Free Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz Page A

then in half again. He didn’t have an envelope but Jill had promised to buy one – along with a stamp – as soon as she reached the mainland.
    If all went according to plan, Captain Bloodbath would arrive at ten o’clock the following morning. Jill would skip the second lesson and hide near the jetty. As soon as Gregor had unloaded the supplies and driven the captain up to the school, she would slip on to the boat and underneath the rags. The boat would leave at eleven. And by midday Jill would be well on her way, hitchhiking south. She had to get away. She was his only hope. But that wasn’t the only worry in David’s mind as he hurried along to the chemistry laboratory. She might send the letter. His father might read it. But would he believe it? Would anyone believe it?
    David still wasn’t sure if he believed it himself.

THE INSPECTOR
    Jill didn’t even get off the island.
    She was discovered by Captain Bloodbath huddling under the rags and was jerked, trembling and miserable, back on to dry land.
    “So you thought you could fool me, my pretty?” he exclaimed with a leering grin. “Thought I didn’t know the waterline of my own boat? I’d know if there was an extra sprat on board. Hitch a free ride to the mainland – is that what you had in mind? Well, you’d have to sail a few high seas before you could bamboozle a Bloodbath!”
    For a whole week after that, Jill waited in trepidation for something to happen to her. As David had somewhat unhelpfully told her, if you were caught trying to run away from Beton College, your head was shaved and you had to spend a month walking round with your shoelaces tied together. But in fact nothing happened. There really were no punishments at Groosham Grange. If Captain Bloodbath had even bothered to mention the incident to any of the staff, they didn’t take the slightest bit of notice.
    And so the two of them were still there as the snow melted and the winter dripped and trickled its way towards spring. They had been on the island now for seven weeks. Nothing about the school had changed – they were still both outsiders. But David knew that he had changed. And that frightened him.
    He was beginning to enjoy his life on the island. Almost despite himself he was doing well in class. French, history, maths … even Latin came easily to him now. He had got a place in the first eleven football team and although no other school came to the island he still enjoyed the games – even with the pig-bladder balls. And then there was Jill. David depended on her as much as she did on him. They spent all their free time together, walking and talking. And she had become the closest friend he had ever had.
    So he was almost grateful that her escape had failed – and it was that that worried him. Despite the sunshine and the first scent of spring, something evil was going on at Groosham Grange. And slowly, surely, it was drawing him in. If he liked it there now, how long would it be before he became a part of it too?
    Jill kept him sane. Operation Bottle was her idea. Every day for a week they stole whatever bottles they could get their hands on and then threw them into the sea with messages asking for help. They sent bottles to their parents, to the police, to the Department of Education and even, in one desperate moment, to the Queen. David was fairly certain that the bottles would sink long before they reached the coast of Norfolk or at least get washed back up on the island. But he was wrong. One of the bottles arrived.
    It was Mr Leloup who announced the news.
    The French teacher was a small, bald, timid-looking man. At least, he was small, bald and timid-looking at the start of the month. But as the full moon approached, he would gradually change. His body would swell out like the Incredible Hulk, his face would become increasingly ferocious and he would develop a full head of hair. Then, when the full moon came, he would disappear altogether, only to appear the next day