Chapter 7

Ella pressed herself against the wall. The boy had come back. She pulled the blankets tightly around her and looked at him. It was only his size that terrified her. His face wasn't hard, but there was anger in it: deep dan­gerous anger.

He had brought more sandwiches and mineral water. He took out a sandwich and sat down. Ella watched his face while he ate. There was something deeper than anger in it. It was dark, internal pain.

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked.

He said nothing, just took another sandwich. She knew he hated her but she didn't know why. He start­ed to eat an apple.

"Is it about money?" she asked again, but she knew he wouldn't answer. He walked over to her and looked straight into her eyes. His face was close to hers now. What was he going to do? There was something about his anger, the deep rage in his eyes that told her it was not only about money. Deep inside was a feeling that all he really wanted was to kill her. She turned away, pulling the blankets even tighter around her. But he just got up and walked back down the tunnel, leaving her alone again.

Fin was fascinated by the book which Billy had lent him. Especially the chapter 'Finding Missing Persons^’. He had gone to Ella's room, found the gold ring which her grandmother had given her and taken one of Ella's long golden hairs from her hairbrush to make a pendulum. Fascinated, he watched the pendulum move to his orders. He had taught it to move clockwise for 'yes' and anticlockwise for 'no'. That was working, but when he tested the pendulum with a question, he got no answer.

"Is Teddy in this room?" The pendulum didn't move. "Is Teddy in this room?" Fin repeated.

"He's here," said a voice. It was Sam, standing in the doorway with Teddy. "What's that?" he asked, looking at the pendulum.

"It's a pendulum. You ask it questions and it gives you answers."

"Is it magic? Does it work?"

"It's supposed to be magic, but it doesn't work for me."

"Let me do it. I can do magic," said Sammy. He sounded so certain that he could that Fin showed him how to hold the pendulum and told him that clockwise meant 'yes' and anticlockwise 'no'.

"Now ask it a question," said Fin. "Ask it if Daddy's here."

"Is Daddy here?" Sam's voice sounded very serious as he stared at the pendulum. At once it began to move clockwise.

Fin was disappointed. "It's wrong. Daddy's not back yet."

"He is. He's just come in. Can I ask it another ques­tion?"

"Stop it moving first, Sammy. OK. Now ask."

"Is Ella alive?" asked Sam in a strange, respectful voice.

Fin nearly jumped off the bed with shock. This was the one question he would not have asked. But slowly the pendulum began to move - in a clockwise direction: 'Yes'!

Chapter 8

"Now this is what I call a boat," said Billy as Mr Parnell drove his new motorboat out of the cove and towards the open sea.

But all Fin could think about was Ella, Sam and the pendulum.

Then Angie spoke: "I still can't understand why Ella never told me she was going away. It's not like her."

Fin said nothing. He walked over to Dad and Mr Meade.

"Wonderful boat," said Mr Meade. "I just wish I could get your dad to buy a nice new car from my show­room to go with it." He looked across the sea at the old lighthouse and added: "Or to join my 'Save-the-Light-house' campaign."

"I've told you," said Dad. "I'm not interested. I'm too busy."

"We need people like you, Peter. People with influ­ence."

"People with money, you mean."

"Well, that, too. But saving the lighthouse is a good cause."

"Another big storm and it'll be gone," said Mr Parnell angrily.

Fin looked across at the headland. He could just see the mouth of the cave below the doomed lighthouse. Dad was probably right. Angie had asked if they could take the boat round the islands. There were three of them and they were not very big. There was nothing on them except birds and rocks, but there was a small jetty on the largest for tourist boats.

"What was the old name of these islands?" asked Angie.

"The Furies," said Billy, showing off his knowledge as usual. "You know, the three old women in Greek mythology who punished people for crimes, especially crimes within the family. The Furies drove you mad." But Fin was not thinking about the Furies. He had a plan.

It was half past five when they got back. Fin went to look for Sam and took him to his room. There were 5 maps on the floor. Sam looked interested, so Fin explained what a map was for.

"Sammy," he went on. "I want to use the map and the pendulum to see if we can find out where Ella is. But I don't want to tell Mummy and Daddy. It'll be а secret. Just you and me. They might think it's silly and anyway, it might not work."

"You said it's magic, so it must work. Give me the pendlam."

"Here you are. We'll use the big map of Britain first. Hold the pendulum in one hand and point to the places on the map with the big finger of your other. Just say: 'Show me where Ella is'." Sam began at the top of the map. "Show me where Ella is."

The pendulum made no movement as Sam's finger moved down the map through Edinburgh, Newcastle, York...

"Show me where Ella is. Show me where Ella is." Still no reaction from the pendulum. Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester... Sammy's voice sounded strange now. Deeper than normal. He was concentrating. It was good that he couldn't read the place names.

"Show me where Ella is." Sam's finger moved slowly west. Hereford, Bristol, Taunton... "Show me where Ella is."

When Sammy's finger touched Cornwall, the pen­dulum began to turn in a circle. Sam stared at it. Fin gave a cry of delight.

"Well done, Sammy! Now let's try a local map and see if we can find out exactly where Ella is."

He took a map of the Newquay area and laid it on the floor. "Go on, Sammy. Same again!" The pendulum hung from its golden hair without moving at first.

"Show me where Ella is," Sam's face was more seri­ous now. Although he couldn't read, his little finger moved straight to their own village: Trevally. Fin's mouth opened in shock and surprise. The finger moved past the church, past the pub, down the hill now towards Polvellan. He was following the lane to their house!

