.
Madam Scargill then turned to the group of shivering and frightened orphans and began issuing orders. “All right then, children, we are to proceed to the west tower in an orderly fashion. You lot, Catherine, Lizzy, and Judith, take the little ones up first. And make sure Harry doesn’t hide behind the curtains again. Robert, go fetch Searle from his dormitory You tell him to come down here and help you to gather up the next group of children for the tower room. And make sure you tell him not to dawdle. He’s to report down here immediately or have me to answer to!”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Robert, and he dashed off in the direction of the west wing boys’ dormitory.
Madam Scargill then turned to another group and barked, “Howard, Angela, you come with me. We’re going to collect some pillows and blankets from the east wing dormitories and the linen closet so that the younger children can get some sleep. Oh, goodness, it’s well past their bed-times as it is!” Madam Scargill swept out of the room with Howard and Angela hot on her heels.
Madam Dimbleby turned back to Ian and Theo and said, “Let’s get to bolting those shutters and securing the doors.”
While all the other orphans hurried up to the west tower, Madam Dimbleby, Ian, and Theo ran about the keep, securing the shutters and latching all the windows, then checked the bolts on the two remaining doors, one at the kitchen and the other off the headmistresses’ study to the right of the front stairs. They all met back in the sitting room just as Madam Scargill was disappearing up the west tower steps, her arms loaded with pillows and blankets. “Our turn,” said Madam Dimbleby as she waved the children ahead toward the door. Ian heard her give another warning to Carl to scuttle upstairs at the first sign of trouble; then, as they reached the door to the tower, Theo suddenly stopped in her tracks and let out a loud gasp. “Oh, no!” she said.
“What is it?” Madam Dimbleby asked.
Theo turned to the headmistress, her eyes wide in alarm. “The laundry room! Madam, that door’s always unlocked!”
Ian’s heart felt like it skipped several beats. The laundry room was down in the cellar, and the door leading in from the outside was never bolted. But worse still was that although it was a sturdy door, it was easy for even the smallest of the children to push open. All the beast had to do to enter the keep was find the stairway at the back of the building, make its way down the steps, and push against the door.
Madam Dimbleby’s face drained of color, but she tried to sound calm. “Right,” she said, swallowing hard before attempting a rather forced smile when she realized that Ian and Theo were waiting for her to give them some direction. “You two hurry on upstairs. I’ll go to the cellar, bolt the door, and be back up in a jiffy.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ian said firmly. He could see the fear all over Madam Dimbleby’s face, and he didn’t want her to have to go down into the cellar alone.
“Thank you, Ian,” she said with a faint smile, “but it’s not safe. You should go up with the rest of the children.”
“But, Madam,” Ian persisted, “remember how tricky that latch can be? I really think you might need help with it.” The latch was indeed difficult to secure, but more important, Ian had noticed how badly Madam’s hands were shaking and his heart went out to her.
Madam seemed to catch Ian’s subtle glance toward her trembling hands, and she quickly tried to cover them by smoothing out her skirt. “Very well, Master Wigby,” she said after a pause to compose herself. “Theo, up you go. Ian, come along.”
Ian gave Theo a pat on her shoulder as she stood in the doorway of the tower staircase. “I’ll be right up,” he said reassuringly, but her frightened eyes bothered him.
“Hurry!” she whispered, and he left her and trotted after the headmistress.
The pair walked quickly through the kitchen to the door leading to the cellar but Madam Dimbleby hesitated ever so slightly before opening it. “If there’s any nasty business down there,” she said in a deadly serious tone, “I want you to get out of the cellar as fast as you can, and throw the lock behind you whether I’m with you or not.”
Ian’s eyes widened and he was about to protest when she leaned her face close to his and said, “I’m not joking, Ian. You must promise me this or you’ll not come down with me.”
He frowned but finally nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” he said to her, even though he had no intention of leaving her behind, promise or no promise.
