Читать онлайн «The Crossing of Ingo»
Автор Хелен Данмор
Ingo
Helen Dunmore
FOR TESS
Contents
Chapter One
YOU’LL FIND THE MERMAID of Zennor inside Zennor Church, if…
Chapter Two
NEXT MORNING I WAKE up late to the smell of…
Chapter Three
IT SEEMS LIKE A HUNDRED years since the day of…
Chapter Four
I’VE NEVER CLIMBED DOWN the rocks so fast, even though…
Chapter Five
WHEN I WAKE THE next morning, there’s heavy white mist…
Chapter Six
NEVER GO DOWN TO THE cove alone. Are you listening…
Chapter Seven
WE DIVE. I CLING TO Faro’s wrist because there’s nothing…
Chapter Eight
“I KNOW,” SAYS FARO. HE lies on his back, sculling…
Chapter Nine
TIDES ARE POWERFUL. Tides know where they want to be,…
Chapter Ten
I WAKE UP SLOWLY. I’M IN MY own room, lying…
Chapter Eleven
“MUM, WE’RE GOING out for a bit,” Conor calls back…
Chapter Twelve
I HATE SAYING GOOD-BYE TO Sadie. I kneel down beside…
Chapter Thirteen
MUM STRAIGHTENS up and turns from the oven to the…
Chapter Fourteen
“WHERE ARE WE now, Faro?” I ask. We’re swimming lazily…
Chapter Fifteen
“I’M HERE,” SAYS FARO’S voice, soft and close.
Chapter Sixteen
“PLEASE DON’T GO OFF like that again without telling me…
Chapter Seventeen
ALL THROUGH TEA I’M on edge in case Roger says…
Chapter Eighteen
WAKE UP, SAPPHIRE. Wake up. It’s important. You’ve got to…
Chapter Nineteen
AS SOON AS MUM’S LEFT for work, we’re on our…
Chapter Twenty
“MUM, WHAT ARE you doing home already? It’s only two…
Chapter Twenty-One
INGO IS ANGRY. WE KNOW IT as soon as we…
Chapter Twenty-Two
FOR LONG SECONDS FARO and Conor stare at each other…
Chapter Twenty-Three
FARO, I NEVER EVEN SAID thank you. You helped me…
Chapter Twenty-Four
IT’S EVENING NOW. I’VE decided to clear the garden that’s…
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
CHAPTER ONE
YOU’LL FIND THE MERMAID of Zennor inside Zennor Church, if you know where to look. She’s carved from old, hard, dark wood. The church is dark too, so you have to bend down to see her clearly. You can trace the shape of her tail with your finger.
Someone slashed across her with a knife a long time ago. A sharp, angry knife.
I touched the slash mark very gently, so I wouldn’t hurt the mermaid any more.“Why did they do that to her, Dad? Why did they hurt her?”
“I don’t know, Sapphy. People do cruel things sometimes, when they’re angry. ”
And then Dad told me the mermaid’s story. I was only little, but I remember every word.
“The Zennor mermaid fell in love with a human,” said Dad, “but she was a Mer creature and so she couldn’t come to live with him up in the dry air. It would have killed her. But she couldn’t forget him, and she couldn’t live without him. She couldn’t even sleep for thinking about him. All she wanted was to be with him. ”
“Would she have died in the air?” I asked.
“Yes. Mer people can’t live away from the water. Anyway, the man couldn’t forget her either. The sight of the mermaid burned in his mind, day and night. And the mermaid felt just the same. When the tide was high, she would swim up into the cove, then up the stream, as close as she could to the church, to hear him singing in the choir. ”
“I thought it was mermaids that sang, Dad. ”
