Bird (10 page)

15

A
s all things of the world are meant to pass on and be no more, so Bourne Manor disappeared from the shores of Lake Champlain, letting loose its grip on the red stone cliffs, on Wysteria Barrows, and myself. Freed from its own bondage, Bourne Manor’s light blazed one last time over the lake, sending a fierce warning to all sailors and fishermen to heed the dangerous rocks that guarded the entrance to its harbor—calling no more lost souls to its ominous doors.

If such places as Bourne Manor carry within them the stories of a mournful past, as some believe, or harbor those lost unto themselves, then perhaps the Manor did indeed know more of me than I knew myself. Perhaps it knew that I would uncover the secret held within its walls in a set of wings crafted by a dreamer. Perhaps it foresaw the future I would bring to it on that February morning and welcomed me all the same.

I cannot know the purpose of dwellings lonely and forgotten. I know only that in the arms of the wind, both Wysteria and the Manor lost their grip upon me and I feared them no more, no more than a starling would fear the temporary entrapment of a barn gate, knowing that its true nature is not bound to earth.

I flew over the lake that night, neither blown off course nor caught in the currents, but safe in the wake of the captain’s wings and not far from the reach of Farley’s hand.

By the light of a rising moon and with the promise of finding those like myself, we safely reached the western shore.

acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the Vermont Community Foundation, Marc Bregman, Howard Fisher, Michael Fisher, Tom Murphy, Tassos Pappas, Kate Pietschman and Françoise Bui for their support, encouragement and inspiration in the writing of this book.

about the author

Rita Murphy lives in Vermont with her husband and their son. Her previous novels are
Looking for Lucy Buick, Harmony, Black Angels,
and
Night Flying.

A
LSO BY
R
ITA
M
URPHY

Looking for Lucy Buick
Harmony
Black Angels
Night Flying

Published by Delacorte Press
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
a division of Random House, Inc., New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2008 by Rita Murphy
All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murphy, Rita.
                  Bird / Rita Murphy. — 1st ed.                                     p. cm.
                  Summary: Miranda, a small, delicate girl easily carried off by the wind, lands at Bourne Manor on the coast of Lake Champlain and is raised by the dour Wysteria Barrows, but she begins to believe rumors that the Manor is cursed and, aided by a new friend and kites secreted in an attic, seeks to escape.

                  [1. Dwellings—Fiction. 2. Supernatural—Fiction. 3. Flight—Fiction. 4. Kites—Fiction. 5. Foundlings—Fiction. 6. Champlain, Lake—History—19th century—Fiction. 7. Vermont—History—19th century—Fiction.] I.Title.
PZ7.M9549Bir 2008                                    [Fic]—dc22                                                      2008004690

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eISBN: 978-0-375-89113-7

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