Read Online Margaret and the Moth Tree by Brit Trogen, Kari Trogen - Free Book Online

joined together into a brush, too thick to see through and too tall to see over, with sharp branches that swayed in the wind as if clawing at the air.
    Margaret came to the center of the lawn and stopped. She shivered, gazing up at the looming brush, then closed her eyes to calm her nerves. And it was then, with the swaying grass tickling her legs and the wind rustling her hair, that she heard the strange voices for the second time.
    â€œIs it still there?” said a small voice. “What’s it doing?”
    â€œJust standing around,” said another.
    Margaret’s eyes snapped open. Just as before, there was no one in sight, but she was sure this time — the voices had come from the enormous brush.
    She took a step closer. As she did, she saw that in the bottom branches in the very center of the tangled brush, there was a gap.
    The gap wasn’t very large or very noticeable, but when she crouched down, she saw that it was just big enough for a raccoon or a fox or, perhaps, a very small girl. She pushed aside one thorny branch, then another, and soon the gap had widened enough for her to squeeze through it.
    Slowly, Margaret reached her hand inside. Her hand was shortly followed by her wrist. Then her elbow, her shoulder, and finally her head. Carefully clearing a way through the brush, Margaret crawled deeper in. Then, quite suddenly, the branches gave way to open space, and Margaret looked up with a gasp.
    The dense brush had been hiding something. At the heart of the growth of bushes, there was a tree.
    The tree had a wrinkly, moss-covered trunk and a thick net of intertwined branches that fell all the way down to the ground. Margaret blinked several times, getting used to the dimness, and saw that she was in a sort of hollow that had formed between the branches and the trunk. When she breathed in, she inhaled a rich, mossy smell.
    It was so lovely that she forgot to be puzzled. She forgot all about being dotty in the head. Gazing around at the beautiful, hidden chamber in the tree, Margaret listened.
    She heard the call of a distant bird, and the soft breathing of the sleeping children in the orphanage.
    She heard the parting of two clouds far overhead, and the dust blowing out on the road.
    And when she concentrated very hard, she could even hear the leaves growing on the tree.
    â€œStay very still, Pipperflit,” said a small voice. “Maybe it’ll leave.”
    â€œNo, Pip, fly away!” said another tiny voice. “It looks like a gobbler!”
    Margaret looked down and saw a small shadowy creature sitting on a low branch near her right hand.
    It was a moth.
    CHAPTER 15 The Moth Tree
    â€œWhat’s it doing, do you think?” said the moth.
    â€œMaybe it’s lost?” said the first voice.
    â€œMaybe it’s sleepwalking?” said the second.
    Margaret thought about this. But when she rubbed her eyes and gave her arm a good pinch, she seemed to be very much awake. She bent down to get a closer look at the moth, and the moth flattened its wings against the tree branch and held perfectly still.
    For several moments, neither of them moved.
    â€œDo you think …” the moth said at last, “do you think maybe it’s
listening
to us?”
    â€œOf course I am,” Margaret said.
    The moth gave a shout of surprise, fluttering into the air.
    â€œQuick, Pip!” cried the second voice from up above. “It’s probably planning to gobble you up!”
    â€œNo I’m not!” said Margaret.
    â€œGet away from it, Pip!” said the first voice. “If we leave it alone, it’ll have to go away.”
    But the moth called Pip had landed on the tree trunk just above Margaret’s head and was looking down at her curiously.
    â€œI don’t know,” said the moth. “It doesn’t look so bad to me. Why don’t we try talking to it?”
    â€œWe can’t do that!”
    â€œI’m not going to hurt