Winterbringers by Gill Arbuthnott

Author:Gill Arbuthnott
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781782500704
Publisher: Floris Books
Published: 2014-10-16T21:00:00+00:00

9. Off the Road

Callie stood by the window to make the most of what little light there was and shone the torch on the papers as she read Agnes’ story again. From time to time she glanced down at the little glass bottle on her bed. Finally she folded the papers again and put them back in the box.

“That’s it, cat,” she said to Chutney Mary. “Agnes took the bottle from the Queen of Summer and they must have been meant to take it back, but they never did. That’s why she’s dying – it belongs in her kingdom. We can do something. The King’s bound to know how we can take it back. I need to get to the cave.” She looked out of the window again. “Oh, Josh, why did you have to go just then?”

Suddenly she gave a squeak of exasperation with herself. “Idiot! You’ve got his phone number.”

She scrambled in her desk for her phone and found Josh’s number. It rang and rang and rang, but there was no reply. She sent him a text, pushed the box and its contents under her bed hoping her grandparents would have forgotten about it, and took the phone downstairs with her.

George and Rose were in the kitchen listening to the wind-up radio. The freak weather seemed to be affecting the whole country; in fact it wasn’t as bad here as in many other places. There were numerous power cuts, but the electricity companies were hopeful that power would be restored everywhere in the next twenty-four hours.

There were candles in jam jars all over the house now, ready to be lit, and a big fire burning in the smithy hearth. There wasn’t much else they could do. Surprisingly, it was the usually unflappable Rose who seemed most upset by events, constantly on the move, looking out the window, unable to sit still.

“Shall I make some tea?” asked George.

“Yes please dear. That would be nice.”

There was a knock at the door.

***

The driver brought the tractor to a halt as quickly as he could in the road conditions, jumped down and ran back to where the car had ploughed off the road and into the ditch, his heart in his mouth at what he might find.

The car sat at an angle, nose down and tilted over to one side. As he reached it the driver’s door opened and a dazed looking woman got out.

“Are you all right?” he yelled.

“Yes, I think so.” She reached into the car. “Can you manage, Josh?”

“Yeah.” A teenage boy clambered out of the car, shaking his head to clear it. “I’m fine. It’s okay.” He shook off the woman’s proffered hand.

“I didn’t see you until it was too late,” the woman said. “That great blast of snow just came out of nowhere and …”

“At least you’re both all right. Where were you trying to get to?”

“The motorway, to get back to Edinburgh.”

“You wouldn’t have got through anyway. The road’s shut just the other side of Dairsie – there’s big snowdrifts.

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