“Yes, quite,” said Ian. “And we looked all the rest of the day for any sign of the beast and her litter, but we couldn’t find even so much as a paw print.”
“I bet she’s in one of the other caves,” said Carl.
Ian rubbed his tired eyes while his heart weighed heavily with the fact that he’d had a direct hand in bringing the awful beast to them. “We’ve checked most of them. There’s no trace of her. It’s like she’s vanished into thin air.”
“So the earl’s just giving up, then?” Carl asked, a hint of fear in his voice.
“No,” said Ian with a yawn. “The hunting party is heading back out today to search again, and I believe the earl is calling for help from the village.” He hoped silently that these additional men would be enough to chase the beast down once and for all.
“Will you join them again?” Carl asked.
“No,” Ian answered, feeling grateful that he didn’t have to go back out for another long, cold day of searching. “I don’t think the earl has need of my services again, now that he knows that the beast’s first lair has been abandoned.”
“Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it?” said Carl. “Anyway, you’re going to love it here! There’s loads to do. There’s a game room and a bowling alley and a garden maze out back! Theo and I spent quite some time in that yesterday, trying to figure the way out. It’s irritably confusing,” he finished with a grin.
Ian stepped out of bed and shivered. “Sounds fantastic,” he said over his shoulder as he turned to the window and shut it. He knew that Carl was excited about all that Castle Dover had to offer, but his own feelings were more subdued with the beast still on the loose. As he latched the window, he noticed the photograph and the necklace on the sill and was reminded about getting them to Theo. “Where is Theo, by the way? I need to speak to her,” he said.
“I expect she’s downstairs having her breakfast. They’re going to call us next, so you best get ready. Ethan and Benjamin are waiting on the stairs; they wanted to be first in line when our group was called.”
Ian smiled. “Sounds like them; they’re like that at the keep too.”
“Oh! Almost forgot to tell you,” said Carl. “We’ve been instructed to give a list of things we’ll need replaced at the keep to that man Binsford. And we’re allowed to jot down a toy or two as well,” Carl added with a huge grin. “I’ve asked for a new cricket bat, myself. You should ask for a new ball and wicket!”
Ian laughed at Carl’s enthusiasm, then shimmied out of his nightclothes. Carl had to help him get his shirt on, as his shoulder still throbbed. “How’s it feeling?” Carl asked as Ian worked to get his trousers on.
“It’s sore today,” Ian admitted while he faced the window and discreetly tucked Theo’s necklace into the pocket of his trousers. “But I expect it’ll be all right in a few days.”
There was a knock on the door and a moment later Bins-ford came in and announced, “Breakfast is served, gentlemen.”
Carl danced on the balls of his feet excitedly. “Thank you, sir!” he said jovially. “We’ll be right down.”
“I’d wager the food here is also to your liking,” said Ian with a friendly wink at Carl.
“All food is to my liking. At my old orphanage we only got a baked potato and a crust of bread all day.”
Ian’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t fathom anyone surviving on so little. “All day?” he asked.
Carl nodded. “Sometimes we’d get a bit more bread at supper, but usually we just got a bit of the stale stuff with watery broth and a cup of tea.”
Ian looked at his friend anew and noticed for the first time how thin Carl’s cheeks were and how his trousers were cinched tight by a rope belt around his bony waist.
Carl turned red under Ian’s scrutiny and said, “Come on, then. Benjamin and Ethan have a head start on us, and you just know they’re going to gobble up more than their fair share!”
Ian shoved his feet into his shoes, grabbed the frame off the windowsill, and turned to follow Carl.
Before the boys left the room, however, Carl glanced over at the silver frame Ian was holding and asked, “What’ve you got there?”
Ian held it up for Carl to see. “It’s a photograph of Theo and her mother. I found it yesterday in our schoolmasters’ cottage. Can you believe the luck?”
Carl examined the picture and nodded. “Blimey, Theo’s really turned out to look like her mum, hasn’t she?”
