We present an extract from The Tower Ghost, the new book for young readers (aged 9+) from Natasha Mac a'Bháird.
Sycamore Hill Boarding School, Donegal, 1963
Clare is excited to start her first term at Sycamore Hill. New sports, new subjects, and new friends – chatty, confident Rose and quiet, nature-loving Molly.
But something strange is going on. The girls see a face at the tower window and hear the sound of crying – could the school be haunted? And does it have anything to do with the mysterious death of a pupil years earlier?
No one seems to want to answer their questions, but Clare and her friends are determined to investigate.
Can they solve the mystery before a killer strikes again?
Clare held her breath. Something had broken through the stillness of the night, waking her from a deep sleep. She lay in bed, listening. Someone had left a window open a crack, and in the distance she could hear the sound of the sea far below where the school stood on the clifftop, waves crashing against the rocks.
But that wasn't what had woken her. Then she heard it again – a strange muffled sobbing sound, as if someone was trying to stifle their tears.
She tried to figure out where the noise was coming from. Moving as quietly as she could, she slipped out of bed and into Rose’s cubicle.
'Rose,’ she whispered.
Rose didn’t stir. Clare shook her arm gently. ‘ROSE!’
‘What? Leave me alone,’ Rose mumbled.
Rose hated being woken by the deafening bell that rang out every morning at seven o’clock, and it looked like she wasn’t any happier at being woken by her friend in the middle of the night.
Clare bent over and whispered right in her ear. ‘It’s the crying again! You told me to wake you. Are you coming with me or not?’
Rose sat up straight away, pushing her hair out of her eyes. ‘Why didn’t you say so?’ She jumped out of bed and felt for her slippers, which she’d tossed carelessly aside the night before.
Clare waited, hoping the sound would come again.
There it was!
‘Can you hear it?’ Clare asked, half afraid that Rose would tell her it was all in her imagination.
‘Yes,’ Rose breathed, wide-eyed. ‘Where is it coming from?’
‘The other end of the room – near Molly’s bed. Come on!’ The two girls tiptoed across the room, past each set of cubicle curtains. The sound grew louder as they got near where Molly slept in the cubicle at the end.
Clare paused and glanced at Rose, who nodded, encouraging her to lift the curtain that surrounded Molly’s bed.
The two girls could see at once that Molly lay sleeping peacefully, her red hair spread out across her pillow.
Clare gazed down at her. Had she heard them coming? Was she just pretending to be asleep, so Clare wouldn’t know how miserable she was?
But then the sound came again, and Clare, gazing directly at Molly’s serene face, knew it couldn’t be coming from her. She whirled around, desperate to find the source of the crying.
Rose was already peeping in at Beth, who slept next to Molly. But she too was fast asleep, snoring gently.
Rose bent her head towards the door and Clare, shivering a little, followed her. Quietly, Rose opened the door, and the two girls stepped into the long dark hallway.
‘It must be coming from somewhere else,’ Rose said. ‘The dormitory underneath, maybe?’
‘But it sounds just like it’s coming from Molly’s bed,’ Clare said. ‘I don’t understand it.’
‘It’s weird all right,’ Rose said. ‘But it can’t be. You saw yourself, she was fast asleep. Let’s go downstairs.’
She led the way to the wide staircase before Clare could object. Clare followed her, though she felt sure they wouldn’t find anything.
The school looked so different at night. The familiar staircase looked a bit spooky in the dim light, and Clare held the banister tightly, afraid of losing her footing.
The girls crept into the dormitory below their own. It was identical to theirs, with a row of eight cubicles, the curtains drawn closed around each bed.
'Ow!' Rose had banged her toe against something and stumbled, grabbing on to Clare.
‘Shhhh!’ Clare said.
They both froze, waiting to see if anyone would wake, but all was silent. The crying had stopped too, Clare realised – or at least they couldn’t hear it from here.
Rose looked to see what she had bumped into. ‘Some idiot has left her hockey stick in the middle of the floor!’ she complained.
‘What’s it even doing in the dormitory? Lucky for her it wasn’t Sister Hilda who tripped over it.’
‘Come on, let’s just get this over with,’ Clare whispered.
They tiptoed down to the cubicle at the end, the one directly under Molly’s. Clare carefully drew the curtain back, but the girl curled up in the bed was clearly fast asleep.
‘Try the next one,’ Rose murmured.
One by one, they tried each cubicle, but every girl they checked on was fast asleep.
Clare shook her head. ‘No good. Come on, let’s talk outside.’
Back in the corridor, they looked at each other.
‘Let’s go back up,’ Clare said. ‘We should see if we can still hear it.’ The two girls crept back upstairs, pausing outside their own dormitory.
Rose cocked her head to one side to listen. ‘I think it’s stopped,’ she whispered.
They listened for a moment, but could hear nothing.
‘Back to bed?’ Rose suggested. ‘I’m freezing.’
‘Me too,’ Clare admitted. She was reluctant to give up so quickly, but she couldn’t see what else they could do, especially now that the sounds had stopped.
‘Come on then,’ Rose yawned. Clare opened the door cautiously, but the dormitory was silent and peaceful once more as they made their way back to bed.
The Tower Ghost is published by The O’Brien Press, for readers aged 9+
