Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest Read Online Free Page A

Eda made a questioning face, so Samuel explained.
    â€œShe hasn’t said anything since Mum and Dad died. She only nods and shakes her head. Only ask her things that need a yes or no for an answer.”
    Samuel thought the idea of his silent sister might shock Aunt Eda, as she seemed the shockable type, but she took this piece of news as if it was perfectly normal. He watched his aunt’s face under the flickering lights of the tunnel and detected nothing except a warm smile below the same sad eyes.

The Tale of Old Tor
    â€œNow,” said Aunt Eda, turning a corner. “This is FlÃ¥m, the nearest willage to my house. This is where we must stop here and get some food from the grocers.”
    FlÃ¥m was a very quiet and clean village with hardly any traffic. It reminded Samuel of a model village he used to own when he was little, but this was a model village blown up so big it was full-sized. Like Hell and all the other places they’d driven through, the streets were lined with gabled timber houses—some painted white or blue, others left dark and natural. Aunt Eda drove them slowly past a church, which was also made of wood, and shaped like all the other buildings, except for the short, pointed steeple sticking out of it.
    â€œYour uncle Henrik used to joke that it wasn’t a church at all,” said Aunt Eda as she waited at a crossroads. “He said it was just an ordinary house that had ideas above its station.”
    Aunt Eda parked the car in the middle of the high street.
    â€œCome on, children. Let us get some food, shall we?”
    Samuel huffed, but he and Martha did as their aunt said, following her past a bookshop, then an art shop, toward a shop which had a sign outside, painted in bold yellow letters, that said:
    DAGLIGVAREBUTIKK
    â€œThis is Oskar’s shop,” explained Aunt Eda. “Oskar is the grocer. This is where I get my shopping. It is a werry friendly place.”
    She pushed open the door and a bell rang.
    Samuel nearly choked on the smell. It was like walking into a giant block of smelly cheese.
    The shop was busy with villagers talking and laughing, but when they heard the bell, and turned to see Aunt Eda and the two children, their conversation stopped.
    â€œGoddag!” Aunt Eda said, cheerily, but the greeting bounced off their stony faces.
    Aunt Eda did her best to ignore the villagers staring at her, and picked up a shopping basket. She began to pick groceries from the shelves—a packet of flatbread, a carton of cloudberry juice, a jar of pickled herrings—while Samuel and Martha shuffled along behind her.
    When she reached the cheese counter, another customer—a chubby woman in three cardigans—tutted at Aunt Eda and shook her head at Samuel and Martha.
    â€œWhat’s her problem?” Samuel muttered.
    But it wasn’t just the cardigan woman. All the other customers were giving Samuel and Martha equally funny looks.
    â€œNow, Samuel and Martha, is there anything you would like to add to the basket?” Aunt Eda asked, doing her best to ignore the villagers.
    Martha shook her head.
    â€œNo,” said Samuel, because he wanted to leave the shop as soon as he possibly could.
    â€œIf you’re sure,” said Aunt Eda, with a smile, as she waited at the cheese counter for Oskar to appear.
    â€œGoddag, Oskar,” she said to the shopkeeper, once he’d walked over.
    Oskar was a rather odd-looking man. He was short, with a bald head and an impressive yellow mustache. He also wore a yellow bow tie and yellow shirt, tucked tight over his round belly. He didn’t return Aunt Eda’s greeting. He just stood there, silent in his yellow clothes, as if he was just another cheese waiting to be picked.
    â€œOskar?” Aunt Eda enquired. She then began talking in Norwegian and pointing at different cheeses.
    Oskar began slicing cheese, but didn’t talk.
    It was then that a boy appeared from the doorway at