The Curse of Deadman's Forest by Victoria Laurie

Author:Victoria Laurie
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Legends, Children: Grades 4-6, Myths, Other, Siblings, Europe, Fables, Philosophy, Science Fiction, All Ages, Social Issues - Friendship, Social Issues, & Fables - Other, Juvenile Fiction, Orphans & Foster Homes, Historical, Friendship, Action & Adventure - General, Family, Action & Adventure, Children's Books, General, Metaphysics
ISBN: 9780385735735
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2010-09-15T07:00:00+00:00

THE SERPENT

Two days after they’d made their plans, Ian was able to convince the headmistresses to allow Landis to escort him to Castle Dover on the pretense of finding a new book to read. Landis seemed more than pleased to take Ian to the earl’s residence, and Ian suspected that this was due to the new laundry maid the earl had recently acquired.

Once a week some members of the castle’s staff came to the keep to assist the headmistresses with laundry and food preparation, and Ian had seen Landis’s eyes light up when he and the maid had been introduced.

And sure enough, the moment Ian arrived at the earl’s library, Landis offered up an excuse about needing a bit of starch from the laundry room, and hurried away. Once Ian was alone in the large room, he began to scan the shelves for a suitable atlas. The earl had several, but Ian had his favorite. He knew just the one he wanted; it was a large leather-bound tome with fantastic detail and legible writing. He knew he wouldn’t be able to take the entire atlas with him on the escape five nights hence, and he’d already resigned himself to the necessity of tearing out the appropriate page about Belgium and hoping that the earl didn’t think to search through his collection of atlases for a possible clue to where they’d gone. He could only cross his fingers that the earl would never notice, and if he ever found a similar atlas on his travels, he would make sure to purchase it and send it in replacement.

After looking in the usual spot for the text and not seeing it, he moved to a stack of books on a nearby desk and spied it near the bottom of the pile. Smiling, he began to move the books on top out of the way, and as he did so, he set aside a newspaper that was hiding another book, which appeared brand-new.

Ian’s eyes widened when he took in the title. The Hobbit was printed in black lettering across a gray-blue cover with etchings of mountains and a menacing dragon. For a moment, Ian forgot his task and curiously opened the novel. There, on the inside cover, was an inscription:

For Ian Wigby,

A lad of great courage and character, as the Earl of Kent can testify

J. R. R. Tolkien

Ian’s mouth fell open and he plopped down into a nearby chair, stunned right down to his toes. He’d had to leave the copy of The Hobbit he’d originally been reading back at the Lafittes’ after getting through only the first several chapters, but he’d been so impressed by the novel that he’d talked it up quite a bit on the train ride back to Dover. He’d had no idea the earl would do such a generous and kind thing for him. His eyes moved guiltily to the atlas on the table and he felt a wave of shame wash over him. Not only was he about to desecrate the earl’s property, but he was also about to betray his trust.

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