The Serpent in the Glass (The Tale of Thomas Farrell) (14 page)

Then something glistened again, like a reflection, but this time in the trees nearer the boys’ changing room. Thomas made his way hurriedly over. Maybe it was Stanwell. He was often out with a rake or hoe. Maybe he could help. Perhaps he hadn’t eaten any cauliflower. Thomas noticed that the Caretaker seldom ate the school dinners, preferring his own sandwiches and over-ripe bananas.

Thomas entered into the trees, but Stanwell was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, from behind, came a clattering noise he’d heard before. He turned in horror to look: a large head had emerged from the green mass of a sprawling bush. Thomas immediately recognized the luminous green eyes with the vertical black slits. It was the serpent. It was here in the school grounds! Here at Darkledun!

Thomas decided to make a run for it. Blocked from going back the way he’d come, he headed toward Stanwell’s shed. Perhaps the Caretaker might be there to help, though he wasn’t sure what Stanwell could do against a thirty-foot serpent.

Fleeing with an image in his mind of Stanwell attacking the serpent with a rake, Thomas bolted through the trees in what he thought the right direction. He heard the scrape of the serpent’s body and legs against the ground as it followed. He heard what he thought must be the bracken rustle and flatten as the weight of the monster passed over it. Thomas’s heart now beat so hard that he could feel the thumping in his head.

He misjudged his way through the trees — quite understandably considering he was being pursued by a creature with fangs the size of daggers — and found his path blocked by the tower. He turned to correct his error, but the serpent had already reached him. It reared its ugly snouted head up as if to strike. Venomous eyes burned into him as he backed up against the side of the tower. This was it. He was going to die. The serpent opened its mouth and revealed rows of sharp white teeth to complement its deadly fangs…

‘Thomas!’ the voice shouted, as he broke from his sleep, opened his eyes, and found Jessica shaking him by the shoulder. It had been a dream; only a dream.

‘Are you OK?’

‘Yes, of course, Jess. What are you —’ Thomas stopped as he realized Penders and Merideah were standing at the foot of his bed looking at him as if he’d nearly died. Perhaps he almost had. The serpent had seemed so real. But it was just a dream.

‘Oh, sorry. Gallowglas’s lesson the other day must’ve taken more out of me than I thought. I hope you’re not too mad —’

‘Thomas,’ Jessica interrupted, ‘the Glass, it —’ she seemed unable to find the right word as she stared at his hand.

Thomas looked at his hand. He remembered now. He’d taken the Glass out of his marble bag so he could get to the marbles. ‘It what?’

‘It was glowing,’ Penders said. ‘I mean really glowing. Went out when you woke up.’

‘It did?’ Thomas said uneasily as he stared down at the orb. It seemed quite innocent there in his hand.

‘Yes,’ Jessica confirmed.

‘Like at the tower?’ Thomas said to Penders.

‘Brighter, a lot brighter!’ Penders corrected.

Jessica didn’t respond. She just frowned and sat down on the bed, but she didn’t take her eyes off the Glass.

She wasn’t the only one thinking. Thomas had suddenly realized something. Something very significant. ‘I had a dream,’ he said. ‘I’ve had it before, well sort of the same one.’

Penders and Jessica gave him blank looks. He hadn’t told anyone about the dreams. ‘Each time I had this dream I was touching the Glass — at home, on the train and just now.’

‘What was the dream about?’ Penders asked.

‘It’s weird,’ Thomas explained feeling a little embarrassed. ‘but so real. Everyone is, I don’t know, kind of frozen. As if time has stopped.’ He decided not to tell them about the giant serpent. He wasn’t quite sure why. Maybe it was something he and he alone had to deal with. Sharing the experience would somehow make the battle not entirely his.

Thomas shook his head free from thoughts of giant fangs and glanced at his clock. It was ticking quite healthily and showed the time to be exactly quarter to six. ‘I saw Penders outside my door in my dream, and you and Merideah were coming in through the fire exit into the assembly hall with well, some rather angry looks in your eyes. Of course, I guess that was just a dream because you are all here,’ Thomas finished with some relief in his voice.

‘Thomas,’ Jessica said after a slight pause, ‘Penders came to your room alone and then went to find a teacher, but ran into us as we were coming up the stairs to go back to our rooms. We were a little — er — upset. We were waiting out back for you, and when you didn’t turn up well we came through the assembly hall just like you said.’

