Nonesuch by Gabriel King

Author:Gabriel King [King, Gabriel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Head of Zeus Ltd.

10

The way the ‘false’ highway had opened itself only to me – the way it had revealed my sister, trapped in its environs, like a goad or a gift – haunted my every waking moment. Time and again I had been back to look for that elusive road, but it appeared to have removed itself as effectively as if it had never existed, until I was unsure whether it might have been no more than a dream within a dream. At night the dreams of Ashmore – insistent and increasingly strange – kept me so occupied that I soon felt worn thin and ragged in the head.

Eventually I decided I was in need of help, but at whose feet I might lay my parcel of worms I did not know. The dogfox probably knew more about the nature of the wild roads than any other creature alive, but, even if I had known how to find him, I did not feel comfortable taking my concerns to him. His abstruse pronouncements and wicked grin were almost as disorientating to me as the strange road itself, and I felt I needed another cat’s eye upon the matter, one who perceived the same patterns in the world as I did, rather than one who saw more than I ever wished to comprehend.

In the end I decided to see whether the Besom had returned to her cottage, for if the wild road that had appeared at the far western corner of the house had ever existed before, she would surely know of it. I went in search of Millie, as I thought she might like to join me on a visit to the old girl, but there was no sign of her anywhere in the house and no one had seen her in the grounds that morning, so in the end I took Caterina with me. Ever since I had banned her from accompanying me on my last journey she had been so cool and reproachful towards me that I thought inviting her to meet a real female dream-catcher might in some way mollify her. After all, I reasoned, I was hardly the best role model for her in the affairs of the highways, since I appeared to have so little understanding of their mysteries myself.

We walked along the main road through Ashmore, then took a detour through the churchyard, for it was a bright, crisp, sunny day and the leaves of the horse chestnuts were resplendent with colour, each tree afire in the autumn sun. When the chill of November began to bite in earnest, they would all detach themselves and float down through the air like so many great hands; already there was a scattering of gold among the graves. They were so big and slow that even the clumsiest cat could capture them before they hit the ground. Millie said you should make a wish for each one you caught – one for the Great Cat, one for a friend, one for the people who fed you and one for yourself – so we always tried to catch four.

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