Gravenhunger by Richard; Harriet; Allen Goodwin Read Free Book Online Page A

exactly?”
    Phoenix flushed. “I just want to hang out, that’s all. Get to know the place a bit.”
    Rose eyed her cousin across the table.
    “In that case I’ll stay too,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to, you know, miss out on anything.”
    Dr Wainwright looked at them both. “Fair enough. You do whatever you want. But don’t forget what I said to you earlier, Phoenix. No serious exploring without me, OK? Same applies to you, Rose. I don’t want you going any further afield than the garden.”
    Rose needled Phoenix with a steely blue gaze.
    “Of course not,” she said, her eyes burning into her cousin. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Besides, I’m sure we can find plenty of things to do inside the house.”
    Phoenix gritted his teeth.
    His cousin had to be the most annoying person on the planet.
    Still, she hadn’t grassed on him about where he’d been this afternoon, had she? He’d give her that at least.
    He scraped his chair back from the table and began to gather up the bowls and plates.
    How could he have been so careless as to lose the silver angel? And just when he should have been concentrating on solving his mother’s mystery too. He could have spent tomorrow getting on with areally thorough search of the house, for a start. And it wouldn’t have hurt to take a trip down to the village either. There was no knowing what he might find out about the past if he asked around a bit.
    Now, though, all that would have to wait.
    Until the angel was back in his pocket he couldn’t afford to think about anything else.
    In the morning, just as soon as Dad had left for the village, he would retrace every one of his steps until he had found it. And if that meant disobeying his father for a second time … well, that was exactly what he was going to do.

6.
IN MEMORIAM
    Rose stood at the attic window and looked out through the grey morning mist.
    She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.
    It didn’t matter how many extra layers she put on, she couldn’t seem to get warm. Everything about Gravenhunger Manor felt damp and cold: the floors, the walls, even the air inside it. And it was the same outside: nothing but mist and drizzle. Over towards the horizon, though, it was different. Beyond the river and the strange-shaped mound she could see sunlight – wonderful, glittering sunlight – spilt like a pool of liquid gold over the distant sea.
    She’d been watching her cousin since just after breakfast, and whatever it was he was doing over there, he was certainly taking his time about it.
    He’d come sloping round the back of the house the moment Uncle Joel had left for the village. He’d crossed the garden towards the forest, pausing briefly beside the wooden swings and glancing up towards the attic, as if he knew perfectly well that he was being tracked.
    Rose had whipped back behind the moth-eaten curtains, but probably not before he had spotted her.
    Still, what did it matter?
    He had seen her staring at him on the mound yesterday, hadn’t he? It wasn’t going to come as any great surprise that she was watching him again today.
    It was hard to be completely certain, what with the rain and the mist and the general murkiness, but it looked very much as if Phoenix was searching for something.
    He’d been pacing up and down the mound for nearly an hour now, stopping every so often to focus on one particular area near the edge, his hands spread over his knees, his head bent towards the ground.
    Rose sighed.
    What was it about this odd-shaped hump of earth that everyone seemed so interested in?
    First there’d been the old man on the train, telling her to keep away from it, and now here was Phoenix poring all over it.
    Clearly the business about the place being hauntedwas just a load of nonsense. But what if there was something at least interesting about Gravenhunger Manor and its grounds? And what if Phoenix knew all about it?
    Well, one thing was for sure – he wasn’t going to share any valuable