turned as well and was just able to make out the loping gait of the great beast as it paced and sniffed at the grass where Ian and Searle had fought just a few hours before.
“It’s massive!” gasped Carl, gazing down at the beast.
“What is that thing?” asked Perry. “Some sort of wild dog, perhaps?”
“That’s no dog,” said the earl evenly as he stared through the window. “I’ve heard tales of such a beast. Some call it a hellhound, and if you believe the local legend, it’s a beast straight out of the depths of hell.”
“You’ve heard of this thing before?” asked Perry, staring at the earl, who had also gone a little pale.
“Yes, but I never believed the stories,” said the earl. “Until now. …” Ian was shocked that the earl knew about the beast, and racked his memory for any mention in the past by him, but he came up with nothing. “My mother used to say that when she was a child, a terrible beast roamed the land in search of children caught out past their bedtimes. She admitted to me years later that the stories had so frightened her that even as an adult she was careful not to be out alone past a certain hour. She also claimed to have known of a servant whose grandson was snatched from his bed one night and the only evidence of what had happened to him was a giant wolflike footprint by his bed.”
Ian’s thoughts momentarily drifted back to the memory of Madam Scargill the night Theo had arrived and her insistence that she had seen a similar creature when she was a child.
“Did your mother really believe the servant’s story?” asked Thatcher.
“She did,” answered the earl, staring with hard eyes through the pane. “And now I know why.”
All eyes returned back to the beast for a long silent moment, until the earl seemed to break out of the spell and stepped away from the window. In a most commanding voice, he said, “Come, gentlemen! We must get to Castle Dover! I have a collection of hunting rifles there. We must make sure that beast never puts another child in danger.” And with that the earl and the new schoolmasters rushed out of the room.
Theo was still in the middle of Ian’s bedroom, shaking from head to toe. Ian moved quickly over to her and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. “It’s all right, Theo,” he said. “The earl will shoot that beast dead.”
“We didn’t have things like that in Plymouth,” said Carl, nervously looking about the room as if he were trying to decide where to hide.
“Carl, is that your name?” Ian asked the thin lad.
Carl glanced at the space under one of the beds before meeting Ian’s eyes. “Yes,” he said, and extended his hand awkwardly. “It’s nice to meet you, Ian.”
Ian shook it quickly, then with an air of authority said, “Why don’t you go downstairs with the other children? We’ll likely be safer if we stick together as a large group. Theo and I will be along in just a moment.”
Carl nodded and hurried from the room.
“How did it find us?” Theo asked after he’d gone, her voice cracking in fear.
“It must have followed our scent,” whispered Ian. “It tracked us here.”
“What does it want with us?”
“Perhaps by escaping we’ve made it angry,” Ian said.
Theo gave him a grave look. “I knew we shouldn’t have gone down that tunnel. I wish you’d listened to me when I said I had a bad feeling.”
Ian’s cheeks flushed with shame at having endangered them all with his foolish explorations. “I’m really sorry, Theo,” he said. “Next time I’ll listen to you.”
Theo’s hard look softened. “Come on, then,” she said gently, tugging on his sleeve as she turned toward the door. “The headmistresses might need our help with some of the younger ones.”
Downstairs the mood was bordering on panic. The earl, who seemed to be the only calm voice in the room, was giving clipped instructions to the headmistresses. “This creature is nothing to be trifled with,” he was saying. “Every-one must remain indoors until the beast has been killed or captured.”
“I told you, Maggie!” snapped Madam Scargill as her cousin regarded her worriedly. “I told you I heard that beast eight years ago. I know I heard it out in the night! And now, here it is on our grounds. Oh, the children!” she wailed. “What are we to do about the children?”
“Shutter all the windows