Read Online The Mersey Girls by Katie Flynn - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Katie Flynn
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showed us when she took us to the museum in Killarney. And I can see your cottage and the farm . . . come on up.’
But this Caitlin refused to do. ‘Not today, Lu,’ she called. ‘We’ve got to get down yet, and those stone stairs look awful bare when you’re going down and it’s a long way to fall. Do come back here, then we can have our dinners.’
‘I thought we were going to have our dinners on top of the tower?’ Lucy said plaintively. She had climbed a long way and now she was hungry – whatever was the matter with Caitlin all of a sudden?
‘Our dinners are at the bottom of the stairs,’ Caitlin said. ‘I couldn’t carry the lemon barley water, it’s far too heavy, and you dumped your bag. Oh, do come on, Lu, I’m starving so I am!’
And Lucy soon realised that Caitlin had a perfectly valid point; going up the spiral stone steps had been easy, because you were looking up. But going down! It was a nightmare if you weren’t too keen on heights and Lucy suddenly discovered that heights, in fact, were not her favourite thing. She clung to the wall and tried not to look down, but she was in a sweat of fear until her feet touched solid ground once more and even then she felt, suddenly, that she wanted to eat her dinner in the bright, clean sunshine and not in this weirdly beautiful place.
‘Let’s go back to the curragh,’ she said as soon as they were in the fresh air once more. ‘We’ve conquered the castle, now let us be rowing off a way in the boat – we’ll use two bits of planks as oars.’ She seized two short lengths of plank and tucked them under her arm and in five minutes they were across the marsh and making their way over the sandy, gravelly strand to where the boat waited.
Had waited.
‘It’s gone!’ Caitlin’s shrill cry was disbelieving. ‘Sure and it was a fairy boat, Lucy Murphy, for hasn’t it gone entirely?’
‘It can’t have gone,’ Lucy said, though she had the evidence of her own eyes to give the lie to the statement. The little strand was empty, there wasn’t a sign of their small craft. ‘Wasn’t it further down the creek, Cait – or further up?’
‘No indeed, it was right here,’ Caitlin said. She gave an exaggerated shiver. ‘Oh, Lu, it was magic, and we touched it – turned it over! Oh, what’ll become of us?’
‘We’ll have to have our picnic on dry land,’ Lucy said prosaically. ‘Well, I never would have believed it – who can have come and taken it in the little while we were exploring the castle and climbing the tower?’
‘Only someone who was magic,’ Caitlin said. ‘A good thing they didn’t come back for it when we’d got it out in five fathoms of water, that’s all I can say.’
‘I don’t
think
it was anyone particularly magic,’ Lucy said cautiously. She had no urge to upset the little people, particularly if one was hovering nearby, eager to sink his sharp little teeth into someone’s unprotected calf. But she was a practical child in her way. ‘There’s footprints.’
‘Where?’ Caitlin said, having given the beach a quick glance. ‘I can’t see any footprints.’
‘There, right on the very edge of the sandy bit just where the tide’s coming over . . . look, quick, or it’ll be too late, the water’ll cover it.’
Caitlin looked in the right direction but even as she did so the tide gave a triumphant little hiss and water lapped where, a moment earlier, Lucy had distinctly seen the print of a bare foot, with the toes well splayed . . . no doubt the owner of the foot which made the print had been pulling his curragh into the water, Lucy told herself, whilst her friend triumphantly asserted that there was no footprint.
‘Oh well, the curragh’s gone anyway and I’m still hungry,’ Lucy said soothingly. ‘Whoever took it, it’s still not here. Do you want to share dinners? Only I guess Maeve will have put the same in for both.’
‘You’re not thinking of eating here, on this enchanted beach,
But this Caitlin refused to do. ‘Not today, Lu,’ she called. ‘We’ve got to get down yet, and those stone stairs look awful bare when you’re going down and it’s a long way to fall. Do come back here, then we can have our dinners.’
‘I thought we were going to have our dinners on top of the tower?’ Lucy said plaintively. She had climbed a long way and now she was hungry – whatever was the matter with Caitlin all of a sudden?
‘Our dinners are at the bottom of the stairs,’ Caitlin said. ‘I couldn’t carry the lemon barley water, it’s far too heavy, and you dumped your bag. Oh, do come on, Lu, I’m starving so I am!’
And Lucy soon realised that Caitlin had a perfectly valid point; going up the spiral stone steps had been easy, because you were looking up. But going down! It was a nightmare if you weren’t too keen on heights and Lucy suddenly discovered that heights, in fact, were not her favourite thing. She clung to the wall and tried not to look down, but she was in a sweat of fear until her feet touched solid ground once more and even then she felt, suddenly, that she wanted to eat her dinner in the bright, clean sunshine and not in this weirdly beautiful place.
‘Let’s go back to the curragh,’ she said as soon as they were in the fresh air once more. ‘We’ve conquered the castle, now let us be rowing off a way in the boat – we’ll use two bits of planks as oars.’ She seized two short lengths of plank and tucked them under her arm and in five minutes they were across the marsh and making their way over the sandy, gravelly strand to where the boat waited.
Had waited.
‘It’s gone!’ Caitlin’s shrill cry was disbelieving. ‘Sure and it was a fairy boat, Lucy Murphy, for hasn’t it gone entirely?’
‘It can’t have gone,’ Lucy said, though she had the evidence of her own eyes to give the lie to the statement. The little strand was empty, there wasn’t a sign of their small craft. ‘Wasn’t it further down the creek, Cait – or further up?’
‘No indeed, it was right here,’ Caitlin said. She gave an exaggerated shiver. ‘Oh, Lu, it was magic, and we touched it – turned it over! Oh, what’ll become of us?’
‘We’ll have to have our picnic on dry land,’ Lucy said prosaically. ‘Well, I never would have believed it – who can have come and taken it in the little while we were exploring the castle and climbing the tower?’
‘Only someone who was magic,’ Caitlin said. ‘A good thing they didn’t come back for it when we’d got it out in five fathoms of water, that’s all I can say.’
‘I don’t
think
it was anyone particularly magic,’ Lucy said cautiously. She had no urge to upset the little people, particularly if one was hovering nearby, eager to sink his sharp little teeth into someone’s unprotected calf. But she was a practical child in her way. ‘There’s footprints.’
‘Where?’ Caitlin said, having given the beach a quick glance. ‘I can’t see any footprints.’
‘There, right on the very edge of the sandy bit just where the tide’s coming over . . . look, quick, or it’ll be too late, the water’ll cover it.’
Caitlin looked in the right direction but even as she did so the tide gave a triumphant little hiss and water lapped where, a moment earlier, Lucy had distinctly seen the print of a bare foot, with the toes well splayed . . . no doubt the owner of the foot which made the print had been pulling his curragh into the water, Lucy told herself, whilst her friend triumphantly asserted that there was no footprint.
‘Oh well, the curragh’s gone anyway and I’m still hungry,’ Lucy said soothingly. ‘Whoever took it, it’s still not here. Do you want to share dinners? Only I guess Maeve will have put the same in for both.’
‘You’re not thinking of eating here, on this enchanted beach,
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