Merideah leant on the bottom of Thomas’s bed and gave him a stare, the sort a nurse might give a troublesome patient. ‘Still, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he merely dreamt what he’ — she spoke about him rather than to him — ‘feared based on what was likely. If he was late for the game, he might well have thought that Penders would come knocking on his door, and that we would be angry at his poor timekeeping, though we ought to be used to it by now.’

Thomas swallowed hard. He felt quite belittled by the bespectacled Merideah, and decided to stand up to feel less little. ‘Well, yes, you’re probably right. I mean Treice was in my dream sitting on his own eating some meringue — and how likely’s that?’

‘Very likely. Meringue was the only dessert on the menu at dinner,’ Penders said.

‘No, Penders,’ Merideah began. ‘I think Thomas meant the likelihood of Treice being on his own and not surrounded by silly girls.’

Penders puckered his brow. ‘Oh, right.’

‘But Treice was there,’ Jessica said.

Merideah raised an eyebrow. ‘And how do you know?’

‘Well, I er — noticed him out the corner of my eye,’ Jessica explained badly. ’And,’ she continued, ignoring Merideah’s eyes, ‘he was eating meringue on his own.’

‘Leaning back on his chair?’ Thomas asked.

‘Yes,’ Jessica confirmed.

‘You’ve a very good corner of your eye,’ Penders teased, which made Jessica redden.

Thomas sat back down on his bed. Maybe something strange was afoot after all. How could he have seen what was going on downstairs when he was upstairs asleep on his bed?

‘Perhaps one of us should try holding the Glass when we sleep?’ Penders suggested in an attempt to fill the silence that always comes when something weird dawns upon a group of people for the first time.

‘I think that would be a good idea,’ Merideah agreed. ‘It would need to be supervised. No sense taking any risks. And we should be scientific about it. There should always be an objective observer. Jessica and I can take turns and Thomas can supervise Penders when he has his go.’

Penders smiled nervously as he eyed the Glass still in Thomas’s hand. ‘I said
one
of us should try.’

Jessica grinned on seeing the uncomfortable look on Penders’ face. ‘Oh, you didn’t want to have all the fun and be the only one to try, did you?’

‘No, of course not. In fact I didn’t want any “fun” at all. I’m very selfless that way, Jess,’ Penders said.

Jessica nodded. ‘I’m sure you are, Marvin.’

Penders looked hurt. ‘It’s Penders!’

Jessica gave him a serious look. ‘It’s Jessica!’

Thomas smiled. She only allowed him to call her Jess. Not even her best friends got that privilege.

‘OK!’ said Penders.

‘Excellent.’ Merideah readjusted her black Alice band. ‘I’m glad we’re all willing to give it a try.’

‘No, hang on,’ said Penders, ‘I meant about the name not the —’

‘I suggest we leave before someone reports us for being in the boys’ dormitories,’ Merideah said to Jessica before Penders could finish.

‘Good idea.’ Jessica stood and followed Merideah out the room. Thomas was sure they were both wearing smiles as they left. Penders, however, most certainly wasn’t.

— CHAPTER TEN —

Grim Gallowglas

October in the borders of Scotland felt a little colder than Thomas had anticipated. Already the leaves on the trees around Darkledun Manor had turned a rather pleasant autumnal yellow. The wind, however, was anything but pleasant. Nevertheless, the chill gusts hadn’t prevented Mr Gallowglas from hauling the boys out onto the field on Wednesday for javelin practise. Thomas couldn’t get the hang of that skill at all, though he was far from alone on that count, and so avoided being singled out by ‘Grim Gallowglas’, as he and Penders had now taken to calling him — though not to his face, of course. Miss McGritch and the girls, Thomas later discovered, had played netball in the relative warmth of the assembly hall. Penders thought this particularly unfair and had taken the opportunity to tell Jessica and Merideah so at least three times since he’d found out.

Thomas had finished his breakfast and now stood staring out at the field through the fire-exit doors at the back of the assembly hall. He was glad there was no P.E. today, it looked even more windy than yesterday. The last few weeks had passed by quite quickly, and Thomas had now settled into the routine of his timetable. P.E. and Outdoor Skills, also taken by Mr Gallowglas, were his worst lessons. Thus far he’d suffered a bruised hip, a grazed knee courtesy of Guth Roach’s outstretched foot during a game of football last week, and a burnt finger. Still, Thomas had learned how to build a fire, construct a basic forest shelter, identify edible fungi and, more importantly, avoid the poisonous ones. But in every lesson his thoughts kept on coming back to the tower. A stone’s throw away, yet it might as well have been in another country. Mr Gallowglas seemed to be keeping an extra eye on the tower at break, lunch and during outdoor lessons. Thomas hadn’t given up on getting inside though.

