The Feral Child Read Free

There was a split second of stunned silence as George twisted in the air, stubby legs paddling, before the boy shook him off on to the ground. John backed away from the little terrier, who stood in front of Maddy with his legs planted wide apart, yellow teeth bared and the hair on his back standing on end.
    The boy looked down at his mauled hand, at the blood running down his arm and dripping on to the leafy ground. His eyes narrowed into slits, and his breathing was harsh and loud through his open mouth. Maddy didn’t think he looked like a little boy anymore. He looked horribly, horribly old. She hugged her aching arm to her side and sobbed with relief that the pain was gone.
    She began to scramble back and climb to her feet when he raised his hands and began to shriek. The undergrowth erupted around them as hidden thingsrushed toward her. Maddy didn’t wait to see what was coming. She ran.
    She could hear John screaming behind her, and he was getting closer. There was an angry hum in the air, and as her feet found the broad smooth path that led to the entrance gate and the parking lot, Maddy could hear a sound like fat raindrops falling on leaves. It sounded like feet.
    She ran faster, her breath burning her lungs, her heart squeezed tight with fear. “Don’t look behind, don’t look behind, don’t look behind,” she chanted. She offered up the silent prayer of desperate children everywhere: PleasegodpleasegodpleasegodpleasegodgetmeoutofthisandIwillbegoodpromisepromisepromise .
    George found the gap in the fence. She saw the white tip of his tail disappear and threw herself after it.
    As she wriggled through, a hand clutched the heel of her sneaker and began to tug. She screamed and clawed at the ground, breaking her nails on the concrete, trying to drag her way out as the hand grabbed her ankle. She kicked back hard and felt a crunch, heard a squeal. She squirmed out of the gap and into the parking lot. She was up and sprinting again as soon as she hit the tarmac, but she had not gone more than a few strides when she ran into something a lot bigger and wider than she was. An inky blackness closed around her face and stopped her breath; she screamed again and beat at it with her fists, only to be swung high into the air to find herself staring down at her grandfather.

Chapter Two
    “Here you are! And why do I find you here? How many times have you been told not to go into the castle,” he shouted, his face puce with anger. “You could break your neck in there in the dark!”
    Maddy was too shocked to do anything but stare at him as her breath came in frightened gulps. George was barking at the hole in the fence, the hair on his back still standing on end.
    Granda put her down. “What is going on with the pair of you?”
    “There was a boy in there,” said Maddy. “He was really weird, and he tried to pull me into the trees. George bit him, and we ran for it, and I think there were other people chasing us as well.”
    Granda whistled for George, but the little terrier didn’t seem to hear him. “Come here, George, you eejit!” he shouted, and the dog reluctantly slunk to his side.
    “A boy, you say?”
    Maddy nodded.
    “What did he look like?”
    “He had red hair, green eyes, about my height. He said he lived in the castle. But no one lives in the castle grounds, do they?”
    “What did he say his name was?”
    “John. Do you know him, Granda? Does he live in there?”
    Granda stared at the fence and rubbed his stubble with the palm of his hand. The red drained from his face, leaving him jaundiced under the sulfur glow of the streetlight. “Let’s go find your granny; she has been worried out of her mind over you.” He turned on his heel and strode off toward the village square, clearly expecting Maddy and George to trot after him in the wake of his long, billowing coat. Maddy stood there with her mouth agape. Someone had just tried to kidnap her, and Granda wanted to go home for dinner?
    “Where