The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School Read Online Free

cyclopean idol in a cavern temple under the Andes. From its forehead, he plucked the famous Fang of Night jewel. The story was that when he made a fist around the mystic purple-black gemstone, his body became as impervious to harm as granite and his blows landed with the force of a wrecking-ball. Since then, he had biffed rotters and foiled plots against the Empire. He also concerned himself with less momentous, nevertheless baffling crimes… such as, presumably, the Naisbitts’ pilfering spree.
    ‘Mum and Dad could escape any time they want,’ said Light Fingers. ‘They get out of their prisons and visit each other. All the time. But they go back for the head-counts. Less trouble in the long run. They only stole from horrid people, by the way… quite a lot of rich people are horrid. And Rattray said he’d let them off if Mum went to Brighton with him for a Bank Holiday weekend, so he’s fairly horrid himself, no matter what the papers say. After all, he got to be Blackfist by stealing something which was perfectly happy where it was and has the nerve to pinch other folks who are just trying to make a living.’
    ‘Editorial comment over,’ said Frecks.
    Amy assumed Light Fingers was biased, but what she said sounded likely. It had always seemed to her that Blackfist enjoyed biffing rotters rather more than was entirely healthy. There was once talk of the Aviatrix and Blackfist getting engaged, but that cooled down… and no wonder, if he was the sort to issue improper invitations to married lady thieves.
    The three girls looked at Amy, expectant.
    ‘A shy one,’ said Frecks. ‘Probably taught to hide her light under a bushel. We haven’t anything else to show. Kali and I aren’t Unusual that way. Just warped. Drearcliff Girls have something extra or something missing. Not just parents. Bits got left out when we were put together. Know what Kali’s going to do to dear old Dad when she goes home?’
    Kali drew her thumbnail across her throat and made a ‘krkkkk’ sound.
    ‘Concrete overshoes, wooden waistcoat… curtains, kiddo!’
    ‘Means it, too. She’s going to be a bandit queen. She’s already coloured in her territory on the map. So, Thomsett,
give…
’
    It wasn’t that easy. In Headmistress’s study, she hadn’t been able to perform on cue. Not really. It would be the same here.
    ‘She
is
giving,’ said Light Fingers, ‘
look…
!’
    Amy was surprised, then glanced down. She was a full six inches off the floor, feet dangling limp. Her head pressed the plastered ceiling.
    Kali and Frecks were wide-eyed. Light Fingers looked a little frightened.
    Frecks whistled, long and shrill.
    ‘That was an
appropriate
whistle,’ she explained. ‘Crivens, you’re a pixie!’
    Amy went inside herself, and thought heavy thoughts. She came down gently, on toepoints, then settled on her heels.
    ‘I am
not
a pixie,’ she said.
    ‘But you can fly!’
    She shook her head. ‘No, I can’t fly. I can
float
. It’s not the same.’
    The Aviatrix could fly. She could flap her wings, zoom along, bank and roll, ascend and descend, outpace any land craft. Amy could wave her arms all she wanted, but just went up and up like a balloon. So far, she’d only floated deliberately indoors. Once, she had dozed under a tree like Alice and woke up trapped by low branches. Mother said if she didn’t stop it, she’d drift away and be lost in the clouds.
    ‘Still, you’re an Unusual,’ said Frecks. ‘Headmistress must love you.’
    Kali snarled. ‘Stay away from Swan! She’s trouble in velvet! A regular cyanide mama!’
    ‘Tell you what, though,’ said Frecks. ‘Desdemona won’t come bottom in netball this term. Not with two Unusuals. Light Fingers can steal the ball and make an invisible pass. Thomsett can float and pop it through the hoop from above. A tough rind for the harpies of Goneril to chew. Must get ten shillings down with Nellie Pugh in the kitchens – she’s school bookie, don’t you know? –