The Wizard's Map Read Online Free PDF Page A

have sneaked up the back stairs to the attic in order to finish a game they hadn’t even known Peter was playing. There was no reason for them to go up in the attic to play such a trick. And besides, Mom and Pop didn’t know how to play Patience.
    â€œOr so they say,” Peter grumbled to Jennifer, but out of the grown-ups’ hearing.
    â€œShould we go up again?” Jennifer ventured. “Just to check things out?” She wasn’t keen to do it, but thought she should make the offer.
    Peter was strangely reluctant as well.
    Molly was the only one of the three who wanted to head back to the attic, because she wanted to bring down the doll in the christening gown. However, she didn’t want to go up alone. “Because of the shadders,” she said.
    And thinking about the shadows, Jennifer felt suddenly cold.
    â€œNo,” Jennifer told her. “We won’t go.”
    â€œNo,” Peter confirmed.
    And when Molly went whining to Gran, Gran was firm about her staying downstairs as well. “Not enough light. Tomorrow is soon enough.” And since it was Gran’s house, Molly had to be content with that.
    The twins looked at one another, nodding, relief clearly written on both their faces, though they hadn’t said anything out loud.
    ***
    Later that evening Peter brought the mystery up again, as they were brushing their teeth.
    â€œDo you think Da did it?” he asked. He was reluctant to let the thing go.
    â€œDid what?” Jennifer asked, though she knew what he meant.
    â€œDid Da finish the Patience game? And if so, why?”
    Jennifer was almost sure that before coming downstairs Peter had finished the game himself and had forgotten. Or at least she had convinced herself of that. Any other explanation was too scary to contemplate. Especially remembering the look that had been exchanged by Gran and Da over Peter’s head when he’d come stumbling into the kitchen.
    She knew it had to be that Peter had forgotten, because he was not a practical joker. In fact, he hated being teased and, consequently, never teased anyone else.
    Still, Jennifer thought suddenly, Peter had already seemed different in Scotland. Maybe there would be more changes.
    â€œI don’t think so,” she said in a voice that was hesitant and slow. “You tell me.” Her voice held an accusation, and Peter, being her twin, understood at once that she thought he’d done it himself.
    Jennifer started brushing her back teeth vigorously, in case Peter was ready to confess. That way she wouldn’t have to look right at him. But she saw him in the mirror shaking his head, his dark eyes furious that she’d thought—even for a moment—that he might have been the one playing the trick.
    ***
    Twenty minutes later Jennifer lay in her bed—a Scottish double, which meant it was slightly larger than a single but not nearly as wide as an American double bed—and listened to Molly’s soft breathing across the room.
How wonderful to be a four-year-old,
she thought,
and not have to worry about anything. Like card games that finish themselves and woods that are too big for their surroundings and locked garden cottages. To be four years old and have all mysteries solved with a healthy helping of pudding.
    Jennifer felt miserable. She was worried about Peter being changed by Scotland partly because she knew that she herself was already different. She had a secret that she’d kept for the entire day, and she’d never kept a secret from Peter before. When you’re a twin, a secret is something you
share.
    Under her pillow was the little metal key that she’d found in a beaded purse that went with the black dress in the first trunk. A tiny tag affixed to the key with a ratty piece of string read SUMMER HOOSE. She hadn’t told Peter about the key, and she hadn’t told him about the woods and the little white cottage, either, which she suspected was