‘Typical,’ I muttered.
‘Mr Merrick?’ Grant was speaking for herself now. ‘Why don’t I take William away? If he’s gone perhaps the others will come.’
Sensation! The mediums broke into such a storm of chatter that I could not hear a single word. At length, however, Mrs Scott’s voice rose clear of the others.
‘Are you telling us that you are a drawer as well as a channel?’ she said.
‘I don’t know what you’d call it,’ said Grant, faltering very convincingly. ‘This curse of mine… I try not to think of it and never speak of it. But I… There was this room in a house in the village when I was a child. No one would go in and so I went and found out what the trouble was and I took the poor spirit out and down to the river and…’
‘And what, girl?’ said Merrick. He sounded as though he were smiling.
‘I sent her away,’ said Grant.
Sensation upon sensation! This time I did pick out a word from the crowd, because they were all repeating the same one. It appeared that Grant was not only a medium, a channel and a drawer. She was a quencher too.
‘If you’re sure, Miss Grant,’ said Mr Merrick.
‘He doesn’t belong here,’ Grant said. She raised her voice. ‘William Burke, William Burke, I command you to follow me.’ The white of her neckpiece disappeared as she turned around and I could not see or hear her walk away.
‘Where will she go?’ Alec said.
‘Home for a bath and cocoa if she’s got any sense,’ I answered. ‘At least I hope so. Because we can’t follow her to make sure she’s all right, can we?’
It took a moment for the seance to get under way again after Grant’s spectacular exit, but in time muttering resumed and swaying too. The mediums, holding hands around the circle like a giant game of ring-a-roses, began to get into the swing of things.
‘I see a child,’ said a piping voice. Olivia Gooseberry, I thought. ‘Come, child. Oh, oh, he’s leading an old woman by the hand. And he’s not blind! He can see. Let me listen.’ There was a long silence. ‘Yes, yes, he can see!’
‘I hear him,’ said a nearby voice. ‘Oh, there he is. Oh bonny, beautiful boy! So happy.’ Beside me, Alec groaned quietly. I turned and smiled at the look of disgust on his face. Then I frowned.
‘Is it my imagination or is it getting lighter?’ I breathed. I turned back to the circle. It was definitely lighter now. I could see their linked hands and I could see light reflected on the pink faces of the ones at the far side.
‘The clouds must be lifting,’ Alec said. But to me it looked like the light of dawn. How long had we been here? It must surely not even be two o’clock in the morning yet and while Scotland in June is a great trial one can at least be sure of a good night’s sleep in the darkness by the end of October. I shrank down further behind the log, feeling my shoes sinking into the earth but not caring. If I could see the mediums, then they could see me.
‘Mary, Mary,’ one of them was saying. ‘Oh, how beautiful you look. See how her hair shines and see the cross around her neck!’
‘I’ll bet,’ Alec muttered.
‘I see her,’ said another. ‘And Lizzie and Peggy too.’
‘Ahhhhhh,’ said Loveday Merrick. There was instant silence. ‘Davey Riley. And Josephine Riley too. How wonderful to meet you both at last. And who is that with you? Mrs Ritchie! Welcome, dear lady.’
‘It’s the last three with no names,’ someone said. ‘Oh Loveday, you are wonderful. Mr and Mrs Riley and Mrs Ritchie, we welcome your spirits and offer ourselves to serve you.’
‘There they are!’ said Mrs Molyneaux. ‘Oh, there they are, holding hands. Oh welcome, welcome, dear friends.’
‘You’re very quiet,’ said Mr Merrick, suddenly turning and directing his gaze to a woman and man at the right side of the clearing. They had not joined in the greeting. I could see them – it was lighter than ever – shuffle their feet and look at the ground.
‘I haven’t heard a thing, Mr Merrick,’ said the female half of the pair. ‘I haven’t been chosen.’
‘Me neither,’ said the man. ‘I’ve not pleased the spirits tonight.’
‘Mrs Riley has a message for her grandchild,’ came a cry from opposite. Mr Merrick swung round.
‘Ah, well done,’ he said. ‘You are a true and faithful servant…?’
‘Anne Tasker,’ said the woman, sounding thrilled.
‘And what is the message, Anne Tasker?’ he said. Then he turned our way, looking past us towards the Hydro. ‘What…?’
‘That light’s beginning to get quite-’ Alec said. He turned and at the same moment so did I and together, in the warm glow of the sky to the west of us, we saw a tiny orange fleck rise up from behind the trees of the Hydro grounds and wisp off into the dark. A second later, before we could move, footsteps came pounding back into the clearing. It was Grant.
‘Fire,’ she shouted, rushing back into the middle of the clearing and pointing. ‘There’s a fire! Look behind yourselves! Can’t you see?’
‘It’s the Hydro!’ I shouted, standing up and scrambling through the trees for a better view, all thoughts of secrecy gone. Alec was at my side and I could hear footsteps as some of the mediums came behind us. Ahead, glowing between the tree trunks, the light grew brighter and now we could smell it too, the sweet pleasant smell of smoke on a chilly night. I plunged onward and at last could feel the slope steepening under my feet. I crashed on, down another few feet, through the brambles, snagged my coat on a branch, struggled and then shrugged out of it. Alec caught my arm.
‘You’ll break your neck, Dan,’ he said. ‘Let’s go back and come round by the path. There will be others there already. Listen!’ Now we could hear faint shouts and then a sudden scream.
‘Hugh is in there,’ I said. Still he hesitated. ‘And Dorothea.’ I did not wait to see how he might react, but just turned away and went back to breaking through the undergrowth with my arm in front of my face against the thorns.
‘Let me through, my dear lady,’ came the booming voice of Loveday Merrick. He was right behind me. ‘Let me through. I have a cane.’
He pushed past me and began whacking a path through the bracken and brambles. I was at his heels. Someone bumped into me from behind and fell heavily. I did not even turn to see who it might be.
The flames were growing; I was sure of it. It was not just that we were getting closer. And I could hear the fire itself now, over the sound of shouts and screams. A roaring and rushing and then a great creak and crash and the sky was filled with a shower of sparks. The roof was falling.
Then all at once we were down out of the woods, Merrick, Alec, Grant, the gooseberry girl and I, and the garden wall of the Hydro was before us. We raced along the dark lane and in at the back gate to the servants’ area and stable yard. The place looked fine from here, locked up for the night, dark and quiet, but suddenly there was a squeak and a groan and then one of the windows by the back door blew out and shattered over the cobbles of the yard. Grant shrieked and pulled me back. Merrick had opened the gate to the lawns and we all rushed through, blundering in the dark under the cedars, heading for the light ahead of us, and when we got there we could see that it was the fire reflected on the pale clothes and white faces of the crowd who stood helpless, watching, on the lawns.
Every window on the west side was alive with leaping flames and the slivers of glass on the ground reflected the light and sparkled like rubies. I caught the arm of a woman in dressing gown and bedroom slippers.
‘Is everyone out?’ I said. ‘Is everyone safe?’
But she was too shocked to speak to me. Her lip trembled and she shook her head, turning back to look at the blaze. I began frantically darting through the crowd, calling Hugh’s name. At the other end of the house a Dennis engine was parked on the grass and I could see the gleaming helmets and the glittering buckles and buttons of the firemen as they scurried around with their ladders and hoses. One hose was spouting water already, straight into one of the dining-room windows, but it only served to increase the smoke while doing nothing to lessen the force of the flames. I turned away and kept calling. I was beginning to whimper when I heard someone answer me. I wheeled round. Alec and he were walking calmly towards me.