The Bonehill Curse Read Online Free PDF Page A

around the shattered room. I can’t stay here. Who was it Major Morris said to find? Jacob Carr at the quay?
    Snatching the open bottle and the stopper from the floor, Ness barged past Miss Pinchett and down the stairs. The house was in turmoil. Girls screamed. Somewhere Toop was shouting something to the chambermaids. In a blur of panic, Ness found herself at the front door.
    The cold night air prickled the back of Ness’s neck as the rough driveway stung her bare feet. A few crows disturbed by the chaos flapped and complained above her. Once more Ness ran, only this time she was leaving the Academy for good.
    The cries behind her grew more distant but her own breathing sounded loud and urgent as she pounded down the lane towards the village and the quay. She was sure she could hear footsteps behind her. Had the creature come back to get her? Or was it the intruder with his cruel knife? Every shadow along the muddy lane seemed to move and swirl. Ness stumbled and tripped, crying out as branches reached for her from the hedgerows, snagging her nightdress and hair. She glanced back at Rookery Heights to see that lamps had been lit. Toop or one of the maids would be hurrying behind her to get help from the village. Ness ran on. The lane ran into a path that snaked down to the quay. Ness could see the bulk of a barge, black against the moonlit water.
    A figure loomed out of the darkness, spreading its arms and making Ness scream. She lashed out but found herself enveloped in a tight bear hug.
    ‘Whoa, steady, miss! You’ll lay someone low with those fists of yours,’ the figure said, his voice soft. ‘Now what’s all the hurry and why’s a young lady like you skipping around in the dark in nothin’ more than a nightie?’
    ‘Who are you?’ Ness panted. Nausea pressed at her throat again.
    She looked up at a square block of a man. His flat nose and stocky build made him look like a fierce giant but gentle blue eyes smiled out beneath his stern brow.
    ‘Jacob Carr’s me name,’ said the bargeman, relaxing his grip and extending a palm as Ness dropped back into a standing position. ‘Skipper of the Galopede , fastest barge on the Thames.’ He smiled.
    Ness stifled a sob. ‘Jacob Carr?’ she said, her voice weak. Her head throbbed and her muscles ached from the sprint down the lane. ‘Thank goodness! My name is Necessity Bonehill. I need to go to my parents . . . in London . . . Major Morris said you’d take me.’
    ‘Charlie Morris?’ Carr said, his face growing solemn. ‘Is there trouble then?’
    ‘Yes,’ Ness gasped. The world swam before her. She swayed and grabbed Carr’s shoulder.
    ‘You need to sit down,’ the bargeman said.
    Ness allowed herself to be guided along the rough, overgrown quayside. To her right the marshes lay swathed in darkness and she could only see the shadowy bulk of the barge, sails furled, rigging rattling gently in the night breeze. Carr led her across the gangplank, on to the deck and down into the cabin. He sat her down on the rough pallet bed and squatted in front of her.
    ‘You’re lucky you came when you did,’ he said. His face was weather-beaten, careworn, and flecks of silver streaked his dark, curly hair, but Ness couldn’t have put an age on him. ‘I was about to set sail. If Morris told you to come ’ere, then that’s good enough for me. You rest – you seem exhausted. We’ll ’ave you back in London in no time.’
    Ness laid her head on the pillow while Jacob disappeared up top. She could hear him calling orders to someone, feet thumping on the deck above. The barge began to creak and Ness knew they were moving away from Rookery Heights and its horrors. A tear squeezed itself out of the corner of her eye. She gritted her teeth and tried not to think of the other girls, shivering and fever-ridden. It was too horrible. Her throat tightened as the realisation dawned on her once more. It’s all my fault – I opened that bottle . . .
    ‘Don’t cry,’