Beyond the Cherry Tree Read Online Free

his mind to play tricks on him?
    He began to turn around, gazing up at the vast rows upon rows of shelves packed tightly with books of alltextures and sizes.
    At the very top, almost touching the intricately cobwebbed ceiling, there were great big thick leathery books with their spines all engraved in golden squiggles.
    The general must have been a very fast reader, thought Josh.
    Suddenly, it happened. THUMP!
    Josh spun around. He felt dizzy.
    THUMP!
    He quickly gathered his senses and looked down towards the very bottom shelf, facing him, near the floor.
    Did I just see what I think I just saw?
    Resting on the dull parquet floor was a small, thick hardback book.
    He turned his head to the side, just enough to read the title:
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    Beyond the Cherry Tree.
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    Josh knelt down on the floor and reached his trembling hand out towards the book.
    He gently lifted the book off the floor and, as he did, felt a warm tingling sensation trickle through his hand and dart straight up his arm. Afraid, he let the book fall.
    The instant the book touched the floor, it leapt up onto the bottom shelf and tucked itself back in between twobigger books, where it had previously been sitting.
    Josh fell back onto his bottom and slid backwards across the floor, as far away from the book as he could get. He leaned against a row of uncomfortable books, but he didn’t care about comfort – he was shaking with fright.
    What’s happening here? he thought frantically. What kind of magic have I stumbled across? I’ve got to get out of here!
    Just as he was about to get up from the floor, he heard a voice in the room.
    A man’s voice.
    Josh slowly looked up, but there was no one there.
    The deep powerful voice spoke again.
    Could it possibly be? the trembling boy wondered.
    He hesitantly glanced over at the far wall of the library.
    Right above a shelf lined with crystal decanters of whiskey and brandy and a small crystal glass sat a portrait of the general just like the one in the hallway, but smaller. Josh noticed that the medals that stretched from one side of the general’s uniform to the other appeared to be glistening, especially the last one to the right.
    Josh jumped back with fright, as the painting twitched its long curly moustache, and its lips began to move. Then it spoke:
    â€˜Don’t be afraid to grasp your destiny, boy!’
    What’s happening? thought, Josh. This place is haunted!
    Josh’s initial desire was to get up and run straight out of the library. But Josh Bloom was curious, and it was that very curiosity that had lured him into the library in the first place. It was that curiosity that stopped him from running away.
    So, very cautiously, he leaned over towards the bottom bookshelf and reached out one hand towards the book while trying his very best not to take his eyes off the portrait.
    He held the book in his hand. No tingling this time.
    He began to flick through its pages.
    Nothing!
    It seemed that all the pages were blank.
    What kind of book is this? thought Josh. Is it a book at all? Surely to be a book, a real book, it must have words in it!
    Just as he was about to put the book back on the shelf, it started to jump in his hands. It hopped from one hand to another and back again. It was almost as if he was trying to hold a hot loaf of bread that Aunt Nell had just baked.
    Then the book just stopped, and its pages began to flick all by themselves, getting faster and faster and faster. The number of pages seemed endless. Josh didn’t remember flicking through so many. Where were they coming from?
    He held on tight as the book shook violently in his hands. He felt like the bones of his hands were piercing through his skin, as the whiteness of his knuckles gleamed bright through his flesh.
    Suddenly the book stopped shaking and the flicking pages began to slow down; just before completely stopping, one page shot up into the air, gently floated its way down to him and softly rested on