Deadly Games (10 page)

They could see the dark glow of water a long way down and the beginning of a ladder that clung to the dank, sweating brickwork, which was partly covered in moss. When the twins' eyes became more accustomed to the darkness, they could also see a small island made of silt that must have built up over the years.

“Now what do we do?” asked Sid.

“I don't know,” replied Jenny. There was a strong feeling of anticlimax, of being horribly let down. Was this even the right well? Could there be another one?

Then David said, “What's that smell?”

Jenny shrugged. “Disuse and decay, I suppose.”

“No, there's something else.” He sniffed again. “It's peppermint,” he said softly.

“That water's rippling.” Jenny stared down. “Did you throw a stone in?”

“Of course I didn't,” snapped David.

“But I can see something in the ripples. It's carrying along some kind of light.”

Sure enough, there was a tiny spot of what looked like phosphorescence widening out just by the island. The picture came slowly and hazily. Then it sharpened and they could see May and Leslie standing on the ladder, calling up in singsong voices:

“Mrs Garland! Mrs Garland! We're down here.”

Their voices echoed up the well and David and Jenny knew they were about to witness another of their games.

They saw Mrs Garland's stern face, hovering about them now. “What's the matter?”

“We're stuck. We're scared. We can't go up and we can't go down.”

“You should never have run away in the first
place. You could have been killed in that tunnel. Why are you always doing this? Why are you always testing me? You know I love you. You know I care – ”

“We can't go up,” said May and Leslie in their childish chorus. “And we can't go down.”

“What do you want me to do?” Mrs Garland looked flustered and uncertain.

“Put out your hand,” pleaded May.

“Help her up,” said Leslie calmly. “And then me.”

Mrs Garland leant over the head of the well and stretched out her arm.

“You can't reach us,” May wailed.

“Bend over a bit more,” Leslie advised.

Mrs Garland stretched herself over the shaft, but David and Jenny knew exactly what was going to happen. She reached out until she was completely unbalanced, and then fell.

As Mrs Garland disappeared down the shaft, she grabbed first at May and then at Leslie. There was utter terror in their eyes as they plunged down the well with her.

More ripples spread and the phosphorous light went out.

“Did you see that, Sid?” asked David.

“They killed her – and themselves.” Jenny was crying.

“It was an accident,” Sid protested.

“No,” wept Jenny. “It was a game. Don't you see – it was
all a
game. And then it was over.”

The mother cat came howling out of the bushes, eyes flashing in the moonlight, teeth bared, hurling herself at the shaft in a bundle of fur.

“Ding, dong, bell,” came a laughing voice as she disappeared over the edge, plunging down inside with a dreadful cry.

“The cat's crazy,” David exclaimed. “Why should she want to do that?”

“She
didn't
want to,” Jenny said incredulously. “I think she was thrown. I was wrong. Their games aren't over yet.”

There was a splash, a spluttering yowling, and as David, Jenny and Sid bent over the edge of the shaft, they saw the mother cat below, struggling towards the island of silt. Somehow she managed to climb up out of the water, but her position was precarious as she crouched helplessly on her tiny refuge.

“May and Leslie threw her in,” said David. “But why?”

“Why do you think?” Jenny's voice shook. “They want us to go down there and rescue her. And while we're trying to do that, they'll kill us, the way they killed Mrs G – and themselves.”

“They can't be
that
evil.” David was horrified.

“May and Leslie are capable of anything now,” Jenny assured him. “They could drown us
and
the cat. It's their jealousy – they can't see beyond it.”

“They couldn't be so cruel,” Sid replied.

“Want to make a bet?” muttered Jenny.

Sid roared down the shaft, “If you want me to go on loving you, you've got to sort this lot out now.”

There was silence as the mother cat crouched and shivered on her minute island.

“They're playing hard to get,” muttered David.

