Read Online Pip and the Wood Witch Curse by Chris Mould - Free Book Online

move at night, you should know that. Where are you from?” As they passed into the light at the corner of the theater courtyard the face of a kind old man became clear.
    He took Pip’s hand. “Quick,” he pleaded. “To safety!”
    Pip knew the scouts would be circling above and felt he had no choice but to follow, stumbling awkwardly in the dark.
    The man pulled Pip through a door and into a small low cottage with a rounded window, where he yanked on the shutters so that Pip could not be seen from outside. Inside there was a small table and a rickety chair, a fire burned gently in the hearth, and a pot bubbled over the flames. The smell was delicious.
    “There, you see. Safety at last!” the man announced. “Oh, do forgive me, I have not introduced myself. My name is Crumb … Jed Crumb. Or Old Jed, as they often call me. And you are?”
    “Pip, sir. My name is Eddie Pipkin, but my friends call me Pip.”
    “In that case, young man, I shall consider myself a friend of yours and address you accordingly. You must be starving, Pip. All that escaping is hungry work, yes?” He returned with a plate of cakes and buns so big it dwarfed the table. And then hot drinks and more food seemed to appear from nowhere, accompanied by delicious smells that made Pip think of Sam’s food at the tavern.
    “Eat up,” the man said. “There’s plenty more where that came from.”
    “Thank you most kindly, sir. But I don’t have much time for food,” said Pip. “My friends have been taken by Mister Jarvis and his kin. I must reach them.”
    “You mean the forest people?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “How many are there of you? Where did you spring from?”
    Suddenly Pip became aware that the man might not be on his side. Of course, he seemed friendly enough, but what if … No, surely not. He had helped him get to safety. But he was asking Pip for information he did not want to give. What if it meant that Sam got into trouble?
    “I’ve been hiding in the clock tower,” said Pip. “The doves bring me bread and I collect water from the spouts in the dead of night.”
    “Poor thing,” the man said with his head to one side. “You must stay here, and for as long as you like. I shall make up a bed for you.”
    “No, really,” Pip insisted. “I cannot rest until I find my friends. Something could be happening to them right now.”
    “But these streets are not safe, especially at this hour.” The man tried to place a reassuring hand on Pip’s shoulder as he moved to the door.
    “I’m sorry,” Pip said, “but I have to find them.”
    “No!” he roared as Pip reached for the handle. The man’s voice burned like fire. His eyes turned from green to red, then bright orange, and his white hair singed with the same fiery hot colors. His mouth opened wide and now Pip could see that his teeth were sharp and pointed. All the kindness drained from him, his features changing in a moment, his hands growing into long-fingered claws.
    Pip fumbled at the door and slipped through it, realizing in that instant that the man was a creature from the forest, sent into the city to trap him. For a moment he had no idea where to turn, holding on to the door to prevent him from following outside. Then he lunged across the street into the dark alley they had come from and lost himself in darkness.
    He bolted, foxlike, into the dark. His mind raced. Whose home had the forest dweller used to lure him in? Surely not his own. Perhaps he had raided the house of some poor woman and had her tied up in the kitchen. Maybe he lived in secrecy as a city dweller and a spy. Maybe other forest types could change themselves into human form and lived in the same way. How could he ever trust anyone again? All these thoughts and more invaded his head as he raced onward.
    Pip’s mind tracked back. The last time he had run so fast was making his escape from Mister Oakes at the harbor. If only he had known what he knew now, he would have turned back for sure.
    Old Jed