Madam Dimbleby seemed satisfied and she took a deep breath before opening the door a crack, then put her ear close and listened. Ian also strained his ears, but no sound came from the cellar.
Madam Dimbleby took another big breath and pulled the door open wide before reaching for the light switch and turning it on. A dim glow illuminated the stairwell, casting the space into an eerie gloom. Cautiously, the headmistress stepped onto the first stair, then the second, and Ian followed closely behind. He noticed that the headmistress would walk down two or three stairs, stop, listen, then continue for another two or three steps.
In this manner they made their way to the bottom without incident and Ian let go of the breath he’d been holding for the last few steps. Madam Dimbleby then turned to the right and squinted into the poorly lit area of the large cellar.
The door leading in from the outside was at the other end of the chilly room. “Let’s get to it, then,” the headmistress whispered, and she quickly picked her way through the clutter littering the floor, working toward the door with Ian again close behind her until he saw something out the corner of his eye. He abruptly stopped and rested a hand on Madam’s arm while he slowly turned his face toward the window above the cellar sink, and the most awful feeling of dread chilled him to the bone.
He felt Madam Dimbleby’s eyes land on him, then shift to where he was looking, and he heard her gasp when she too spotted four giant paws passing in front of the small window. The beast was just outside. “It’s right there!” he whispered. “Which means it’s likely heading to the stairwell!”
Madam Dimbleby audibly gulped. The window was just to the right of the outside stairwell leading down to the entrance of the cellar. The beast might already have made it down the staircase and could be pressing its way inside in the next second!
Ian and Madam Dimbleby were a meter or two away from the door. “Stay here,” she whispered to him, and she bravely tiptoed forward, edging closer to her target.
But Ian saw her come up short as they both heard something like a snarl from just outside. The beast was close. Again Madam Dimbleby edged forward while Ian willed her to hurry. He was rooted to his spot with the terrible fear that she wouldn’t get there in time. The door was closed, but one good nudge from the giant beast would surely open it.
Madam Dimbleby took one step, two steps, three steps … and another snarl reverberated from outside, only this one sounded like it was near the bottom of the staircase.
Ian could see Madam Dimbleby trembling as she picked her foot up to take a step but caught an old chair piled with broken toys. The chair and toys tipped over with a loud clatter. The headmistress froze, and Ian could feel his heart thumping so fiercely he thought it might be visible through his shirt. The snarl from outside became a growl as loud as a motor. Worse yet, the growl grew closer, and in an instant a large black snout appeared in the small opening at the bottom of the door and the beast took a good long sniff through the crack.
Ian looked at Madam Dimbleby, who stood as still as a statue. “Madam!” Ian whispered. “The latch! You need to throw the latch!”
But Madam remained unmoving. Ian couldn’t see her face, but he knew it was likely frozen in terror. He tried again to call out to her. “Madam, you’re so close! Just throw the latch!”
Another loud sniff moved the dust around the crack at the bottom of the door. Madam Dimbleby still hadn’t moved. And then the nose sniffing about seemed to catch their scent. Through the crack Ian saw the black snout inch over to the right, near where they were standing, petrified. The beast took several short whiffs of air right before a deadly growl rumbled along the pavement, and Ian knew he had less than an instant to act.
Quick as a flash, he shot forward, past Madam Dimbleby, running at the door with single-minded determination. When he was one meter from it, the beast’s snout disappeared from the crack and two thumps sounded on the wood frame. To add to the horror, the door began to open, exposing black greasy fur, a huge snout, and one red eye. Ian leapt into the air, throwing all his weight against the door, and managed to slam it. With shaking fingers he reached for the latch, but it was very old and rusty and wouldn’t easily move.
Just beyond the door rose a howl that turned his blood to ice. It was a horrible sound and it rang in his ears like a terrible nightmare, and then two more thumps echoed through the paneling and sent Ian springing backward as the beast threw its weight against the door.