“I think they're feeling desperate,” said Jenny. “Sid, you've got to convince them that
we
don't matter to you, but they do. They're prepared to go to any lengths to get rid of us because they think we're in the way. You've got to convince May and Leslie – now. Tell them there isn't any competition. Tell them how much you love them.” Jenny paused, breathless.

“Do you hear me?” yelled Sid. “Get that cat out or I'll never speak to you again.”

But David and Jenny knew he was mishandling it – he was only using the kind of authority that Mrs Garland would have used. Surely he must know by now how May and Leslie would react to that?

Predictably, there was a smothered giggle on the air and stones rained down the shaft, some of which hit the mother cat's island and scattered the
silt. She let out a terrified yowl, which was followed by a jeering, chanting song:

“David and Jenny,

Jenny and David,

We hate you,

We hate you.”

“Stop that!” roared Sid.

“Ding, dong, bell. Poor pussy's in the well.”

“You're not going down there,” Sid said to the twins. “And that's an order.”

More stones came hurtling down the shaft and this time the terrified cat almost slipped off the island.

Sid's voice was hoarse as he shouted into the night air. “I love you,” he yelled. “Isn't that enough?”

But the mocking calls continued; Jenny knew he had said it too late and that May and Leslie didn't believe him.

“David and Jenny. You love them and you don't love us.”

“Rubbish,” bellowed Sid. “Are you both thick or something?”

“We're dead thick,” came the laughing voice of Leslie. “Dead thick. Do you get it?”

But Jenny could hear the sound of someone crying.

“Is that you, May?” she called. “You
can
trust
Sid. I know you haven't been able to trust anyone else – but you can trust
him.
”

The crying faded away, to be replaced by a rude noise.

“Listen, you two,” said David, speaking as calmly and patiently as he could. “If there's any good left in either of you, you'll let me climb down that ladder and rescue that cat. Got it?”

There was silence.

Then Jenny said, “You're not going alone, Dave.”

“Yes, I am,” he snapped. “Now check round and see if you can find any rope in that old shed. I don't trust the ladder.”

“You're
not
going alone,” Jenny repeated doggedly.

“I am – and I've got to. I need you to hold the rope and help Sid pull me up. He's in no shape to do that on his own.”

Reluctantly Jenny had to admit that her brother was right.

“I'll go and search for that rope.” Sid walked hurriedly away, wheezing badly.

Left alone, the twins glanced at each other fearfully.

“We've got to get that cat up.” David was adamant. “We can't just leave her there.”

“I know,” Jenny replied miserably.

“Ding, dong, bell,” came the giggling voice.

“Grow up!” David shouted. “Just grow up!”

A stone came whistling out of nowhere and he ducked just in time. Another followed, catching him in the chest.

“They
can't
grow up,” said Jenny sadly. “Please don't hurt us,” she pleaded. “We won't take Sid away from you. We've got our own parents.”

“Lucky you,” came Les's bitter voice.

Sid eventually returned with a long rope. It was oily but it didn't look rotten.

As Jenny and David tied one end to what was left of an old diesel engine, Gumbo reappeared, squeaking urgently and causing the cat down below to start howling again. Between them they made quite a racket.

“Let
me
go, Dave,” pleaded Jenny, making one last attempt to dissuade her brother. She couldn't bear to think of him at the mercy of May and Leslie in the shaft.

But he shook his head, tying the rope around his waist with the help of Sid, who puffed and panted and wheezed beside him.

“OK,” said David at last. “I'm ready.”

Slowly, Jenny and Sid lowered him down the well, trying not to bump him against the slimy, mildewed wall. As David descended, the rancid smell became more intense. Filtered moonlight gave him some indication of how far he had come,
and the rusty ladder ran down beside him with only a few rungs missing.

David knew that he had an almost impossible task. To rescue the distraught wild cat and hang on to her as he was hauled up the shaft was going to be painful; obviously this part of the plan had not been thought through at all – and no wonder, with May's and Leslie's taunts distracting them all the time. If only he had got Sid to find something to wrap her in, but now he would just have to try to soothe the cat as best he could.

