Read Storm Child for Free Online Page B

contain his rage.  His gaze bored into them. Annie’s eyes
were wide with apprehension as she held her breath, waiting for the next
event.  The moment was broken by a long howl from somewhere close
by.  The sound seemed to bring Ernesto back to himself.  He gave a
low grunt and turned to go into the house, his long coat sweeping the
steps. 
    ‘Get him inside.  And don’t
think you’re eating tonight.’
    Polly opened her mouth to argue
but then closed it again.  She looked at Annie. ‘Even I ain’t crossin ’ him tonight,’ she
said in a low voice.  Her attention turned to Isaac.  ‘Give me a hand
with ‘ im , sweet.’
    Annie looked down at the boy
uncertainly.  ‘Don’t he need a doctor?  He’s been out cold for
hours.’
    ‘The only doctor round ‘ere,’
Polly inclined her head towards the now deserted front door, ‘is in there, and
he ain’t in the mood for ministering right now. 
You can ask ‘ im , but I ain’t .’
    ‘What about Isaac?’
    Polly shrugged.  ‘We’ll get
him in his bed.  Happen he’ll wake in the mornin ’
right as rain.’
    ‘What if he don’t?  I heard
all sorts of stories about folks who’d been clobbered over the head, like they
turn simple or forget who they are.’
    Polly cast a glance at Isaac. ‘Be
an improvement, then,’ she muttered before grabbing an arm and hauling him up.
     
    Polly knocked at the door of the study. When she did not get
the usual gruff reply, she cautiously pushed open the door and put her head around
it. 
    ‘Ernesto?’
    He was sitting at his desk, hands
folded in front of him, staring at the opposite wall.  At the sound of her
voice he turned his attention to her.
    ‘If you think I’m going to change
my mind about supper, you can think again. We needed that money.’
    ‘I weren’t goin ’
to ask for supper,’ Polly said.  ‘I were only bringing you a tot of somethin ’ to cheer you.’
    ‘I don’t want cheering.’  He
rose from his seat at the desk and made his way to the gaslight on the wall,
twisting the screw so that the light dimmed.  Taking a seat in a
wing-backed armchair, he patted the small side table that stood next to
it.  Polly took the decanter she was carrying over and placed it beside
him with a glass. Without a word he poured himself a generous measure and took
a deep draught.
    ‘You won’t be too savage with
Isaac, will you?’ Polly asked.
    ‘It would be better for the
useless lump if he didn’t wake up,’ Ernesto growled. 
    ‘He’s good with the punters,
though,’ Polly said. 
    Ernesto topped his glass. ‘He is
that.’  He fell to brooding again as Polly stood and waited, the only
sounds filling the dusty silence her shallow breathing and the sonorous ticking
of the clock.  
    ‘I don’t belong here, Poll,’
Ernesto said finally. 
    She looked at him with a silent
question.
    ‘I had a fortune and now look at
me. Stuck in a damp-ridden pit with three useless orphans who can’t even bring
me a decent living.  And I’ve a good mind to whip that ungrateful wretch,
Annie, till she begs for death.’
    ‘What’s Annie done?’ Polly asked
quietly.
    ‘You know full well,’ he replied.
‘That baby was our golden goose, and Annie saw to it that we lost it.’
    ‘It don’t make no difference,’
Polly said in a soothing voice. ‘The punters don’t know real magic from
pretend.  It’s just tricks an’ they’re happy.’
    ‘She wasn’t for performing. 
She was far more precious than that.’  He rubbed a huge hand over the
sooty stubble erupting from his chin.
    ‘What d’you mean?’
    ‘The baby does have magic, you’re
right, and she was exactly what they were searching for.’
    ‘Who?’
    Ernesto ignored her
question.  ‘I’ve been looking for a child with real magic for years, just
like they asked me, and they would have paid me well.’ He drained his glass and
knocked it onto the table. ‘Well enough to see me live in luxury for the rest
of my