Shiver Read Online Free Page B

“It worked last time … didn’t it, Samuel? We pressed this slab here and … maybe we’re not pressing it hard enough. How did it work before? Maybe there’s a catch …” She felt about desperately with her fingers, eventually slapping the stone with the flat of her palm in frustration.
    Charles and Sebastian looked sceptical.
    â€œI told you,” Charles said, leaning back and folding his armsin satisfaction. “A couple of regular detectives you make. Still, if it keeps you happy, kids.”
    Fiona glowered at him. “It’s true … isn’t it, Samuel? It was right here.”
    Samuel nodded. “She’s not making it up. I was there. We pressed something and the wall slid back and there was this staircase. It lead up into a passageway.”
    Charles and Sebastian were looking at Samuel, half-mocking. His voice trailed away. There was no way they were going to believe him without evidence.
    â€œHow can we prove it to you?” Fiona said. “And why won’t this thing open?” she cried, slapping it again, hard. Her hand went red with the impact and she shook it in pain. “Ouch!”
    â€œSo,” Charles said. “Where do you think this secret passageway leads?” He hid his curiosity beneath a thin layer of sarcasm.
    Samuel looked him straight in the eye. “Up to the tower, I think. Somewhere near your room.”
    Charles blanched all of a sudden.
    A secret staircase and passageway, leading to his own bedroom? First, a smoky face drifting out of his computer screen, now this?
He was beginning to feel unnerved.
    â€œWhat’s up?” Sebastian asked him.
    â€œYou’ve not been messing about with my computer, have you?” Charles asked his brother, point-blank.
    â€œNo. Why would I do that?”
    Charles searched Sebastian’s face. He didn’t know whether to believe him or not.
    Fiona and Samuel were still investigating the back of the stone fireplace, apparently unable to accept that it wasn’tresponding to their efforts this time. Charles sighed. Perhaps there
was
a secret passageway, lurking at the back there somewhere. His mother was right. This
had
always been a strange house to live in.
    â€œIt’s all very well for Mr MacFarlane down at the Lynns Farm, or the landlord at the Sheriffmuir Inn, to tell stories,” his mother had often said in the past, “but we have to get on with things. This is our home.”
    Exactly
, thought Charles.
We have to get on with things
.
    â€œWell, I wouldn’t rush to tell Mum about your non-existent discovery just yet,” he said sarcastically, as he headed reluctantly back up the stairs to his room, leaving the others to their own devices. He had made up his mind. It was time he got back to his computer once and for all, and if a face materialized in front of him this time, he’d deal with it. He’d unplug the wretched thing and demand to know what Sebastian had been doing to it.
    Up in his bedroom everything was just as he had left it. But the opening sentence of his ghost story had been deleted. He pressed the cursor once or twice, to scroll down the page, but there was nothing there.
Oh well, he’d just have to start again
. He was beginning to feel in the mood this time. All this talk of secret staircases had given him a few ideas.

Broken Vases
    It was Saturday night, and in the drawing room a bright fire burned in the large stone fireplace. Chris Morton and Isabel had come back from their shopping expedition, tired and weary. At least now the larder and fridge at the cottage were well-stocked.
No more beans on toast for a while
, Samuel thought. He and Fiona had been thinking about the secret staircase they’d found, and wondering why it hadn’t opened a second time. It was so frustrating. The others simply wouldn’t believe them, but there was nothing they could do to convince them. And Charles had been right … there was no