Betrayal by Gillian Shields Page B

caressing something precious. Earth for Sarah…
    “There’s something under here,” she said excitedly. “I can feel it in the earth, calling to us. Pass me that spade.”
    Deftly, Sarah began to remove the top layer of soil; then she threw the spade to one side and began to scrape the earth carefully with her fingers. Something brokeaway from the mud and she lifted it out.
    “It’s an old box,” Sarah said, rubbing the dirt from its sides. “You open it, Evie. It must have belonged to the people at Uppercliffe once.”
    She passed the black box to me. It was made of tin and rusted over. There was no lock, only a crude clasp to fasten it. I pulled it open with a jerk.
    “Wow,” breathed Sarah. A scent of rose petals rose from the little box, dry and dusty, but still sweet.
    “They must be so old,” said Helen. “And what’s that?”
    I lifted out a soft linen pouch and felt inside it. My fingers closed on something hard and cold. It was a small, battered gold locket, strung on a bit of ribbon. I fumbled to open the locket. Tucked inside was a single curl of red-bronze hair, soft and fine like a child’s. A little girl with bright curls, sitting on the doorstep at Uppercliffe…
    “It must be hers—Effie’s,” I said in amazement.
    “Martha must have kept it in this box, in a safe place under the floorboards,” said Helen. “But why was it left here for all this time?”
    “Perhaps when Martha died it was forgotten about,” Sarah replied, examining the locket carefully. “We’ll never really know.”
    “Don’t you think it’s odd,” I asked eagerly, “that we’vecome here to hide one necklace and we find another one? Is that just a coincidence?”
    “I’m not sure I believe in coincidence,” Sarah said quietly. “Perhaps Agnes wants you to wear it. Why don’t you put it on?”
    I unclasped the Talisman and tied the locket in its place. For a moment I stayed quite still, waiting.
    Nothing happened.
    What had I really expected? Visions? Omens of disaster? An apparition of Agnes telling me that I mustn’t let go of the Talisman, even for a minute? But there was nothing. Nothing bad was going to happen.
    “So, are you ready. Evie?”
    “Yes, I’m ready.”
    Slipping the Talisman into the linen pouch, I laid it on the papery rose petals and shut the box with a snap. Then I pushed the box back into the ground and covered it with the black soil. Sarah smoothed the place where the earth had been disturbed and replaced the stones.
    “There,” she said. “Let the earth hide it well.”
    “Let the Talisman lie in peace,” said Helen, and she made a sign in the air with her hands. “Let the earth hold it and our memories guard it and the winds blow lightly over it. Let it sleep quietly until it is needed.”
    I said nothing. Soon, I vowed, I would come back to claim it, when I was powerful enough to wield the Talisman and work a miracle. Until then, the battered little locket hanging around my neck was some kind of comfort.
    Helen left us, in the same strange way as she had arrived. Sarah and I rode quietly back to the school. By the time we reached the stable yard and dismounted, my legs were stiff with cold. I took Bonny back to her stall while Sarah went to look after Starlight. My body ached after the long ride. I began to brush the mud from the pony’s wiry coat.
    “Hi, there,” said a voice behind me. I turned and saw Josh, a harness slung over his shoulder and a piece of straw stuck in his hair. “I thought I’d see how you made out riding over the moors, as you’re officially my student. Not too exhausted?”
    “I’ll survive.” I smiled at him, yet felt strangely self-conscious. “My muscles are complaining a bit.”
    Josh stepped closer, letting Bonny nuzzle his hand as he offered her a bit of broken carrot. He looked at me curiously. “I get the feeling you’re not that wild about learning to ride,” he said. “Do you mind if I ask why you’re having