The Hidden World Read Free Page A

about two miles out of New Milford, on the road to Allen’s Corners, in six and a half acres of its own grounds. It had steeply sloping roofs and very tall brick chimneys and Jessica could never imagine why anybody would have wanted to build it, unless they had been wealthy and lonely and sad. Like every other bedroom, her own room was wallpapered with pasture roses and wild irises and blessed thistles. The wallpaper was faded now, and stained in places, but she supposed that Grannie and Grandpa Willy didn’t notice things like that any more. Grandpa Willy had walked in this morning with dried egg yolk on his vest, and Grannie was always wearing odd socks.
    On one side of the room loomed the large closet in which she kept all of her clothes. It was so tall that it almost reached to the ceiling, and it was veneered in walnut, which had knots that looked like eyes and dark jagged shapes that looked like animals’ faces. On the other side, next to the brown-tiled fireplace, stood her dressing-table, which also had her computer on it and her carved-wood mirror. She talked to the girl in the mirror every day. The girl in the mirror didn’t have any friends, either – even though, exactly like Jessica, she was skinny-waisted and pretty, with glossy brown shoulder-length hair and large dark eyes and a slightly elfin look. Grannie’s mother had come from Norway, that’s what Grannie said, and that’s why Jessica looked like that. There were lots of elves in Norway, and they often married humans.
    She decided to go downstairs. It was all very well being the fairy princess in the attic, but she was growing bored now, and hungry. She could smell ham boiling and cookies baking. Grannie may have fussed too much, but she was a wonderful cook.
    â€˜Help us.’
    She was reaching for her bathrobe, but she stopped, with her hand still raised. A cold feeling slowly crept down her back like a melting snowball.
    â€˜Help us,’ the voice repeated. It sounded weaker than it had before, but it was just as frightened. ‘It’s coming closer. You have to help us.’
    â€˜I can’t—’ Jessica began, but then she had to clear her throat. ‘I can’t see you. How can I help you if I don’t know who you are?’
    â€˜Help us, there’s a way.’
    â€˜What way? I don’t understand. I can’t even see you – what can I do?’
    â€˜You don’t know what it’s going to do to us. It’s going to take us all, but it’s going to do far worse than that.’
    â€˜Where are you? Let me see you!’
    â€˜We’re here. We’re here. Help us.’
    The voice seemed to come from somewhere very close, only inches away from her ear, and yet it seemed to be all around her, too, like fifty people all whispering at once.
    She looked toward the fireplace. The voice must be coming from there, that was why it echoed so much. Somebody was whispering into the fireplace in another room, and the sound carried through all the complicated chimneys until it came out here. Whether her grandmother knew it or not, there must be other children living in the house somewhere. Maybe they had run away from home. Or perhaps they were orphans, who had escaped from a local orphanage.
    Whoever they were, Jessica decided that she had to find them. Whatever was after them, they were scared for their lives.
    â€˜Tell me where you are,’ she said, clearly. ‘Don’t be frightened. Tell me what room you’re in, and I’ll come and rescue you.’
    â€˜We’re here. Help us.’
    Jessica was about to ask the voice again when Grannie appeared, wearing an apron and a big, hot smile. ‘I thought I heard you calling, sweetie-pie. Do you want to come downstairs? There’s chocolate muffins and pecan cookies and some of my lemon cake, if you’re interested.’
    Jessica thought she heard a furtive scamper, like a rat running behind