George Adamson Lives with Apes

What Time Is It Mr Wolf

"I will steal the key on Miss Grimm's birthday." Angus' grin became wider and he paused for dramatic effect. He was enjoying the spotlight.

The emotional roller coaster continued inside the room. The children could barely contain their excitement as they tried to stay still and keep silent. The ancient old hag's birthday was fast approaching and the children all knew that on her anniversary Miss Grimm and the rest of the adults went a bit mad. Consistently on this special date they would raid the wine cellar and stay up until the early hours of the morning. They would drink, talk and listen to awful music, dancing terribly and smashing things as they stumbled the waltz or attempted a jive. Once the cellar was dry the teachers would all go back to their rooms and crash out, often leaving the children to sleep in until midday. Even Grimm let her guard down on this special night. It was perfect!

Angus ran through the rest of his plan. After the party while the old bag of bones lay unconscious Angus would sneak into her room and take the key. This year the timing was extra specially perfect; he informed the others with a huge grin and another flick of his floppy fringe. Mr McClary, the school caretaker, was away on holiday for a week. Angus had overheard him discussing it with Miss Grimm whilst he was taking out the rubbish. A chore he had been given to do for being too happy and smiling too much. Mr McClary lived in a cottage at the edge of the school grounds just outside the gates, partially hidden by the twisted trees. It was rumoured that he had a huge black dog which prowled the woods outside the gates and the children had often heard it howl in the dead of the night. With Mr McClary and his dog gone for the week there was nobody to worry about discovering them once they had cleared the gates.

A strange wail from the corner of the room interrupted Angus' flow. Everyone turned to look at Ruby. "Don't go, it will end in failure. The beast will get you." Everyone gaped, even George. Ruby's eyes returned to normal.

Angus burst into laughter. "Wooooooooo spooky." He joked. The other children joined in with the laughter, quieter and more nervously then Angus though.

Ruby was just about to retaliate and give the little idiots a piece of her mind when her eyes glazed over again, "Bank is coming." She warned. The children ran to their bunks without another word.

When the morning bell sounded the next day George jumped up and peered down to his best friends bunk. She lay twirling a piece of jet black hair absently. "What exactly did you see Ruby?" He asked. The small pale girl shook her head. "The vision's not clear but I see a huge black beast with terrifying sharp teeth."

George nodded sadly. "Then we have to get Angus to stop."

Ruby shrugged. "I tried to and the idiot just laughed in my face." George smiled his megawatt smile. "Then we have to try harder."

Ruby sighed, it was a waste of time but she would do it for George. At least that way he wouldn't feel so bad when Angus the dimwit got himself killed. That evening the duo managed to get the floppy haired boy to join them in the library. When Violet saw that they had brought another child with them she was not impressed.

"No!" She whispered, and George was genuinely scared as her face turned red with anger. "You cannot have this other child up here. It is not safe. I knew I shouldn't have trusted you. If you don't go now I will have to report you to the other teachers. I can't believe you broke my trust."

George took the young woman to one side exploring her face with his eyes, his hands pressed together until she stopped ranting. "Violet we are so sorry but we had to talk to Angus up here. It's the only safe place in the castle. He is going to try to escape but Ruby has seen him fail in one of her future visions, we have to persuade him not to go through with it but he wont listen to us."