In the laboratory Jack told Robert and Peter what had happened the night before; how he had met the Dragon, and been instructed to steal the Cinnabar Egg. William was listening. ‘You’ll never find it if it’s in his chamber. Nobody knows where his chamber is.’
‘Yesterday Robert thought I could never find the Dragon, but I did so,’ said Jack. William frowned. The Eyebat flew past with a whoosh.
‘I hate that thing,’ said Robert.
‘If the Magus ever finds out that you are planning to escape . . .’ said William.
‘Who is going to tell him?’ said Jack defiantly. ‘I am going to find the Egg, free the Sunken King, and then the Magus will be defeated.’
‘But he has turned your mother to stone!’ said Robert.
‘The King will return her, I know he will,’ said Jack. ‘He will do that if I save him and restore his power.’
Crispis came forward. ‘Your mother promised me a sunflower this morning,’ he said sadly.
‘How did she do that?’ said William suspiciously, and just as Jack was about to say that he had unlocked the door to his mother, he saw the look on William’s face, and he knew he must not trust him.
Robert simply shrugged his shoulders; he was used to Crispis saying strange things. ‘We had better get to work,’ he said, ‘before Wedge comes back. William – fire the furnace, Jack, bring mercury for the alembic, Crispis, tell the others to chop the wood.’
William turned away to his tasks. Crispis came up to Jack.
‘It’s in the ceiling,’ he whispered. ‘I saw it.’
And he told Jack what had happened . . .
Wedge had stood in front of the door to the boys’ chamber, and using his stick, he had rapped three times on the ceiling above the door. As Crispis had lingered, hiding behind the newel post on the stairs, he had heard a click and seen a small trapdoor open in the ceiling. More than that he had not seen, because Wedge, suspicious, had suddenly looked round, but he could not see tiny Crispis, thin as an adder, slithering flat on his bottom down the stairs.
‘Excellent!’ said Jack. ‘And I have something for you. Look.’ He took a sunflower seed from his pocket. ‘Here is your sunflower, Crispis. A promise is a promise.’
‘That is not a sunflower!’ said Crispis.
‘Yes it is. Inside this seed is a sunflower.’
‘How can I get it out?’ asked Crispis.
‘Soil and water,’ said Jack. ‘Plant it and you will have a sunflower. But for now, hide it in your pocket. Quick – it’s Wedge.’
It was Wedge and Mistress Split fetching the boys for breakfast. But there had been a change; now the two of them snarled and scowled at each other as much as they ever did at the boys.
In the refectory Jack slid on to the bench beside Robert.
‘Tonight I’m going to break into the Magus’s chamber. Will you help me?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Robert. ‘It’s hopeless.’
‘If you say it’s hopeless then it will be hopeless!’
‘He knows everything we do.’
‘The Dragon told me that he only knows what we are thinking when we are anxious or afraid. If we aren’t afraid we’ll succeed.’
‘I am afraid,’ said Robert.
‘All I want you to do is to keep watch while I am in his chamber. If anyone comes upstairs or anything happens, can you hoot like an owl?’
Robert nodded.
‘Tonight, then, Robert, promise me?’
‘But we’ll be locked in!’
William came and sat by them, listening. Jack fell silent.
The day passed as the days did in the Dark House. The boys worked at the alembics, Crispis sat sleepily nodding by the talking Head that never talked. The Eyebat whooshed about, but no one took any notice of it any more.
The Magus was strangely absent, and Jack felt sure that something was being prepared. The heavy lead-like quality of the days that passed without any change had a different feel today, like light on a cold floor. Jack knew that the Magus would know that he had spoken to both the Dragon and the Sunken King, but he was sure that the Dragon would guard the secret of the Cinnabar Egg because he wanted it for himself. He thought about what the Dragon had said about their bargain: ‘Your trust is not interesting. You want something from me and I want something from you. That is interesting.’
It would be the same with the Magus. At present Jack was safe because he had something – even though he had no idea what it was – that the Magus wanted. Therefore there was nothing to fear. Therefore, this was the time to act.
