The Night Gardener (2 page)
Read The Night Gardener Online
Authors: Jonathan Auxier
P
A1 STORYTELLER AT THE CROSSROADS
9 THE ROOM AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS
13 A VISIT FROM FIG AND STUBBS
30 A STORY BOUGHT, A STORY SOLD
31 THE LEGEND OF THE NIGHT GARDENER
56 STORYTELLER AT THE CROSSROADS
he calendar said early March, but the smell in the air said late October. A crisp sun shone over Cellar Hollow, melting the final bits of ice from the bare trees. Steam rose from the soil like a phantom, carrying with it a whisper of autumn smoke that had been lying dormant in the frosty underground. Squinting through the trees, you could just make out the winding path that ran from the village all the way to the woods in the south. People seldom traveled in that direction, but on this March-morning-that-felt-like-October, a horse and cart rattled down the road. It was a fish cart with a broken back wheel and no fish. Riding atop the bench were two children, a girl and a boy, both with striking red hair. The girl was named Molly, and the boy, her brother, was Kip.
And they were riding to their deaths.
This, at least, was what Molly had been told by no fewer than a dozen people as they traveled from farm to farm in search of the Windsor estate. Every person they spoke to muttered something ominous about “sour woods” and then refused to tell them more.
“The
Windsors
?” said one lanky shepherd, whom Molly had stopped in the road. “I’d just as soon lead my flock to a lion’s den.” He propped himself against his crook, eyeing Molly from heel to head the way that men sometimes did.
