The Tree Shepherd's Daughter by Gillian Summers Read Free Book Online

its massive head and
looked straight at her, then whickered a greeting.
    It was almost as if he wanted to meet her. She'd never
been near such a large animal, but she wasn't frightened.
Keelie judged the distance to the next clump and jumped,
but missed. Water flew everywhere.
    The horse tossed his head as if in approval, and Keelie
laughed. She stopped, startled, as she realized it was the
first time in days that she had laughed.
    Ankle-deep in water, she giggled. The horse nudged her
with his nose, and she petted him. "Pleased to meet you,
too," she said. She offered him an oatmeal cookie. The horse
chomped it noisily. Horses liked cookies. Who knew?
    "I should have known you'd be one of the mud people."
    Keelie turned and saw Miss Goldilocks Perfect-Hair
standing arm in arm with Sean. Great. They'd both gotten
a long look at the handprints on the back of her skirt.

    She decided to tough it out. She extended her right
hand. "Hi, again. We didn't introduce ourselves properly.
I'm Keelie Heartwood. I'll be living up the hill with my
father." It felt strangely good to say that.
    Lord Sean bowed, smiling. "I am Lord Sean o' the
Wood, and this is Lady Elia."
    The girl looked down at Keelie's outstretched hand
with disdain. "Ladies curtsey, Katy." She dipped gracefully
and fanned out her pink skirts. "Like this."
    "Oh. Like this?" Keelie gathered her hideous yellow
skirts daintily in each hand and dipped, extending her left
foot, then deliberately smacked it down on the mud in
front of her. Slimy brown mud splattered in all directions.
    "Oh, you klutz!" Lady Elia shrieked, spreading her wide
skirts, searching for spots. The girl's hate-filled eyes turned
to Keelie, taking in the mismatched, tacky clothes. "You
did that on purpose," she hissed. "And you will be sorry."
    "I'm already sorry. And the name's Keelie."
    Elia stalked off, nose in the air. "Come along, Lord
Sean. It's going to rain again any second."
    Sean stared at Keelie, fighting to keep a smile from turning into a full-fledged grin. "Lady Elia hates to get wet."
    "I've heard that about witches. Don't they melt in
water?"
    One of the knights gathered nearby guffawed. Sean
shrugged and followed after Elia.
    Thunder boomed overhead. Keelie snatched the quartz
from its hiding place in her bra, holding it tight in case she
got another tree voicemail. The sky had darkened again,
and wind thrashed branches high overhead. The little crowd scattered, and a rider came to lead away the horse
tied to the post.

    As big raindrops started to hit the ground, Keelie was
left alone. There was no sign of the real world. The gray
sky hid any airplanes, the only sounds were rain and the
distant shouts of Faire workers scurrying to shut down for
the day. No sign of her mother or Ms. Talbot or her old
life existed.
    What was left was this green place, alien and wet, so
unlike California that she needed a guidebook to figure it
out, and filled with people who didn't want her here.
    Rain sheeted down, plastering her hair to her head.
Her costume hung in heavy folds, although her legs were
warm and dry under the layers of cloth.
    Slowly, she started back up the hill, away from the
abandoned jousting field, not caring if she forded suddenly
created streams, bare feet splashing heedlessly through
mud and water.
    Keelie had to accept the fact that she was stuck. Stuck
in Medieval Hell... but she wouldn't be here for long.

     

four
    Keelie was beyond wet, but she still hurried toward the
shelter of her father's shop. Others were rushing through
the rain. As she turned onto the path that led to her father's shop she saw the familiar face of the goth girl who
had given Ms. Talbot directions earlier. She seemed to be
headed to her father's shop, too. Keelie ran into the darkened furniture shop, relieved to be out of the rain. The girl
came splashing in a second later.
    "Did you find your dad okay earlier?" She dropped the
hood of her cloak.

    "Zeke?