Read Amethyst for Free Online Page B

of her were leaking out.
    Or was it just being surrounded by all this wood?
    She pushed open the window and sucked in the cold, fresh mountain air. She felt better immediately. I must be strong, she told herself. And cold. Like stone.
    Amy’s room was at the back of the house, overlooking a small courtyard. Two very large horses leaned over their stable doors on the far side of the yard. In the roof above the stable were three windows. Copper had told her Qestrid had that room.
    As Amy turned back to the room, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror above the chest. She stopped.
    She looked different! She stood very still. The rockgoyle’s words came back to her. Sharp, agonising, like a dagger stabbing, the words cut her.
    Spoiling! Spoiling! You’ll spoil yourself!
    She leaned closer and studied her face, scanning every inch of it in the mirror. Her nose was bulbous! Her eyelashes were shorter, they definitely were and there were bumps around her chin like warts!
    Amy’s heart pounded and throbbed painfully. She closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. She wiped the mirror over, bent even closer …
    There. Nothing. It was rubbish! She was fine! Just her imagination. Silly. The rockgoyle had been trying to scare her, that’s all …
    Someone knocked on the door. Amy jumped and spun round.
    ‘Sorry!’ Copper burst in. ‘I thought maybe I should help you get sorted because the sooner it’s done, the sooner we can go out and I can show you everything – before it’s dark. Did you see the horses?’ She squeezed in beside Amy, next to the window. ‘Thunder and Lightning. Aren’t they fantastic? They pull the big sledge. Questrid’s in charge of them.’
    Amy had to fight to speak normally.
    ‘Is he?’ she said. She took a big breath. ‘Really. Why doesn’t Questrid live in here?’
    ‘Because he likes it out there,’ said Copper, leaning against the wall beside her. ‘Sometimes Questrid thinks he’ll go back to the Rock and live with Ruby, but he doesn’t like the Rock – it’s ever so stony and gloomy. Oh, sorry again. That sounds rude! Of course it won’t seem gloomy to you. Or stony! He likes bits of both worlds. Here, let me get this stuff packed away,’ she added. She began tossing Amy’s clothes into the drawers.
    ‘I suppose the Rock’s not what he’s used to,’ she went on. ‘You do have a lot of clothes, Amy… Questrid didn’t know who his parents were. He didn’t want to believe he was a Rocker, poor thing, but he carves stone beautifully which is such a giveaway. But now Questrid accepts he’s a bit of both. It turns out his father was a Wood. You seem perfectly happy being who you are. I like that.’
    Amy swallowed uncomfortably.
    ‘This is going to be such fun!’ cried Copper. ‘You’ve no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to you coming. I’ve never really had a proper friend before—’
    ‘Not even in the South?’ asked Amy.
    ‘No. I felt so different. What about you?’
    Amy was caught off guard.
    ‘Oh, lots. Lots and lots of friends,’ she lied. ‘Yes. I really like my school. I’m in the top set for everything.’
    ‘Wow!’ said Copper. ‘Well done.’
    Amy stared at the carved wooden chest without seeing it. ‘My friends must miss me,’ she added lamely.
    ‘Oh, don’t worry, we’ll get letters. Bird o’gram. It’s very reliable but of course sometimes the letters are a bit pecked …’
    ‘Yes?’ What an idiot I am, Amy told herself. I don’t need to make this up. I don’t have to. ‘My best friend’s called Izzy,’ she heard herself rattle on. ‘She’s very pretty, blonde. Really good at netball.’
    ‘Really? You lucky thing!’ said Copper. She sat on the bed. ‘At my school everyone laughed at me for knitting.’
    ‘I didn’t know you knitted.’
    ‘I did. All the time. Aunt Ruby never minded about me knitting. It’s the only thing I miss here. I used to knit when I was unhappy or feeling unravelled and loose. I