All the King's Horses by Laura C Stevenson Read Free Book Online

colour to start with. But if there were four brown pairs and three blue pairs—’
    ‘—You’re making my head spin,’ grunted Mongan. ‘Take my hands, and we’re off.’
    ‘What about these?’ I said, holding up my socks.
    Mongan grinned, took the two socks and threw them high into the air. As they started to come back down, they disappeared. ‘There,’ he said, chuckling. ‘Off to sock limbo.’
    ‘Where’s that?’ I asked.
    ‘It’s where all the forgotten socks go – and a fine time they have of it.’
    ‘Wow!’ said Colin. ‘I’ve gotta try that!’ He opened the dryer, but Mongan stopped him.
    ‘No you don’t, lad. That was just a demonstration; any more’s against the Rules.’
    ‘Aw, come on,’ said Colin, reaching in. ‘Just one!’
    Mongan grabbed his hand. ‘I said, that’s against the Rules!’ He grabbed me, too, and I braced myself for the whoosh.
    But this time, there was no whoosh. First, there was nothing at all – just me, sort of floating. Then slowly, slowly, things began to appear, floating too, but just out of reach. For a moment, I thought, my gosh, he’s shut us into the dryer! But it was much bigger than a dryer, and the things around me were moving too slowly … no,
I
was moving, in sort of a spiral, and going the other way was everything we’d ever hunted for – riding crops, curry-combs, boot pulls, lead-ropes, homework papers, library books, lunch money, spoons, mittens, barrettes, Tinkertoys, safety pins. I began to get dizzy and sort of sick, but I didn’t dare close my eyes, because something kept telling me that in the middle of all that stuff there was something I
had
to find, but I couldn’t remember what it was. So I stared, hoping that something would remind me … but gradually, everything faded, and there was nothing again, and suddenly I had a terrible feeling that Mongan and Cathbad had forgotten
us
, and we were lost for ever, like all the other stuff, which meant no matter how hard Mom looked, she’d never find us, and we’d never get back …
    Then – wham! – we were walking into the front yard with Grandpa between us. Mom was running up the hill from the warehouses.
    ‘Thank heaven!’ she said, panting. ‘I went up the tracks as far as I dared, but I had to turn back because …’ She gestured towards the 3:15 train as it roared by, blasting its whistle at the crossing. ‘Where did you find him?’
    ‘By the river,’ said Colin. ‘He was fine – just looking at the water.’
    Mom gave Grandpa a hug. ‘Come on into the house, Dad. You must be cold. I’ll make you some tea.’
    Grandpa smiled his beautiful, empty smile and followed her inside.
    ‘Wow,’ I said to Colin. ‘As Grandpa would say, there’s a grand future for you in lying.’
    I expected him to be pleased (usually I don’t bother to tell him he’s done something right); but instead, he looked sore. ‘What the heck do you mean by
that
!?’
    ‘Come on! There we are with Grandpa, and no way to explain how the faeries got us to him, let alone into the front yard – and you make up that river story, smooth as glass.’
    ‘Faeries!’ he snorted. ‘
You’re
the one who’s got a grand future in lying!’
    ‘Hey, you don’t have to pretend to me, remember? I was there, too!’
    ‘Sure you were,’ he said, in a voice like lemonade without sugar. ‘But finding Grandpa down by the river wasn’t
interesting
enough for you, so you wanted to
embellish
it.’
    ‘That’s not so, and you know it!’
    He shrugged. ‘Have it your way, story-teller.’
    I hit him – hard. He swung at me, but I caught his fist with my guard. That made him really angry, and he started punching so fast that I began to think how bad things would be ever after if I lost (which I never had) when Mom ran down the steps and pulled us apart.
    ‘What on earth are you
doing
!?’ she said, holding each of us by the shoulder.
    Neither of us said anything, but not just because the answer was