The Magic Lands Read Online Free PDF Page B

before," he confessed after a moment.
    "Must be somewhere foreign,"
Jack reasoned, beginning to lose interest.
    Tom looked out over the garden,
his gaze taking in many of the places he knew so well, the apple
grove where he had spent summer days, the old pond where he had
thrown stones at his reflection, watching the ripples with childish
fascination. He could see the house too, over in the distance. It
seemed so safe and welcoming. He knew his Aunt was in there now,
preparing dinner, awaiting their return. In that instant, Tom
longed to be back at the house.
    Turning toward Jack, he
looked past him and noticed for the first time that they were now
level with the top of the hedge that ran all along the rear of the
garden . I wonder what's on the other
side , he thought, the lure of new discoveries tugging
at him once more.
    As if reading his mind, Jack
turned to him and said, "that branch just above us reaches right
over the hedge. Let's see if we can climb onto it and then we can
find out what's on the other side."
    “ I’m not…” Tom began to
say. But Jack was already climbing.
    "What you waiting for!?" he
shouted down and Tom quickly scrambled up after him, the map
stuffed roughly inside his shirt. He had tossed the box back into
the hollow, it could stay where they had found it for now. If his
Uncle thought it worth having they could always climb back up and
fetch it later.
    On a particularly long, thick
branch that hung right over the hedge and beyond, sat Jack. "This
looks like a job for Tarzan!" he announced, swinging on the branch
above.
    "Be careful," Tom warned. If
one of them fell from this height they might be killed or at best,
break an arm or leg, but Jack being Jack, seemed to have little
concern for his own safety.
    Moving quickly, gripping the
bark with fierce determination, Jack began to shimmy along the
branch. Looking on anxiously, Tom wondered if this was such a good
idea, but the other boy was almost over the hedge now and dropping
out of sight, so with a last glance toward his house, Tom began to
move cautiously after him.
    "I'm going down," called Jack
as he crawled further along the sinewy branch.
    "Wait a minute Jack!" Tom cried
but his friend's head had already disappeared. Faster now, but
still making sure that he kept a firm grip on the tree, Tom gained
the part of the branch that reached out over the hedge and looked
down. The long bough wound its way crookedly almost to the ground
and peering out he saw that the vicinity below was quite similar to
his own garden, a wide area of vegetation, thick with trees.
    But where was Jack?
    Tom looked down to the ground
and then all along the side of the tall hedge but Jack was nowhere
to be seen. He must be a magician to disappear so fast he decided,
but without any humour. He wished Jack could have just waited for
him. Now things were getting out of hand.
    Carefully he lowered himself
down along the rapidly thinning bough until it ended about seven or
eight feet from the ground, then with a grunt and a tightening of
his muscles, he dropped down, hitting the earth with a heavy
thud.
     
    Jack couldn't understand
it.
    He had jumped to the ground and
landed well, but when he had looked up to help Tom down, the hedge
had been gone. He knew it was ridiculous but that was what had
happened. The whole, gigantic hedge had just disappeared, and so
had the tree for that matter. He shook his head as if trying to
clear it and stared stupidly at a thicket of trees where he knew
the hedge should have been.
    “ I don’t get this,” he
muttered, “I just don’t get this.”
    He stood there like that for a
while trying to come up with some kind of explanation, but the
truth was it didn’t make any kind of sense.
    Eventually he began to walk
aimlessly toward a nearby stand of trees huddled close together as
if in deep conversation and as he went he rubbed at his forehead, a
dull headache beginning to throb against his temple. Was he still
in the garden? What was