Free Skull in the Wood by Sandra Greaves Page A

I’d been wanting to get Dad on his own – I really needed to talk to him. He gave me the perfect lead-in.
    â€˜Is Matt behaving himself, then?’ he said. ‘Helping out a bit?’
    I laughed, but it came out more like a strangled cough that made Jez jump.
    â€˜What do you think? Why do we have to have him, Dad?’
    He sighed. ‘You know perfectly well. Come on, Tilda, you do realise his family’s going through a really hard time, don’t you?’
    â€˜Oh, like we haven’t been? Not that Matt seems to have noticed.’
    Dad sat up and patted the spot next to him.
    â€˜Darling, I know how difficult it’s been for you since your mum died. You’ve coped brilliantly. Sometimes I worry about how much you do round the house. And I know how much you miss her.’
    I turned my head so he wouldn’t see my eyes getting wet.
    â€˜I’m fine,’ I said.
    â€˜Good girl. Anyway, with his dad away, I gather Matt’s finding it hard to adjust to the changes.’
    â€˜You mean Aunty Caroline’s new boyfriend?’
    â€˜Yes. Some banker type, apparently. Matt’s taking it badly. Just try to cut him a bit of slack. The boy’s suffering.’
    â€˜Well, so what?’ I said. I felt all my pent-up fury rise to the surface like an ash cloud. ‘I don’t see why we should put up with him when he’s going to take the farm away from us. We don’t need anyone else here. We’re fine, just you, me and Kitty. We shouldn’t even be talking to him, let alone feeding him. It’s like offering your supper to a cannibal.’
    Dad turned and faced me.
    â€˜You’ve got to get over this, Tilda,’ he said. ‘Matt’s your cousin. I know your mum and her sister didn’t always see eye to eye, with Caroline being such a city girl at heart. But Caroline can’t help the fact that she inherited half the farm and doesn’t care for farming. What would you expect your grandfather to do? Just give it to your mum? That would be like me leaving everything to Kitty and nothing to you. It wouldn’t be fair, would it?’
    I scowled. ‘Yeah, well, Aunty Caroline’s not muchof a sister, is she?’
    â€˜Tilda!’ Dad sounded really shocked. ‘Your mum loved her, even if they didn’t see each other that much. Just remember, this farm business isn’t Caroline’s fault. And it’s certainly not Matt’s. Anyway, you never know.’ He broke into a grin. ‘After a few days here he might find himself wanting to be a farmer. So stick with it, Tilda. It might all come out right in the end.’
    â€˜Yeah, like that’ll happen,’ I said. ‘Matt hates the country. He hates everything about Dartmoor. And even if he didn’t, I wouldn’t share anything with him. I’d honestly rather the farm was sold.’
    Dad looked at me and frowned. I shut up. There was no point in going on at him, but I wasn’t giving up that easily. If Matt thought he was suffering now, he didn’t know the half of it. For some reason the skull floated into my head, and suddenly I knew how I could get back at him. And this was a whole lot better than a stupid werewolf mask.
    I trailed back upstairs to my room. This time I knew I wasn’t imagining it. The curlew skull was definitely different – the beak was nearly all black. It wasn’t as long as I remembered either – somehow it looked wider, blunter. It must be some weird microbe thing going on.
    I was just about to pick it up when my bedroom door opened. Matt pushed it wide and came straight in without even knocking.
    â€˜Let’s have a look at it, then,’ he said. ‘I knew you had it in here.’
    â€˜What are you doing in my room?’ I said. ‘It’s private!’
    â€˜Yeah, well, we both found the skull, so it belongs to both of us,’ said Matt.
    â€˜ I found it! Just get