Blackbriar Read Online Free Page A

him.
    “It sounds all right,” he said, but he could tell by the expression on her face, and the tone of her voice, that she thought Mr. Creech was leaving something out.
    “By the way,” she said, turning back, “where are we going to stay tonight, since we can’t get up to the cottage?”
    “Oh, I’ve arranged that for you. My old folks have a big house across the road from my garage. There’s plenty of room there. They’ve already made up the rooms for you. All your gear will be safe in my van overnight. In the morning we can load it into your Land Rover, and you’ll get a good early start. In the daylight.”
    Danny lay in the back and watched the black shapes move by. His eyes had become adjusted to the darkness, and he could make out where the hills ended and the sky began. He was drowsy, the canvas bags were soft, and he had wrapped a thick blanket around himself. He felt warm and comfortable, so that it was very easy to imagine the distant hills not as dreary, uncomfortable places, but as a mysterious and intriguing new world. Perhaps this won’t be so bad, he told himself. At least I don’t have to go to school; she may even let me sleep late.
    He, too, felt that there was something strange about the place that Mr. Creech did not want to tell them, but he was glad of it. Adventure can seem very attractive to someone who has no idea at all what it really means; and Danny, who had always been taken care of and had never made a decision in his life, knew less about it than most. As he began to drift toward unconsciousness, visions of his life in the country floated haphazardly through his mind. Barefoot, he would creep silently through the forest without disturbing a twig. The deer would become his friends. He would learn the language of the wolves, and teach them to do his bidding. Soon he would never live in the house at all, but would make his home among the trees and in rocky grottos. For miles around, people would whisper about the strange “nature boy,” a strong yet faun-like creature, not really human, more like some archaic god . . .
    Suddenly they turned and the lights flashed over a pair of old gas pumps. The truck drove into a high-ceilinged garage, littered with tools and reeking of gas, and came to a stop.
    “Here we are,” said Mr. Creech, and hopped out.
    “Danny, bring that little brown bag,” said Philippa. “That’s all I need for tonight.”
    Danny carried two bags and Philippa held Islington, who was irritably beginning to wake up, stretching his claws and shaking himself. With the motor off, the silence swelled suddenly around them. Mr. Creech pulled down the garage door and locked it. “I suppose the food will stay fresh in this cold,” Philippa said.
    “There’s plenty to eat inside,” said Mr. Creech. “It’s just time for supper.”
    Mr. Creech’s beaming pregnant wife and his tiny little girl soon joined them, and they went across the road to the Creeches’ old, shingled Victorian house. Inside it was dim and warm. Real wood fires burned in each small room. The meal was tasteless and very heavy. There was shepherd’s pie, boiled cabbage, and bread pudding for dessert. Mr. Creech’s daughter took a rapid liking to Islington, who reluctantly allowed her to play with him under the table until after dessert, when the little girl emerged with a long scratch on her arm and was given another helping of pudding to ease the pain.
    No one said a word about the cottage, almost as if, Danny thought, they didn’t want to spoil the evening by mentioning it.

4
    In the morning the sun was bright, but there was a high, cold wind. Philippa was eager to see her Land Rover, a kind of jeep, which Mr. Creech had found for her. It was a sturdy little car, the roof and sides made of one sheet of canvas strung over metal poles. It had four-wheel drive, and was the only kind of vehicle, Mr. Creech said, that could get up to Blackbriar. Philippa was enchanted with it. Though it was old