CHAPTER 5
The next morning it was still raining. The garden looked as if an enormous monster had wandered through, breaking off leaves and branches in its wake. There were pieces of broken wood and twigs strewn everywhere. The electricity was still off and so they all had to have a cold breakfast, but nobody minded that. They made the best of leftover quiche and peaches and washed it down with lemonade. The rain shook the building and Aunty Izzy said they would have to amuse themselves in the house today as the rain might take a few hours to blow over and she wanted to carry on with the painting. She had obviously worked through the storm last night, using old oil lamps, as the lighthouse was now almost finished. The mill still looked like a sketch, but the sea was roughed in.
Jenny took charge and decided to organise some games to while away the hours before they could go to the lighthouse again. They played hide and seek for ages but got bored eventually and decided to search the armoires and furniture for anything interesting. They had no idea what they were looking for but felt perhaps they might find some dressing up clothes or some old toys.
“Let’s begin with the attic,” suggested the twins.
They knew there was nothing interesting in the two rooms they had chosen because they had looked in every nook and cranny, but they hadn’t explored the next floor. They didn’t quite know where to begin as the attic was stuffed with old furniture.
“Let’s open the wardrobe door,” cried Jack.
There was a large brass key in the door, which Jenny turned. The door swung open. Inside the armoire on the back of one of the doors was an old mirror all cracked and milky looking with age. “It certainly wouldn’t be very good for putting on make-up,” thought Jenny who had just started to experiment with some eye shadow and lipstick. Jack and Claire began to open all the drawers in the armoire but found nothing.
“What if there’s another world in here behind the coat,” whispered Claire, like “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.” Her voice quavered as she spoke.
“What coat?” asked Jenny who had wandered away and had been examining the desk drawers with her back to the twins. She swung around to look at them and suddenly caught sight of herself in the mirror. Then she gasped and held her breath. The girl who looked back at her was dressed in a riding jacket and long skirt; she had on her jeans and a black sweater! The girl’s face was covered in dirt and her long hair was all wild and tangled. As Jenny watched spellbound, the girl suddenly turned and disappeared into the wardrobe.
“What’s the matter Jenny?” cried the twins in unison, “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Oh! Oh! Nothing,” Jennifer stuttered a reply, but she could see her own reflection in the mirror now and her face was pure white against her deep red hair. “What coat?” she asked again hoping that the twins wouldn’t notice that she was shaking all over.
“Here at the back,” said Jack, pulling the coat out of the wardrobe and putting it on.
So, after an hour’s search they were disappointed. All they had found was an old, very long and heavy coat that smelled horribly musty. Jack trailed it along the floor as he strutted around pretending to be the king of the castle. He reached deep inside the coat pocket as he pranced about. “Hey, there’s an old book in the pocket.”
“Let me see,” said Claire and she took the book from Jack.
They searched the rest of the furniture and some of the old leather boxes, but found nothing. Just then Jack, who was still pretending to be King reached into an inside pocket deep inside the greatcoat and pulled out a large rusty key. The label attached to the key was torn off but it was just possible to make out the letters m.o.u.
“A big help,” scoffed Jenny, “a key and a coat.”
“Don’t forget the book,” said Claire. She had been sitting on the floor leafing through it. “There’s only an old loose bit of paper in this book, not even any pictures!”
“Let me see.” Claire handed Jenny the paper which had been folded into eight segments. “It’s obviously very old,” said Jenny,” unfolding the paper carefully, and it’s hard to read the words. It’s mostly symbols anyway.”
“What are symbols?” asked Claire.
“Well they’re marks like pictures that stand for other things. For example, on a map a church might be marked with a cross or a railway crossing with a cross placed the other way round. There are special symbols for the sea and grass or for castles. We did a bit of this in geography last year but I wasn’t very interested and can’t remember them. I remember it means that you can draw a map without having to draw in buildings or colour in the marshlands etcetera. And even though the map is flat, if you understand the symbols, you can tell if the countryside is hilly or flat and you can tell if there’s a school or a hospital.”
“Does that mean that piece of paper if a map, Jenny?” Jennifer didn’t answer her brother directly.
“Well let’s have a look. There is a boundary that could be a road and a sort of asterisk sign with lines coming from it, which must indicate a building. Then in the middle is a plan of a big house but without the roof so you can only see the outline of the ground floor. Way over here is a cross like an X but with stripes on it. There are also some funny numbers and a little box drawn in. Yes it certainly looks like a map. Then, on the opposite side there are some words, a poem by the look of it. There is also a date. It looks like a.o.u.t. 16,” said Jenny slowly spelling out the letters. “And the date is 1789 or possibly 1739 it’s hard to see it as the numbers are so faint! We will have to ask Thierry or Aliénor what the French words mean. Perhaps the numbers are directions for something? What a coincidence that the date is August. I’m sure aout is August. We did months and days in French this year. And isn’t it the 16th today?”
Claire and Jack had both noticed that she had put Thierry before Aliénor, perhaps because he was the oldest and more likely to understand the significance of the poem. The twins looked at their sister but she seemed to be in a trance. Jennifer suddenly wondered if parallel existences could have any basis in reality. Were they all somehow reliving or witnessing in some way, events that had taken place years, even centuries ago? Her mind began to spin as she clutched the map. Jack shrugged his shoulders at Claire and signalled that they should go downstairs. They brushed past Jenny who hardly noticed them.
