Petronella and the Janjilons Read online

  “No, I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you stay here and wait while I go round the village and look for him. I’ll come back here in about an hour,” Percy said.

  Percy ran off, quite excitedly. He liked working with Petronella on mysterious projects. They were going to find Soloman and get to the bottom of this mystery.

  Petronella soon got tired standing there and sat down on Soloman’s doorstep. Mrs Tirel passed by with her shopping. The Tirel family lived next door to Soloman at number 59 Brook Street. “Hello, Petronella,” Mary Tirel shouted out. “What brings you to this side of the village?”

  “Hello, Mary. I’m looking for Soloman. I need to speak to him about something,” Petronella replied.

  “I haven’t seen him for a few of days,” Mary Tirel said. “I’m keeping an eye on the house to see if he gets back. If he doesn’t, I’m going to the police.”

  Petronella was worried. Why would Mary Tirel think that she needs to go to the police just because she hasn’t seen Soloman for a couple of days? Mrs Tirel put her shopping down on the pavement.

  “Look, Petronella, my daughter, Betty, has been missing for four days,” she started crying. “I don’t know what to do. My husband and other woodcutters have been out looking for her and can’t find her anywhere. I’ve been to the police to report it. They are dealing with it.”

  “I am so sorry to hear that,” Petronella said. “It must be heart-wrenching to have a daughter missing.”

  “Jack, my son, has been round her friends’ houses and nobody knows where she is,” Mary Tirel said.

  “Who did you speak to at the police station?” Petronella asked.

  “To the policewoman on duty. And to Judge Ormerod. He’s managing the search party...”

  “Judge Ormerod! What’s he got to do with this? He’s Education Councillor. Nothing to do with the police.”

  “As coincidence would have it, he was there when I reported Betty missing, and he kindly offered to help out,” Mary Tirel said.

  “Mary, look, I don’t think Judge Ormerod is the right person to be handling the case. We ought to speak to Detective Inspector Vettel about this,” Petronella said.

  But she knew that the detective was not that good. Look at the way he had handled the field of skeletons two years ago. He had no idea. And as for Constable Bellamy... a nice chap if ever there was one, but he certainly wasn’t the sharpest tool in Fort Willow’s toolbox. No, there was no other way. Petronella and Percy would have to investigate this.

  “Mary, can I come into your house a moment? I need to talk to you properly,” Petronella said.

  “Yes, of course, Petronella.”

  Mary Tirel started putting her shopping away and then made Petronella a cup of tea. It was no good Petronella telling Mary about how devious Judge Ormerod was. It would only worry her even more. Petronella took her black hat off and put it down on the kitchen table. Mary Tirel shouted up to Jack, who was upstairs in his bedroom. “Jack! Do you want some tea and biscuits?”

  “Yes, mum, I’m coming down.”

  Jack soon appeared and sat with the two women.

  “Where did you see Betty last?” Petronella asked mother and son.

  “She was with me,” Jack answered. “We went to Adrian’s house in Sycamore Street to see what had happened to him. It was Betty who insisted. She went into the garden while I was speaking to Wilfred, the old man who lives there. Adrian’s family, that is the Simnel family, have since moved out.”

  “So you went to the garden to look for her, and she wasn’t there?” Petronella asked.

  “That’s right,” Jack said.

  “Do you think that Wilfred had anything to do with Betty’s disappearance?” Petronella asked.

  “Oh, no. He’s just a harmless old man who moved in after the Simnel family left,” Jack said.

  Petronella wasn’t so sure. It’s true that Betty sounded like a handful and could easily have got herself mixed up in all kinds of mischief. But people had been out looking for her for four days now. The woodcutters certainly were, but the police probably weren’t. What a sad mess!

  In the meantime, Percy had returned to Soloman’s house and Petronella was nowhere to be seen. Percy hadn’t found Soloman. He had asked around after him but nobody had seen him lately. The last sighting of Soloman had been four days ago, last Tuesday afternoon, when he was playing his violin in the High Street. Mrs Riches confirmed that. Someone said they’d seen him go towards the forest later on.

  Percy was asking himself where Petronella had gone off to, when he saw her coming out of next door’s house. She was saying her goodbyes to Jack and Mary Tirel. Maybe she had some news.

