Kaleidoscope by Brian Selznick

Author:Brian Selznick [Selznick, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781338777253
Google: VuUfEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2021-09-20T23:00:00+00:00

Opening my eyes, I saw a man standing over me with an axe. I screamed and leapt to my feet. The man screamed too and stumbled backward. Bright sunlight streamed through the door as he dropped his axe, and I quickly realized he wasn’t a man. He was just a boy, about my age, and he looked frightened. His sleeves were rolled up to the top of his arms and he was sweating. I could smell newly cut grass and wet earth, and he was staring at me.

“Who are you?” I asked him.

He picked up his axe. His arm was shiny and damp, and it strained under the weight. “You scared me,” he said as he smiled and took a step closer to me. “I find wild animals here in the shed sometimes. Raccoons, squirrels. Lots of mice. Once I found a baby deer when I forgot to shut the door. But I’ve never found a human before. You are human, aren’t you?”

“What else would I be?”

“Not sure,” he said. “You might be a changeling, by the looks of you, left by goblins in the night. This forest is full of strange things. So you never know.”

“I was out walking and I got tired,” I explained. “The door was open, so I came in and took a nap.” Suddenly a memory came to me and I gasped.

“What is it?” he asked me.

“Nothing. It’s just—”

“What?”

“I just remembered the dream I was having when you woke me.”

“What was it?”

I rubbed my eyes. I could see it as clear as day in my mind. “There was a tree, and it got hit by lightning.”

The boy took a step back in alarm. “That wasn’t a dream,” he said, sounding shocked.

“Yes, it was.”

“No, I mean, in the garden last night. A tree was hit by lightning during the storm. It’s still burning. That’s why I came to get the axe from the shed.” The boy stared at me as if I really was a changeling, or a magician. “I told you this forest was full of strange things.” He took my hand. “Follow me.”

We ran through the forest until we came to a long stone wall. The boy then reached into his pocket and produced an iron key. “Stole it from a witch,” he said. “This is her garden. No one’s been inside for a hundred years. Except me.”

He brushed aside some thick vines, revealing a hidden door. He slid the key into the rusted lock. The click was sharp and satisfying as he turned the key and the door opened.

There, standing alone at the far end of the garden, was a huge tree, split up the middle. It was glowing red and orange from the inside.

“See? It’s still on fire,” the boy said.

It was exactly like my dream.

“Are you going to chop it down?” I asked as we walked toward the tree.

“No, it’ll survive. All trees are dead on the inside. It’s only the outside that’s alive. The axe is for cutting up the branches that fell.

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