Amanda Cadabra and The Strange Case of Lucy Penlowr by Holly Bell (best english novels for beginners .txt) 📕

‘It must have been The Book — the spellbook, the grimoire. Why else would Lucy tell you to tell me this story?’ Then Amanda’s curiosity overcame her consternation. ‘Although I don’t see where she comes in yet.’

Hogarth smiled at this abrupt turn.

‘Patience, my dear. Perhaps we should stop there.’

‘Well, at least I know that I didn’t imagine what happened to me then, or about the grimoire. Mind you, Lucy was looking for it too, that day when I met her in the Cardiubarn Hall crypt. It was a real thing, not just a dream.’

‘Very real. Yes, let’s stop there. And let’s have a nightcap. More mead, and more tea for Thomas?’ asked Hogarth, standing up.

‘Lovely.’ Amanda let out a long breath and leaned her head against the sofa back. ‘It’s quite a story.’

‘Yes please, to tea. And quite a family,’ added Trelawney.

‘Thomas, come and give me a hand, will you?’ asked Mike leading the way to the kitchen. Trelawney willingly followed their host. Standing by the kettle, Mike beckoned him over and lowered his voice.

‘Stay with Amanda tonight. I don’t want her left alone.’

Thomas looked surprised.

‘Surely she’s not in danger from anyone?’

‘Only from her own memories. Stay with her.’

‘Of course.’

Chapter 17

Restless Night

Trelawney turned east on the way to Amanda’s.

‘Are we making a stop-off?’ she asked with interest.

‘Just need to pop home for something,’ he replied breezily. She waited in the car until he returned with an overnight bag.

Perhaps after he’s dropped me off, he’s going on to see a girlfriend, Amanda speculated to herself. Then she turned, on hearing a derisive snort from the furry form on the back seat.

At Amanda’s destination, Trelawney came with her to the door.

‘I’m staying with you tonight,’ he explained. ‘It’s not a two-bedroom cottage just so you can fill the extra room with shopping.’

She laughed at that.

‘Of course, if you wish. It is your father’s place, after all. But why?’

‘Your Uncle Mike. He thinks there might be some fallout from the story.’

‘Oh, that’s nonsense,’ Amanda replied, and yet at the same time, felt immeasurably glad that the inspector was going to be there through the night hours.

They had cocoa and said good night. Teeth brushed and into sleepwear, each to their bed. To sleep but not to rest.

The nightmare came as surely as Hogarth had known it would. The cauldron, the grimoire, the people in the shadows, the old woman’s voice, ‘the pretty mist’, no escape … no escape! Granny! If only Granny was there in the pit of darkness …

Granny! Granny!

Hands on her shoulders, gently shaking her, a voice, a voice she trusted ...

‘Miss Cadabra. Amanda. Wake up. It’s just a dream. Wake up, Amanda.’

‘Oh!’ She broke the surface into consciousness. Amanda grabbed Thomas’s arms like a life-raft. He held her close as her gasping breath calmed and her grip relaxed. He put the bedside light on, to a mwrroowl from the dozing form of Tempest, on Amanda’s feet at the end of the bed.

‘You’re all right,’ Thomas reassured her.

‘Yes ....’

He released her gently back onto her pillows. Amanda put a hand to her chest.

‘Oh, that was the most vivid it’s ever been. I think I’d like to get up for a bit.’

‘Good idea. Come on.’ Thomas helped her into her dressing gown. She thrust her feet into slippers, and he led her into the sitting-room and to a chair by the fire. ‘Get your breath back. Do you need your inhaler?’

‘No, no, it’s coming back. Thank you.’

He put on the kettle, turned on the heating and got the fire going, as Amanda sat, the numbness gradually fading. She looked up with a half-smile.

‘I do feel silly.’

‘Don’t. It’s not at all surprising. All a bit close to home, yes?’

‘A bit.’

The kettle having boiled, soon they were sipping tea, and Amanda was munching on a gingernut biscuit.

‘You know,’ she said frankly, ‘I didn’t like it at the time, but, in retrospect, I’m glad that Uncle Mike stopped there. I have the feeling that worse is to come in this story.’

‘Me too. This wasn’t quite what I was expecting.’

‘What were you expecting, if I may ask?’

Thomas thought. ‘I don’t know exactly what I was expecting. Something more like a report or a much simpler eyewitness account of something more ... easier to hear, I suppose’.

‘What exactly is so very strange about this family? I wish I could define it. Of course, there are no parents around: just siblings, as far as I can gather. Strange arrangement. And Elodie. Maybe she is a lot older than she looks. Maybe she’s just, you know vertically challenged, small, petite.’

‘But Mike’s sister and brother-in-law seem to have told him how old each member of the family was. Unless they were misinformed.’

‘Maybe. Because besides the fluency and the capability beyond her years, I don’t understand how Elodie was there, in Growan house. I mean, if she's five. —’

‘And a quarter,’ he added lightly.

Amanda smiled. ‘And a quarter — how on earth could she have been at a school that burned down before she was born? It doesn’t make sense.’

‘And Zoe even more so.’

‘The time is all wrong. Even for the grownups, Marielle and Peter. Even Geoffrey. I don’t know how old he is exactly, but surely it was before his time. And even if it wasn’t, how come he isn’t telling the story?’

‘Maybe there’s some ... mystical time warp involved. After all, you’ve travelled back in time more than once.’

‘Yes, I suppose that must be it. Maybe they’re magical folk. Uncle Mike hasn’t said anything about that. But if it’s to do with the grimoire and Lucy who was looking for it,