Read Online The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman - Free Book Online

are more of them than the stay-behinds. Whatever has become of ffolliott-Absent is of a different order of strangeness to Kali’s abduction.’
    ‘The kidnappers will have Kali in an aeroplane by now,’ ventured Light Fingers. ‘Or a sealed train carriage. She’ll be bundled up like an invalid. Bound to have been drugged too.’
    Amy wasn’t sure about the theory.
    ‘I don’t know why,’ she said, ‘but I believe Kali hasn’t been taken far away,
yet
. The hooded men were only after
her
. If they were white slavers, wouldn’t they have taken all of us?’
    ‘I doubt even the most depraved oriental potentate would offer cushion-space to Inchfawn,’ said Frecks. ‘She’d have to be a Special Bonus Offer, thrown in with better quality merchandise.’
    ‘She wasn’t much use in the pinch,’ admitted Amy. ‘Poor girl.’
    ‘I wouldn’t “poor girl” Inchfawn,’ said Frecks. ‘That one has a sly, cunning streak. And a mercenary nature. Brain-peeping Ames always shied clear of her. Just like Six to turn yellow in a pickle.’
    ‘Funny thing, though,’ mused Light Fingers. ‘I was in Inchfawn’s tent when we went hiking last year. We got early tea every day because we were first to pitch camp. Inchfawn was a whizz at map-reading. I’m puzzled she should have lost the knack. Her brother’s watch works like a compass.’
    Amy snapped her fingers. ‘Crumpets!’ she exclaimed. ‘
Her brother’s watch!
’
    ‘Do tell,’ urged Frecks.
    ‘She snuck a look at the watch just before the hooded men appeared out of nowhere. As if she were waiting for them! We wouldn’t have been on the beach at all if it weren’t for her mucking up with the map… So how did they know where to find us?’
    The three girls goggled at each other. Inchfawn was in with the abductors!
    ‘It’s a Hooded Conspiracy!’ declared Frecks. ‘I knew it in my bones!’
    Amy found such malignancy difficult to credit, but it solved the riddle of why Inchfawn had fibbed to Headmistress.
    ‘What a cow-bag!’ said Light Fingers.
    Frecks knotted a dressing-gown cord.
    ‘Kali showed me how to do this,’ she said. ‘Put a florin in the knot, to give weight. Hey presto – Thuggee strangling tool! Justice will be swift. Show no mercy.’
    Frecks snapped the cord, which twanged like a bowstring.
    ‘
Whoah, Nellie
,’ said Amy. ‘Let’s not go off half-cocked. Yes, Inchfawn’s in on a terrible, terrible crime. But knowing she’s in it opens the door a crack. We were at a loss. Now we have a
clue
. If we play this cleverly, we’ve a chance at doing what we know Keys can’t. Find Kali and get her back…’
    ‘…and see off those dastards in the hoods and all their drippy minions.’
    ‘
Minions?
’ Light Fingers asked Frecks.
    ‘It won’t be just Six. If they’ve signed her up to the Hooded Conspiracy, who knows how many other girls – teachers, even – are in it? Could go all the way up to High Table. Might even be a pinch of truth in what Smudge says about Ponce Bainter. On principle, we can’t trust anyone outside this cell until they prove themselves. Smudge is probably sound, from what you say, Amy. Can’t see what earthly use she might be, though. It’s down to we three. We must apply ourselves – use our Abilities. Without Kali, we’re the Forus no longer. To go up against the Hooded Conspiracy, we must form a conspiracy – a secret society – of our own. Now, what should we call it? The League of Avenging Justice? The Three Good Girls?’
    ‘The Scarlet Slippers?’ suggested Light Fingers.
    Amy had it. ‘The Moth Club.’
    The others looked at her, puzzled and a little disappointed.
    ‘The Moth Club?’ exclaimed Frecks, in disbelief.
    ‘All those other names
sound
like secret societies,’ Amy explained. ‘The Moth Club doesn’t…’
    ‘It sounds
boring
,’ said Light Fingers.
    ‘Moths are
not
boring,’ said Amy, a little stung. ‘But, I admit, my enthusiasm isn’t generally shared. If we talk