The Hidden World (3 page)

Jessica thought she heard a furtive scamper, like a rat running behind the skirting-board. ‘Yes please,' she said. ‘I'd like that.'

‘Is everything all right? You look … worried about something.'

‘I'm fine. My head doesn't hurt nearly so much. I think I might do some drawing this afternoon.'

She was following Grannie down the wide oak staircase when the front doorbell rang. Grandpa Willy came across the hallway with his paper under his arm and said, ‘Don't worry, I'll get it!'

He opened the large oak door. Inside the house it was winter-gloomy, but outside the light from the snow was dazzling. At first, blinking, Jessica didn't recognize the boy standing in the porch. He was pale and skinny with a blond crewcut and his nose was red from the cold.

‘Young man called Renko here to see you,' said Grandpa Willy.

T
hey sat at the big scrubbed-pine kitchen table and Grannie brought them muffins, cookies and fruit bread. The kitchen was always warm in winter because Grannie cooked on a massive old cast-iron range. On the walls there were glossy green tiles with convolvulus patterns on them, and the floor was covered in green-and-cream linoleum squares, which were always so shiny you could slide across them in your socks.

On either side of the range there were two small stained-glass windows, with apple trees and puffy clouds and faraway hills. When she was little, Jessica had always wondered what it would be like to live in Stained-Glass Window Land, and walk along the winding path between the apple trees, to see what lay beyond.

Renko had taken off his huge gray windbreaker with the fake-fur collar and Grandpa Willy had hung it up for him. He looked skinnier than ever in his blue-and-white Connecticut Huskies sweatshirt, and his wrists were so thin that his bracelet watch was loose. He sat opposite Jessica, but kept his eyes fixed on his chocolate muffin.

‘Milk or Seven-Up?' asked Grannie.

‘Oh, Seven-Up's great, thank you.'

‘Are you in Jessica's class? What did you say your name was, Ringo?'

‘Renko, ma'am. David Renko, but everybody calls me just Renko. Yes … Jessica and me, we're both in Mrs Walker's class.'

‘Well, it was very thoughtful of you to pay her a visit.'

Renko quickly glanced up at Jessica, and she saw for the first time how gray his eyes were. Gray like pigeon feathers.

From the top of the stairs, Grandpa Willy called out, ‘Where d'you put my clean red flannels, Mildred? I can't find the dang things anywhere.'

Grannie said, ‘Excuse me a moment. Your grandpa, honestly. He couldn't find his flannels if he was wearing them.'

She went out of the kitchen and Jessica and Renko were left alone. Neither of them touched their muffin. Neither of them spoke, not for almost half a minute. Then Jessica said ‘Why—?' and Renko said ‘How—?' both at the same time, and then both of them stopped and stared at each other.

‘You first,' said Jessica.

Renko cleared his throat. ‘I was going to ask you – you know, if you were OK.'

‘I'm OK. I was going to ask you why you came to see me.'

Renko lowered his eyes again. ‘I guess I came to say sorry.'

‘Sorry? Why?'

‘What happened to you, that was totally my fault. Totally.'

‘I don't really remember much about it, to tell you the truth. I know that I was picking up my drawings, and I fell downstairs, but that's about all.'

Renko said, ‘It was me. Me and Sue-Anne and the rest of the gang, we were all teasing you. No we weren't, we were bullying you. I dropped all of your pictures down the staircase. It was a totally dorkish thing to do, wasn't it? But I was showing off in front of the others. Like I said, I'm really sorry.'

‘OK …' said Jessica. ‘I didn't even realize it was you.'

‘I was a total dork, that's all.'

Jessica looked at him for a while, and then she said, ‘I'm getting much better now, anyhow. They're taking my stitches out Tuesday. Look – why don't you eat your muffin, they're really good.'

Renko took a bite of muffin, and began to chew it. ‘I feel like such an idiot,' he said. ‘It was just that Sue-Anne and the others … well, I don't know. Sue-Anne's a really nice person when you get to know her, but she always has to be the center of attention. Otherwise, you know, she's the Incredible Sulk.'

‘I never tried to be the center of attention.'