She was staring up at him, her lips drawn back, showing her chipped teeth. Then she raised one paw menacingly, revealing long, sharp claws. Soothing, David thought, was going to be tricky.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” he said gently as he swung a few metres above her head.

The cat spat at him, raising her barbed paw higher, her eyes threatening, but David knew she was as terrified of him as he was of her.

“Good kitty,” he said, realising how stupid he must sound, but he didn't know what else to say – or do. He would have to make a grab and hug her to him, hoping that Sid and Jenny could haul him up fast. “Good kitty.” He signalled them to lower him a little further, but she spat at him again.

David hovered uncertainly, waiting for his moment, but there didn't seem to be one. The cat grew increasingly hostile, arching her back and
eyeing him with fear and loathing. Miserably he realised he was getting used to being hated – first by May and Leslie and now the cat.

“Ding, dong, bell.”

The mocking call seemed to come from the depths of the dark water.

David froze, listening, swaying, and the silence seemed to grow as a tangible, threatening force around him.

“Ding.”

“Push off,” he muttered.

“Dong.”

David gazed down but there was no sign of either May or Leslie.

“Bell.”

But he knew they were there somewhere, waiting for him, so he had to grab the mother cat right away. The seconds passed as David kept putting the moment off.

“Ding, dong, bell.” The chanted words were full of derision.

Then the water at the bottom of the well began to churn, slowly at first and then much faster.

May and Leslie reared up at him in a water spout. Laughing with glee, they began to soak the island while the cat, squealing in terror, lashed out with claws that went straight through them.

Without hesitating any longer, David reached out, waited for a split second and then grabbed the
cat, holding her round her middle. But she struggled so violently and scratched him so painfully that he lost his grip and she fell back into the water. At the same time the knot around his waist loosened and unbelievingly he watched it unravel. Desperately, David tried to hang on to the rope as it slipped away, but ice-cold hands soon put a stop to his feeble attempts and he plunged in. Jenny and Sid were left at the top of the well, holding an empty rope and bellowing his name.

Choking on the vile liquid splashing into his mouth, David trod water as the cat managed to scramble back on to what was left of the island.

“Ding, dong, bell,” came the triumphant cry, and David found himself again grabbed by the ice-cold hands. He fought hard but was soon dragged beneath the surface.

Even then David still fought them, but his hands and feet found no contact and he knew he stood no chance against them. Locked in their deadly embrace, he was being dragged ever deeper, until there was a roaring sound in his ears. Then, to David's amazement, they let him go.

He shot to the surface, his lungs feeling as if they were going to burst. Treading water, he waited, tensed for another attack. Then, still spluttering, he saw Sid slowly descending the ladder with Gumbo
peering out of his overcoat pocket, jenny was just behind.

“That ladder isn't safe,” David managed to gasp. “Don't be such idiots –”

But Sid ignored him. “May. Leslie,” he called calmly. “I'm coming to you. Me and Gumbo. We're coming.”

“What are you going to do?” David realised how exhausted he was and what a long way it would be to the top of the well. The mildewed walls seemed to be closing in on him, the shaft getting deeper. The mother cat was cowed now, no longer spitting or showing her claws, as if her instincts were at last telling her that David meant her no harm.

“They want me,” said Sid. “And they can have me. Now. I'm going to find them.”

“You can't sacrifice yourself,” David protested, suddenly realising what the old man had in mind. He was going to drown himself. “They're not worth it. Tell him, Jenny.”

“I've been trying to,” Jenny shouted. “But he won't listen.”

“Grab the ladder, Dave,” Sid wheezed. “You're all in.”

“Do you want me to come to you?” Sid asked again. “Do you want me to drown like you?”

There was a long, painful silence. Then May and Leslie slowly shook their heads.

David was so cold and exhausted now that he knew he couldn't hold on to the ladder much longer.

“You've
got
to hang on,” said Jenny fearfully, seeing his freezing hands slip and grab at the rung again.