Read The Lightning Bolt for Free Online Page A

had to run to follow them. They led me here, and hung off the eaves of the oast house, which had been abandoned for years. I picked them up and put them in a box, and then I went to Mr Browne and told him I wanted this house. He felt very bad about Van, you know, and so he gave it to me, or rather, to Father.’
    â€˜Who’s Van?’ Emilia asked, although she thought she could guess.
    â€˜He’s my brother,’ Fairnette said sadly. ‘He’s only ten, you know, two years younger than me. The rest of our brothers are all much older.’
    â€˜So what happened to him?’ Luka asked, rather to Emilia’s relief. She had not wanted to ask.
    Fairnette was quiet for a moment. ‘He got burnt,’ she said. ‘At the foundry. Stevo had to throw him in the water trough to put him out. We were all sure he would die, but I put honey on the burns. I didn’t know what else to do. My mother always used to give us honey to eat when we had sore throats. It seemed to work. He lived, anyway, though he says he just wishes I’d let him die.’
    â€˜How awful,’ Emilia said, thinking of Noah and trying to imagine him being on fire. It made her feel sick.
    Fairnette nodded. ‘He won’t go out where anyone might see him – he won’t go outside at all,not even into the garden, or to come and see the bees.’
    They walked on in a subdued silence. Zizi swung through the trees, shrieking and throwing acorns at them. She was glad to be away from the smoky town.
    â€˜Where’s your mother?’ Emilia asked.
    â€˜She’s dead,’ Fairnette said. ‘She died when I was eight.’
    â€˜My mother’s dead too,’ Emilia said. They looked at each other sadly. There was no way to explain the dark absence in their lives to anyone who had not lost their mother too. Only those who had suffered the same sorrow could understand.
    â€˜And what of all your other brothers?’ Emilia asked. ‘Don’t they help you?’ For it had occurred to her that Fairnette had the care of both her injured brother and her elderly forgetful father, all by herself.
    Fairnette shook her head. ‘Van doesn’t want them.’ She hesitated. ‘I don’t know what happened that day up at the foundry. Van should not have been there, I know. But he hated being the youngest, he could not wait for the day he was allowed to start work too. He’s like all the Smith men, he loves the forge and the fire. I think . . . I think something must’ve happened that day, something no one tells me. Because they all blame each other for what happened, and Van blames everyone.’
    Emilia would have liked to ask more, but they were approaching a clearing in the woods filled with the soft, ceaseless humming of bees. Emilia watched with interest as Fairnette lit the sage leaves in the iron dish she carried. Then, waving the smouldering leaves from side to side, she walked slowly into the centre of the clearing. Smoke drifted about the row of six dome-shaped straw beehives that stood on a wooden rack under the trees.
    Bees were busily flying in and out of theentrances, zooming away into the woods on either side, or crawling about the beehives. Fearlessly, Fairnette walked into their midst, the smoke wreathing about her head. Bees hovered about her in a noisy golden cloud, landing on her head, her arms, her hands, her cheeks, her lips, her eyelids. Fairnette did not even flinch. She stood quietly until she was wearing the bees like a living shroud, and then, moving very smoothly, she approached each hive and checked it over carefully. The tops of the hives had been hinged so that she could lift them and peer inside, waving the smoke all about first. Then, step by step, Fairnette retreated back to the edge of the clearing, the bees unfurling sleepily from her.
    Emilia and Luka stared at her with amazement and something that was almost horror. She’s a witch too ,