‘Listen to me, Tam.’ Joel gripped Tamzin’s hands hard. ‘You can’t possibly know for sure about Moonlight! It could have been a kind of waking dream – or a vision, like the one you had on the beach. You’ve got to make yourself believe that!’
Joel had arrived at Chapel Cottage a few minutes earlier, and he and Tamzin were sitting together at the kitchen table. Nan was in her studio; tactfully, she had left them alone to talk. There was a tremendous amount of mess to be cleared at the Richardses’, but Joel had been given permission to come straight away to see Tamzin. He had told his parents that it was urgent, but he had not told them any details. He only wished he could have done; for they too were anxious and upset about Moonlight. But this was too strange. They wouldn’t have understood.
Tamzin nodded, biting her lip. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘I keep telling myself I’m being stupid, and there’s no reason for me to think anything’s happened to Moonlight. But I’ve got this terrible feeling, and I can’t make it go away!’
‘Look,’ said Joel, ‘maybe the Blue Horse was trying to reach you, and it – I don’t know; it put an image of Moonlight into your mind, because you trust him. Isn’t that just as likely as – well, what you’re thinking?’
‘I suppose so… But what was it trying to tell me? Something’s going on, I know it is.’
‘Well, we’d better start trying to work it out, then, hadn’t we?’ said Joel. ‘Now that the rain’s stopped and we can start getting around again, we can –’
He was interrupted by the sound of a car horn beeping outside. Tamzin got up and went to the window.
‘Oh!’ she said. ‘It’s Alec – it’s been days since we heard from him.’ Her face lit up eagerly. ‘He might have some news about Moonlight!’
Alec Brewer saw her at the window and waved. Tamzin ran to the door to meet him.
‘Alec! Is it Moonlight? Have you heard something?’
‘Moonlight?’ Alec was nonplussed. ‘No. Why, what’s happened to him?’
Tamzin’s eagerness collapsed into disappointment, and Joel said, ‘Tam, there’s no reason why Alec should know.’ He told Alec about Moonlight’s disappearance.
‘That’s terrible!’ Alec said. ‘Was he stolen?’
Tamzin was about to say, ‘No!’ but Joel gave her a warning look.
‘We don’t know,’ he said. ‘It’s possible, but we can’t be sure.’
‘Well, I’m very sorry indeed to hear it.’ Alec glanced at Tamzin. ‘I know he’s a very special pony to you. And I understand why.’
‘When you arrived just now,’ said Tamzin, ‘I thought – well, I just wondered if the reason why you were here was because you had some news of him.’
‘I only wish I had. Though I have got news of another kind. It’s the reason why I came along in person, rather than phoning.’ Alec put a folder of papers down on the table. ‘I’ve been able to translate some of the writing we found in the cave tunnel.’
Despite her preoccupation with Moonlight, Tamzin felt a sharp jab of excitement. What had Joel said only a minute ago? That maybe the Blue Horse was trying to reach her… And the phantom Moonlight had gone away from her in the direction of the beach…
‘What have you found?’ she asked.
‘Is your nan in? I’d like her to see it, too.’
‘She’s in her studio. I’ll get her!’
Nan came hurrying when she heard, and Alec spread the papers out on the table.
‘These are the old Cornish words that were carved on the tunnel wall,’ he said, pointing to the first sheet. ‘We couldn’t make out much, if you remember, but with the help of the library people I’ve been able to guess what at least some of them mean. The Cornish words are a kind of rhyme, though of course in English they sound totally different.’
‘A rhyme?’ Nan mused. ‘That’s interesting. People don’t usually make rhymes unless it’s something very significant.’