  Petronella and Percy talked for a while. Percy told her that the last sighting of Soloman was on Tuesday in the High Street. But Petronella had much more interesting information than Percy. She had a lead in the shape of an old man called Wilfred who lived down Sycamore Street. She had the address on a piece of paper in her dress pocket.

  That was the next place they were going to.

  CHAPTER 14

  The Janjilons had crowded round the dark lake in the grounds of the Janjilon Education Centre. Most of them were perched on the black granite rocks or large mushrooms surrounding the water. Some were still swinging from one tree to another. There was a bustle while they waited for their Master, Judge Ormerod, to arrive. Piercing screeches filled the air while the Janjilons scratched their heads, armpits and stomachs. Some were even scratching their friend’s back. Not all the Janjilons were from Fort Willow. A few were from Cedar Wood Village and one or two were from other villages in Westshire.

  The three weird sisters arrived first on foot. They elbowed their way to the front. One by one, with Gesuelda first and Gasmina last, they stepped into a small rowing boat and paddled to the centre of the lake. Once there, Gesuelda stood up holding the two oars high above her head so that they formed a big X shape. Gismonda threw her dark shawl over the tip of the oars.

  “Silence,” Gesuelda shouted. “Silence, I said. You Janjilons up there, come down from those trees. Have respect for your Master, Judge Ormerod. He is on his way here and will arrive any minute.”

  The murmuring gradually fizzled out. All was still. Even the light wind had stopped blowing so that it seemed as if the leaves of the forest were also tensely waiting for the arrival of the dreaded Judge Ormerod. The only person excited by the whole event was Janjilon Betty. She couldn’t contain herself and was jumping up and down waving her arms in the air and screeching.”

  “Be still. YOU,” Gesuelda shrieked out. “YOU, GIRL, come here.”

  Betty wasn’t sure how she would get to the centre of the lake without a boat. There was another boat, an orange one, moored at the side of the lake but that was for Judge Ormerod. It had Duke Merrick’s coat of arms, a lion’s head, flying on the flag on its mast. How was she to get there? Gesuelda sensed Betty’s difficulty.

  “You are to swim, girl. Yes, you are to swim to me,” Gesuelda said with satisfaction.

  “How can she swim?” Janjilon Adrian called out. “Janjilons can’t swim. Our thick fur when wet is so heavy it pulls us down under water. It’s cruel.”

  Another Janjilon added: “The water is full of flesh biting fish and large weeds that’ll twist around her body...”

  “SILENCE, I said. SILENCE. I have had enough of your cheek. After the meeting with our Master, Judge Ormerod, my sisters will hold your heads down in the water for one minute each. That should refresh your brains and make you more obedient. You Janjilons need to be taught a lesson.”

  All the Janjilons quietened down, their heads bent towards the dark water and their arms dangling hopelessly at their sides. Now all sitting close together, with their tails coiled. There was much flashing of eyelids. A sign that Janjilons were frightened.

  “You are to swim to me this instant. Do you hear that, girl? If you do not do as I say all the Janjilons will be put into the stocks for twenty-four hours after the head dipping is over
.” The evil Gesuelda was irritated.

  Betty put her foot in the water and quickly withdrew it. She tried with her other foot. But it was no good. The water was so cold. Her hind legs were also covered in mud up to her knees. The mud dried out in the sharp cold air and her fur matted together. If she threw herself into the water, this would happen to her whole body. What was she to do? She couldn’t let her friends be placed in the stocks for twenty-four hours.

  “Don’t do it,” Janjilon Henry, from Cedar Wood Village, shouted out. “We’d rather be locked in the stocks than have you suffer for us.”

  Betty turned around to answer him with pride. “I will do it. I am a heroine,” she said. “What heroine would I be, if I let my friends down?”

  Most of the Janjilons gaped at her, open-mouthed.

  With that, Betty threw herself into the pitch-black lake. Her fur soon weighed her down and she was sucked down towards the bottom of the lake. All the Janjilons gasped. The water was soon absolutely still. Not a ripple. Not even one.

