Kingsholt by Susan Holliday

could harm him here. Aidan settled Chloe on the couch where she lay limp and fragile.
    ‘You’ve had enough, poor thing,’ said Leela. ‘I’ll have to helpyou change your clothes. They’re damp and they smell of mildew.’
    Aidan and Sam moved away as Leela helped to undress Chloe.
    ‘I have the very thing,’ she said, presenting Chloe with one of her own night gowns.
    ‘It’s too beautiful,’ said Chloe softly. ‘I usually wear a tee-shirt.’
    Leela smiled. ‘Just you rest and get warm now,’ she said, covering her with a deep blue duvet.
    ‘I’m all right,’ said Chloe, ‘really I am.’
    ‘She’s not,’ said Sam, ‘she needs a doctor,’
    Chloe sat up slowly, hugging the duvet close to her.
    ‘I fought him. I tried hard. I know that, though I can’t remember everything.’
    ‘What happened?’ Leela asked gently.
    ‘I don’t know.’ Chloe slumped back onto the couch. Tears trickled down her cheeks. ‘I’ll be all right. I just need sleep.’
    ‘If you’re not all right in the morning, I
will
call the doctor,’ said Leela. ‘What about a hot cocoa and oatmeal biscuits? Then you can all settle down on sleeping bags. You’ll all be safe here.’
    ‘It’s good of you,’ said Aidan. ‘Everyone needs a rest, though I’ll stay on guard. You never know.’
    That night Sam shared Tyler’s room.
    ‘You have the bed,’ said Tyler, turfing off Judy and wriggling down into the sleeping bag he had placed on the floor underneath the window. He leaned up on his elbow to talk.
    ‘I didn’t want to leave you up in Bones Wood but I knew it would be best if I went straight back for Aidan and told him everything. He was so worried he tried to phone Chloe’s parents to tell them to come back.’
    ‘Did he get them?’
    ‘There was an answer phone saying they were so tired they had gone off for a little break together and would be back nextweek.’
    ‘That figures,’ said Sam angrily. ‘Of course, Aunt Dorothy finds it hard to cope at the best of times.’
    Tyler nodded. ‘Aidan thought of phoning the police but he was afraid they’d question Chloe and that was the last thing she needs at the moment. So he grabbed his haversack and we came as quickly as we could.’
    Sam grinned. ‘Just as well he takes all that stuff with him. Without the rope we’d never have got Chloe out of the pit.’
    ‘He’s on guard tonight,’ said Tyler, ‘but there’s no need. No one comes here. Nimbus has never been here. Never.’
    He yawned and pushed down into his sleeping bag.
    ‘There’s always a first time!’ said Sam but the sense of relief stayed with him. Chloe was safe below and Aidan was in the kitchen, keeping watch.
    Moonlight smudged the windowpane and the thin flowery curtains shielded them from the night. Yet in his mind he was still out there, scrambling down the pit, opening the iron door, finding Chloe in the tall man-made tunnel. Now he was going down the tunnel, down and down and down into the dark world of the Roman mines.
    Before he knew where he was, he was fast asleep.
    In the morning a grey bristle covered Aidan’s jaw line and shadows lined his eyes. Sam looked at him with admiration. ‘Were you up all night?’ he asked over breakfast.
    Aidan shoved a forkful of bacon into his mouth.
    ‘More or less,’ he said. ‘Nimbus was prowling about like a wild cat. He knows Chloe’s gone.’
    ‘I think it best if she stays here with me,’ said Leela, putting three sizzling pieces of bacon on Sam’s plate. ‘She’s still fast asleep, bless her.’ She turned back to the stove. ‘If only we could get in touch with her parents. They could take her away. Didn’t they leave an address?’ She sounded puzzled.
    ‘No!’ said Aidan. ‘They obviously trusted us completely.’
    Leela poured the tea from a big blue tea-pot that had seen better days. ‘Well, there you are. I’ll stay here with Chloe and see how she is when she wakes up.’
    ‘If you like, I’ll sleep over at