Ian had just been thinking the same thing. “It’s the eyes and the nose,” he said in agreement.
They reached the stairway and began to walk down when Carl asked, “What was a photo of Theo and her mum doing in our schoolmasters’ house?”
“I’ve no idea,” Ian admitted, “but I believe Theo’s mum might have lived there for a time, and for some reason she ran off and left Theo in the middle of a field one stormy night. A passing stranger found her and brought her to the keep and she’s lived with us ever since.”
Carl’s expression turned shocked as they reached the landing. “Her mum just left her out in the rain?”
Ian instantly regretted what he’d just said. He hadn’t meant to reveal what he knew about Theo’s past without first discussing it with her. “I don’t know what the actual circumstances were,” he said quickly. “No one does.”
Carl nodded. “Well, me own mum would never have done that,” he said. “She died of pneumonia, and the whole time she was sick, she still tried to fuss over me.” As Carl said the last words, his voice cracked slightly, and Ian’s heart softened for his new friend.
“Sorry about your mum,” Ian said after a bit of silence passed.
Carl was staring at the ground as they walked into the dining hall. “S’all right,” he mumbled. “Come on, let’s find a place at the table and dig in.”
The boys took their seats just as Castle Dover’s kitchen crew were setting out scrambled eggs, ham, toast, and fruit. “Can you believe it?” said Carl as he watched the staff arrange platter after platter of food on the table. “It’s like being on holiday here!”
Ian laughed. “You’d better eat as much as you can, Carl,” he said. “You’ll want to put on some weight before winter.”
“Yeah,” Carl said, dishing a huge portion of eggs onto his plate. “I’m a bit thin these days. Best to fatten up!”
While Carl ate as if his life depended on it, Ian barely managed to get down a few bites before his breakfast turned cold. All the children seated at the table wanted to know what had happened on the hunt. Ian decided it was best if he not panic the rest of the orphans by telling them that there were now at least five beasts to worry about. Instead, he said that the hunting party had determined that the beast was a female and had somehow managed to escape the area.
While Ian recited his story, however, he couldn’t help noticing that Searle—seated at the other end of the table—sneered and rolled his eyes the whole time. “I bet if I’d been along with that hunting party, I’d have ferreted out that creature,” he boasted, puffing his chest out. “Seems to me all you managed to do was bungle any chance of killing the brute by rooting around its lair,” he added.
Ian ignored Searle and focused on reassuring the other worried children around the table. “There’s no reason to be concerned,” Ian said calmly to his fellow orphans. “The earl’s a jolly good sportsman, and if anyone can hunt that beast down and kill it, it would be him.” He made a mental note to say those exact words to Theo when he saw her. He knew how worried she’d be when she learned that the beast was still on the loose.
As Ian smiled confidently at the children, he noticed that some of them seemed to relax, but one or two still looked anxiously out the windows. Ian sighed as he thought that nothing short of the beast’s pelt would reassure everyone. He decided to leave it at that and finish eating. While his food had indeed gone cold, it was still delicious.
When he had finished his first helping and Carl was just polishing off his third, Madam Dimbleby and Miss Carl
yle came into the dining hall. “Children,” Madam Dimbleby said, and Ian and the rest of the orphans looked up, “once you are finished with your breakfasts, please congregate out on the back lawn. We will be meeting there to discuss the plan to get you all back into your own beds at the keep, and the new schoolmaster will talk about the class schedules going forward.”
Ian, who was a very good student, was happily surprised that they would be getting to their schoolwork so quickly after the attack, but Carl groaned. “That means we’re not getting a holiday from school,” he complained.
“It might not be so bad,” said Ian. “I’m actually looking forward to our new subjects.” Carl gave him a look that said he must be daft, but kept his mouth shut.
As the children gathered by the door to the lawn, Theo made her way through the crowd to Ian and Carl. “There you are!” she said as she neared. “Ian, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Theo!” he said, bursting with excitement. “I’ve got something important to tell you and something even more important to give you.”
“Is it a present?” she asked him happily.
