Read Online Seeker by William Nicholson - Free Book Online Page A

for the puppy, his colors had gone a browny red, one of the early stages of anger. She had seen the resentment in him, the readiness to take offence, the fear of rejection. It was all in his colors. He didn't want a dog; he wanted to be given the respect that he felt his neighbors denied him.
    All this Morning Star understood because she had taught herself to trust the colors and ignore the chatter. But no one apart from her father knew this about her. They thought she was silent because she was shy. They thought she was sweet but dull, like a bun.
    "What do they know, little Lamb?" she said to the puppy. The puppy, responding to the affection in her voice, pranced up on his little hind legs and tried to lick her face.
    "Maybe you can see the colors," she said to him, bending down. "Maybe all animals can."
    Morning Star often wondered whether her mother could see the colors. Her father said no, she had never spoken to him about seeing colors. But he said it in a hesitating way. When she pressed, he told her that there had been times when her mother had been troubled and had spoken of a darkness that came in the day. It was as if for her the shadow of night had fallen over the light of day and she alone were lost in the darkness. Then the shadow would pass, like clouds blown by the wind, and she would smile again.
    "When the darkness came over her, there was nothing I could do. I don't believe she even heard me."
    "Poor Mama. What was it that made her sad?"
    "That I never did know. Perhaps she knew her home here wasn't where she was meant to be."
    "So she's happy now."
    "Oh, she'll be singing like a bird now. It was all she ever really wanted."
    Now it seemed to Morning Star it was all she wanted, too. She had learned all that could be learned, from travellers who passed through the village. She knew that she must make the long journey to the holy island of Anacrea. She knew that she must present herself there on the day of the annual Congregation. She knew that this was in four days' time, therefore she must begin the journey the morning after tomorrow.
    Her father would expect her to leave home soon, to take up a job or to marry. Most of the village girls married at sixteen. But even so, she dreaded the moment of telling him, and she kept putting it off all through the day.
    Then at last the day was ending, and the sun was dropping in the sky, and her father was preparing to climb back up to the hill pastures to watch over the sheep.
    "Maybe I'll come with you again, Papa," she said.
    This was not usual, for her to spend two nights running on the hillside. But her father just nodded and said, "As you wish."
    She took the puppy with her, as before. And so they set off with rug and bag up the steeply sloping path.
    Near the sheep fields, in the fading evening light, they came upon the goatboy again. He was standing by the track, still as a statue, staring into the far distance. He seemed unaware of their approach. Morning Star caught sight of an unfamiliar color round him, a silvery glow that made her shiver. Puzzled, she kept her eyes on him as she went by. She was still watching him when suddenly he twisted his head round towards her and stared directly into her eyes.
    "Stop!" he cried. "Stand still, where you are!"
    She stopped. His command sounded so urgent, so unlike him. His eyes were fixed on her, but in some strange way she felt he still didn't see her.
    "
They
want to see you," he said.
    "Who? Who wants to see me?"
    "You interest them."
    He stared at her, eyes popping, shining with that disturbing silvery glow.
    "You're mad," she said.
    She felt the puppy wriggle in her arms, and she was about to move on, when the goatboy shuddered all up and down his body and his expression changed. It was as if he were waking from a trance. He saw her bewildered look, and he leered at her.
    "See?" he said. "Didn't know about
them,
did you?"
    "About who?"
    "I got special friends."
    The puppy gave a sharp yap. Filka's eyes flicked