The Mapmaker and the Ghost Read Online Free Page A

exact distance from the hydrant because he kept moving. It made her realize that perhaps it would be necessary to edit down her legend to include only those things that would remain stationary. After all, what good would an extraordinary map be if it was made inaccurate almost the moment she had drawn it?
    There was a slight possibility that the dog might be an undiscovered breed, though. True, Goldenrod was pretty sure that the dog was Ulysses, the beloved Labradoodle of Old Sue, who owned the nail salon.
But it never hurts to check
, she thought to herself as she kneeled down and gently picked up one of the dog’s tiny paws.
    This did not help with the yapping situation, and it wasn’t very long before Old Sue herself came walking out of the chiropractor’s office.
    â€œWhat
are
you doing?” She looked at Goldenrod oddly as she untied Ulysses’s leash from the hydrant that Goldenrod had hastily started to measure.
    â€œOh, nothing. Just … a little project, Mrs. McNamara.” Goldenrod smiled at Old Sue.
    Sue continued to look at her a little doubtfully but left with Ulysses without further comment.
    The truth was that Goldenrod hadn’t told anyone abouther map; she didn’t think anybody besides Charla would understand. She’d talked to her parents about wanting to explore Pilmilton but hadn’t given the exact reason why. And as Old Sue walked away, eyebrows still arched, Goldenrod thought that she was probably right to keep it to herself.
    By five thirty, Goldenrod was exhausted. Not only had she spent the day bending over and duct taping every which way, but she also felt like she had spent it under suspicious scrutiny from everyone from the museum security guard to the chiropractor’s secretary to any passersby.
    As Goldenrod zipped up her backpack and headed home (she had a strict curfew of six o’clock), she wondered to herself if maybe west was not the way to go first. What Goldenrod needed was somewhere a little more private to start out with, somewhere she could hone her mapmaking speed and precision.
    By the time she turned the corner onto her block, she had made her decision. Tomorrow, she would go to the forest. Not only was it the most private part of town, but it was also probably the place most likely to discover uncharted territory or a new variety of flower or furry creature. In other words, the likelihood of it being the most important part of her map was very great, and she could see no reason at all to wait to explore it.

4
THE OLD LADY WHO LIVES BY THE WOODS
    The very next day found Goldenrod standing at the edge of Pilmilton Woods with her backpack and a head full of possibility. She hadn’t walked more than thirty steps inside her forest barrier when she saw something that proved her hunch from the day before had been correct. There was a house right on the very edge of the woods that she had never, ever seen before. Had never even known existed! Of course, that wasn’t terribly shocking, considering the house was blocked by a grove of very dense maple trees that she had never been allowed to walk behind before. Needless to say, a discovery of this magnitude could prove to be a very important moment in the life of a mapmaker.
    The house was small, but looked well kept and cozy. There was a very bright rose garden in the front. Only by walking closer to it did Goldenrod notice the very small old woman who was on her knees, tending to the roses.
    The old woman looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Well, hello,” she said.
    For a moment, Goldenrod was a little startled by how ugly the old woman was.
If this were a fairy tale
, she thought,
this woman might be a witch or a sorceress
. But here, in real life, she was merely exceedingly ugly. She had extremely thin hair that was so white it was almost perfectly clear, showing the freckled and dry scalp underneath. Her nose was very large and accented with an enormous bump that