Chapter 14
I t had been foolish of Clem to come this way.
Someone had come into the toilets and it hadn’t been practical to stay in such a small space, so she’d decided to take a walk around the grounds, at least until the little audience went away, Genie included.
Originally, she’d followed the hedgehog trail.
One of the signposts had been on its side, as if blown over.
She’d turned left, thinking that was the way to go to follow the route.
But it must have been wrong because she’d become completely and utterly lost. And when she’d unlocked her phone, it had flashed up a warning about her low battery and died before she could call or text Sylvie, the screen blackening.
Lake Windermere was like the ocean, sprawling and blue-grey, lapping up against the small shores.
She thought if she followed it round, she’d eventually come to some signs pointing the way to Wray Castle – and she could follow those to the entrance.
It was as good a plan as any, she told herself, as her chest throbbed.
She didn’t like being out here alone with nothing but the rush of the lake water for company; it was unnerving with the clouds closing in.
There weren’t any hikers around to ask directions, and her phone being dead was making her extra panicky, a sick feeling in her gut.
She tried to tell herself it was unlikely she’d become a missing person statistic, that her mind was getting carried away and she’d be fine.
She thought of Misha to calm herself down, with her shiny green eyes and long white whiskers.
‘Be home soon, Mish,’ she said quietly.
She headed up an incline, her shoes sliding in some mud. She moved aside to correct herself, but her foot caught in the root of a branch and she tripped. She landed on her backside in the dirt, covered in grime. Clem hissed out a curse at her own stupidity.
‘Clem!’ came a voice.
She turned, still on the ground, and saw Lucas running towards her. She groaned. This wasn’t the most elegant position to be in. And it was gorgeous Lucas who had come across her. But she was glad he was here, the relief like a lovely, soothing wave over her fears.
‘Clem, are you okay?’ he said breathlessly, coming to a stop beside her. ‘Are you hurt?’
‘I’m fine. I fell over.’
He offered her his hand. She was embarrassed, spread-eagled on the ground beneath him. He’d already helped her several times today and she was a grown woman, even if she had messed up and made a mistake. She repeated, ‘I’m fine, thanks,’ and pulled herself to her feet without his help.
There was no point in attempting to dust herself off; there was mud caked into her shoes and across the hem of her skirt. Clem put some weight on her ankle and thankfully, it didn’t hurt. She hadn’t injured anything, even though she’d fallen awkwardly.
‘I would have found my way back eventually,’ she told him. ‘There would have been signs.’
He frowned, looking bemused. ‘Right . . . but Sylvie had to close up the café, so I came looking for you. She didn’t want to leave you, said there are thunderstorms forecast. She felt bad about it.’
Clem hesitated. Seeing Genie had unnerved her. She exhaled, trying to dispel her unease. ‘Has everyone gone?’ she asked him.
‘What? You mean the bus?’
‘No, the audience, the ones who were taste-testing?’
He still looked confused, but then comprehension dawned on his features like clouds parting. ‘Wait, is that why you ran off? To avoid the audience?’
‘I didn’t run off. I went to the bathroom, but it was cramped, so I came for a walk and lost my way.’ She knew he was right, and something twisted in her chest. She’d been in the bathroom because she’d run away to avoid Genie.
‘Well . . . yeah, the audience is gone. Everyone else, too.’
Clem ogled at him, panic sluicing through her anew. ‘Everyone else? Sylvie too? Wait, so the bus—’
‘It’s already taken everyone home.’ He was tugging his phone out of his pocket, and tapping away at the screen. ‘I’ll let Sylvie know you’re okay.’
‘But . . . how are we going to get back, without a vehicle? I didn’t bring my car and I’m guessing you didn’t either?’
‘We’ll take the Green Cruise – the ferry,’ he said. ‘We could walk to a main road for a bus, but it’s quicker to get to the ferry point and take that across to Waterhead Pier.’ He looked down at his phone screen. ‘We’re just in time to make the last one of the day.’
‘You know how to get there?’
‘I think it’s that way.’ He turned back the way he’d come from, gestured with his hand.
‘If we go back the way I came, there are some signs. Come on.’ He hesitated, assessing her with that expression of his that made her feel like she was being X-rayed.
Or undressed with his eyes. She shivered. ‘You good?’ he asked. ‘You seem cold.’
‘I’m fine, honest.’
‘Okay.’
They began to walk, traipsing up the path.
He guided her onto a main path and, mercifully, a wooden sign sprang up pointing the way to the ferry point for the Green Cruise.
