“Bank robbers?” Neil said in complete surprise. Whatever else he’d expected to hear, it certainly hadn’t been that.
“The Bank of Scotland,” nodded the old Codger. “Just down the road. They’re going to blow up the vaults and steal a million pounds!”
“You mean … you want me to tell the police and have them arrested?” Neil said.
“No, no,” burst out another of the ghosts. “No more people! That’s the last thing we want!”
“I see,” Neil said weakly, not understanding in the slightest, “but if you don’t want me to tell the police, what do you want me to do?”
“We want you to tell them to go away!” Mr Rafferty said seriously. “We’ve tried everything, Neil. We’ve tried to freeze them out, we’ve pushed them around and nothing has made the slightest bit of difference. They still come every night to clear the rubble!”
“There’s no way that we can get through to them, you see,” interrupted the old Codger with a shake of his head, “they can’t see us and they can’t hear us!”
“So we thought,” Mary King said, “that since you can see us and hear us that … well, you might be able to speak to them for us.”
“We’ll show you the way through the tunnels to where they’re working, no problem,” Mr Rafferty said encouragingly. “And bring you back!”
Neil looked at them, a frown crossing his face. “I could talk to them, I suppose,” he admitted. “They wouldn’t be able to see me or the magic carpet but they would be able to hear me. Mind you,” he said, looking doubtful, “if they really are bank robbers, I don’t think it’ll honestly make much difference what I say. Bank robbers are a tough lot and believe me, they’re not going to give up a million pounds just because I ask them to clear out! Besides, I doubt if that bank has any money in it at all, you know. My dad told me that it’s not a branch any more. Nowadays, it’s a museum.”
“What do you think we should do, then?”
Neil shrugged. “Well, you don’t have to do anything, really, do you,” he pointed out. “It’s just a matter of time. Once they find out that there’s no money in the bank, they’ll go away anyway, won’t they?”
There was a fearful silence. Mr Rafferty started to wring his hands and the rest of the ghosts moaned horribly and eyed one another sideways, suddenly scared stiff.
Neil looked at them, sensing the fear that coloured the atmosphere. “That isn’t the real reason you want rid of them, is it?” he said apprehensively. “There’s something else, isn’t there? Something you haven’t told me!”
Mary King pleated her skirt with nervous fingers. “Yes,” she admitted. “You see, we … we aren’t alone down here in the Underground City. There are places where we don’t go … where … other ghosts live.”
“The ghosts of the Plague People,” Mr Rafferty burst out nervously. “They were sealed in their cellars hundreds of years ago but they’ve always been desperate to escape. They long to be free again,” he whispered hoarsely, his voice trembling, “to roam in the open air! To infect people! To give them the Black Death!”
Clara sat, round-eyed and horrified on her carpet while Neil swallowed hard and turned the colour of chalk. “The plague?” he breathed fearfully.
Mary King nodded. “They carry the plague with them and the two men, Murdo and Wullie, are very close to their cellars, Neil. They might break into them by mistake. You must tell them the danger they’re in for, if the Plague People get out, they will be their first victims!”
“Of course I’ll tell them,” Neil said immediately. “Right now, if you like!”
Mary King shook her head. “They’re not there just now,” she said. “Murdo and Wullie only ever come at night.”
Neil looked troubled. “I can’t come at night,” he said slowly. “I just can’t! If I’m out, I have to be home by seven at the latest. I know I could get in here before they lock up but, if I did, I wouldn’t be able to get out again until they opened the doors in the morning! My parents …” Neil tailed off, shuddering at the thought of what his mother and father would say.
“The men get in and out through the cellars of Deacon Brodie’s Tavern” the old Codger offered, passing a hand over his grizzled chin, thoughtfully. “Couldn’t you get in and out the same way?”
Neil grinned weakly as he shook his head. “They’d never let me into Deacon Brodie’s Tavern,” he said. “I’m not nearly old enough. No, we’ll have to think of something else!”