Page 23 of A Cornish Love Story
I laughed and squeezed his hand. ‘I wouldn’t put it past her to have found out somehow. She’s so protective of me.’
‘You’re all she’s got,’ Ethan said, and I could hear the shrug in his voice. ‘But it’s not fair of her to stop you doing what you want. You’re there for her when she needs you.’
‘I try to be,’ I said quietly. ‘What about you? Did your folks give you a hard time about coming out tonight?’
‘They were too busy grounding Sarah.’
‘Oh, really? What’s she done?’
‘The usual. Some light vandalism, skipping school, shouting at her teachers when she does bother to turn up.’
‘Wow.’ I tried to imagine the slender, petulant girl I’d met doing all that. ‘She’s still unhappy, then.’
‘Yeah. I don’t … I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m pretty sure grounding isn’t it. She’s going to rebel more. I nearly didn’t come tonight.’
‘Oh.’ I thought how much my excitement would have dimmed without him there. ‘I’m glad you did.’
‘Me too,’ he said, as we reached the dilapidated wall than ran around the once-grand property.
‘Here we are guys!’ Freddy announced it like we were on a tour of tourist hotspots, and this was the pièce de résistance.
We walked along the wall until we found a section that had completely fallen down, and took turns to step over it into the overgrown garden. Twigs and leaves swiped at my arms and legs as we waded through the vegetation, then we angled a trio of torch beams up at the front of the house. It had a dull stone façade and a steep, angular roof, cracked window boxes with any flowers long since gone, the paved pathway sprouting with weeds. Ornate details in the window frames looked like gasping, screaming faces in the stark torchlight.
‘That is one spooky building,’ Kira murmured, and Freddy grabbed her hand.
‘Come on Mr Architect,’ Orwell said. ‘It was your idea so you’re in charge.’
‘Right.’ Ethan walked up to the front door and rattled the chain. ‘This one’s secure, and the padlock looks new.’
‘Arse.’ Freddy sighed. ‘Let’s do a circuit and see if there’s another way in. Call out if you find anything.’
He and Kira headed left, and I followed Ethan right, with Orwell bringing up the rear. We tried each window as we passed, but they were all locked. When we got to the side of the house, Alperwick appeared below us, with lights twinkling and smoke coming from chimneys, the inky sea to our left. It was straight out of a fairy tale, and the witch’s house was looming behind us. I shivered, and Ethan took my hand again.
‘Come on.’ I saw his smile in the glow from his torch. ‘Let’s check the back door.’
It was Kira who found our way in, a window on the cliff side of the house unlocked, creaking slowly open when she prized it away from the frame. ‘I broke a nail,’ she announced gleefully, the pane swinging outwards, silently inviting us in.
‘You fucking genius.’ Freddy picked her up and spun her round and then, one by one, we climbed through the window, into the real-life Tyller Klos.
The air was cloying and smelled of mould, and I covered my mouth with my sleeve, a crunch of debris beneath my feet. The room we were in was small, and there was no furniture left, the place bare besides structural features and fittings.
‘How old is it, do you think?’ Kira asked.
‘Nineteenth century,’ Ethan said without a pause. ‘The high-pitched roof, the decorative moulding – look.’ We peered up, seeing the floral shapes framing the ceiling. Something scuttled to our left and I jumped, leaning into him. He put his arm around my shoulders.
‘Let’s go to the big room at the front,’ Kira said. ‘Escape whateverthatwas.’
‘The rats will have the run of the place,’ Orwell pointed out. ‘Hey, do you think that old lady is still here? What if she died in her bed and nobody noticed, and the rats have been snacking on her ever since?’
‘She moved into a bungalow in the village,’ I said, because I had researched S. E. Artemis’s life and career.Her decision to stop writing in the 1990s had compounded my devastation that the last book had ended the way it had.
‘She’s still in Alperwick?’ Kira asked.
‘As far as I know.’ There hadn’t been any press about her for a long time. ‘This place has been empty for almost twenty years.’
‘It’s well preserved.’ Ethan pressed his hand against the ornate door frame as Kira skipped ahead, into the room at the front of the house, and we all followed. ‘I don’t think we should try the stairs, though.’
‘We might fall through?’ Freddy sounded thrilled and horrified all at once.
