Free Deadly Games by Anthony Masters

how much I love them.” He laughed tenderly, ending in a coughing fit so prolonged that the twins, wet through and shivering, began seriously to worry about him. But Sid emerged, gasping andwheezing, to say, “Just my luck they were dead – that they were only ghosts. But I’d known it all along in my heart.” He paused. “I guess I was the first person to really care about ’em.”
    â€œWhat about Mrs Garland?” asked David.
    â€œHer? She didn’t give a monkey’s for either of them kids. She was paid to look after them, too, and just look what a mess she made of it. And she’s still making a mess, isn’t she?”
    Neither of the twins knew how to reply to Sid, and the tunnel was no place to argue. All they did know was that he saw Mrs Garland as a rival, whether she was dead or not. He had been so long on the road that the barrier between life and death no longer mattered to him. Was he going to die soon? wondered Jenny. Did he want to join them all? Was that why it didn’t matter? She saw her brother watching Sid in great concern.
    Then something else entered David’s mind and he was, as usual, instinctively sure that the terrible thought was in Jenny’s mind too. Suppose it wasn’t Mrs Garland who had chased Alan under the tube train? Suppose it was May and Leslie who had goaded him towards it?
    A loud squeaking interrupted their forbidding thoughts and Gumbo’s eyes appeared in the darkness, small, beady and torchlike.
    â€œWe won’t need matches now,” said David.“Not with the rat around – if it doesn’t run off, that is.” He suddenly felt insecure.
    â€œShe’ll stay,” replied Sid confidently. “Gumbo’s a spirit of good. Knew it straight away when I first came across her. She’s part of my journey, she is.”
    David and Jenny looked down at the rat gratefully, no longer repelled by its sleek grey body and yellow teeth. Gumbo had saved their lives and they knew they might well have need of it in the future.
    But now it was getting impatient, scampering to and fro, its dark eyes lighting up the space around them. Surely Gumbo’s eyes couldn’t be
that
bright? thought David.
    â€œGumbo wants us to follow.” Sid was in charge now. “Let’s go.”
    As they stumbled on behind, Gumbo paused every so often and turned back to them, its eyes flashing.
    Jenny looked down at her watch. It was four in the afternoon. She had no idea what they were going to do when they reached the old railway yard. Previous searches had not found May’s and Leslie’s bodies, but then their would-be rescuers hadn’t had the advantage of having the sight. Would they be contacted by Mrs Garland or did they have to wait for May’s and Leslie’s next attack? If so, there would be another terrifyingbattle of wills. Would they be up to it, or were the ghost children wearing them down with each encounter?
    A patch of silvery light began to widen at the end of the tunnel until they were no longer dependent on Gumbo’s eyes, and as it became brighter David and Jenny suddenly felt the full weight of their exhaustion.
    â€œYou look like a drowned rat,” said David.
    â€œDon’t insult Gumbo,” snapped Jenny. “And you don’t look too good yourself.”
    â€œI hope you two don’t catch your deaths.” Sid sounded anxious again.
    â€œConsidering how many other people have done just that round here,” replied David irritably, “you’re not exactly being tactful, are you, Sid?”
    â€œGot to face facts,” muttered the old man.
    â€œThen you should face them over May and Leslie. They’re really dangerous.” Jenny immediately regretted the cruelty of what she had just said, but she was too late. Sid gave a smothered sob and came to an abrupt halt, his hands over his face, his shoulders shaking with racking sobs.
    â€œNow