Read The Whispers of Wilderwood Hall for Free Online Page B

don’t know how I can ever get used to living here.”
    â€œWhat – you can never get used to living in a giant mansion with more rooms than your family could ever need?” Shaniya teases me.
    OK, I got that wrong. Like I often get things wrong with her. And I understand – Shaniya lives in a small flat in a not-great estate and has to share a bedroom with her little sister, who’s pretty severely autistic. I know that, and I always listen to her talk about what her home life’s like and sympathize or try to help.
    â€œI’m sorry,” I say, flustered. “I didn’t mean it to…”
    I drift away, not sure what exactly I’m apologizing for but feeling bad for my friend anyway.
    â€œLook I’ve got to go,” says Shaniya. “Mum wants me. Talk to you later, yeah?”
    â€œYeah,” I reply, but she’s already gone.
    And hearing the empty drone of nobody there, I crumple, feeling light years from home and so, so alone. Except I have Mum, of course. I take a deep breath, and try and steady myself.
    I don’t care whether Mum is peering down drains or talking toilets with Mr Fraser, I just want to be close to her right now. She might be small, but when I’m with her, I’m surrounded by her force field of love, and that’s a pretty special place to be.
    And once we’re alone, I can tell her about the whisperings and the noises I’ve been hearing. Somehow, she’ll make some kind of sense of it all, I know she will.
    Scrambling to my feet, I pull the door open and aim for the back stairs.
    But then I hear the crunch and roar of a vehicle on gravel, and through the window in the stairwell I see a white van – Mr Fraser’s, presumably – drive off.
    Perfect!
    So it’s back to just being me and Mum, and it’ll be that way for a whole month, till RJ’s back from his promotional tour with the band, I remind myself.
    Even if I’m marooned in this strange new world, as long as me and Mum are together, I’ll be OK.
    First, of course, I have to find her, in this stupidly huge house.
    â€œMum?” I call out, thundering down the back stairs and opening the door to the warren of kitchen rooms. My heart pitter-patters as I walk over to the doorway of the room with the huge cooking range – but everything is still, quiet as an empty church. Tentatively, I put my hand on the door frame, but there’s only a reassuring silence.
    Turning around, I follow the passageway that leads to the main house. When I came the other way earlier, with Cam right behind me, I was too frazzled to notice the hand-painted, beautifully neat gold lettering on each of the many dark green doors along here.
Servants’ Hall
,
Cook’s Rooms
,
Scullery
,
Larder
,
Pantry.
I turn the brass handle of each as I pass, but none opens. Rooms to be explored another time, when I get Mum to show me where the keys are.
    And now I’m out in the main house, with four open doors off the wide corridor leading to what used to be the billiard room, the library, the drawing room and the dining room, and are now just cavernous spaces waiting for new life to be breathed into them.
    â€œMum?” I call out again, as I pad along, wondering where she is. And then I see her, past the staircase and in the vestibule. She’s by the open front door, and from the way Mum’s head is tilted to one side and her elbow sticks out, I can tell she’s on her phone.
    Practically skipping over to her, I wrap my hands around her waist, as glad as I ever have been to see my gorgeous mother.
    But Mum does something she’s never done before.
    She shrugs me off.
    â€œLook – I’ve only
just
got a signal, Ellis, and I don’t want to lose it. This is important, OK?” she practically snaps at me.
    I don’t know what to do, or how to react. Mum being like that towards me … it makes me feel more like I’m losing my mind