Witch Silver by Anne Forbes Read Free Book Online Page A

room, “and the Mason’s Arms is absolutely heaving with reporters.”
    “Is it this scarecrow business?” Janet queried, looking up from her sewing. “They’ve even had it on TV.”
    “Do you think it’s the witches’ doing?” Clara asked.
    “Looks like it,” her father replied.
    “What’s everyone saying?” Clara queried. “I mean, scarecrows coming to life is really something!”
    “Seemingly, it all started last week during the Norham Scarecrow Festival. You know that each house makes its own scarecrow …”
    “They’re marvellous,” Janet added, threading a needle carefully . “I saw them last year when I was visiting Muriel.”
    “Well, at first they thought they had a practical joker in the village because one morning people woke up to find that the scarecrow in their garden wasn’t the one they’d made. They got quite angry, especially when they found that the same thinghad happened all over the village. And we’re not talking about one or two scarecrows here, you know. Norham’s a big place. Anyway, there was a good deal of bad-tempered muttering as people found their own scarecrows again and got themselves sorted out.”
    “And?” asked Clara curiously.
    “Well, the next night, the same thing happened again, so they formed a committee to police the village at night, to see who was mucking them about.”
    “And did they catch anybody?”
    “Well, no, they didn’t,” her father said. “Apparently, the entire committee fell asleep on the job.”
    “Fell asleep?” Mrs MacLean echoed incredulously.
    Her husband nodded. “And once again all the scarecrows were sitting outside the wrong houses in the morning and,” he shrugged, “nobody could understand how all that moving around could happen without at least one of the committee waking up.”
    “Well, that figures,” Clara grinned.
    “Mmm, I think they came in for a good deal of stick,” her father nodded. “Of course, it’s probably the witches’ doing. I reckon they’re using the scarecrows to help them search the countryside.
    “There was some talk of a tramp hanging round the place as well; an old man with grey hair. Some people blamed him but most of them thought he wouldn’t have had the strength. Then the local poacher arrived in the middle of it all, scared out of his mind. Said he’d seen a wolf down by the river and found scarecrows searching his barn. Live scarecrows! The countryside’s buzzing with it!”
    “I’d much rather have scarecrows than witches!” Mrs MacLean declared.
    “They’d be stupid to come here again,” Clara pointed out. “We’re wearing our firestones and we’d see them the minute they appeared.”
    “I think the witches had already given the house a good going over before we even moved in,” her father said thoughtfully. “I shouldn’t worry. They’ll be concentrating on other hiding places now.”
    “Good riddance,” snapped Janet MacLean, finishing her sewing and biting off the thread.
    “You know, I think I’ll wear my firestone when I go to school,” Clara said thoughtfully. “If there
are
any witches around, I want to be able to see them.”
    John MacLean looked at her thoughtfully. “You might well see witches at school,” he warned. “Your aunt taught at Netherfield, remember? You never know, she might have hidden the talisman there.”
    “That’s true,” Mrs MacLean said, looking at Clara in sudden dismay. “I didn’t think of that!”

9. Netherfield
    “How was your first week then?” was their father’s first question as they dumped their heavy bags in the boot of the 4x4. “Do you think you’re going to like it?”
    “It’s great,” Neil said, rushing round the car to grab the front seat. Clara made a face at him but opened the back door and clambered in, still feeling strange in the green blazer and kilt that formed the school uniform. She looked back at the imposing building, picking out her bedroom window in one of the four huge towers that