  Nobody talked while Gesuelda and her weird sisters smiled at each other with great satisfaction. That was the end of one nuisance they were thinking. Their lives were made difficult by these nasty and disobedient little Janjilons. To drown a few more would be excellent. But they couldn’t. Judge Ormerod needed these foul creatures to find the Golden Shield for him. After that they could all go and drown.

  The silence was broken by some horse’s hooves in the distance. The clickety-clack got nearer and nearer until it stopped. Judge Ormerod had arrived. Everyone was watching him. So he thought he would show off.

  He hit his horse with his whip and made it pivot on the spot, round and round fast. So fast that Judge Ormerod was frightened. “Unhorse me, unhorse me,” he pleaded. The poor horse’s head was spinning, too. It stopped suddenly and stood up high on its hind legs. Judge Ormerod slipped off as if down a slide and landed squarely on the ground on his bottom.

  It was mayhem among the Janjilons who were clapping their paws hard.

  After getting up and dusting himself down, Judge Ormerod went and tied his horse tightly to a tree. Not leaving it much length. Judge then stepped away from the tree in triumph. In confident long strides, he headed for the boat waiting for him. The Janjilons watched him but were still broken hearted about Betty’s disappearance. What a sad end their friend had made. The sparkling Betty was no more.

  Judge Ormerod had reached the weird sisters’ boat and with a megaphone in his hand, the Master of the Janjilons addressed his brood.

  “I come to bring you good news,” he started, looking round at them. “I want to help you. You have all been brought here for one purpose. That is to make your lives better for you and your families. Your education hasn’t started yet. I had to wait until I had enough of you to make this project work properly. There are now forty of you...”

  “Thirty-nine,” Gesuelda interrupted.

  “Thirty-nine?” Judge Ormerod asked. “How’s that? I wanted forty of the little losers. I thought I counted forty!” he said.

  “Forty or thirty-nine, not much difference. We can always get another one. There’s that Percy Trollope, another snotty-nosed nipper. We can get him for you, if you want,” Gesuelda said, while Gismonda rubbed her hands in glee at the very thought of capturing another little upstart. Gasmina had forgotten to react positively to this news and was duly told off by Gesuelda. At which, Gasmina started rubbing her hands, too. Gasmina was sometimes a little slow off the mark, but didn’t delight in these things as much as her two sisters. In fact, she felt quite sorry for the Janjilons.

  Judge Ormerod went on with his speech:

  “As I was saying, all of you will be educated to the best of our ability. Your teachers stand here before you,” he said, swinging his left arm open and gesturing towards the weird sisters. “They will be your mistresses. You are to refer to them as Mistress Gesuelda, Mistress Gismonda and Mistress Gasmina. And you will refer to me as Master Ormerod. I hope that’s clear.”

  “I think they need some more potion,” Gesuelda said. “They are not docile enough yet. Some of them still have their own wicked minds. We need to make up another potion for them. They are so resistant.”

  “At least the worst one – that girl – has gone,” Gismonda said under her voice so only her sisters could hear.

  The other two sisters smiled sweetly. At that moment Judge Ormerod turned round and he thought they were smiling at him. “We’ll organise a new potion,” he said to them so that the Janjilons couldn’t hear. He addressed the Janjilons again:

  “You’ll also be taking lessons from me. I have a Janjilon plan. A project for you. We are all to look for the Golden Shield. As you know, the seventh Duke Merrick has died leaving the position open for me... After seven Duke Merricks it is time for the first Duke Ormerod. A new dawn is breaking over Westshire and you, my friends, will be the makers of this. YOU WILL FIND THE GOLDEN SHIELD AND GIVE IT TO ME,” he was shouting at the top of his voice and getting quite carried away.

  The Janjilons were getting excited, too. Except for Soloman, Adrian and Henry who were the latest Janjilons. They still weren’t obedient enough.

  “Yes, calm down, my beauties,” Judge Ormerod said. “I need you to be quiet and listen. I have some maps here. There are some red crosses on these maps. That’s where I want you to go looking for the Golden Shield. Think of this as an exciting treasure hunt. You are going to split up into ten groups of four. Each group gets a map with crosses in different places. Every day, you will set off until you bring the Golden Shield to its rightful owner. That is me.”

