The Humming Room by Ellen Potter Read Free Book Online

Valentine fetches it, but when the weather’s nasty I sometimes pop by. Saves her a trip.” He held out his hand again “So long, Roo Fanshaw.”
    This time she gave it a quick, reserved shake.
    The sky was already darkening as Simon’s boat pulled out of the lagoon, spun to the right, and tore off. Its wake rolled back toward the island and thrashed against the rocks for a moment or two before quieting. The water was changing color too. It was now a slick black-gray, the color of wet stone. Here and there an ice floe drifted past slowly. The river had suddenly calmed, yet Roo could feel it gathering itself together, forming something new and spiteful. It reminded her of how the girls at the Burrows’ house conferred while standing a few yards away, quietly plotting some fresh torment for Roo.
    From the west, a large bird appeared in the sky, its neck bent, its long body rising and dipping. A heron. Beneath the heron, drifting on the river, was a large ice floe with a curious dark shape on top of it. Roo fixed her eyes on the shadowy hump, perplexed. The floe skimmed the edge of the island closest to Cough Rock, an oval island with a neat terraced lawn that led up to a magnificent olive-green house. When the ice floe came close to the island, a black figure leapt off the ice and onto land.
    Even from a distance, Roo could see that the figure was a boy. He stood on the bank for a moment, looking around. Then he grew perfectly still. It seemed to Roo that he was staring right at her, though at this distance she couldn’t be certain. The boy turned abruptly and bounded up the terraced lawn, climbing the ledges rather than the stairs, and disappeared around the backside of the house.
    Roo hurried back over the footbridge, skirted the lagoon, and ran around the edge of the island, trying to catch another glimpse of the boy. At first she saw nothing. But after a few seconds she spotted him again. Astonishingly, he was now standing on one of the lower roofs of the house. Suddenly he raised one arm. Was he waving to her?
    The very next minute, the water darkened and became opaque. The sky seemed to drop closer to the earth, as though the river had yanked it down. A torrent of fine icy rain began to lash at the ground and peck at Roo’s face. She shoved the mail beneath her shirt and pulled up her sweatshirt’s hood, but the thin cotton was already soaked through. Squinting through the curtain of rain, she watched the shadowy form on the roof. Suddenly, the wind changed directions, as though someone had summoned it. It drove into her face so violently that it felt like an assault, forcing her to run. Roo refused. She turned her back to the wind, twisting her head to keep her eyes on the boy. The river grew frantic, crashing against the island’s banks. Then the wind whipped around yet again, even more fiercely now, and this time Roo surrendered, running back to the house while the river thrashed and hissed triumphantly at her back.

Chapter 6
    Roo burst through the door, very nearly colliding with Ms. Valentine, who was heading out, dressed in a long black raincoat and a leopard-spotted, brimmed rain hat tied under her chin. Her hand flew to her midsection in surprise. But in a blink she composed herself, taking in Roo’s dripping hair and sodden clothing.
    â€œIf you are hell-bent in playing outside in bad weather, no one here will stop you. But when you get sick, there’ll be no one to take care of you either.”
    â€œI won’t get sick,” Roo said. “I’ve never been sick in my life.”
    â€œThis house was built for sick people,” Ms. Valentine warned. “People don’t tend to stay healthy here for very long.” Her eyes lowered suddenly and stared at Roo’s hand, which was cradling the mail beneath her sweatshirt. “Where did you get that ring?” she asked suspiciously. “I don’t remember you wearing it before.”
    Roo