The Underground City(16)
“Gosh, this is good,” Neil muttered, warming his hands round the mug. “It’s freezing outside!”
“How was Mary King’s Close?” asked Clara. “I bet you wore your firestone!”
“Yeah,” grinned Neil. “I almost wish I hadn’t now. I’ve bags to tell you!”
“Well,” asked Clara, “did you see any ghosts?”
“Dozens!” Neil said, and laughed at the disbelief on Clara’s face. “I did really!”
“What … what did they look like?” Clara asked in alarm. “Did they scare you?”
“They did, actually,” admitted Neil. “They looked awful. Sort of empty eyes, you know.”
“Did they know you could see them?”
“Yeah, that was the problem really …”
“Problem?” croaked Kitor.
Neil nodded and starting from the beginning, told them everything that had happened in the Close.
“So you saw Mary King herself. What was she like?”
“Quite old, I think. She wore a sort of bonnet on her head and was quite well-dressed. You know, long skirt, blouse and a kind of thick shawl affair. I’m sure she wrote the message, ‘cos she was pointing to it when it appeared.”
“What did it say again?”
“Neil. We need your help. Come again. Mary King.”
“You’re not going to go back, though, are you?” queried Kitor anxiously.
“I might. Just to see what they want.”
“They can hurt you, Neil. Look what the ghosts did to this Graham Flint that you told us about.”
“There was a reason for that, though. He’d made a fool out of me and they didn’t like it.”
“It must have scared him though!”
“Scared him! It scared him stupid!” Neil grinned. “I told you, he was howling like a baby!”
Clara looked dubious. “You’re having me on, aren’t you? Graham! Crying?” she said.
Kitor flapped his wings, ruffling Clara’s long, brown hair. “You shouldn’t have worn your firestone,” the crow said. “It was asking for trouble and now look what has happened! You’re involved with ghosts!”
“Kitor’s right, you know,” Clara said. “What on earth do they want to see you for? You don’t know their motives. They could be trying to trap you.”
Neil shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said. “They stuck up for me, after all. If Graham hadn’t tried to make a fool of me they’d never have shoved him into a wall or frozen him half to death!”
“I wish the MacArthurs were here,” sighed Clara. “We could have asked Hamish or Archie what to do.”
“Why not ask your father or Sir James?” suggested Kitor reasonably.
Neil and Clara both looked at the crow in disgust. “Get a life, Kitor,” Neil advised. “Ask my dad? He’d freak out!”
“Too right!” agreed Clara.
“I don’t see how I’m going to be able to get into Mary King’s Close, anyway,” Neil said, thinking about it. “I could get in with another tour, I suppose, but it’d be expensive and the guides are sharp. They count you in and don’t let you wander off.”
“And at night, the whole place will be locked up …” added Clara.
“There is a way, though!” Neil said, suddenly. “I could go in on my magic carpet one afternoon after school. I’d be invisible. No one would see me.”
Clara sat up. “What on earth do you mean? You’d go in on your magic carpet! No way are you going down into Mary King’s Close on your own, Neil! I’m coming too!”
Neil looked at her doubtfully. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Clara. Really! The ghosts are a bit frightening when you see them close up. You’d be scared! I know you would!”
Kitor looked undecided for a moment. He didn’t fancy going under the ground into dark streets either but he was no coward and, after all, Neil couldn’t possibly be allowed to go on his own. “Don’t worry, Clara,” he said. “I’ll go with Neil.”
“Well, you can certainly come,” she muttered angrily, “but if Neil goes then I’m definitely going as well!”
8. Ardray
Lewis looked at the now familiar face that confronted him in his bathroom mirror every morning. “You’re nuts,” he said in disbelief. “First of all, you want me to say ‘carpet, carpet’ and clap my hands and now you want me to open my bedroom window. Haven’t you seen the weather? It’s snowing outside, for goodness sake!”