  The witches were murmuring about there having to be a group of three until they captured Percy.

  “Now get into groups of four and I’ll give you a map each,” Judge Ormerod said.

  Soloman, Adrian and Henry decided they would be the group of three.

  “Just a word of warning. Remember that you can understand each other, but your words only come out as screeches to non-Janjilons. Anyway, you all stink to high heaven and are so ugly that people will run away from you,” Judge Ormerod said.

  The meeting was over. Judge Ormerod left. And it was the weird sisters’ turn to speak to the Janjilons with Gesuelda, as the eldest, the spokeswoman for the three, as usual.

  “So the head dipping begins and then you will all take turns to be locked in the stocks. Twenty-four hours each. That’ll be one day you won’t be looking for the Golden Shield,” she laughed cruelly. Gismonda laughed with her. And, after getting a dirty look from Gesuelda, Gasmina started laughing, too.

  “We’ll start with the newest Janjilons,” Gesuelda said. “That’s Soloman first, Adrian second, and Henry third. You others can all watch the dipping until it’s your turn. Thirty-nine minutes then it’ll all be over. One minute each, we said.”

  She turned to her sisters and pointed to Soloman. “Grab him,” Gesuelda shouted. Gasmina hesitated at first. The two sisters, now on land, rushed over to Soloman and held him by an arm each. They led him to the water. Adrian and Henry tried to stop them but Gismonda had armed herself with a large stick and was beating the two boys as hard as she could while Gesuelda, who had run over to help and had taken over from Gasmina, started dipping Soloman’s head in the water.

  Black dirty water seeped into Soloman’s eyes, nostrils, ears and mouth. The taste of it was sickening. He couldn’t breathe. He felt like throwing up, but couldn’t. He struggled but made it worse. At last he couldn’t struggle any more. At that stage, he was pulled up. Soloman took big gasps of air and fell onto the grass. He’d never felt so bad in all his life.

  “Saw your friend Betty down there, did you?” Gesuelda sneered.

  “Too dark for that, I would have thought,” Gismonda laughed.

  “Lock him in the stocks, sisters. Then come back. It’s Adrian’s turn next to take a dipping. And don’t you look at me like that,” Gesuelda said to Soloman. “Of course, you’re going to the stocks. That wicked girl never made it to the boat.
I said you would be spared the stocks if she came to the boat. She didn’t. She sank halfway,” she sneered.

  CHAPTER 15

  Petronella was storming down Sycamore Street in a rage, with Percy running behind her trying to catch up. Petronella was in a foul fit of anger. How dare these people take our children away! She was thinking to herself. I’ll give them my right mind.

  She knocked on the door forcefully. And again. Then the door was opened quite suddenly while Petronella still had her hand on the knocker. This made her fall forwards and Wilfred was quick enough to catch her and put her back on her feet. Then he stood there waiting for her to speak. What did these two want?

  “Good afternoon,” she said to him, trying hard to hide her temper.

  “Good afternoon. How can I help you?” Wilfred said politely.

  “I’m looking for the daughter of a friend of mine. Her name’s Elizabeth Tirel. Everyone calls her Betty. She came here with her brother, Jack, and was never seen again. Her parents are beside themselves with worry,” Petronella said.

  “Yes, that’s right they came looking for a boy called Adrian. He used to live here. The Simnel Family moved out then I moved in. Well, do come in,” Wilfred said.

  Percy was looking around the house for anything suspicious. Maybe a clue of some sort. They stood in the hallway for a moment, the only noise was that of the grandfather clock with its loud tick-tock. Percy broke the silence:

  “Do you mind if I take a stroll in your garden, sir?”

  “No, no, of course not. But I must say that I don’t like all these people coming round here poking their noses into my private property. I didn’t expect all this coming and going when I moved here. Wanted a quiet life...” and Wilfred went on mumbling for a another minute or so, while he walked to the kitchen. Petronella followed him.

  “Do take a seat,” Wilfred said to her.

  Petronella had sat down and Wilfred handed her a mug of tea.

  “Biscuit?” he said.

  “Oh, yes, please. May I ask you where you used to live before?” Petronella said.