The Heart of Glass by Vivian French

Author:Vivian French
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780763656294
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2010-03-03T17:00:00+00:00

After she sat up, wiped the dirt out of her eyes, and smiled at Marlon and Alf, the first question Gracie asked was, “Where’s Marcus?”

“He’s gone to find a princess,” Alf squeaked.

“A princess?” A chill gripped Gracie’s stomach.

“It’s a swap, see. He gets a princess for —”

“Alf!” Marlon cut his nephew short. He had noticed Gracie’s bleak expression, and the tender heart that beat under his cool exterior would not allow him to leave her under any misapprehension. “It’s a deal, kiddo. Nothing more. We wanted you dug out, and Bestius here agreed to do the deed, but he needs a princess for . . .” Marlon decided details were inappropriate. “We promised him a princess in exchange. The kid’s gone riding off to find one. Be back soon.”

“Oh.” The chill lifted, and Gracie’s thoughts went straight back to Gubble. “Marlon, you’ve got to help me! I must find Gubble. We were in a tunnel — it was really scary — and he found a way out for me, but somehow he got left behind.”

Alf waved a cheery wing. “You don’t want to go back down there, Miss Gracie.”

“But I have to,” Gracie said. “I absolutely have to.” She looked pleadingly at Marlon.

“Alf’s right. You’ve only just gotten out, kiddo,” the bat protested. He had been delighted to see Gracie safe and sound, if covered in mud, and was distressed by her insistence on going back for Gubble. “I tell you — if you got out, the troll can too.”

“What if he can’t?” said Gracie, tears in her eyes. “I’d never forgive myself. No, I’ve got to find out what happened to him. Something huge was coming after us. I only got away because Gubble was so strong . . . but he didn’t come with me.” She fished in her pocket for a hankie and blew her nose hard. “I’m not going to cry about him. I’m going to find him.”

“Yeah!” Alf squeaked. “Miss Gracie to the rescue!”

Marlon suppressed his nephew with a quelling glare and tried another approach. “What about the crones? Shouldn’t you check with them?”

“And leave Gubble on his own? Never!” Gracie frowned.

Marlon sighed. “You’re the truest of Truehearts, kid,” he said. “OK. Where’s the entrance to this tunnel of yours? The tree’s hopped it.”

It hadn’t occurred to Gracie that there would be any difficulty in finding the tunnel entrance, and she looked around, perplexed. “It can’t be far. Don’t you know about it, Mr. Dwarf?”

Bestius shook his head. “Sorry, miss. Sounds like that was a troll tunnel, and we don’t concern ourselves with those. There’s only one we share, and we usually leave it well alone unless we have business with them.”

“Couldn’t I go down that?” Gracie asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer. Seeing a small bat flitting between the trees, she leaped to her feet, waving her arms. “Flo! Flo? Is that you? I’m over here!”

Flo swooped down, saw Marlon and Alf, and was seized with such a paroxysm of sneezing that she landed flat on her back by Gracie’s feet.

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