Seeds of Discovery Read Online Free PDF

down toward the riverbank. In February. Where was he going?
     “Quinn!  You have to stop at red lights.” Annie’s voice behind her pulled her eyes back to the road just in time to stop for the red light.
    “Sorry. I guess I got distracted.”
    “What were you looking at?” Annie asked, as Quinn came to a stop.
    “I thought I saw …. I don’t know,” she trailed off. She wasn’t going to try to explain this to a three-year-old.
    “What did you see?”
    “Nothing …” the light turned green, and she couldn’t stop herself. Rather than going straight, toward home, she made a right turn onto River Road, which crossed the river and headed up into the mountains.
    “Where are we going? This isn’t how we get home.”
    “Hold on, Annie. I just want to look at something.” She pulled the car over to the shoulder and stopped. Ignoring Annie’s questioning protests, she got out and walked around the front of the car, scanning the narrow valley below to find William, to see where he was going. She didn’t know why she cared, but the sudden curiosity blazed through every part of her. She had to know.
     She stepped over the guardrail and took a few careful steps down the rocky slope, stopping when her head dipped below the road. From where she stood, she could see a solid mile and a half of the river. Far to her front and right, along the adjoining highway, was the small break in the guardrail that opened onto a little, twisting footpath that someone could follow down to the riverbank. At the bottom of the path was a wide, rocky area.
    Because it was the middle of winter, the river was quite low, more a stream now than a river. The rocks were dry. Once the snow melted, Quinn knew, the river would flow much higher and faster, leaving a smaller bank. Although several trails led down to this area from the surrounding houses, many of them were blocked now by leftover snow from a big storm they’d had a couple of weeks ago. The only trail that was really clear was the little footpath leading down from the highway. The area where she stood couldn’t exactly be called a path, but if she wanted to, she could climb down to the riverbank on the rocks without much difficulty.
    In the middle of the flat, rocky riverbank was an odd structure. It was old. It had quite possibly been longer than a century since the bridge had spanned the small section of river. All that remained were the broken stone-and-mortar steps on one side, and the remains of mortar supports hanging from the face of the tall mountain cliff on the other. Even when the bridge had stood, it had obviously never gone anywhere, besides over the river.
     Perhaps someone had built it as a fishing spot, a way to stand over the middle of the river in the summer when the water flowed deep enough to house fish, and hang a fishing line. Quinn didn’t have to wonder why it hadn’t been rebuilt after the center of the bridge had crumbled into the water below.
    And there, walking down the little footpath from the highway, nearly to the riverbank now, was William. He was focused as he walked, never looking up, or he probably would have seen her where she stood. The thought should have worried her, but right now, her curiosity was too strong for her to care.
    “What are you doing, Quinn?” Annie’s voice behind her sliced into her reverie and she was almost irritated.
    “Nothing.” She turned to see Annie’s little face, smiling at her from behind the guardrail. “Why did you get out of your car seat?”
    “I wanted to come with you. What are you looking for?”
    She walked back up the slope and stepped over the rail. “I don’t know Annie, just seeing what was down there, I guess.” Scooping her sister into her arms, she turned and looked back down at the valley, still inexplicably desperate to see exactly what William was up to down there.
    But he was gone.
    She frowned, scanning the whole valley for him. There was no chance he could have made it back up to