The Secrets of Dragonsmoore: The Takers.

Chapter Six: Nightlights

                                                                 Chapter Six 

                                                                  Nightlights 

 The Blue Bedroom. 9.58 p.m.  

After a light supper, Ettie went to bed early. She was very tired after her long journey down from London and having had hardly any sleep during the past three or four nights, looked forward to sleeping in the soft four-poster bed in her Castle bedroom.  

She fingered the silver charm necklace, which Charlie had reluctantly given to her, thinking what an odd thing for him to do. She placed it with her journal carefully on the bedside table next to the lamp. Perhaps she should give it back to him in the morning. He'd never given her anything like this before and would he have done, if she hadn't seen it?  

Then she remembered the sweet fragrance she could faintly smell as he touched her hair and wondered again if it was Tinny's perfume.  

"I bet Charlie bought that perfume for her." she said out loud angrily. "Huh! No, I think I'll keep the silver chain after all!" 

It was just after one in the morning when she awoke startled. Her bedside lamp, which had been left on as usual, had been turned off and something was in her room. She quickly drew herself up to the top of her bed and sat on the huge pillows, quickly pulling the blankets around her, desperately trying to silence the thumping beat of her frightened heart. She held her breath, her wide blue eyes anxiously trying to see in the dark. The eiderdown suddenly slipped to the floor, making her jump causing her to murmur a startled cry...

"Oh no, please... not again..."  

There was a full moon outside and a sliver of silver light was coming in through a long pencil thin gap in the thick drapes. Apart from this, the room was in total darkness. She couldn't smell anything. That was always a good sign. No rotting flesh. Then suddenly she felt cold air rush past her as something moved in front of the window blocking out the glimmer of light for just a second. Then, from the corner of her eye to her left a dim grey shape reflected in the mirror of her dressing table making her quickly turn to look in that direction. Moments later, a creek on the floor boards made her flinch to look back towards the window again. 

"W-Whose there?" she said nervously. A really stupid thing to ask she thought, 'it's not as though they're likely to tell you, is it? Hello, I'm the boogieman, I've come to eat you...'

Ettie couldn't see anything, so decided whoever or whatever it was, either knew the room very well, or could see in the dark. Perhaps they'd slipped in through that secret place in her bathroom?

She slowly felt for the lamp, not really wanting to see 'it' but at the same time needing to see something. Her eyes felt as though they'd been covered with a soft black velvet scarf.  

Suddenly she had this terrifying feeling that someone was standing right by the bedside table. She could hear them breathing. She hesitated just inches from the lamp, then quickly drew back across her bed, feeling for the floor with her toes, then rushed across the room to the window and with one almighty tug, pulled back one side of the heavy curtains.  

Enough moonlight and dust flooded the room to expose a grey shape slightly hidden by the drapes around her four-poster bed. Shaking uncontrollably Ettie moved slowly towards it. 'I'm not afraid-I'm not afraid-I'm not afraid...' she kept telling herself. Absolute sheer relief and then anger filled her whole body when she recognised her intruder.