Free The House of Puzzles by Richard Newsome

sake of your friend’s
life, you will complete it. What’s more—’
    The pounding of a fist on the front door cut him off. The sound was followed a moment
later by a man’s voice. ‘Gerald Wilkins! Sam Valentine! Are you in there?’
    Green
scowled in the flickering light. He raised the tip of his sword to Gerald’s throat.
‘Not a word about me,’ he hissed through clenched teeth.
    Green took hold of the professor’s elbow and dragged him into the hallway, through
a side door and out into the snow-strewn night.

Chapter 8
    The front door banged open and a howl of wind blasted inside. Heavy footsteps thudded
down the corridor, and a burly figure lumbered into the lounge.
    ‘Mr Beare!’ Gerald said. The St Cuthbert’s maths teacher was the last person he had
expected to see. ‘What are you doing here?’
    Mr Beare smiled cheerily. ‘Well, hello,’ he said, brushing snow from his shoulders.
‘You’ve set yourselves up nicely, I must say.’ He strode to the fireplace, tugging
his gloves off with his teeth. ‘Far better than all the miserable sods under canvas
tonight, that’s for sure. I’ve just been doing the rounds to make sure everyone is
all right. That snow is really coming down out there. You’ll be happy to know all
your classmates are accounted for, though none of them have fires and marshmallows
and soft beds like you.’
    Mr Beare turned around to the four faces staring up at him. Felicity was sobbing
quietly.
    ‘What’s the matter with her?’ Mr Beare asked. ‘You lot have the least to be sad about.’
    Ruby glared at him. ‘Ghosts,’ she said flatly. ‘We’ve been telling scary stories.
One of them upset Felicity.’
    Mr Beare looked at Felicity as if she was about to detonate. ‘I’m not used to dealing
with girls,’ he said. ‘Things tend to be a bit more straightforward with chaps. Right,
Gerald?’ Mr Beare clapped him on the shoulder, triggering a sharp cry of pain.
    Mr Beare’s eyes shot wide and he took a pace backwards. ‘Everyone’s on a short fuse
tonight. Just to let you know, the time limit for the first leg of the Triple Crown
has been extended because of the snow. You can have another crack at it next weekend
if you like.’ He looked at Felicity with mild concern. ‘Um, I might hop back in the
Land Rover and bunk down at Oates. I’ll leave you lot to your ghost stories. Good
night.’ He plucked a marshmallow from the packet and popped it in his mouth then
made his way back up the hall.
    Ruby helped Felicity to the couch and sat with an arm around her shoulders. Gerald
and Sam looked at each other, then at the girls.
    Nobody spoke.
    There was nothing to say.

    It was a grim breakfast of leftover baked beans.
    Gerald poked his spoon around his plate with no real appetite, shifting beans from
one pile to another.
    ‘The professor looked so miserable,’ he said.
    ‘Wouldn’t you?’ Ruby said. ‘Stuck in some hypnotic fog and made to perform like a
trained seal by that horrible man.’
    ‘Well, that horrible man has given us something to do,’ Gerald said. He dropped his
plate onto the table. ‘I say we hike back to Oates and start on that coded message.’
    ‘What about the checkpoint and the Triple Crown?’ Felicity said. ‘Green made it very
clear that you need to complete that as well.’
    ‘He doesn’t ask for much, does he?’ Sam said. ‘How are we supposed to do both?’
    ‘We’ll try for the checkpoint next weekend,’ Gerald said. ‘I get the feeling this
code is going to take some time to solve.’
    The blizzard had eased overnight, and they tramped four hours through snow-covered
fields back to Oates.
    The dining hall was only half full when they arrived just in time for lunch. Ruby
watched with distaste as Sam demolished his second serving of shepherd’s pie.
    ‘How was it?’ she asked.
    Sam shoved the final forkful into his mouth. ‘Could have used a bit less shepherd,’
he said. He wiped the back of his hand across his lips.