"Show me where Ella is." Sam's finger moved past Polvellan towards the coast path, then along it. There were little drops of sweat on Sam's cheeks now. Fin was a bit worried.

"You all right, Sammy?" he asked, wondering if he should stop.

Suddenly Sam looked up and stared at the corner of the room.

"I can't come!" he said. Fin looked up. There was nobody there.

"What's up, Sammy?" asked Fin, looking closely at his brother. Sam didn't answer, but when Fin looked down at the map he saw that the pendulum was spinning madly and Sam's small finger had made a hole in the map. Suddenly Sam dropped the pendulum, jumped up and ran out of the room and out onto the landing. Fin fol­lowed and caught him at the top of the stairs.

"Let me go!" cried Sam as Fin picked him up. He was trying to look over Fin's shoulder at something that Fin couldn't see. Suddenly he burst into tears. "She's gone!" he sobbed.

"Who's gone?"

"It's a secret. I promised I wouldn't tell anybody — only Teddy," said Sam, looking away.

"OK. Let’s keep it a secret. Like the pendulum. 1love you, Sammy," said Fin, pulling Sam towards him and hugging him.

Fin smiled at his brother, but he was worried. This particular secret seemed different from Sam's other secrets.

Sam ran off to his room to play. A few minutes later, when Fin looked in, Sam was playing happily with Teddy. Fin went back and looked at the map again. At the spot where Sam's finger had pushed through. It was Pengrig lighthouse.

When it was getting dark, Fin took his torch and walked to the coast path. Mum hadn't wanted to let him go at first. She was worried because of the kidnappers. But he'd said he'd be back soon. He surely wouldn't find anything at Pengrig lighthouse. Not Ella, anyway. The kidnappers wouldn't keep her there. Could the pendulum be right? It had clearly spun at that point, so he had to check, just in case.

He climbed over the fence with the warning notices and walked up to the open doorway. He switched on his torch and carefully climbed the stairs to the old lighthouse-keep­er's office. There were no signs of anybody on this floor. The sound of the wind was louder in the empty light­house. Fin wanted to run away, but he knew he must climb all the way to the top - to the lantern room - just to make sure.

There was nobody there. The pendulum was wrong.

He hurried downstairs again, happy to be safely out­side the doomed building.

As he got close to home, he saw a dark figure in the lane, leaning over the wall. Then he heard his father'svoice from the other side of the wall.

"I've told you before. You're not to come here." Fin stopped and watched. The figure was a small man with a long coat. Even in the darkness he looked like a tramp.

"Now get out of here," he heard his father say. "And don't come near the house again."

The man waited for a few seconds as if he was deciding what to do. Then he walked slowly away towards the village. From the way that he walked, Fin could see that he was drunk.

Fin wondered what was going on. The easiest way to find out would be to ask his father, but his father's behaviour had been strange. What business could a millionaire have with a drunken old tramp? Fin decided to follow and find out more. He followed the man down the hill, passing old Mr Aldridge with his dog Buster. The tramp went through the village and on down the Newquay road. It was a long walk to Newquay, if that was where he was going. Fin turned back, remembering that he had told his mother he wouldn't be long. She would be worrying about him. He walked home, still wondering about his father's strange meeting.

Mum was worried, but not about Fin. Sam was miss­ing again.

"I was hoping he'd be with you, Fin," she said.

"We'll search the fields round the house," said Dad.

"He might have gone up to the coast path again," said Fin.

"We'll look there, too. You stay here in case he comes back." Mum and Dad rushed out of the house. Fin took his torch and went to look in the garden. No sign of Sam. He checked every room in the house. Suddenly he was very worried. He seemed to hear the kidnapper's voice:

"Now you've lost your brother, too!"

The doorbell rang and Fin rushed downstairs. It was Mr Aldridge with his dog Buster - and Sam! "I found him up near the coast path," said Mr Aldridge. "He was playing up there all on his own".

"I wasn't on my own," said Sam.

"Who was with you?" asked Fin sharply, still worried.

"It's a secret. Leave me alone. I saw you up on the cliffs," he said, looking at Fin. "She told me to hide, so I hid. But Buster found me."

"Who told you to hide, Sammy? Who?"

"It's a secret."

Just then Mum came rushing back. She picked Sam up and began kissing him. "We were so worried about you! Where were you?"

But before he could answer, Dad appeared. He thanked Mr Aldridge. "He'll be all right now," he said.

"Ella's all right, is she?" asked Mr Aldridge. "I didn't see her out on Biscuit this morning. She usually rides past my house."

"She's in London at the moment."

"Ah! That explains it." And at last he walked off with his dog.

Dad went into the living-room and shut the door. A few seconds later, Fin followed.

"What do you want?" asked Mr Parnell, almost angrily.

"Have you seen anybody strange hanging about the house?"

Mr Parnell gave him a strange look. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was coming back from the village and saw this tramp coming down our lane. I just wondered if you'd seen him."

"No." Dad looked sharply away. The conversation was over.

Fin almost told him what he had seen, but he knew he shouldn't. There was something strange about Dad right now. His father watched him closely as he left the room, confused.

Why was his father lying?

He walked upstairs to his room but stopped outside Sam's bedroom. The little boy was talking to himself in a strange, dream-like voice. The bedroom door was open and a light was on in the corner. Fin looked round the door and saw Sam in bed with Teddy under his arm. Sam was looking at his secret cupboard and murmuring to an empty space.

"I can't come. I can't come. I can't come."