Page 102 of The Secret Christmas Library
They carried on so long, their footprints sloshing, that Mirren started to get very scared, particularly when Bonnie slipped and Jamie only just managed to shoot his other hand out in time to catch her.
‘I got you,’ he said, and, as she turned, Mirren caught her face in the wavering torchlight.
‘Thank you,’ Bonnie said, and for a second she and Jamie looked very alike. And then they continued on.
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When they finally made it to the bottom of the stairwell, the salty, briny smell hitting them hard coming off the water, they touched down on the sand. ‘I feel,’ said Theo, ‘that your draught issues may have something to do with this.’
Water was still tumbling down from the castle above, as if it were raining. Jamie didn’t pause, but immediately waded in to grab the dilapidated rowing boat tied to the chain on the wall, completely impervious to the freezing water. He hauled it over and helped them in one by one, before pushing it off the tiny shoreline at the bottom of the castle, setting them out to sea. The boys rowed with all their might on to the cold, calm sea; everyone now had stopped moving, utterly chilled and suffering the after-effects of shock.
The full moon was bright above their heads, and they could see it all, with amazement, watch in real time from fifty metres out as the house crumbled like a wedding cake left out in the rain. With a great juddering roar, the front section of the building collapsed, the turrets dropping down, the pennants fluttering vertically before dissolving in a heap of dust.
‘Oh, my God,’ said Mirren.
‘I know,’ said Jamie, looking stricken. ‘Hey, Roger will have been far enough away, right?’
‘Dogs aren’t stupid,’ said Mirren.
‘Some of them are,’ said Esme, but she was just as awestruck as everyone else.
But the back section – the ancient chapel, and the stone-built tower that had held off Vikings and marauders down the centuries – that stayed, strong and true, finally revealed, ruins among the landscape, lit by the huge moon. Silence fell, only the plashing of the oars by the boat audible, as they stared, incredulous, at the great thing that was no longer there. Mirren moved closer to Jamie and put her arms around his waist. He leaned his head, very gently, on top of hers as they bobbed along in total silence.
Eventually, Jamie considered it safe for them to find a place to land, and started to pull – but, just as he did so, from nowhere, there was an enormous roaring noise, and a dark shape loomed, seemingly out of nowhere, and a huge light beam shone in their faces, and a broad Scottish accent shouted out:
‘YOUSE OKAY? YOUSE OKAY DOWN THERE?’
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The power was back on in Buckie, where the RNLI station was. The blessed warmth of the cabin of the boat, the hot tea they were given, the warm red blankets they were all wrapped in felt like very heaven. A medic checked them out, bandaged Theo’s poor head and announced them shocked but otherwise very lucky. A passing tanker had called in the fire. Mirren kept apologising to them for it being so early on Christmas morning, and a few of the kindly men and women laughed and one or two said their kids would be up already so it didn’t really make much difference, but that the rest of them had volunteered that day, and would they like to stay and share their Christmas breakfast?
None of them could sleep and nobody had anywhere to go. Theo, though, had thought to grab his phone, and he plugged it in. There were a zillion messages, and he looked at it, grimaced and was tempted to switch it off again.
There were boiling hot showers and fresh T-shirts with RNLI written on them and clothes that went in a tumble dryer and came out fluffy and delicious and everything they needed to feel cosy again, even though Mirren occasionally shivered despite herself. She kept seeing the castle, outlined against the starry sky.
They all devoured an enormous amount of porridge with thick cream and a slug of whisky for Christmas; then sausage, haggis and potato scones, washed down with mug after mug of tea and thick slices of fried toast. It was the most delicious meal she had ever tasted. Jamie clearly agreed with her, and Esme didn’t even make any remarks about whether anyone was being a vegetarian or not, so that was something. Apart from that, they hardly spoke, each counting up the cost of what had happened, and what was left. As if they even knew.
‘I’ll need to call Mum,’ Jamie murmured to Esme.
‘She won’t care,’ said Esme, and Mirren squeezed his hand, sad that it was true.
‘So, it was all for nothing,’ said Theo, eventually. ‘We didn’t find anything.’
Jamie glanced up from the table, where he’d been eating a fourth slice of toast.
‘Oh, my God,’ he said. ‘I nearly forgot!’
He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, hanging on the wall.
‘Thank God I didn’t put it in the tumble dryer,’ he said, and he took out the little packet. ‘Have you seen this before?’ he said to Bonnie, who shook her head.
They all gathered round.
‘It might be nothing,’ warned Jamie. ‘More letters, or directions to something that might not be there any more.’
He unwrapped the envelope, which was padded.
‘Hang on,’ said Theo, feeling in his trouser pocket. ‘I think I still have . . . ’