“As a matter of fact, it is,” he said with a smile, then looked around, feeling like they were being overheard. Carl was standing right next to him, giving him a winning smile, and then he noticed that many of the other children nearby were also looking at him expectantly.
“Er, sorry, but this is private, Theo. Might be best if we moved over there,” Ian said, indicating a small nook away from prying eyes and ears.
Theo gave him a funny look but followed him to the nook, and when they were tucked discreetly away from the rest of the group, he dug around in his pants pocket and retrieved the crystal necklace.
“Oh, my,” said Theo with a bit of awe as she took the necklace. “It’s so beautiful, Ian. Wherever did you get it?”
Ian beamed, happy to give her such a treasure. “I found it in the rubble of Madam Scargill’s room,” he explained. He was going to tell her about the night she came to the keep and about how Madam Scargill had taken the necklace from the man who’d brought Theo to the orphanage, when she rudely pushed the necklace back into his hand.
“Ian!” she said crossly. “That’s stolen property!”
Ian was startled by her reaction and whispered, “Shhh!”
“I can’t believe you would want to give me something you pinched from Madam Scargill!” she spat, her voice barely hovering at a whisper. She then crossed her arms and began to move past him but he caught her arm.
“Theo!” he said, pushing the necklace firmly back into her hand. “You don’t understand. I didn’t lift this from Madam Scargill; she lifted it from you!”
Theo scrunched up her brows, obviously confused. “Now you’re not making sense, and stop pushing that thing at me! I want nothing to do with it.”
Ian sighed, trying to think of a way to explain it all to her. “The necklace belonged to your mum.”
Theo frowned skeptically. “Really?” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “And did she tell you that herself before you stole it from Madam Scargill?”
Ian was losing patience. “Will you please just listen to me?” he said, raising his voice a bit and feeling several eyes turn to stare at him. He sighed in exasperation and said, “Oh, forget it. Have a look at this and it’ll sort things out better than I can.” He reached into his blazer and handed her the small framed photograph of her mother.
Theo took one look at the picture and gasped. “I know her!”
“It’s your mum,” said Ian, feeling his shoulders relax now that she wasn’t making such a fuss. “And that little tot in her lap is you. It must have been taken right before you came to the orphanage, because you looked exactly like that the night you arrived at the keep. And this necklace,” he said, holding it up, “was what Madam Scargill confiscated from the man who brought you. She was probably keeping it until she felt you were old enough to wear it.”
“How do you know it belonged to my mother?” Theo asked, hugging the photo to her chest, her eyes glistening with moisture.
“Look again at the photo,” he suggested. “There, you see? She’s wearing the necklace.”
Theo squinted at the spot Ian was pointing to in the photo. She nodded after a moment and held her hand out to receive the necklace. “Thank you,” she said hoarsely, and Ian placed it into her palm. “Ian, I …” But before she could say another word, Madam Scargill appeared and clapped her hands.
“Children! Children!” she called. “Everyone please stop talking and gather out on the lawn for the meeting. Girls, queue up to the right, and, boys, do the same to the left.”
Theo gave Ian a quick but fierce hug; then she hurried out the door to join the other girls on the lawn.
“Did you give the photograph to Theo?” Carl whispered as he sidled up to Ian.
“Yes,” said Ian with a frown. “But I didn’t have much of a chance to tell her about it.”
“What’s to tell other than you found the photo in the schoolmasters’ cottage?”
Ian sighed. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, I’m afraid,” he said.
“Complicated?” Carl asked with a puzzled expression. “Like how, mate?”
Ian was about to answer him when Madam Scargill appeared at their side. “I said, no talking, gentlemen,” she snapped.
“Yes, Madam,” they both said, casting their eyes obediently to the ground.
Silently, the pair followed the line of children out onto the large lawn that surrounded Castle Dover. The boys stood in a line next to the girls and waited for further instruction.
When all the children had found their places, Thatcher stepped forward and addressed the group. “Good morning, children,” he began with a warm smile.
