hear Aunt Janeâs words in his head. Was it something to do with the way sheâd said it â her inflection? But Venture wasnât there, so how could he even know?
âThe password for the computer is a secret,â he heard her say in his memory. But there was something wrong with it. It didnât sound quite right. Because, he realised, that wasnât what she had said.
What she had actually said was: âThe password for the computer is secret.â
Matt typed âsecretâ into the entry field, and the computer came to life.
There was an email from Alex saying heâd tried ringing Matt and just got his mumâs answerphone saying she was away. Matt didnât have a mobile, since they werenât allowed them at school, and he couldnât remember Aunt Janeâs number. So he emailed Alex his address as best he knew it and told him the number would follow and that heâd check his email.
After surfing the web a bit and playing an online game called
Udder Worlds
â where you had to herd cows into a milking shed before aliens kidnapped them and sent them on missions on other planets â Matt was getting bored. He logged off the computer and went back through to the main library, surprised to find how overcast it had got. Where pale light had streamed through the windows round the top of the dome despite the rain, there was now the gunmetal grey of gathering storm clouds.
Incongruously, Matt saw, the library was lit by candles. A large candelabra with half a dozen candles stoodin the middle of the round table, casting flickering light that was reflected back off the table top. The light reached barely further than the table itself so that the edges of the room were lost in shadows â the table could have been in the middle of a black void, or stuck in a field for all you could see.
Matt made his way carefully and slowly to the table, straining to see where the door out of the room and back to the corridor might be. In the worst case, he thought, heâd simply walk round the edge of the enormous room until he found a way out. Or a light switch. Or take a candle from the table to light his way.
But then a door opened opposite him, across the other side of the table. An elongated rectangle of light fell across the wooden floor. Framed in the doorway, light shining round her so that she was barely more than a silhouette, was Robin.
âYouâve finished, then?â she said.
âIâm done,â he agreed. âI was just looking for the door.â
âYou were busy earlier.â She waited in the doorway for him.
âYou were checking up on me?â
He could see her face now as she stepped back into the light to let him through. âIf you like.â
Matt wasnât sure what to say to that. So he just nodded. âHang on, where are we?â
The door didnât lead back to the corridor heâd come along earlier. It gave directly into another room. This onelooked more like a museum than a library. There were glass-topped display tables and glass-fronted display cabinets on the wall. A statue of a woman dressed in a toga stood on a low plinth in one corner of the room, an ancient grandfather clock ticked away the moments in another. The second hand clicked from second to second, and Matt wondered if it was this clock that Robinâs father had in mind earlier.
There were other items displayed on tables and shelves, but too many for Matt to take in as Robin led him across the room to another door. âJane left a while ago, I said Iâd tell her when you were done with the computer. I didnât want her disturbing you if you were busy.â
âWell, you know,â Matt said. âWhat is all this stuff?â he asked.
She shrugged. âItâs just stuff. Dad canât resist collecting things. He tries not to these days, but it sort of accumulates over the years. Itâs the same with the
âThe password for the computer is a secret,â he heard her say in his memory. But there was something wrong with it. It didnât sound quite right. Because, he realised, that wasnât what she had said.
What she had actually said was: âThe password for the computer is secret.â
Matt typed âsecretâ into the entry field, and the computer came to life.
There was an email from Alex saying heâd tried ringing Matt and just got his mumâs answerphone saying she was away. Matt didnât have a mobile, since they werenât allowed them at school, and he couldnât remember Aunt Janeâs number. So he emailed Alex his address as best he knew it and told him the number would follow and that heâd check his email.
After surfing the web a bit and playing an online game called
Udder Worlds
â where you had to herd cows into a milking shed before aliens kidnapped them and sent them on missions on other planets â Matt was getting bored. He logged off the computer and went back through to the main library, surprised to find how overcast it had got. Where pale light had streamed through the windows round the top of the dome despite the rain, there was now the gunmetal grey of gathering storm clouds.
Incongruously, Matt saw, the library was lit by candles. A large candelabra with half a dozen candles stoodin the middle of the round table, casting flickering light that was reflected back off the table top. The light reached barely further than the table itself so that the edges of the room were lost in shadows â the table could have been in the middle of a black void, or stuck in a field for all you could see.
Matt made his way carefully and slowly to the table, straining to see where the door out of the room and back to the corridor might be. In the worst case, he thought, heâd simply walk round the edge of the enormous room until he found a way out. Or a light switch. Or take a candle from the table to light his way.
But then a door opened opposite him, across the other side of the table. An elongated rectangle of light fell across the wooden floor. Framed in the doorway, light shining round her so that she was barely more than a silhouette, was Robin.
âYouâve finished, then?â she said.
âIâm done,â he agreed. âI was just looking for the door.â
âYou were busy earlier.â She waited in the doorway for him.
âYou were checking up on me?â
He could see her face now as she stepped back into the light to let him through. âIf you like.â
Matt wasnât sure what to say to that. So he just nodded. âHang on, where are we?â
The door didnât lead back to the corridor heâd come along earlier. It gave directly into another room. This onelooked more like a museum than a library. There were glass-topped display tables and glass-fronted display cabinets on the wall. A statue of a woman dressed in a toga stood on a low plinth in one corner of the room, an ancient grandfather clock ticked away the moments in another. The second hand clicked from second to second, and Matt wondered if it was this clock that Robinâs father had in mind earlier.
There were other items displayed on tables and shelves, but too many for Matt to take in as Robin led him across the room to another door. âJane left a while ago, I said Iâd tell her when you were done with the computer. I didnât want her disturbing you if you were busy.â
âWell, you know,â Matt said. âWhat is all this stuff?â he asked.
She shrugged. âItâs just stuff. Dad canât resist collecting things. He tries not to these days, but it sort of accumulates over the years. Itâs the same with the
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