‘Penny for your thoughts?’ a familiar voice interrupted.

Thomas turned and saw Merideah standing there. ‘They’ll cost you a lot more than that.’ He grinned.

The short girl didn’t smile back. Merideah seldom smiled. The only girl Thomas knew who smiled less than Merideah was Demelza Luard — and she never smiled at all. Even when Merideah did smile it was the kind that made a person feel she knew something they didn’t. And, of course, Merideah did know lots of things other people didn’t, and lots of things other people would never need to know. Like how to tie a Josephine Knot, whatever that was. That particular knot had been demonstrated on Penders’ school tie last week after Merideah eventually got fed up with telling him to do his tie up properly. She’d left Penders to work out how to untie it.

‘I was being charitable. It’s clear what they are from the fact that your eyes keep wandering over to the tower. It’s out of bounds, so you might as well forget it.’

Thomas glanced down at Merideah’s jacket. She even wore the prefect badge at the weekends, in her casual clothes. She’d been made prefect two weeks ago, along with Treice Montague.

Merideah pulled the Glass from her pocket. ‘Sorry, nothing out of the ordinary.’

Thomas nodded as he took the Glass. Merideah looked a bit disappointed, but it was hard to be sure. Over the last few weekends, Jessica and Penders had also tried sleeping with the Glass in their hand, but it hadn’t glowed and there’d been no dreams about a giant serpent or statuesque people. Jessica had reported that she’d dreamt about shopping for her dream pair of shoes. And dream shoes they’d remain judging by the price tag she’d said had been attached to them. Penders, watched over by Thomas, who had to secure the Glass to Penders’ hand with an elastic band due to the latter’s tossing and turning, had a dream about eating a giant marshmallow.

‘I don’t dream, anyway,’ Merideah added.

Thomas placed the Glass back in the bag of marbles in his pocket. He wore his over-sized corduroys today, so the pocket comfortably accommodated the bag. ‘Maybe something triggered it, though I can’t think what.’

Merideah looked out through the doors. ‘Perhaps it’s best to put it away before you go to sleep?’

Thomas shrugged. ‘I suppose.’

Merideah turned and nodded. Thomas now saw what played upon the small features of her face. It wasn’t disappointment at having nothing happen when she slept with the object, it was frustration at not being able to explain the experience Thomas had had, and the glowing of the Glass on that evening back in September.

As Thomas watched Merideah leave, he thought about his own feelings. He, too, wanted to know what the glowing meant. Perhaps something had triggered it. Maybe there were other factors they hadn’t considered, or didn’t know about. If only he could get inside the tower. At least he’d know what was making the Glass glow.

‘I find myself looking at it a lot too,’ a girl’s voice came from behind.

Thomas turned to see Demelza standing there. She had an empty bowl in her hand.

‘I’m sorry?’ Thomas said.

The mousy-haired girl looked up at Thomas with her large eyes. ‘The tower. I saw you staring at it.’

‘Oh, yes.’ Thomas smiled awkwardly.

Demelza looked down at her bowl as if wondering where it had come from. ‘Tregeagle likes it too, and his friends.’

Thomas bit on his lip. ‘Your rat has been in the tower?’

Demelza nodded. ‘Yes, there’s holes in some of the stonework a rat can just about squeeze through.’

Thomas looked around to make sure no one else could overhear. The hall stood almost empty now. ‘Did Tregeagle say what was in there?’ The question sounded crazy, or would have done to anyone but Demelza, but he’d nothing to lose by asking it.

Demelza frowned. ‘I see images of what he sees, feel his feelings. The images aren’t always clear.’

‘And?’ Thomas pressed.

‘Well, I’ve seen images of students in the tower, but they disappear,’ she explained. ‘But sometimes they appear too, sort of all of a sudden. It’s confusing. I’m not sure Tregeagle understands what he’s seeing in there. I think the rats go there for the snails in the walls. I get the impression they avoid the floor of the tower for some reason.’

‘I hope there’s some breakfast left,’ Penders said, as he approached Thomas. He gave Demelza a wary look followed by a weak smile. ‘I think I overslept.’