13 Curses Read Online Free PDF Page A

hoisted up. She heard the woman grunt with effort as she lifted her, and then she landed heavily on the flat wooden bottom of the cart. There was a smaller thud as the fox was tossed in on top of her. She felt its thin body roll off and land beside her. There was a bang as the hatch was slammed back into place and latched once more, preventing her from rolling—or jumping—out. Then came a creak and a clatter from above, and when she tried to sit up, she found that some kind of mesh had been closed over the top of the cart too, forcing her to lie down.
    “Where are you taking me?” she yelled. “Please—let me go! You
have
to let me go!”
    Her pleas fell on deaf ears. If the woman heardshe did not show it. Instead, Red heard her moving to the front of the cart, which then began to rumble over the uneven ground.
    Next to her she felt the fox, trembling with terror, its breathing shallow. When the cart stopped a short while later, the fox had stopped moving altogether. She heard the mesh thrown back and the hatch pulled down, and then something creaked: a door. The top of the sack was seized and once more she felt herself being dragged, out of the cart and over a threshold onto a hard floor. From the coldness of it seeping through the sack, Red guessed the floor was stone. Seconds later, when the sack was cut open, she saw that she was right.
    She was in a small, ramshackle cottage. It was crudely built of stone, with a wooden door and small, uneven windows. In the farthest corner, a huge black pot bubbled over a fire, billowing thick steam. Stories of wicked old witches in the woods filled her mind. There was an awful smell about the cottage. As she looked up at the low thatched roof, the source of the smell was revealed as her eyes met with a gruesome sight.
    Animal skins of every description hung from the rafters. Some large, some small, older ones that were dry and newer, fresher ones. There were pelts of badgers, rabbits, foxes, deer, and squirrels, plus many more that she was unable to identify. The stench that filled her nostrils was death. In wooden cages dotted around the edges of the cottage, more animals werecrammed in. These were still living, but Red could tell from their eyes that they knew the fate that awaited them. They had seen and they understood.
    She squirmed, trying desperately to loosen her bonds. The woman had left the cottage and was outside, unloading the cart. A moment later she returned, throwing a smaller sack onto the cottage floor before disappearing again. It landed against Red, and she knew it to be the fox. She maneuvered herself into a position to be able to rest her hands upon the sack. Through the cloth she could feel its pitiful body, still warm but utterly motionless. It was dead, as she knew it would be, and Red was glad, for at least now it would be spared knowing what was to come—unlike the poor creatures trapped around her.
    The woman’s form filled the doorway once more, and Red lay still, watching through narrowed eyes as a basket of herbs and plants was placed just inside the door. When the woman left for a third time, Red scanned the cottage for something, anything she might use as a weapon. Her sharp eyes caught sight of the hilt of a small knife on the hearth, next to a mound of vegetables. She wriggled like a caterpillar over the stone floor toward it, cursing that the fireplace had to be in the corner farthest from her. She had made it only halfway across the floor when a wheezy laugh sounded from behind her. The woman had come back.
    Red tensed, swallowing hard. She forced herself to roll over. The woman watched her, bemusementon her crooked face. Summoning the remainder of her strength, Red wriggled with all her might to close the gap between herself and the knife. But she was too slow, too awkward, and the woman had crossed the floor and was upon her before she’d gotten anywhere close. Grabbing her by the ankles, the woman pulled her into the middle of the cottage