Jack’s mind settled as he turned these things over and over. He was not sure about Robert, because Robert had too much fear, but he felt sure about Crispis, a child so odd that he was true. William . . . no, Jack couldn’t trust William, and he had nothing that William wanted. Therefore, William was dangerous.
At that moment Jack looked up and there was William, looking at him, with the Eyebat hovering just above his head. Quickly William averted his gaze, but Jack had seen the way he looked – envy and anger.
Jack made an effort to blank his mind now, as anxiety was creeping in, and that, he knew, made him vulnerable to the Magus.
* * *
In his library, the Magus was reading. The table was piled with books. Anne, standing quite still, could see that the Magus was consulting astrological tables.
‘At the next full moon the moon will eclipse the sun,’ said the Magus.
‘What does that mean, sir?’ said Anne.
The Magus did not answer. He turned and passed his hand over the fire, and what Anne could not see was the spire of St Paul’s burning fierce gold in the flames.
The day began to close, as days must, so that even the worst days will end and bring in their ending the chance of a new start.
The boys had been sent upstairs early, and after they had talked awhile, they one by one fell asleep. Only Jack lay awake. Wide awake.
When he was sure that the house was silent, and when he had counted the boys’ snores, he carefully swung himself out of bed and went to the door. He looked through the keyhole – the landing was empty. Without a sound, Jack took out the iron tool and jiggered the lock. The door was open.
Jack went to where Robert was sleeping and woke him roughly, shaking his shoulder.
‘No,’ said Robert, sleepily.
‘Yes,’ said Jack. ‘Get up! You promised.’
Robert did as he was told, and to his amazement, Jack opened the door to their bedchamber.
‘It isn’t locked!’ said Robert, now fully awake.
But Jack wasn’t going to tell anyone how that had happened.
On the dark landing the two boys looked around.
‘Let me stand on your shoulders,’ said Jack.
While Robert was protesting, Jack balanced on the banister rail, then climbed on to Robert’s shoulders. Jack was nimble and light and Robert was bigger and sturdier, so it was easy enough for the two boys. Balancing himself carefully, Jack began to feel his way across the ceiling, ordering poor Robert to walk left and right, while Robert, with his head down, held Jack’s ankles, and tried to stop himself trembling with fear.
At length, Jack found what he was looking for – his hands touched on a square shape recessed into the ceiling plaster. This was the opening, but there must be some kind of a spring somewhere. Jack pushed and tested, and heard something clicking. Excited, he pushed with all his force, and suddenly the ceiling panel opened, and Jack came tumbling down off Robert and the pair of them collapsed in a noisy heap on the floor.
Jack looked up – there was the way into the Magus’s Chamber.
‘We’ll be caught now,’ said Robert. ‘We’ll wake the Creature.’
Robert scrambled up and ran back into the boys’ bedchamber and flung himself into bed. No one seemed to be awake but Crispis.
‘Robert! Come back! You have to help me!’ said Jack, but Robert absolutely would not get out of bed.
‘Did you find the way in?’ asked Crispis, appearing on the landing.
‘Yes, but I can’t reach it without Robert,’ said Jack, in despair.
‘Reach what?’ said William, and Jack was not pleased to see that William too was awake. But it was too late now, and William was also on the landing, staring up at the opening.
‘I will help you,’ he said. ‘You can climb on my shoulders. I am nearly as tall as Robert.’
Now Jack did not want to do this, but he knew he had to do something, so, holding his doubts at bay so as not to disturb his mind and let in the Magus, Jack climbed up on William’s shoulders, reached into the opening, and hauled himself up with all his strength.
It was dark.
But what was the ‘it’ that was dark?
Jack had exactly the same feeling as he had had in the well, when he’d wondered if he had been swallowed by a whale, and at the same instant he remembered what Robert had said about how the house didn’t really exist, but that they were all living inside the Magus.
‘No,’ said Jack involuntarily to himself.
He took a tinderbox from his pocket and struck a light. The room lit up, and in the flare Jack saw a desk with a candlestick on it. He lit the candle and looked about him.
The room was not a room at all . . .