Wild Wind

By Elaine Forrestal

‘I can’t fit in there,’ I said, straightening up to my full 154 centimetres.
There was an almighty crash some­where above us. A shower of dust and grit fell through the air vent in the ceil­ing and suddenly all four of us were scram­bling in, press­ing close together under the kitchen table.
A terrifying cyclone brings down power lines and cre­ates havoc, while a mysterious prowler, circling the Eden-Glassie homestead, strikes terror into the hearts of Tori, his sister and two cousins. Their courage has never been so thoroughly tested.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elaine Forrestal
• Release date: Apr 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476033716

Book preview

WILD WIND ©

by

Elaine Forrestal

© 2012

eBook Version 1.0

ELAINE

FORRESTAL

Elaine Forrestal is a full-time writer of fiction for all ages.

She lives and works in Scarborough, a beach suburb of Perth, Western Australia, but has travelled extensively and lived in France and Northern Ireland.

She has won the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award and been shortlisted for many other awards in Australia and the UK.

For more information go to: www.elaineforrestal.com.au

ALSO BY

ELAINE

FORRESTAL

The Watching Lake

Straggler’s Reef

Someone Like Me

Graffiti on the Fence

Leaving No Footprints *

Winning

Black Jack Anderson

Other books in the Eden Glassie Mystery Series:

Deep Water *

Stone Circle

Black Earth

(*) Also published as eBooks by eText Press

DEDICATION

For Amy with thanks for sharing your special treasures.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to Julie Watts for having enough faith in me as an author to take on this quartet and to Catherine McCredie for the wisdom and toughness to see it through. Ian Oatley and Ros Lambert told me their different versions of Lilly's story from which the entirely fictional Eden-Glassie Mysteries grew in my imagination.

Smashwords Edition

ETEXT PRESS PUBLISHING

PO Box 3488, Joondalup,

Western Australia, 6097

Australia

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www.etextpress.com

WILD WIND

AN ETEXT PRESS BOOK

ISBN: 978-1-921968-26-6

This edition published at eText Press 2012.

Copyright © Elaine Forrestal 2005

Copyright © eText Press 2012

Elaine Forrestal has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and any and all other applicable international copyright laws to be identified as the sole author of this original work.

This book is a work of fiction and all characters in it are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This eBook (electronic book) is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, transmission or otherwise, be redistributed, sold or hired, without the publisher’s prior written consent. Further, this eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by the applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

First published by Penguin Books Australia, 2005

ISBN: 10987654321

CHAPTER 1

'What?' I had to shout above the noise.

Bronte's mouth opened, but her voice was whipped away by the wind. She placed her cupped hands on either side of her face. The veins in her neck were bulging as she tried to tell me something. Then she gave up and pointed towards the house.

The sky was full of thick, swirling clouds. A cyclone up north had been heading out to sea.

Then the wind changed. Rushing in from the coast, it bullied its way through the vineyard, stripping leaves off the vines and snapping ties as it wrestled the long canes away from their supporting trellises. It became a force field that I had to lean into and push against to move forward.

Bronte struggled alongside me. Loose strands of hair swirled across her cheek and her shirt was pressed tight against the shape of her body. Turning my head to get the hair out of my eyes, I saw a huge branch torn from a tree in the forest. Crashing through the limbs below, it got caught before it reached the ground and hung there, swinging. Then the wind plucked it upwards to fling it fifty metres through the air, as if it were a twig.

‘We got the horses in just in time,’ I shouted into Bronte’s ear as we crossed the square of lawn between the tankstand and the back veranda. She nodded and hurried in to the house.

I looked for Axle, but the low space under the water tank was empty.

'Come on!' Morgan called urgently, leaning all his weight against the back door to keep it open for me. I ran up the steps and onto the veranda, but had to stop and duck my head as the wind ripped the fly screen off the kitchen window and swirled it past me into the yard. I straightened up, staring at the aluminium and wire screen as it went cartwheeling across the lawn and wrapped itself, like a sheet of paper, around one leg of the tankstand. Morgan grabbed my arm, dragged me inside and pushed the door shut.

In the kitchen, the roar of the wind rushing past my ears was replaced by other noises. A loose sheet of roofing iron flapped and rattled. A low branch screeched as it scoured the guttering. And there was another sound, like a train approaching, fast.

'Is Mum back yet?' Even inside the room, Bronte had to raise her voice.

'No, she's still at the winery shutting everything down. This wind was supposed to be hours away.' Morgan shouted back. 'We have to stay inside and get under the table.' I bent over and looked under the big wooden table. Maddie was already sitting there with her legs tucked up and her chin on her knees. Her blue eyes were wide with excitement.

'It's just like those cubbies we used to make,' she said. 'Come on, Tori, get in.'

'I can't fit in there,' I said, straightening up to my full 154 centimetres.

There was an almighty crash somewhere above us. A shower of dust and grit fell through the air vent in the ceiling and suddenly all four of us were pressing close together under the kitchen table.

Chapter 2

'What was that?' Maddie's eyes were wide and fearful now.

'I don’t know, but it sounded like the roof falling in,’ Bronte said as she wrapped her arms around her younger cousin.

'I’m scared,’ whimpered Maddie.

'Hush, hush,' Bronte tried to soothe her while the thunder rolled above us.

It was obvious we’d been hit by the cyclone, even though earlier in the day the weather forecast had said it would miss us.

‘It must have done a U-ey,’ Morgan suggested.

‘They do that,’ Bronte said.

I desperately wanted to tune into the radio for an update, but that would mean leaving the shelter of the table.

'We'll be fine under here,’ Morgan said in his practical voice.

'I wish Auntie Helen was here,' Maddie said, looking as if she was about to cry.

‘She’ll be back soon,’ Bronte told her.

‘She won’t be able to move around in this, will she?’ I asked, torn between wishing she was here and wanting her to be safe.

‘Shut up, Tori,’ Bronte hissed, but Morgan backed me up.

‘She’ll take shelter in the winery,' he said. 'Until the wind stops.'

'When is it going to stop?' Maddie asked. We looked at each other, but no one spoke. All day the sky had bulged downwards with low, darkening clouds squeezing the air, making it hot