‘You didn't have to try, did you? You came to school last winter and your parents were dead and you had this walking-stick. So you were, like, somebody out of a story. As well as being pretty.'

‘I'm not pretty. What are you talking about?'

‘You don't think you're pretty?' Renko seemed incredulous. ‘How can you say that?'

‘Sue-Anne's pretty. Fay Perelli, she's pretty.'

‘Sure they are, but they're like sort of, I don't know, cheerleader pretty. You're not like that.' He swallowed. ‘You're like,
strange
pretty.'

‘Is that why everybody's been so horrible to me?'

Renko didn't look up. ‘I guess you didn't really fit in, either. I mean the fact your parents were dead and all those fairies you drew, and all those poems you wrote about fairies. And the teachers were all really nice to you, too, and I guess that made some people jealous. Not me, but some of the girls, for sure. Sue-Anne, Charlene, one or two others.' He took a breath, and then he said, ‘We've been giving you a real hard time and I'm totally sorry. That's all I came to say. I think I'd better go now.'

‘No, don't. You haven't had any cookies yet.'

‘Really, I should go.'

Jessica said, ‘Do you want to be friends?'

Renko hesitated. ‘Sure,' he said, although it was more of a question than an answer.

‘Have some cookies, then,' she insisted, and passed over the plate. Renko took one and bit into it. It crumbled so much that he had to push it all into his mouth at once.

Jessica glanced toward the door to make sure that her grandmother was still out of earshot, and then she leaned across the table and whispered, ‘There are some children trapped in this house.'

‘Woff?' asked Renko, spraying crumbs.

‘I've heard them. I don't know how many. Sometimes it sounds like only one, but other times it sounds like dozens and dozens. I think they're locked in a room somewhere but they're calling for help up the chimney, so that I can hear them out of my fireplace.'

‘You're kidding me! Have you told your grandparents?'

Jessica shook her head. ‘How can I? Supposing it's them that's locked them up!'

‘What do you mean? They're your
grandparents
! I mean, I don't like to be rude but talk about a couple of old coots! What would they want to lock up a whole bunch of kids for?'

‘I don't know, but they keep saying, “Help us, help us, it's coming after us.” Like they're really, really scared.'

‘You're sure you heard them? You don't think maybe that knock on the nut—'

Jessica shook her head emphatically. ‘The first time I heard them was when I was coming out of my concussion. Actually I thought I was dead, but when I knew I wasn't dead I thought I must be dreaming, or hearing things. But I heard them again this morning, just before you arrived, when I was wide awake, so I can't have been hearing things. They're real, and they're trapped in this house somewhere.'

‘So what are you going to do? Call the cops?'

‘No. I want to find out what's going on first. I mean, Grannie and Grandpa Willy would never do anything wrong, at least I don't think so, and what would I do if they were arrested? Where would I go?'

‘You need to search the place,' said Renko.

‘I know. It's just that it's kind of scary, doing it on your own.'

Renko took another cookie and snapped it in half. ‘I hope you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting.'

Jessica nodded.

‘Hey, I don't know. I'm supposed to be going to basketball practice at eleven o'clock.'

‘We've got plenty of time. Please.'

At that moment, Grannie came back into the kitchen. ‘You young people have hardly eaten a thing! Something wrong with my chocolate muffins? They're not poison, you know!'

‘Oh no, they're outstanding, thanks,' said Renko. ‘I had a big breakfast, is all.'

‘I'll pack you some to take home. And how about some cookies too?'

‘Sure, that'd be great.'

‘I'm just going to show Renko my room,' said Jessica.

‘That's fine,' smiled Grannie. ‘I hope Renko likes fairies.'

‘Actually I was going to let him take a look at my CD collection.'

‘Fairies are extremely cool, too,' said Renko, with a completely serious expression on his face. ‘Fairies are extremely cool, too!' Jessica giggled, as they ran up the wide oak staircase. ‘What made you say that?'

‘I don't know. But if you like them so much, maybe they are. You know, maybe I'm, like, missing something.'

