Free Ghosts on Board by Fleur Hitchcock

ghosts!’ yells Tilly, charging along the path behind us.
    We stop by the swamp. The tree turns a little to face us.
    â€˜It’s completely horrible,’ I say. ‘How on earth can we get it out? Without being crushed to death?’
    â€˜As I remember, the genus
Handus
can be charmed by riddles,’ says Eric. ‘And jokes of course.’
    â€˜Riddles? But it hasn’t even got ears!’
    â€˜Jokes and riddles? I know lots of jokes,’ says Tilly. ‘Doctor, doctor, I feel like a pair of curtains  … ’
    To my surprise the tree seems to relax.
    â€˜Doctor doctor, I feel like a pack of cards.’
    Tilly starts again. ‘One night, a butcher, a baker, and a milkman enter a haunted house. Four men come out. Who is the fourth?’ And the tree faces her, concentrating intently, watching her. It seems not to notice us tiptoeing across the edge of the swamp until we have our arms linked around the trunk.
    â€˜How about a limerick?
There was a boy called Tom, who ran away from a bomb. He went to a pub to get some grub  … 
’
    â€˜One, two, three – lift!’ I hiss, and Eric and I pull, ignoring the awful squelching sound around our feet. The roots, although wide, aren’t particularly long, and after three goes we actually get it out of the ground.
    â€˜Quick, we’d better run back,’ says Eric, and between the three of us we try to pull it along the path. The arms are still flailing but so long as Tilly tells it riddles, it seems less aggressive, if a tree can seem less aggressive.
    â€˜I’m here, I’m here!’ shouts a voice from the mist.
    â€˜Victor?’ asks Eric.
    â€˜Yes, yes, can’t let the poor mite drown. Hand tree eh? Very resourceful – let me help.’
    Between the four of us we get back to the shore of the lake, just in time to see Jacob’s limp hand sink below the surface.
    â€˜Now!’
    We shove the tree out over the water, and without Tilly’s riddles, it twists around searching for something to grab. Finding Jacob, it plucks him from the water, drags him towards the shore accompanied by his two strange jelly-ghost floats and holds him high in the air.
    â€˜Bravo!’ says Eric.
    â€˜Result,’ coughs Jacob, throwing up a week’s worth of sweets.
    â€˜How very  …  necessary,’ says Victor.

Chapter 15
    The tree really likes Jacob. It won’t let him go even with Tilly standing there telling it riddles and laughing at her own jokes.
    â€˜Help! Help!’ Jacob shouts, caught struggling in the branches like a huge purple beetle in a spider’s web.
    I’m so out of breath I can only stand and stare and gulp air.
    â€˜Oh for goodness’ sake,’ says Tilly. She pokes the tree in the joints between the branches and the trunk. ‘Let go of him,’ she orders in her best dog-trainer voice.
    The tree squeaks, releases Jacob and rolls its branches over the trunk protectively, as if Tilly had actually tickled it in its armpits.
    The moment it does, we rush out of the bell tower, abandoning the flailing tree on the side of the Lilac Lake.
    I glance back at the writhing branches dripping purple liquid onto the floor, and shudder. I almost feel sorry for it – and then I remember Vile Lucy and catch up with the others.
    â€˜So how are we going to get home?’ I ask as we stumble back in the half-light towards the broken harbour. ‘The boat’s not due back for hours. I mean, Tilly, you dragged us here – you must have had a plan.’
    We stop in the graveyard next to the harbour.
    Tilly flicks her hair over her shoulder. ‘Plan? I thought you had a plan, Tom. You were here to look after me. I assumed you’d thought about it.’
    I decide not to answer her. Beside her are what must be Flora Rose and Billy. They’re almost visible as a result of the lilac goo. Billy’s quite little, wearing a cap,