Curse Of Wexkia Read Online Free Page B

painful over the years, the words burned in her memory and heart.
    Her father’s soft-soled footsteps sounded behind her. She turned, stepped into her white scuffs and threw him the most hateful look she could muster. Taking the stairs two at a time, she landed on the sand. ‘He hates me,’ she muttered.
    The wind moved the dark clouds closer to shore. She headed for the path and as soon as she passed the front stairs, she started snatching the purple flowers off their stalks and tossing them at the wall of the house. By the time she’d got to the front corner, she’d de-headed every bloom she could get her hands on. Turning onto the path, she stopped and moaned, ‘I’m going to get sick of hanging around here. Ugh. How many times can I go to and from the Frederick’s place?’ More tears pooled in her eyes. She swiped them away. ‘This is the worst day in my life.’
    Humph. Crossing her arms, she slouched along the path curving its way at the foot of Mount Grief. It was so quiet except for an animal’s call every now and then from the rainforest to her left and the sound of waves gently lapping the beach to her right. ‘Grrr,’ she growled. She was sick of being so isolated. She kicked the first fallen coconut she found. Searing pain filled her toes. Clasping both hands around her foot, she dropped down, moaning. ‘Ow, ow, ow.’
    After several moments, the pain subsided and she checked each of her toes. None appeared broken. She stood up and gingerly tested her foot but as she took a step, a movement caught her eye.
    A person meandered between the trees a little way up the mountain. Her mouth opened to call out a greetingbut the crocodile’s words filled her mind,
‘You are in danger’
. She checked herself and crouched low behind a bush. It looked like a man by the way he moved, although his movements were more of a skulk than anything else. He wore a dark-grey cape and hood and moved closer to the house. He was as out of place in Cape Hollow as the man who was with her father earlier.
    She bit her cheek. Lots of people wear grey. But hikers didn’t wear capes and there were no walking or riding trails on that part of Mount Grief. Maybe he was lost.
    The man stopped. Nell sank deeper into the undergrowth without taking her eyes off him. The cape was of the same style as the green one her father’s visitor had worn. She squinted and studied his appearance. Maybe they came from a cold place and didn’t realise how hot it was in North Queensland. The man at the house was a friend of her father. The man on the mountain might be as well.
    He stepped back and a gust of wind caught his cape. It opened a little to reveal a drab brown suit. He wasn’t the same man who had visited her father but there was something familiar in his stance. He was as short and heavy as Carl. The grey hood obscured most of his face but the little skin she could see appeared as grey as his cape. Either he was wearing make-up or he was sick. His skin, like that of the other man, appeared scarred.
    She refocused. A voice in her mind told her she had seen the man before. While she tried to remember, the strange-looking man spun his head from north to south and back again. As if something had angered him, he kicked his high, black boot into the ground.
    Had he spotted her? Her heart leapt into her throat. All the terrors of her dreams flooded through her mind.Huh. That’s where she had seen him. In her dreams. He had sent the bird-men after her. She blinked at the memory and bit her cheek. Now she was letting her imagination and her nightmares take over her life. She gave a shake of her head. In that instant, the man disappeared. She blinked again and sucked in the corner of her mouth. The man had vanished.
    ‘That can’t be,’ she whispered. ‘No one’ll believe it.’
    ‘Believe what?’ a voice sounded behind her.
    Nell yelped and spun around, pushing her hand to her chest where her heart skipped every second beat.
    Sam grinned