The Wizard's Map Read Online Free PDF Page B

for.
    ***
    In fact they squeezed into the rental car and drove into town by way of McIlreavy’s farm, which was really the long way around. The main road quickly thinned down to a one-lane bit of blacktop lined with great hedgerows growing so thick and high, they could not see what was on the other side.
    Then suddenly the hedgerows gave way to high stone walls, and the high stone walls to low ones topped by barbed wire. And beyond the wire Jennifer could see waving wheat.
    From the ground it was difficult to discern any patterns at all, much less the familiar circles that had been so clear from the; helicopter’s view.
    â€œHow will we know where the crop circles are?” Jennifer asked, but she knew at once when, up ahead, she saw that the lane was crowded with parked cars.
    Pop pulled up as close to the wall as possible, and Da hopped out, going over to the policeman who was directing traffic on the narrow road. They chatted for what seemed like forever before Da came back, his face a conflict of misery and relief.
    No one in the car had said a word all that time. Not even Molly.
    Da climbed back in and slammed the door.
    â€œThe police think it’s boys have done the circles. They’ve found bootprints.”
    â€œAh,” Mom said. “But you don’t look totally convinced.”
    â€œHoofprints, too,” Da said dismally.
    â€œMichael Scot,” Peter whispered to Jennifer so quietly she had to read his lips, “had a devil of a horse.”
    Jennifer started to shake as if she had a fever, till Molly, sitting next to her, cried out.
    â€œJen is hitting me, Jen is hitting me!”
    Jennifer hadn’t been hitting her at all; but, as she shook, her trembling arms had pushed against Molly, who was perched in the car seat.
    â€œLet’s get to that castle!” Mom said in an over-bright voice that betrayed that she was more disturbed than she dared to say. “It’s going to be a fine castle day.”
    ***
    In fact it was not a good castle day at all. It was a bank holiday, and the castle was closed until noon. So Pop parked the car in a lot, and they walked around the town for a bit while Da explained some of its history in a distracted voice.
    The town had had, Jennifer thought, an awful lot of martyrs in it. She didn’t say that out loud, but Peter did.
    â€œBlood and burnings,” he whispered to her. “Burnings and blood. What a place,”
    Molly tired quickly of all that history, but by then it was eleven o’clock and time., according to Da, for “elevenses,” which meant tea and biscuits.
    â€œMilk and cookies,” Mom explained.
    So instead of waiting for the castle to open, they all agreed to go home. Pop drove: rather more carefully than he had in the rain, and they arrived at Abbot’s Close soon enough and safe. Tumbling from the car, Mom managed to distract Molly into the garden, but Jennifer, Peter, and their father followed Da right into the kitchen.
    Gran was where they had left her at the table, the map clutched in her right hand. She was not moving but staring ahead, as if in some sort of a sitting-up coma. On the kitchen table in front of her was the Patience game, but not in any of the patterns Jennifer and Peter had played.
    Across the table from Gran sat a black-eyed man with a shock of black hair that fell across his forehead like a bandage. Jennifer thought at once that he had to be an actor in a play because he was so incredibly handsome, with high cheekbones and a hawk nose. He was wearing actor’s clothing, too: an odd cloak that looked at first as if it were black but shimmered strangely where the kitchen light hit it, a little like sunlight on a dark pond; a black velvet doublet; green hose; and the oddest shoes. Jennifer thought the entire outfit must be incredibly uncomfortable, but the man looked entirely at ease.
    â€œAnd where’s your de’il of a horse?” asked Da.
    â€œWherever the