Sophie Cleverly - The Last Secret

“He says his father has died – though he didn’t seem too upset about that,” she said, running a hand through her greying hair.

I stepped into the room. “What? Mr Bartholomew is dead ?”

The teachers turned to look at me.

“Oh, hello, Scarlet,” Mrs Knight said. “Yes, it would appear so. I saw the death certificate. That is how this young Master Henry has come into possession of Rookwood.”

Ivy looked shell-shocked. It was a bit of a surprise. Well, our former headmaster was a cruel man, and one who was very old and incredibly sickly. But it still seemed strange that he could really be dead and gone. After everything he’d done … And now his son was taking over?

“Um, anyway, yes, he tells me that he’s got plans for the school,” Mrs Knight continued. “But I’m telling everyone not to panic. I’m sure this will all be sorted out. I’ve arranged to meet him again at three o’clock.”

“Right,” said Miss Finch, sharing a worried glance with Madame Zelda. “We’ll see you in the staff room.”

Mrs Knight left, wringing her hands. She didn’t seem as confident as her words suggested.

“This sounds fishy,” I whispered to Ivy, who nodded, still wide-eyed and a little pale from the news. I wondered what these “plans” would be.

“Come on, then, girls,” Miss Finch called from her seat at the piano. “Let’s get warmed up.”

It was always a relief to get back to dancing again. For an hour, in front of the endless reflections in the mirrors, I could forget about everything. I didn’t have to think about the secret box or our stepmother or Mr Bartholomew and his son. It was nothing but muscles and movement and music. And for once, everyone else was focused as well. Even Penny withheld her usual snide comments.

But when the lesson ended, and we’d curtseyed to the teachers, reality came rushing back.

I kept wondering exactly what Henry Bartholomew had planned for us. “Should we spy on their meeting?” I whispered to Ivy as we took off our toe shoes.

She made a face. “How would we do that? We can’t just walk into the staff room – there’ll be teachers in there.”

Hmm . That was true. And even if we looked in through the windows, we wouldn’t be able to see anything unless we were pressed up against them, and that would certainly give us away. I sighed. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.”

At least we had something to focus on: showing Ariadne what we’d found at home. We raced back to the dorm. We still had a few hours before dinner, and Ariadne came straight to our room as soon as she’d finished with hockey. Ebony had somehow managed to get away with avoiding games all together, and was presumably still holed up somewhere writing essays on sporting activities – the task she’d been given after refusing to do sports last term.

After the news of Mr Bartholomew’s death had been thoroughly dissected, we sat around on the floor of our bedroom with the music box in front of us. “So look,” I said, eager to show our friend what we’d found. “You open it up and it starts to play the tune. But when you hear that strange click, you can open the secret compartment.” I pulled it and there, sure enough, were the photographs and the paper covered in code.

“Oh gosh,” said Ariadne as I gently handed her the papers. “How amazing! I can’t believe this secret was just hiding in there for all these years!”

“Does it look like the same code you translated before?” Ivy asked anxiously.

Ariadne frowned. “I think so. Or maybe a slight variation. I’ll see what I can do.”

I grinned at her. “You’re the best, Ariadne.”

She grinned back at me. “I’m so glad to be part of the team again.”

I wrapped my arm round her shoulder. “No matter what happens, you’re always part of the team!” I took a deep breath. “But … perhaps don’t show it to Ebony. Not just yet, anyway.”

Ariadne seemed a bit perturbed about that, but nothing could ruin my excitement at that moment. We were finally going to uncover our mother’s last secrets.

s it turned out, we would learn about Henry Bartholomew’s plans for the school sooner rather than later.

It was dinner time that same evening, and we were all filing in as usual. Well, perhaps “filing” wasn’t the right word. The actual process was messier and involved a lot more shoving and name-calling.

We were in the queue for food when Scarlet started elbowing me.

“Ouch!” I exclaimed. “What is it?”

She pointed to the doorway. “Look!”

The man himself had just walked into the room. There was a noticeable drop in volume as more and more people noticed his presence. He didn’t seem to be paying anyone else any attention, though. He started pacing around the dining hall, staring at the walls and the ceiling. He kept his hands in his pockets while his dark eyes searched the place … for what?

“What is he doing?” Scarlet hissed.

I had no answer.

We were so busy staring at him that we didn’t notice the queue had moved on.

“Ahem!” The cook cleared her throat. “Move up, we haven’t got all day!”

“Sorry,” I mumbled, running to her and holding my tray out to receive the day’s usual helping of stew.

By the time we’d got to our house table, Henry had made it the whole way round and headed back out of the door. What was he up to? His expression wasn’t giving anything away. He just smiled confidently at the teachers on his way out.

Mrs Knight, however, was not so subtle. She was muttering something to Miss Bowler near the entrance, when Nadia walked past them.

“What do you mean you might have to close the school ?” Miss Bowler exclaimed, so loudly that most people heard her. And those who didn’t soon knew what she’d said because the words had rippled outwards like a stone that had been dropped in a pond.

“ What? ” Scarlet said.

“ Why? ” Ariadne exclaimed.

And suddenly everyone was calling out, while Mrs Knight just stood there, the colour draining from her face.

“Girls!” she shouted, trying to stop the flow of conversation. “Girls! I need your attention, please!”

For once, people listened. I think we all wanted to know how she was going to explain this.

“Please, don’t panic,” she began. This wasn’t entirely reassuring coming from Mrs Knight, who had been known to downplay even the worst of disasters. She cleared her throat. “As you have all heard, the school has a new owner. Mr … Henry Bartholomew has made his plans clear to us. He wants to …” She froze then, staring into the distance as if she was an actor who couldn’t read the script.

“Where is she going with this?” Scarlet whispered, but I shushed her.

Mrs Knight took a deep breath and tried again. “He wants to close the building.”

The noise broke out again as everyone tried to talk at the same time.

“But why ?”

“What would happen to all of us?”

“Where would we go to school?”

“Enough!” Miss Bowler boomed, and I could have sworn the chairs rattled beneath us.

I couldn’t help but notice that Mrs Knight’s hands were shaking. “Everybody calm down, please . There has been talk of safety inspections. It may only be temporary. Nothing is set in stone. Let’s just wait and see, shall we?”

With a meaningful glance at Miss Bowler, she left the room.

Miss Bowler turned to all of us. “What are you lot looking at? Spoons back in mouths and stop gaping! You will eat in silence!” Her face was red as she strode out after the headmistress.