The Retreat(58)

‘Thanks, Lily.’ He settled down on a beanbag with a pad and a pack of colouring pens.

Megan looked over her shoulder. ‘Hey, Jake, it’s Mum’s birthday next week. Make her a card from both of us.’

‘Yes, Meg.’

Lily and Megan played Mario Kart. Megan won the first race – thanks to a massively fluky blue shell right at the end – and Lily beat her in the second and third. They were about to start race four when the door at the top of the stairs opened.

‘All right, guys?’

It was the taxi driver, carrying a tray with smoothies in cartons and a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

‘Yay, snacks!’ Megan paused the game. ‘Thanks, Olly.’

He said to Lily, ‘Your mum asked me to bring these down. She had to take a phone call.’

‘Oh, right. Thanks.’

He looked around. ‘This is a pretty cool space. What are you playing . . . ? Oh, I love that game. Who’s your favourite character? I always play as Bowser. He’s heavy but when he gets going – whoosh!’ He laughed.

Lily stared at him. Was he like Jake? A little kid trapped in a big body?

‘I haven’t been to this house for years. My dad had a friend who lived here. Hey, you might have met my dad? He’s the town librarian.’

Lily looked at him blankly. She had never been to Beddmawr Library. Why would she need to, when her house was full of books, most of them awesomely boring. Lily liked the books Mum had illustrated, partly because they were all dedicated to her.

Olly crouched down next to Jake. ‘What are you drawing, mate?’

Jake, who had finished the birthday card and moved on to something else, showed him the paper.

‘Woah, what’s this?’

Lily peered over Olly’s shoulder. The paper was covered in drawings of bare, spiky trees. At the centre of the drawing was a dark figure with arms and legs like wobbly spaghetti, a long body, and a fat head with cat’s eyes. Jake had pressed so hard with the pen while drawing this figure he’d almost gone through the paper.

‘It’s the Widow,’ Jake said in a hushed voice.

Lily expected Olly to laugh, but he didn’t. His voice was as serious as Jake’s when he replied.

‘The Red Widow, eh? My dad told me about her.’

He repeated all the stuff Lily already knew. Even Megan appeared a little bored of the topic, but Jake gawped at Olly as if it was the first time he’d heard it.

Olly looked sidelong at the girls.

‘I saw her once,’ he said.

That grabbed their attention.

‘You didn’t,’ Megan said.

‘I did, actually. When I was about your age. It was just before that little girl disappeared. Carys.’

Lily stared at him, as did Megan and Jake. He settled down on a beanbag.

‘I was in the woods, near here, with my friends, building a camp. Parents weren’t so paranoid about letting kids out to play on their own in those days. Anyway, we’d built the camp and then one of my friends announced that he needed the loo. A number two.’

Megan giggled.

‘Yeah, gross, huh? He went off to do what bears do in the woods, and a minute later he came running back, shouting and screaming, saying someone was chasing him. A woman. And that’s when I saw her – between the trees. She had eyes just like that’ – he tapped the drawing – ‘and they glowed white, like she was blind. I got the impression she was sniffing the air, that she could smell us. Thinking we smelled sweet.’

Megan grabbed Lily’s hand and squeezed it. Jake made a low moaning sound.

‘And then she pointed at us and said, “It’s time.”’

There’s no such thing, Lily reminded herself. No such thing.

‘What did you do?’ Megan asked.

‘What do you think we did? We ran like our bums were on fire.’ He laughed and the children stared at him.

‘It’s time,’ Megan whispered.

‘Yeah,’ Olly said. ‘Because the witch demands a sacrifice once every thirty-five years, according to the legend. When that little girl Carys vanished, that’s what we all thought. The witch took her and gobbled her up.’

It was silent in the playroom. All Lily could hear was Jake’s heavy breathing.

Olly looked at each of them in turn.

‘You know that happened in 1980,’ he said, and Lily realised he was just like Megan’s grandad. He enjoyed winding up kids, seeing if they’d believe his scary stories. ‘Next year it will be thirty-five years and it will be time again.’ He looked at their gaping mouths and saucer eyes. ‘She’s going to be looking for another child.’





Chapter 30

As soon as we heard the scream, Julia took out her phone and switched on the flashlight, the weak light casting her in a ghostly glow. She headed for the stairs and I followed. I wished I hadn’t left my new phone in my room.

It was dark in the hallway too. Somebody appeared in the Thomas Room doorway, a black silhouette. Julia pointed the beam of her phone flashlight at the door. It was Max.

‘What was that scream?’ Julia asked.

‘Suzi. Ursula was in the middle of telling us this really creepy story about a dark spirit – you know, the usual nonsense she comes out with – and suddenly the lights went out. It was brilliant. It was as if she’d staged it.’