A breeze ruffled their hair and clothes as it whispered through the surrounding trees.
They passed through a latched wooden gate, Lucas holding it open for her, and Clem being careful not to slip on any more muddy areas.
‘I hope Sylvie wasn’t too worried,’ said Clem. ‘I did intend to be right back.’
‘I’m sure she knows, don’t worry.’
Clem glanced at the sky. A faint yellowy glow managed to peek its way out from behind the scudding clouds, which were increasing in number and growing blacker.
‘Let’s hurry,’ she said. ‘It might rain.’
They walked briskly through the trees, along the sloping, paved paths, dodging tree roots and particularly hazardous thick mud.
‘They won’t cancel the ferry if it rains, will they?’ she asked Lucas. ‘If there’s thunder?’
‘I don’t think so. It’s the last one and the rain’ll probably hold off for a little while. They only cancel for extreme weather and it’s not that bad yet.’
Clem let out a breath of relief. At least they wouldn’t be stuck here permanently.
‘It would have been fun to camp out at the castle, though,’ Lucas joked. ‘Live like some historical rich landowner for a night.’
‘As if,’ said Clem, snorting. ‘They wouldn’t let us! We’d be chucked out like the peasants we are.’
Soon, the trees parted, the gleaming lake still a fixture on their right, rippling in the wind.
An ancient stone structure – somewhat like a small house – jutted out of the mud, its large stones covered in moss.
Clem didn’t know its purpose; there were no doors or windows that she could see. Some kind of ruin, perhaps?
‘Ah, we’re here,’ said Lucas, smiling at her. He rounded the side of the stone ruin, and Clem followed.
Up ahead, a wooden boardwalk stretched out from between some jagged stones, and out across the lake.
Faint raindrops were visible on the lake’s surface now, and soft kisses of rain dappled her cheeks.
There was a sign wedged onto one of the wooden beams of the boardwalk, reading For Green Cruise, wait here , in rough and blocky handwriting.
‘I’m glad we made it,’ said Clem, sinking down onto the boardwalk and sitting on the edge, her feet dangling over the rain-speckled lake.
‘We’ve got some time to wait, though,’ Lucas said.
‘That’s fine. I’ve never been on a ferry before.’
‘Really, even with living here? Then you want the best seats. That’d be on the top, if you can brave the weather. The wind can be rough up top.’
She smiled. ‘It’s not that bad.’
He took a seat beside her on the boardwalk, legs and feet dangling beside hers.
In the distance, across the lake, the land rose up like the peaks of mountains, patchworks of green grass interspersed with spindly trees and darker lines marking paths and walls.
A collection of white buildings with grey roofs was visible on the opposite shoreline, and a gathering of boats were bobbing in the water like little chess pieces that had been toppled over.
‘Are you OK now?’ Lucas asked Clem.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, you went off to get some space. I assumed something was wrong.’
‘Oh. I’m fine now. I feel bad for worrying Sylvie.’
‘Shit happens,’ said Lucas, with a shrug. ‘Last time I came here, I ended up with my leg in a cast.’
‘What?’ Clem said, laughing. ‘How?’
‘We were on a school trip – high school. English, learning about Beatrix Potter and the poets, and all of that. Me and my friends broke away from the group to sneak into the woods, and one of my closest friends at the time, Georgina, she dared me to climb this huge tree. I did, but I lost my footing and fell. Ended up breaking my leg. She felt bad about it afterwards. If I’d gone any higher, it could have been a lot worse. ’
‘It really could have been. And there were no teachers around?’
‘No, though we didn’t go far. And they soon found us – Georgina was screaming, said my leg looked weird.
I think I scared her.’ Lucas smiled, looking out across the lake as another boat crawled past them, leaving a trail of white behind it as it headed for some other town somewhere. ‘I never did it again, though.’
‘Because of your friend?’
‘No, my parents, actually.’
‘Were they angry with you?’
Lucas hesitated. He was quiet for so long, she wasn’t sure he was going to answer; maybe it had been an uncomfortable question? She opened her mouth to say he didn’t have to respond, when he answered.
‘Not angry. Distraught. My mum was, anyway. My dad’s always had health stuff going on, so she has to deal with that . . . and me, falling out of a tree? She must have been terrified. And when I got home, she had to look after two people, instead of one. Normally, it’s us two, looking after Dad.’
Ah. Clem was starting to understand him better. ‘It must be tough,’ she said. ‘Is he okay now?’
There was another long pause. Eventually, he said, ‘No, not really. We’re trying to figure it out. Get him the help he needs.’