Whispers: Part 1

By TANIA ROXBOROGH

Before she opened her eyes, Skye listened. Nothing. No trucks rumbling past, no motorbikes whining up the hill. Just silence, and it was wonderful.

It had taken six months to build this new house. It was nestled into a hill, surrounded by trees and plants and birds. The house was lovely, of course, but Skye thought her room was the best; it had a bay window, and Mum had found an old four-poster bed in a garage sale.

They had spent all of one weekend making a large, overhead canopy with corners that draped down and were tied with ribbons. It was perfect.

Her soft toys huddled on the hammock suspended in one corner of the room and her crystals reflected rainbow patterns on the ceiling as the sun peeped through the trees.

Skye chose to ignore the cardboard boxes still to be unpacked and the pile of her favourite books dumped in the wardrobe. That was a job for next weekend.

Publisher: Scholastic

Price: $13.95

Age group: 9-12 years