Time By Olivier Hinds
Chapter 1: A change of scenery: The rain fell, George and Elizabeth held hands to share the sorrow of their mother’s death, they were orphans now and everyone at the funeral was filled with sorrow and shock over the seemingly impossible death of such a wonderful and warm-hearted character. As the polished oak coffin was lowered into the water-sodden soil, the twins released the ruby rose down the shaft to land, gently, on to their mother’s coffin. demanded Aunt authoritative
“Come along children!” Victoria in an voice. The
twins
followed her
in to her
horse-drawn
carriage. Aunt be looking after
Victoria would them in her house.
The cart trotted down the lane to Aunt Victoria’s house. they noticed the crenulations of the run-down stately manor, the detail of the gargoyles and the flag upon the tower which fluttered in the prevailing winds. As the cart pulled up in front of the stately Manor,
aunt Victoria took them inside to their bedroom. The room was large, but still one of the smallest in the manor, and it had many paintings on the walls. The floor was planked wood and had not been polished for a long time. The room contained a bed for George and Elizabeth and a closet for their belongings.
After they had unpacked, George and Elizabeth decided to go and explore the garden. As they walked down the creaky stairwell at the main hallway, they stared in amazement at an array of stuffed animal heads.
“Wow,” said George, “a polar bear and a deer!” “These look scary,” replied Elizabeth. As the pair looked at the collection, many unusual heads were there. Many birds of prey, big cats, crocodiles, moose and many more. When they had finished looking at the heads, George and Elizabeth decided to go outside to see the garden. “Only ten minutes before luncheon,” insisted aunt Victoria. They nodded and ran outside.
The rain had stopped but It was still rather chilly. George and Elizabeth had put on their winter coats and hats as it looked rather windy from their window. As they were ambling down the worn path in the middle of the garden, they spotted a peculiar-looking structure to their left. “What’s that?” said George. “To me, it looks like a well or a drain of some sort.” They ventured down to it and, indeed, it was a well. It still had the pulley and this one also had a rusty ladder. “We should be getting back now, it has been ten minutes,” said George. “Don’t be silly, George, we still have a few minutes left and there’s nothing to lose.” She climbed down and left George at the top. “Oh fiddlesticks,” said George as he threw his leg over the low brick wall. “In for a penny, in for a pound.” He followed his sister down the narrow, damp well shaft.
Chapter 2 Where are they?
“Oh, where are those silly children?” said aunt Victoria, “They’ve only been here for a few minutes and they are already gone, Emma, could you please fetch George and Elizabeth for me.” The maid nodded and went outside. George and Elizabeth heard someone walking above and needed to hide. They saw a tunnel in the well and went init. It was dark but Elizabeth had found an oil lamp and a box of matches left down there. George lit the lamp to reveal a series of passageways filled to the brim with old bones and skulls. “this place gives me the creeps” said George in a fearful voice. It was the beginning of an adventure…
Elizabeth led George down the shafts, and, after, what seemed like hours of walking, they were lost. There was no other sign of life, apart
from George, Elizabeth, and the oil lit lamp. The pair were starting to get anxious. Elizabeth still ventured further but George was not liking it. George and Elizabeth were starting to hear things. Both were beginning to be petrified. They heard a faint tapping noise which echoed in the wet and damp shafts. A chill was sent down their spines, despite the coats. They had seen shadows, faintly, on the lamp-lit walls. The place seemed haunted and they began to run. The more they ran, the more they heard the tapping and the more they saw the shadows. The stacked bones also helped the place seem more eerie. The corridors ended in two more and each of those into two more, like the neck of a hydra. After what seemed like days, of right, left, middle, back, U-turn, left, right, they were completely horrified. They were hungry and tired, but they had found the exit after searching for days. They quickly clambered up the cast iron steps, the shaft was still humid, and ran to the house on the muddy path.
“What took you so long,” bellowed aunt Victoria, “I have been waiting for ten minutes and I am not happy. I give you ten minutes and you come back twenty minutes later, that was unnecessary.” The children looked at each other in confusion. “We have been away for hours, if not days” George replied. “Well, anyway, you are back, safe and hungry.” “You’d better eat that soup of yours or it is going to get cold.”
This book is written by the author, Olivier Hinds. A lot of time and effort has gone into this book and here is a bit about it:
Two orphans find themselves stuck in a catacomb, can they escape before aunt Victoria gets mad?