The Wealding Word Read Online Free PDF

skipped down the muddy lane. Lately her pets had been telling her about a secret trapdoor near the bear’s cave. It lay hidden at the end of the old stone wall in the woods, and today seemed like the perfect day to show it to Nell. “What’s beneath the trapdoor?” Nell asked, now safely out of eyeshot from Lexi.
    Rawley said, “Well, I heard there’s a tunnel that goes to the sea. Nobody knows for sure though, because the trapdoor is always locked.” As they passed the farms and orchards that bordered the forest, Nell began to wonder more about the hungry bear than the trapdoor. The door was locked and stayed in one place, but deep in the woods, the huge bear could be lurking anywhere.
    The three friends soon found the tumbledown stone wall and followed it for a long way – up gentle rises covered in oak and hickory, under dark and silent groves of spruce, past secret, splashing springs. Just beyond a pile of stones at the end of the wall stood five massive sycamores. Nell crept between the trees and found the trapdoor hidden amidst a dusting of snow and sloughed-off bark. The wood of the door was soggy and weathered gray, with a scrap of old rope fastened to it. Nell gave the cord a playful tug and, with a high creak, the door opened wide!
    Rawley gave a shrill bark of surprise. “But it’s always locked!”
    “Look!” said Sola. She was standing in a footprint in the snow. Nell bent to inspect it, arms crossed behind her back. At first it seemed like it was made by a large, flat boot. But instead of being pointy in front where toes belonged, the print fanned out wide, like a fish’s fin.
    Once she knew what to look for, Nell realized the tracks covered the entire area. “What could have made footprints like that?” shewondered. Rawley sniffed the ground around her, nosing through the snow. Suddenly he rounded toward the door, growling low and long. At the same moment, the smell of dead fish wafted into the air. Round yellow orbs as big as Nell’s palm glared up from the darkness, gleaming with malice.
    She gaped down the dank stairwell in disbelief. The creature just below her feet had green, plated scales glistening on its head. Jagged teeth jutted from its square lower jaw, which opened and closed mutely like the mouth of a fish out of water. Without warning it lunged at Nell, but its feet were awkward on the stairs, and its webbed fingers snagged only the hem of her skirts. Before the creature could get a better hold, Rawley was upon it.
    “Run!” shrieked Sola.
    Dazed, Nell found the tattered rope at her feet. She pulled again – this time as hard as she could – and the trapdoor slammed down with a wicked CRACK! Too scared to look back, she vaulted over the stone wall and flew after Sola into the woods. A savage, alien call echoed behind her. “It’s coming!” she cried.
    Barely able to breathe, Nell scratched her face and arms in a wild dash through the underbrush. On she sprinted, blind to where she was heading. Her fear of the grumlin drove her further and faster than she had ever run before.
    When exhaustion finally forced Nell to slow, Rawley wheezed, “I think we’re safe now.” They hadn’t heard the cries of the scaly creature for some time, and the crash of leaves behind them had long ago ceased. “But where are we?” the dog asked. They walked through matted, unfamiliar thickets, now unsure which way was home. Two pheasants exploded from the undergrowth, startling Nell with the loud ruffling of their wings. Sometimes she thought she heard a hiss, but it was just the squeak of a branch, or the rustle of dried leaves in the wind.
    After a time, the breeze carried something else to Nell’s ears: a muffled shout. It didn’t sound like a grumlin, but she wasn’t sure. The three friends quietly moved to peer from behind the striped trunk of a birch. They saw a little man with a shiny bald head raging among the trees. He had a nose like a large potato, and a bristly beard all tangled