‘Exactly what I thought,’ said Alec. ‘Some of the words had the library assistants foxed, but this is what they did manage to piece together.’ He picked up a second sheet of paper with scribbled handwriting on it. ‘It says: “Call me from this place” – then there’s something they couldn’t translate – “and break the power of…” – but the next few words were some of the ones we couldn’t make out in the tunnel, so we don’t know what “power” it means. Then it goes on: “With faith and courage, something” – again, we don’t know what – “will win the day.” ’
Nan and Tamzin looked at each other, and Tamzin’s stomach gave a little lurch. ‘Break the power, and win the day,’ Tamzin whispered. ‘But which power, Nan? Power for good – or for evil?’
‘I think the answer is in the words,’ said Nan. ‘The rhyme speaks of “faith and courage”. The Grey Horse knows nothing about those. No; whoever carved those words was a friend to the Blue Horse. “Call me from this place” – does it mean the beach? Or the cave itself? And how to “call”…?’ She turned quickly to Alec. ‘Were you able to translate any more?’
‘Not much, I’m afraid,’ said Alec. ‘There was one word which they thought means “lake”, but they weren’t sure. I think they must be wrong. There aren’t any lakes round here, are there?’
‘Maybe it means a rock pool,’ Joel suggested.
‘Yes!’ Tamzin chimed in, excited. ‘The one in the cave, that we had to wade through to reach the tunnel!’
‘I wouldn’t think so,’ said Alec, shaking his head. ‘Pools like that only exist because the sea scoops the sand out; they change all the time.’ He pored over the papers again. ‘There are some lines here – part of what’s carved in the tunnel – that completely baffled everyone who looked at them. I made a copy – here, look – but it’s impossible to make out what most of the letters are.’
‘It doesn’t even look like an ordinary alphabet,’ said Joel, peering. ‘I mean, that could be an ‘A’, and maybe those are ‘T’s… but the rest don’t make any sense at all, that I can see.’
‘They don’t, do they?’ Alec agreed. ‘But the letters – if they are letters – were larger than all the others, which suggests that they were particularly important to whoever carved them. If only we knew what it meant, it might tell us a lot more.’
Tamzin looked at the jumble of marks and lines… and at the back of her mind a peculiar feeling stirred. Call me from this place… a shiver assailed her, like a tiny current of electricity over her skin. She had the weirdest sensation that something was calling to her, urgently. She shut her eyes, trying to reach it, trying to hear what it was saying –
‘Tam?’ came Joel’s voice. ‘What’s up?’
Tamzin snapped back to earth with a jolt and her eyes opened. ‘I…’ She swallowed. ‘I want…’
‘What is it, love?’ Nan asked anxiously. They were all crowding round her, puzzled and concerned. And suddenly Tamzin knew what she had to do.
‘I’ve got to go to the beach!’ she said. ‘I’ve got to go back to the tunnel – now, right now!’
Alec looked confused, but Joel looked sharply at Tamzin. He didn’t know exactly what she was thinking, but her expression told him that she had sensed something. Nan, too, was staring at Tamzin’s face, and her eyes had narrowed.
Joel said quickly, ‘What time’s low tide?’
Nan checked the kitchen clock. ‘In about two hours.’
‘So it’ll be out past the headland by now.’
‘Yes…’
‘Nan, I’ve got to go!’ Tamzin pleaded.
For a moment Nan hesitated. Then: ‘All right,’ she said tensely. ‘But not alone, Tamzin. Joel and Alec will go with you.’
‘Of course,’ Alec agreed. ‘But I don’t understand what’s so –’
Nan interrupted. ‘I know you don’t, Alec, but I’m just asking you to trust me.’ She glanced at Joel. ‘To trust all of us.’
Tamzin scrambled to her feet and started towards the porch to get her boots and coat. Then she paused. ‘Will you come, too, Nan?’
‘No, love. It… wouldn’t be right. You’re the guardian now; this is something you must do for yourself.’ Her look stopped Alec before he could ask any more questions, and she added to him, ‘Look after her. That’s all I ask.’
Though Alec did not understand, the atmosphere in the room told him that this was something to be taken very seriously. He nodded, his face grave.
‘I will. I promise it.’