Read Online The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth - Free Book Online Page A

they slipped and skidded on the damp earth. They ran through the trees to the pool, darker and more mysterious than ever.
    â€˜What do I do?’ Hannah asked.
    â€˜I don’t know. Drink some of the water. It’s meant to be healing. Then you tie a clootie to the bush.’
    Hannah knelt by the pond and looked down into its gleaming black depths. The water was cold and sparkled on her tongue. She hesitated, not sure what to wish for. It seemed important that she choose wisely.
For us to be happy
, she thought.
Here at Wintersloe Castle
.
    â€˜What’s a clootie?’ she asked.
    â€˜A bit of rag. You’ve got to tear it, not cut it.’
    Hannah did not hesitate. She took the torn piece of hem and ripped away a long strip of cloth. She tied it to the branch of the yew tree which hung over the pool.
    â€˜Done,’ he said. ‘I hope you made a good wish. It’ll come true, you know.’
    â€˜I hope so.’
    A sudden loud croak made her jump. An enormous brown toad sat right by her hand. She squealed and scrambled back, then, bitterly ashamed of herself, bent to look at it more closely.
    It croaked again, then opened its wide mouth and spat out a small grey stone with a hole bored through it. Hannah looked at it in astonishment. The toad croaked again, urgently, then pushed the stone towards her with its head. Wonderingly Hannah bent and picked up the stone. It was rather sticky and unpleasant, so she rinsed it in the pool and then raised it high to look at it.
    â€˜It’s a holey stone!’ Donovan said. ‘Wow! I’ve only read about those.’
    â€˜The toad gave it to me.’ Hannah was pleased and puzzled and intrigued all at once.
    â€˜They’re meant to be magic.’ He stared at the toad in amazement.
    â€˜In what way?’ Hannah had goose bumps all over herbody. She stared at Donovan, wondering if he was mocking her with all his talk of magic and witches. He seemed serious, though, and she held in her hand a holey stone that a toad had spat at her feet. It was all too strange and uncanny.
    â€˜I don’t know. Take it to Miss Underhill and ask her.’
    â€˜At the fairy shop?’
    Donovan nodded. ‘She calls them hag-stones, I don’t know why. She asked me once if I’d ever found one here in the woods. You should show it to her. She might buy it from you.’ He shook his head slowly, in disbelief and awe. ‘A toad, of all things. It makes you wonder . . .’
    â€˜I don’t know. I mean, it’s a bit weird, isn’t it?’ Hannah looked down at the toad, which was sitting very still, regarding her with huge dark eyes.
    Donovan shrugged. ‘Yeah. Weird things happen, though, especially round this hill. Maybe he likes you. Let’s catch him! I’d like a pet toad.’
    As if understanding his words, the toad turned and waddled quickly away under a bush. In seconds, it had disappeared. Donovan laughed. ‘Well, he didn’t want to be caught, did he?’
    â€˜He? How can you tell?’
    â€˜By his big thumbs. Also I heard him calling before. Girl toads don’t call like that.’
    â€˜How come you know so much about toads?’
    He shrugged. ‘I like animals. I’d like to be a vet, except you have to go to uni and stuff, and I can’t stand school. So I might be a park ranger or something.’
    â€˜I hate school too.’ Hannah got up, clutching the hag-stone in her hand. It was now dark under the trees, and too dark to climb the yew tree back into the garden. She could barely seeits thick, hulking shape any more, let alone where to safely put her feet on its branches. She was shivering, both from the cold and from a sudden superstitious terror that made her wish she was somewhere warm and bright and ordinary.
    On impulse Hannah lifted the hag-stone to her left eye, looking through it. To her amazement, Hannah could now see the path as clearly as if it was