Shiverton Hall by Emerald Fennell

late meeting his mother. Arthur didn’t dare tell her about Antony and Ian – he didn’t want to upset her.
     
     
    On the drive home Arthur felt like rolling down the window and screaming. Instead he sat, sullen and silent and desperately trying not to think of what might have happened if they had caught up with him. May could sense that her son was uneasy about something.
    ‘Is everything all right, petal?’ she asked as they turned into their street. ‘You are enjoying school, aren’t you?’
    ‘What?’ Arthur said, pulling his mind away from the darkness. ‘Oh, yeah. It’s great.’
    ‘Because you know,’ his mother continued, trying to sound casual, ‘if you don’t like it you don’t have to go back. I know I didn’t believe you at first last time, but if you’re being bullied or –’
    ‘Mum!’ Arthur snapped. ‘I like it, OK? It’s nothing like last time. It’s safe there. I’m safe there.’
    What Arthur didn’t want to admit was that he wasn’t entirely convinced this was true.

Chapter Ten
    George bounded into the Garnons common room the colour of a chestnut, with white rings around his eyes.
    ‘So skiing was good then?’ Arthur asked. He was skimming through some poetry for Long-Pitt’s class the following day – he was determined to start the second half of term on the right foot.
    ‘It. Was. Brilliant,’ George said, throwing himself on to the sofa beside his friend. ‘How about you? Good half-term?’
    Arthur smiled half-heartedly. ‘Yeah, it was OK.’
    The front door burst open, ushering in a biting wind, a handful of dead leaves, and Penny and Jake, who had already unpacked in their own houses. Penny’s face brightened on seeing Arthur, but Jake looked miserable.
    ‘All right, Jakey?’ George asked.
    ‘Yeah,’ Jake said sadly.
    ‘What’s up?’ Arthur said.
    ‘It’s just Mum,’ Jake began hesitantly, looking at the floor. ‘She’s got worse.’
    ‘What’s happened?’ Arthur asked.
    Jake sat on the edge of the sofa and took his glasses off to rub his eyes. ‘She thinks there are germs everywhere,’ he sighed. ‘She spends all night cleaning everything over and over again. She chucked out half the things in my room while I was away because they’re “contaminated”.’
    ‘That doesn’t sound good,’ George agreed.
    ‘Can she see a doctor?’ Arthur suggested.
    ‘She won’t leave the house.’ Jake bit his lip and took a deep breath. ‘I thought she was getting better.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Jake,’ Penny whispered.
    ‘What if they take her away while I’m here?’ Jake sniffed. ‘I’ll have to go and live with Dad and Dawn.’
    ‘That would suck,’ George agreed. ‘Dawn’s awful.’
    Penny flicked George’s ear crossly, but Jake smiled in spite of himself. Dawn really was awful.
    The group chatted about their half-terms, all of them trying to be funny to cheer Jake up, with George regaling them with his most embarrassing anecdotes from his holiday. Eventually the bell rang and it was time for Jake to go back to Pootle and Penny to return to Starling. Penny gave Jake a hug, which seemed to pep him up more than any of George’s jokes, and they went their separate ways.
    Jake trudged down the empty path, his hands shoved in his pockets against the cold. It was dark, his way lit by the dim, yellow lamps that were posted every few metres. Everyone else must have been by the fires in their houses, having decided not to brave the winter wind to visit friends in other houses that night, because Jake cast a lonely shadow. He had always prided himself on being sensible, rational – it was why he was so good at maths and why he had been able to look after his mother almost single-handedly when his father had left them – but the moonless dark of the night and the rustling of the trees in the forest to his left made him walk faster than he normally would.
    As he hastened towards Pootle, the lamplight began to flicker suddenly, with a low buzz, then