They went into her bedroom. The low winter sun was shining directly into the window and everything was blessed with a gold-and-amber glow. Renko looked around at all the fairy dolls and the elves and the drawings that Jessica had pinned up on the wall – fairies flying through clouds of thistle-down; elves playing musical instruments made of acorns and horse-chestnuts and river reeds; fairies in crystal coaches drawn by stag beetles.

Jessica sat on the bed and watched him. When he had finished, he turned and looked at her and there was an unspoken question in his eyes.

‘I suppose you think I'm much too old for stuff like this.'

He shrugged. ‘If you like it, it's cool. My mom collects teddy bears.'

‘I always liked fairies, ever since I was very little. I liked them because they were so tiny and pretty and they lived in a land where everybody was always happy. I had a younger sister called Eileen who died when I was six and I suppose that was something to do with it. My mom and dad were never really happy after that. They always said they were happy, but it was like being at the seaside, you know, when the sun goes behind a cloud and never comes out again.'

‘And then your folks got killed.'

‘Yes,' she said.

He went to the window and looked out. The sun made his crewcut shine like fairy thistle. ‘I really dig that dude in the middle of the garden.'

‘That statue? That's Pan. He was the Greek god of nature. Whenever he appeared, he frightened travelers so much that they ran for their lives. That's where the word “panic” comes from.'

‘Hey … you learn something new every day.'

‘Well, Grannie told me that.'

‘Pretty cool granny, to have a scary dude like that in her garden. My granny has this kind of illuminated waterfall thing. It looks like something out of Las Vegas. My grandpa hates it because it makes this trickling noise and he keeps having to get up and go to the bathroom.'

Jessica smiled. There was silence between them for a while, and then they heard a door close and the sound of Grandpa Willy creaking his way down the staircase.

‘Come on,' said Jessica, ‘we can search for the children now.'

‘Do you really think we should? I mean, supposing your grandparents catch us at it?'

‘They won't. Grandpa Willy's gone down for his muffins and coffee and he won't come back up again for ages.'

Renko blew out his cheeks. ‘OK, then. If you say so. But if we get caught, don't say I didn't warn you.'

They tiptoed out on to the landing. They could hear Grannie and Grandpa Willy talking in the kitchen. They seemed to be arguing about something, although Jessica couldn't make out what they were saying, except when Grandpa Willy suddenly snapped, ‘You're the most stubborn woman I ever met in my life! I've seen whole teams of mules more reasonable than you!'

Jessica and Renko looked at each other and pulled faces. ‘Maybe one of them wants to keep the children locked up and the other doesn't,' Jessica suggested.

‘Ssh,' said Renko.

They crept along the landing to the bedroom door next to Jessica's. It was locked, but the key was in it. Jessica pressed her ear to the dark oak paneling and listened.

‘Hear anything?' asked Renko.

‘No. I'll try knocking.'

She rapped softly on the door and said, ‘Hello? Hello? Is there anybody in there?'

They waited, but nobody answered. ‘Let's just take a look for ourselves,' said Renko.

‘Be careful. If there's any children inside, we don't want them rushing out and making a noise.'

‘OK, I'll be careful.'

Renko slowly turned the key; the landing was so quiet that they could hear the lock-levers clicking. Grannie and Grandpa Willy seemed to have stopped arguing for a while, and all they could hear from downstairs was the clinking of china. ‘What if—' Jessica began, but Renko pressed his finger to his lips and eased the door open. It gave a low, uneasy groan, but he pushed it wider and wider until they could see into the room.

It was an empty bedroom, a little smaller than Jessica's but decorated in much the same way, with flowery wallpaper and drapes. The bed was covered with a pink candlewick bedspread, on which an ancient doll was propped. Her curly hair was half unglued from her scalp and her eyes had dropped out, so that she had only vacant sockets. Renko went over and picked her up and she let out a ghastly, throat-cancerous ‘Mam … ma!'

‘Well … no children in here. You can't sort of think where their voices might have been actually, like, coming from? I mean, except from out of the fireplace? I wouldn't like to think they were stuck up the chimney.'

Jessica said, ‘No. Let's try the big bedroom over there.'

Renko took a last look around the room and followed Jessica to the door.