Free The Hunting Ground by Cliff McNish Page A

knows what happened to him, but I do.’ Janey shivered. ‘Cullayn brought him to the hunting ground. Welcomed him in his own special way.
    ‘That’s how Cullayn got caught, in fact,’ Janeysaid. ‘He was so furious with Sam that he was careless, left clues. When people finally came to get Cullayn for Sam’s murder – they found no evidence he’d killed anyone else – Cullayn led them on a merry hunt all over the Glebe estate. They never found him.’ Janey clicked her fingers. ‘
Pff
. He vanished. Squirmed his way out of his hanging. But the children know where he went. Cullayn died inside the East Wing. An accident, actually.’ Janey smiled. ‘You see, he had a secret room inside one of the walls. While everyone was searching for him, Cullayn hid himself in there for months. He only slipped out at night to take food and water from stashes he’d set aside on the estate in case he got caught. From outside, the secret room was opened by a pressure point on the wall. But inside the room there was just a simple lever. Cullayn used it once too often. The lever snapped off, and he couldn’t fix it. He died of thirst, you’ll be pleased to hear.’
    I followed Janey in a daze across the southern grounds. She stopped to peer sharply up at the main house. Letting go of my hand, she turned to face me.
    ‘Cullayn’s an incredibly dangerous spirit,’ she murmured. ‘Normally only the ghosts of children can remain with us in our world. Even for them it’s a hard thing to do, but for adults the pull of the otherside is too strong to resist. Their spirits leave quickly. Cullayn, though, built the Glebe estate out of his own brutal desires, and somehow he’s managed to keep himself here. And he’s still hunting.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘By encouraging children inside. Children like Eve. If he can capture her spirit at the point of death he can feed off her. Use her energy to boost his own. He’s stuck here for now, close to where he died. But if he can get energy from another ghost he might even be able to escape and carry on hunting beyond the Glebe estate.’ Janey pursed her lips. ‘The ghost children are constantly having to hide from Cullayn. They evade him by
staying still
. But doing that’s hard for them, Theo. They’re spirit-things. If the air moves they want to move with it. Cullayn looks for that motion when he drifts across the grounds.’
    ‘But why don’t they just leave?’ I asked.
    ‘I keep encouraging them to,’ Janey said. ‘To just go, pass on to the other side, get away from Cullayn. But they won’t. Not while he’s still here.’ Janey shivered as a breeze came up. ‘The truth is that the ghost children have been waiting all this time for someone like
me
to come along,’ she said quietly. ‘Someone able to hear and see them. That way theycan at least warn us. So far Cullayn hasn’t killed anyone since he died, but the ghost children think it’s only a matter of time before he does. And he seems to have taken a particular interest in Eve. He’s been more active than ever recently. The ghost children aren’t sure why. But they’re trying to protect you by warning me. Cullayn’s already influencing Eve. You’ve seen that. He can’t touch the living. Not physically. But he still has influence. He’s dead, but the hunt goes on. It’s all in the portraits. They’re calling Eve closer. Even if you can’t hear them, they’re whispering. And they’re inviting you, too, Theo.’
    ‘Me?’
    ‘Don’t pretend you haven’t caught yourself looking at them,’ Janey said. ‘Eve’s just easier to influence. That’s why Cullayn’s concentrating on her. But listen …’ Janey took a sharp breath. ‘Because of my talent, skill, whatever you want to call it, I’ve discovered something. I’ve realised I can do more than just warn people. I can be a weapon against Cullayn as well.’
    ‘A weapon?’
    Janey nodded eagerly. ‘There are tricks, ways to pierce Cullayn’s little realm.