Read Online The Secret of Zanzibar by Frances Watts - Free Book Online Page A

After everything we’ve been through, don’t you sometimes wish you’d never left?’
    â€˜I don’t regret leaving Templeton,’ said Tibby Rose. ‘How could I? I’ve become friends with you and continued the work of my parents. And even though I still don’t know much about them, fighting for the cause they believed in makes me feel close to them somehow. But I do miss Grandpa Nelson and Great-Aunt Harriet. I wish I’d been able to say goodbye to them. Especially now that I know they’d been hiding me in order to protect me.’
    It was true. Tibby’s grandpa and great-aunt had devoted their lives to protecting her, then Alistair had fallen out of the sky and onto her head and changed everything. He felt a pang of guilt imagining the two old mice alone in the big white house on top of a hill, desperately worried about their beloved Tibby Rose. And for the first timehe felt glad to be back in Souris. Alistair had his brother and sister, his parents, his aunt and uncle – three uncles, he realised, now that he knew Zanzibar and Timmy the Winns were his mother’s brothers. But apart from those two old mice in Templeton, Tibby was all alone in the world …

    They rose early the next day and walked through the blazing sun, the glare of it on the bare rock making Alistair’s eyes swim. After hours of squinting, he was relieved to leave the Eugenian Range behind for the more cultivated landscape of fields and vineyards, even if it meant their chances of meeting patrols of Queen’s Guards increased. Fortunately, Slippers Pink and Feast Thompson knew of all kinds of small tracks and trails that kept them away from the main roads and the towns and villages that lined Lake Eugenia and then followed the river north to Templeton.
    As evening drew in, Alistair was so tired that he felt like he was sleepwalking, but Tibby’s pace was growing brisker as they neared Templeton.
    â€˜Alistair,’ she said, ‘don’t these fields look familiar? I’m sure we sailed past them on our raft.’
    â€˜Maybe,’ said Alistair. One field looked much like another to him.
    â€˜That tower,’ said Tibby excitedly. ‘It’s the bell tower of Templeton, I’m sure it is. Can’t you three walk any faster?’
    Slippers laughed. ‘You’re practically running, Tibby.’
    They had just reached the outskirts of Templeton when a small brown mouse stepped into their path.
    â€˜Excuse me,’ he said shyly. ‘Are you Slippers Pink?’
    â€˜That’s a funny name,’ said Slippers. Alistair noticed that she hadn’t answered the young boy’s question.
    â€˜I know,’ said the boy. ‘The owl told me to look for a pale mouse with big black boots but then he said her name was Slippers Pink. And I said that her name should be Boots Black.’
    Slippers smiled. ‘What else did the owl say?’
    â€˜He said that if I saw Slippers Pink I should give her this note.’ He held out a slightly grubby note, and Slippers took it. ‘And he said he was sorry he couldn’t wait for you, but you’d have to make your own way there.’
    â€˜Make our own way where?’ Slippers raised an eyebrow. ‘We’ve just got here.’
    The small brown mouse shrugged. ‘I don’t know. You asked me what the owl said so I told you.’
    â€˜Well, thanks,’ Slippers called as the small mouse scampered off.
    Shaking her head in bemusement she unfolded the note and began to read. The expression on her face changed rapidly from curiosity to shock; she rocked back on her heels as if reeling from a blow.
    â€˜Oh no.’
    â€˜What?’ said Feast.
    â€˜Oh no, no, no.’
    â€˜Slippers, what is it?’ Feast demanded.
    Wordlessly she handed him the note, swaying slightly as if she might lose her balance.
    Feast Thompson’s face was grim as he read the note then crumpled