Once

Twenty Two

In no time they were walking beneath the birch trees that lined the wide, scrubbed-clean pavements of Grove Street. This was easily the most affluent part of Farway. Both sides of the street were lined with huge detached Victorian villas set way back from the street in lush green gardens, sleek modern cars parked in every driveway.

"Nice," said David, peering at the houses on each side.

"I suppose, if you're into that sort of thing," Elle said with a shrug. "Letty's parents are loaded. Her dad has some sort of investment banking job."

"Oh."

Elle looked quickly at David and said, "What?"

David was frowning as if he were working something out.

"It's just a bit strange," he said. "Why would an investment banker move somewhere like Farway with his family? Shouldn't they be living in, like, London or something?"

Elle returned his puzzled frown.

"He works from home a lot, I think."

"Still seems weird."

"I guess. But lots of people move to Farway. I did, for one. And you did."

"Yeah. I know."

She gave him a sharp look. He'd spoken as if what Elle said had just strengthened his argument, rather than disproved it.

But he changed the subject almost at once by saying, "Right. Which one's Letty Gardener's house, then?"

Elle looked along the street. She'd never been to Letty's house - why should she have? - but she'd seen it, last night. Her eye rested on the last house on the street, a big ivy-covered one with a square stone tower standing up on the front corner of its roof.

"That's the one," she said, and they headed toward it.

Elle stared up at the tower as they got nearer to the house. The huge semicircular window in the front wall looked out on the world like a half-open eye.

"Up there?" David asked, and she nodded.

How had that thing, whatever the hell it was, got up to that window? The ivy didn't climb that high. Had it flown up there? Maybe so. It had looked a bit like a bird. A ragged, tattered, gnarled grey bird.

They reached the front garden and Elle suddenly caught David by the arm.

"Wait - what are we doing? What's the plan?"

David spun round to her. "We're going to find out whether you're right, of course. We're going to see what's happened to Letty Gardener."

And he marched up to the front door and rang the bell.

Elle was glad to have David with her. It was nice to have someone who was willing to take some action, to physically do something. If she was on her own she would have just sat at home all day brooding on what she'd seen last night.

After a minute a thin dark-haired woman opened the door. She stared at them with an obvious and quite alarming disdain.

"Oh," she said. "I thought you might be my daughter."

David and Elle looked quickly at one another, and David said:

"Is Letty not here?"

"Friends of hers, are you? I haven't seen you two round here before."

"We're not exactly friends of hers," Elle admitted. "We just know her from school."

Mrs Gardener gave her a slow nod that seemed to say, Yes, I suspected Letty wouldn't be friends with someone like you.

"Well if you hear from Letty," she said frostily, "tell her I expect to hear from her at once. Her father's been out of his mind all morning."

"Do you think something's happened to her? Have you called the police?"

Mrs Gardener looked both alarmed and outraged.

"No, we haven't called the police. Why on earth would we? We sent Letty up to her room to revise last night, and this morning we found she'd snuck out at some point during the night. Presumably out with some boy." She scowled at them.

"But have you tried her friends? Have you tried calling Rose or -"

"I'm sorry," she interrupted, and her voice was anything but sorry. "I really don't have time for this today. I don't know where Letty is, alright? And frankly, at present, she can stay away as long as possible as far as I'm concerned."

She slammed the door in their faces.

Elle and David walked quietly back to the pavement, and Elle was surprised to see a keen glimmer in David's hazel eyes.

"What are you so excited about?" she asked.

"Don't you see, Elle? It's proof. It's proof you're right, that all of this is true!"

Elle's eyes grew very wide. She hadn't thought of that yet.

"But she might just be out - she might have gone off with some boy, like her mum said -"

David suddenly wheeled round on her. He caught her by both shoulders and stared right into her eyes.

"Elle. Stop trying to find any reason or excuse you can to disprove this, and just accept it. Something's happening to you. Something that might not be fair, something that might frighten you, but it is happening. You saw this place last night. You saw what happened to Letty Gardener. You saw what happened to that little girl on Meadow Lane. Stop pretending you didn't see those things and we can start trying to work out how to stop it."

Elle felt her breath coming fast and heavy. David was right. She wished he wasn't, but he was.

"Alright," she said. "Let's work out how to stop this."

She turned and began to walk swiftly back up Grove Street. David caught up to her and said, "Where are we going now?"

Elle stared resolutely forward.

"I don't know what this is or how to stop it, David. But I know someone who just might."