Faelen, the Horse from the Sea by Judith Wade

Author:Judith Wade
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mermaid, horse, sea horse
Publisher: Riley Press
Published: 2019-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Their feet dragging, Natalie and Becky turned and faced Mr. Murdock. His red face looked even redder than usual and his brown mustache bristled. Natalie saw Mr. Panda, the school computer assistant, standing behind Mr. Murdock. He was watching Mr. Murdock with a nervous expression on his face.

“What are you kids doing in here?” bawled Mr. Murdock, glaring at Natalie and Becky as if they were criminals.

Natalie felt a spurt of anger. He always sounded as if the kids from the school were doing something wrong, when usually they weren’t. It was really very unfair. After all, she and Becky had a right to visit their clubhouse. The Chester woods did not belong to Mr. Murdock, and besides, they were on summer break. It wasn’t as if they were skipping school or even on school property.

“We’re walking...and, um...looking for pretty leaves,” Natalie stuttered.

She looked at Becky, who was staring back at her, her eyes wide. There was an awkward pause. Natalie searched her brain for something to say.

“Bookmarks,” Becky croaked at last. “We’re pressing leaves to make bookmarks.”

Natalie smiled at Becky in relief. She never would have thought of that. Mr. Murdock had a way of making her so nervous she couldn’t think what to say. Could he possibly have seen their clubhouse? It had always been their secret place, and she and Becky had hidden it very carefully. Nothing could be worse than having Mr. Murdock know about it.

“Awfully dark and cold out,” Mr. Murdock barked.

“It’s not so very bad today,” Natalie said, which was the truth.

The sun had been out earlier, although it seemed to have gone behind the clouds again. But that was nothing unusual for Chester. The sun almost never shone, even in the middle of the summer.

Natalie shifted her feet and saw Becky glancing quickly around. Where had Daria gone? One moment she was nearby and the next moment she had simply vanished.

“Well...” Mr. Panda was edging away. “Well...” he said again, and Mr. Murdock looked over at him.

“Well?” Mr. Murdock boomed.

Mr. Panda raised the bucket he had been carrying. “Um...” he said. “Worms?”

“Worms?” hollered Mr. Murdock.

“For fishing?” murmured Mr. Panda. “We were getting some?”

He had hair nearly as blonde as Becky’s and it was standing straight up, making him look like a pale chicken. Natalie did not know him very well, but he seemed to understand a lot about computers and once he had helped Andy install a racecar program, so Andy thought he was pretty wonderful.

“Right,” bellowed Mr. Murdock. “Worms. You girls be careful. You should be wearing coats,” he bayed, and stumped off, Mr. Panda scurrying after him.

Natalie and Becky stood where they were for a long time, listening to the sound of Mr. Murdock and Mr. Panda walking through the trees, the occasional murmur of Mr. Panda’s quiet voice, and loud growls from Mr. Murdock. Finally, the woods fell silent. Natalie drew a breath of relief. She looked over at Becky.

“Do you think they were really out here gathering worms?” she asked.

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