Silence and Stone Read Online Free PDF Page A

was empty for a while.
    Alida walked a little faster, thinking. She never wanted to eat human food again. If there weren’t wildflowers around Ruth Oakes’s house, she would have to find woods where she could gather what she needed.
    â€œLook out!” someone shouted.
    Alida jerked around to see a cart coming close.
    She jumped backward and felt her shawl slip as she caught her balance.
    She dropped her blanket to free her hands, then pulled the shawl back into place.
    The cart driver whipped his horses into a trot and disappeared around a curve in the road.
    Alida was scared.
    Had he seen her wings? Would he tell the guards if they came looking for her?
    Alida picked up her blanket and walked back into the woods.
    She stayed hidden as long as she could, but then the road crossed a planked bridge.
    It was narrow and long.
    The river below it was deep blue and swift.
    If she could have flown, she would have found a hidden place and been across in a few heartbeats.
    But she couldn’t.
    She had no choice.
    She had to climb back up on the road and walk alongside the carts.
    They got closer and closer as the road narrowed.
    The drivers looked impatient.
    Alida kept her eyes down and clamped her blanket beneath one arm so she could hold her shawl in place.
    She was nervous.
    She kept her wings folded tightly and wondered how old she looked to the humans around her.
    John had called her a faerie child.
    She was!
    But she was probably twice as old as most of the cart drivers.
    The wagons came to a stop in the middle of the bridge. Alida heard a few shouts on the far side. Someone was yelling for help.
    Alida lowered her head, weaving her way through cart wheels and horses until she was across the river. As she stepped off the bridge, she saw the problem:A woman’s wagon wheel had broken. Five or six men were working to fix it.
    Once Alida was across, she veered into the woods again, without glancing back.
    She tried to look like she knew where she was going.
    She didn’t.
    But she found a place to hide.
    She waited until the overloaded cart blocking the way was moved.
    Then she waited until all the cart drivers who had seen her were long gone.
    Only then did she come back to the road.
    This time she waited until she saw a human girl, walking alone. “Excuse me? Do you know Ruth Oakes?” she asked.
    The girl turned to look at her. “Are you sick?”
    Alida shook her head, wondering if she looked pale. Probably. She was scared.
    The girl pointed. “Go that way until you get toRiver Road. Then turn right and walk past all the old farms until you see a neat cottage on the right-hand side. It has rose gardens and flowers.”
    Alida thanked her and walked away before the girl could ask her anything more. The road was crowded with carts and wagons until she got past Market Square. After that, it was empty.
    At the edge of town, Alida heard meadowlarks calling.
    Her fear eased.
    The crossroads were easy to find.
    So was the pretty cottage out on River Road.
    Alida stopped in front of it and looked up at the sky. It was so wonderful to be outside, far away from Lord Dunraven’s castle.
    Without Gavin’s help, she would still be peeking through the tiny crack in the stone. She wanted to help him and his grandmother.
    And if she could, she would.

Chapter
    7
    Alida knocked softly the first time.
    No one called out. No one came to the door.
    She knocked again. Then she stepped back, waiting, holding her breath until she had to let it out.
    Alida walked up to the door again, and this time she knocked as hard as she could—but it made no difference.
    No one came.
    Maybe Ruth Oakes was in Market Square, buying food with everyone else in Ash Grove.
    Alida sat on the porch for a while.
    Then she walked around the cottage.
    The backyard was as neat and pretty as the front yard. There was a beautiful garden, full of flowers. Beyond it were a tidy barn, a wagon shed, and what looked like a