“Good morning, Schoolmaster Goodwyn,” Ian and the other children sang in unison.
“You’ve no doubt heard that we have as yet been unsuccessful in our attempts to kill the beast that attacked the keep. However, I want to assure you that the earl is doing everything in his power to ensure that the vile creature is driven from the land, never to return.” Ian smiled smugly. That was exactly what he’d said to the group round the breakfast table. He hoped that hearing it from Schoolmaster Goodwyn would comfort the few who still looked worried.
“The earl has also advised me,” Thatcher continued, “to inform you that when he can be assured of your safety, he will return all of you to the keep with new beds, furniture, clothing, and a new toy or two. Until then, you are all quite safe and secure here at Castle Dover, as we have many armed watchmen patrolling the castle grounds both day and night.”
Ian’s thoughts went back to the strange man he’d seen out on the lawn the night before and he wondered if perhaps it was one of the armed watchmen keeping them safe from another beastly attack.
Abruptly, Ian’s thoughts were interrupted as he listened to the nervous murmurs around him. “I heard there’s more than one beast out there!” said a girl named Alexandra.
“Bullets are no good against it! You’d need to get close enough to stab it in the heart to make sure it’s dead,” said Searle, doing his best to stir up the fear again.
“Is that true?” a girl named Rosemary asked as she tapped Ian on the shoulder. “Are there more than one of those awful beasts out there?”
Ian caught Theo staring at him wide-eyed nearby. “Yes,” he said carefully, making sure his voice sounded calm, “but the others aren’t more than four-week-old pups, barely bigger than cats.”
Rosemary let out a breath and looked relieved, but Theo’s expression never changed. Ian tried to reassure her with a smile, but Theo just nodded absently as her eyes held a faraway glimmer. She seemed incredibly troubled and Ian wished he could offer her something more than his reassurance.
All around him the children continued to chatter excitedly until Thatcher held up his hand for quiet. “That will do, children,” he said patiently. He waited until they settled down again before he c
ontinued. “While the keep is being readied for your return, we shall be conducting lessons here at Castle Dover. As my brother, Perry, is off assisting with the hunt today, I shall be instructing those children whom we’ve assigned to secondary classes. We will begin with British history and later we’ll have some instruction on French verbs and their conjugations. Meanwhile, Madam Scargill shall be taking the primary-studies children for lessons in reading and grammar.”
Ian seemed to be the only student in his group who was excited about learning from Schoolmaster Goodwyn. Everyone else nearby was complaining about not being allowed a holiday while the keep was being repaired. “It’s not fair,” groaned Searle. “I can’t think of anything more boring than history.”
“I can,” said Carl. “Latin. Now, there’s a bugger of a subject if ever there was one.”
Ian laughed and leaned out of line to poke Theo good-naturedly She was a whiz at languages and had picked up Latin faster than anyone at the orphanage. But Theo didn’t seem to be paying attention. Instead, she appeared lost in her own thoughts, and Ian noticed her hands wringing her skirt as if she was very nervous about something.
“It’s all right,” he said to her. “I expect the schoolmaster will grade on a curve if you’re worried.” Again, he got nothing more than an absent nod from her, so he decided to leave her be.
“Now, now,” Thatcher was saying as the children continued to complain. “I realize you’d much rather be off exploring the castle grounds, but we can’t ignore our schoolwork, after all.” Pulling a list out of his pocket, he instructed, “If I call your name, please have a seat here on the lawn; otherwise you are to join Madam Scargill, who will take you into the drawing room for your reading lesson.”
Ian was relieved when he, Carl, and Theo were among those called by their schoolmaster, and they quickly found a place to sit as several younger children stepped out of line and trooped over to Madam Scargill. “At least we’re together,” said Carl, giving Ian a nudge with his elbow.
“All right, then,” said Thatcher. Reaching into a sack at his feet, he pulled out notebooks and pencils that he began to pass around. “I realize you do not have history books to read from,” he said. “So this will be in lecture format and I will expect you to take diligent notes and follow along.