Read Online The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone - Free Book Online Page A

in the camp had been told as they’d knocked several times on Moll’s wagon door to see if she wanted to climb trees with them. But Moll hadn’t answered; she
was boarded up against them all.
    Sparks from the fire crackled into the air and floated upwards, lost in the overhanging branches. Domino had come down from his watch and was playing the fiddle, slow and haunting, like a call
to worship. Then came Mooshie’s voice as Keeper of the Songs – gravelly like grain – lilting and drifting over the fire. The gypsies watched spellbound as Ivy, her hands covered
in henna and her plaited hair scooped up over her head, took her place beside Wisdom, before the birch broomstick they had to jump over to bless their marriage.
    And set back from the celebrations, from somewhere in the darkness of the Ancientwood, branches stirred.
    ‘If you jump higher than Wisdom,’ Patti shouted, ‘you’ll be the decision-maker of the family!’ She tucked a coin under Ivy’s arm. ‘Seven years’
good luck to the person who catches the coin when Ivy jumps!’
    Beneath the branches of a Sacred Oak, Moll and Siddy looked on – half intrigued, half appalled. To them, Wisdom was a fist-fighter. Jumping the Broomstick seemed a bit of a let-down.
    Patti glanced around the camp. ‘Siddy!’ she hollered. ‘Wherever you’ve got to, you better come here now! Your sister’s getting married and it’s not the kind
of thing you skulk off for!’
    ‘I’ve got to go and join them, Moll,’ Siddy said, tying Porridge the Second into a knot and popping him into his pocket. ‘I’ll bring you back a wood-sorrel
fizz.’
    But Moll was barely listening. ‘I’m going to get my pa’s bone reading from Cinderella Bull’s wagon.’
    ‘Can’t you wait a while, then I can come with you?’ Siddy hissed.
    Moll shook her head. ‘It can’t wait, Sid. I need to—’
    Siddy nudged her. ‘I think someone wants a word with you, Moll.’
    She followed his gaze. Tucked back from the Sacred Oaks, among the hawthorn bushes, two yellow-green eyes glinted and then Gryff stepped out, his footsteps softer than falling snow.
    Moll felt a rush of warmth. ‘Gryff.’ She wanted to leap forward and wrap her arms round him. Somehow they were in this together – in a way that no one in the camp was, except
perhaps Siddy. ‘If Oak or Mooshie ask for me, Sid, say I’m sulking in my bed. Oak’s boys aren’t up on watch right now so Mooshie won’t know I’ve slipped
out.’
    Siddy nodded, watching in awe as the wildcat slunk towards them. He’d seen Gryff many times with Moll, but there was always something unpredictable and wild about him and that kept the
rest of the camp at a wary distance. ‘Just stay here with Gryff; don’t go to Cinderella Bull’s wagon without me. OK?’
    Siddy ran back towards the fire; Mooshie’s lyrics were growing livelier and faster and before long Patti was clamouring on the spoons, Domino was spiralling out notes from his fiddle and
Hard-Times Bob was making a series of squeezy noises from his accordion – in time with his hiccups.
    And, nestled into the branches not so very far from Moll and Gryff, a pair of eyes continued to watch, blinking every now and again and narrowing.
    Moll smiled as Gryff stopped before her. ‘Thank you, Gryff, for helping me last night.’ She paused. ‘And for watching out for me all those years ago.’
    Gryff dipped his head and purred. His way of talking, of understanding.
    ‘You left the northern wilderness – your home – for me. Didn’t you?’
    Again Gryff dipped his head. In the moonlight, his coat looked almost brown, just like the fur on his belly.
    Moll knelt down slowly and, for some seconds, she just watched Gryff and he watched back. And then, so gently she felt like she might not be moving at all, Moll stretched out her hand. Gryff
stayed where he was. Still. Watching. And then he took one step closer to Moll.
    The movement was fluid, like liquid, and Moll watched