The rain had stopped by about 5pm and Aunty Izzy asked the children to help her clear the garden. They all worked very hard making piles of rubbish to burn. “It won’t burn now,” she said, “it’s far too wet. We’ll have a big bonfire in a few days when the branches have dried out.” That evening they all sat down to cold chicken and salad and again the large dining table became like a battle scene when they had finished eating, but they all voted the meal one of the most delicious they had ever had. The electricity had come back on so they could have hot drinks and their Aunt said it would be nice to have a log fire, not because it was cold but to snuggle up to. They had all brought a book with them to read on the plane and there were plenty of books and magazines in the house. Jack and Claire decided they would rather play “snap” so took a pack of cards from the sideboard and began the game.
Aunty Izzy was muttering to herself as she dabbed her brushes at the painting. Jenny looked as if she was deeply immersed in her book but she was really thinking of the ghostly girl who had haunted her since her arrival. “Who could she be?” thought Jennifer, “And why does she keep appearing? She must be trying to tell me something or possibly warm me of some danger.” Jennifer decided that she would try to talk to the girl next time she appeared. She had to admit to herself that the image of the girl in the mirror looking so dishevelled had really unnerved her.
The evening passed slowly but the children didn’t miss the television or their computer games at all. Aunty Izzy seemed to have had a breakthrough with her painting and was working very fast indeed. The silence that had fallen in the room was suddenly broken. A scraping at the door was followed by a high-pitched bark.
> “That must be Blanca,” said Jennifer as she rushed to open the door. There in the lamplight stood Thierry with a fluffy white bundle playing at his feet.
“Come in,” called their Aunt, “it’s too windy to stand on the door step.”
After Jennifer has introduced Thierry and Blanca to Aunty Izzy she asked if he would like a cup of tea, forgetting that French people drank coffee.
“Yes, please tea is good but no milk please,” said Thierry. Blanca yapped loudly and jumped up at Jenny. “And some water, if you please, for Blanca,” he laughed.
As they all sat drinking mugs of tea Thierry said that his Uncle Bernard would like everyone to come to the lighthouse for a special meal next Thursday, to celebrate his birthday.”If you come at 8pm it will be nearly dusk and we can go to the top of the lighthouse to see the lighting. There will be feu d’artifice also.”He obviously didn’t know that word in English. No one really knew what he meant but Jenny reckoned later that it must be something to do with the lighthouse because it seems to mean artificial fire, which is exactly what a lighthouse is. When Thierry was about to go he looked at Jenny whose cheeks blazed as brightly as her red hair, “ See you all tomorrow on the beach,” he said, but he didn’t look at the twins at all. Just Jenny! “Come on Blanca, let’s continue your walk. She insists on her walk even if the weather is bad!” laughed Thierry.
Later that night as she lay on her bed trying hard to go to sleep Jenny couldn’t stop thinking of the quote she liked best from Shakespeare.” What light in yonder window breaks. It is the moon and Juliet is the sun,” in her mind’s eye she had substituted Jennifer for Juliet! She couldn’t wait till tomorrow. She gazed out of her window and saw the arrow of Orion glittering down at her, pointing inland away from the sea. That was it! She knew there was something about the tapestry that kept nagging at her; it was the night sky. She turned on her light and jumped out of bed. Sure enough, there in the tapestry sky pointing in the direction of the windmill was the constellation of Orion. What a coincidence. This must mean something, but what? It was as though the very house itself was trying to tell her its story, but her head was too full of Romeo and Juliet, constellations, tapestries and ghostly girls to think straight. She decided to think about it in the morning after a good night’s sleep. The wind howled outside and she could just hear the church bell tolling as she drifted off into a fitful sleep.
Suddenly, as the moon shone overhead Jennifer was flung into another world. She galloped out into the woods riding a beautiful palomino horse and dressed in a pure white gown. She rode as quickly as she could, urging the horse to go faster and faster. She knew that she must reach the windmill or someone would die. She must save him from the dreadful machine that could slice through his flesh leaving his head rolling down toward the old women who knitted, les tricôteurs. On and on she made the horse gallop till he was flying through the air. Suddenly she was completely weightless, her white gown flying behind her. She pulled at the reins and the palomino slowed and glided to earth as if he had wings, but she had left the saddle now and fell through the air turning over and over before landing on a small balcony. Jennifer grabbed hold of the iron railings and leaned over, looking out onto the earth below. In the dark space below the balcony she saw a knight in silver armour his long tresses falling about his shoulders. He called out to her, his voice echoing in the cool night air, “Jennifer is the sun. Jennifer is the sun. Jennifer is the sun.” As he turned to leave her she caught sight of a shark’s tooth necklace glinting around his neck. “Don’t leave me,” she cried, “don’t leave me!” She jumped out of bed sobbing as she grabbed the bedcovers around her shoulders for warmth.
She hadn’t had such a vivid dream since she was ten years old. She had had a very bad fever at the time and her mother had sat up with her all night. Then the dream had been about being lost in a desert brought on by her high temperature; now it was a jumble of real and imaginary events. Jenny sat trembling on the side of the bed. She found the regular beam of the great lighthouse calmed her a little as she tried to analyse the nightmare.
The image of Thierry as a knight in shining armour and the confusion of the balcony scene from “Romeo and Juliet”, she found relatively easy to explain. These were the things she had been thinking of just as she went to sleep and she knew that dreams took real events and mixed them all up with things seen or read that day. But who was the person she had been trying to save? She felt an incredible sense of fear and sadness as she tried to get back to sleep. She knew this nightmare had something to do with the girl she had seen riding her horse when she arrived and earlier today in the mirror of the armoire. She went to sleep again certain that she must find out the girl’s identity and try to speak to her.