Groosham Grange Read Online Free PDF Page A

the jetty to the Jeep.
    It took them five minutes to reach the school. The track curved steeply upwards, rising to the level of the cliffs, then followed the edge of the wood. Jeffrey had grabbed the seat in the driving compartment next to Gregor. David and Jill were sitting in the back, clinging on for dear life. Every time the Jeep drove over a stone or a pot-hole – and there were plenty of both – they were thrown about a foot in the air, landing with a heavy bump. By the time they arrived, David knew what it must feel like to be a salad. But he quickly forgot his discomfort as he took in his first sight of Groosham Grange.
    It was a huge building, taller than it was wide; a crazy mixture of battlements, barred windows, soaring towers, slanting grey slate roofs, grinning gargoyles and ugly brick chimneys. It was as if the architects of Westminster Abbey, Victoria Station and the Brixton gasworks had jumbled all their plans together and accidentally built the result. As the Jeep pulled up outside the front door (solid wood, studded with nails and sixteen inches thick) there was a rumble overhead and a fork of lightning crackled across the sky.
    Somewhere a wolf howled.
    Then the door creaked slowly open.

MR KILGRAW
    A woman stood in the doorway. For a moment her face was a livid blue as the lightning flashed. Then she smiled and David saw that she was, after all, human. In fact, after the peculiar horrors of Gregor and Captain Bloodbath, she seemed reassuringly normal. She was small and plump, with round cheeks and grey hair tied in a bun. Her clothes were Victorian, her high collar fastened at the neck with a silver brooch. She was about sixty years old, her skin wrinkled, her eyes twinkling behind gold half-glasses. For a moment she reminded David of his grandmother. Then he noticed the slight moustache bristling on her upper lip and decided that she reminded him of his grandfather too.
    “Hello! Hello!” she trilled as the three of them climbed down from the Jeep. “You must be David. And you’re Jill and Jeffrey. Welcome to Groosham Grange!” She stood back to allow them to enter, then closed the door after them. “I’m Mrs Windergast,” she went on. “The school matron. I hope the journey hasn’t been too tiring?”
    “I’m tired,” Gregor said.
    “I wasn’t asking you, you disgusting creature,” the matron snapped. “I was talking to these dear, dear children.” She beamed at them. “Our new arrivals!”
    David looked past her, taking in his surroundings. He was in a cavernous entrance hall, all wood panels and musty oil paintings. A wider staircase swept upwards, leading to a gloomy corridor. The hall was lit by a chandelier. But there were no lightbulbs. Instead, about a hundred candles spluttered and burned in brass holders, thick black smoke strangling what little light they gave.
    “The others are already eating their evening meal,” Mrs Windergast said. “I do hope you like blood pudding.” She beamed at them for a second time, not giving them a chance to answer. “Now – leave your cases here, Jeffrey and Jill. You follow me, David. Mr Kilgraw wants to see you. It’s the first door on the left.”
    “Why does he want to see me?” David asked.
    “To welcome you, of course!” The matron seemed astonished by the question. “Mr Kilgraw is the assistant headmaster,” she went on. “He likes to welcome all his new pupils personally. But one at a time. I expect he’ll see the others tomorrow.”
    Jill glanced at David and shrugged. He understood what she was trying to tell him. Mrs Windergast might seem friendly enough but there was an edge to her voice that suggested it would be better not to argue. He watched as Jill and Jeffrey were led away across the hall and through an archway, then went over to the door that the matron had indicated. His mouth had gone dry and he wondered why.
    “I expect it’s because I’m terrified,” he muttered to himself.
    Then he knocked on the