The Snow Spider Trilogy by Jenny Nimmo

Author:Jenny Nimmo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Egmont
Published: 2011-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

Only one person could help. She would have to make a confession, but in secret, somewhere where Gwyn Griffiths would listen and advise.

The cold mist shifted to the mountain. Next morning Gwyn’s black hair glistened in the sun that had appeared to cheer the flowers in Pendewi.

‘Is it cold up there, on the mountain?’ Nia asked, surprising Gwyn and Alun as they talked together in the playground before school.

‘It’s cold!’ Gwyn affirmed.

And I bet you know why, she thought. The boys were being conspiratorial again.

‘I found something of yours,’ she said. ‘Iolo found it, really. A spider.’

Gwyn’s reaction was more than she had hoped for. ‘Where?’ he demanded. ‘Where is it?’

‘At home, in a matchbox,’ she lied. She had to get him to number six, somehow, in order to confide her problem.

‘Come back with us, tonight,’ Alun suggested. ‘You can pick it up from there. Your dad’ll fetch you after, won’t he?’

‘You’ve got it safe, then?’ Gwyn asked.

‘Oh yes!’

Emlyn Llewelyn passed just then. He looked in their direction. Gwyn returned his cousin’s vacant stare: he seemed perturbed by Emlyn’s appearance. Something passed between them, silently, an understanding that even Alun did not share.

Later, after school, Gwyn went home with the Lloyds.

Mrs Lloyd was not surprised, but quickly rang Gwyn’s mother to ask if he should not stay for tea; she had barely enough sausages for her family.

Gwyn and Alun followed Nia to her room. Iolo was safely munching afternoon crisps in front of the television.

‘Well, where is it then, and what has it been doing?’

Gwyn scanned the room, stepping over boxes and toys.

Nia shut the door and leant against it. She would have to hold Gwyn until she had wrung a promise from him. She did not know whether he would help his cousin.

‘It’s not here,’ she said flatly.

Gwyn swung round.

‘Aw, no!’ Alun sank on to Nia’s bed. ‘What the heck are you up to, Nia?’

‘I gave it to Emlyn Llewelyn!’

Understanding dawned in Gwyn. ‘Why?’ he asked.

‘Because it’s special, isn’t it? Because it made a cobweb, there,’ she pointed at the wardrobe, ‘shiny-like, and I saw a woman in it, Emlyn’s mother. I was wearing her dress, and . . .’ Gwyn’s expression was beginning to alarm her, ‘so I gave the spider to Emlyn because you’ve got Fly and he’s got nothing, and . . . and . . .’ She clung to the door handle. Words were slipping out of her unevenly and too fast, but she couldn’t check them. ‘I thought he needed to see his mam but . . . it’s all gone wrong, hasn’t it? Something’s swallowing him up, trying to take him . . . there were children on the bridge after midnight, five of them going to the chapel, they were very pale and . . .’

‘When?’ Gwyn’s dark eyes seemed to burn.

‘Four days ago.’

‘What? You stupid girl, why didn’t you tell me?’ Gwyn looked older than any boy she had known. She could feel another presence standing there. It made her limp. ‘We must go there – stop them – if we’re able!’ Gwyn commanded.

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