Free Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London by Keith Mansfield Page B

sheepdog met his gaze as though he understood.
    â€œYou need a leg up?” Johnny asked Louise.
    â€œI’m not a useless girl, you know. I can climb it. I’m not sure you can though.”
    â€œBoth together then,” said Johnny. There was no traffic. Louise said her goodbyes to Rusty and the pair sprinted across the road and jumped up onto the fence. Johnny was a good climber and Louise proved to be too—they reached the top together, whichwas a mistake. The fence gave way and they fell forward, landing with a thud right on top of the outermost hedge of the maze, just thick enough to hold them for a second, before they tumbled forward inside. Louise was bleeding from the barbed wire.
    â€œYou OK?” Johnny asked.
    â€œFine,” Louise said, clutching her stomach which most definitely did not look fine. Her jacket had been undone and the white T-shirt underneath was quickly turning red. “There’s worse stuff in here—believe me,” she added. “For a start how do we get out of here?” The hedges making up the maze were a lot higher than they’d looked from the hillside. Even jumping, Johnny couldn’t see over them. As she was taller, Louise tried doing the same, but only the once. Johnny could see it had hurt, even if she didn’t make a noise.
    â€œI wrote a program to solve a maze in homework last year,” Johnny said. “Just follow the right or left wall and we’ll get through it.”
    â€œYou’re funny,” Louise said. “You don’t look like a nerd. It’s really that simple?”
    â€œYeah,” said Johnny. “It can take a while though. Your choice—left or right?”
    Louise chose the right wall and they set off. They could hear children’s voices wafting over the hedges, but were careful not to make any noise themselves. Normally exploring a maze would have been great fun, but with Louise gripping Johnny’s arm as though her life depended on it, everything felt deadly serious. They walked slowly and carefully for five or ten minutes, taking every right turn they found between the thick hedges. Finally Louise stopped, holding her stomach, and said “Are you sure this is working? We’re just going round in circles.”
    Johnny hissed, “Trust me.” He turned a corner a little carelessly and bumped into two girls in pink gingham checked dresses. They took one look at Johnny and Louise, another atLouise’s bloodstained T-shirt, and turned and ran screaming. “Quick,” said Johnny. “Don’t let them get away,” and he sprinted after them with Louise following. He was gaining but it was hard to follow the schoolgirls as they darted quickly round the different corners. Johnny had almost caught them up when they turned left and the maze opened up into a central clearing with a sundial in the middle and a few other girls sitting on the grass.
    One of the girls he’d been chasing shouted, “Strangers—run!” as she careered past the sundial and out the other side. All the other schoolgirls leapt up and followed—all of them except one.
    A fair-skinned, blond haired girl jumped to her feet with the others but as they ran off she stopped and turned to Johnny who also halted. Louise staggered into the clearing clutching her stomach. Johnny, all out of breath, managed to say “Clara?”
    The girl in front of him replied, “It’s you.”
    Of all the things she might have said that wasn’t what Johnny was expecting. “You know me?” he asked. “How?”
    Clara took hold of a golden chain around her neck and, from beneath her uniform, pulled out a locket, with swirls of green delicately covering a golden base dotted with crystals. “Your photo’s in my locket,” she said. “Who are you?”
    Still breathing heavily, Johnny managed to say, “I’m your brother … Johnny … here to