Silence and Stone by Kathleen Duey Page A

and cheese too.
    Alida didn’t have to bring anything to eat; she would be able to find proper faerie food—there were spring flowers everywhere.
    Walking through the oak trees, Alida was very happy. The air was perfumed with dew and sunshine and spring. It was as beautiful as she remembered.
    She was so excited.
    She couldn’t wait to find the meadow.
    Many faerie families had lived there when she was little.
    All the faerie children had played games and were taught magic. Alida had just begun to learn when Lord Dunraven took her away.
    Alida sighed, remembering the faerie lights, the stars, and how the stream had chuckled and whispered. Oh, how she had missed that sound. Oh, how she longed to see her family. She had taught herself to fly, and she knew they would be proud of her.
    But of course they wouldn’t be living in the meadow anymore.
    Old Lord Dunraven’s law had changed everything.
    Alida walked a little faster, staying ahead of Gavin.
    She didn’t want him to see how sad it made her to think about her home being empty. Once she had blinked away the tears, she glanced back at him.
    â€œI wish Ruth Oakes and your grandmother had known where my family ended up.”
    â€œI think it was probably part of the faeries’ promise not to tell humans where they were going,” Gavin said.
    Alida slowed until they were walking side by side. “Did your grandmother tell you that? Was it in the old stories?”
    Gavin shook his head. “But it makes sense. If old Lord Dunraven wanted to keep people and faeries from being friends, he wouldn’t want them living close.”
    â€œAnd to make the faeries keep their promise, he took me away,” Alida said quietly.
    Gavin nodded. “It must have been a terrible decision for your family.”
    Alida felt a stirring in her heart.
    Locked in the tower in Lord Dunraven’s castle, she had often wondered why her parents never came to help her. But now she knew why. They had been forced to make a promise to old Lord Dunraven.
    Alida glanced up at the trees.
    Her mother had known that Lord Dunraven would not hurt her as long as the faeries kept their promise to stay away from humans.
    And he hadn’t.
    No one had said a single harsh word to her.
    But she had been locked in a stone tower.
    It had been so lonely.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Gavin said.
    She glanced at him. “Do I look worried?”
    He nodded. “But John will keep his word. Lord Dunraven won’t have any reason to suspect you are gone.”
    Alida knew he was right.
    But she had to be careful.
    She could never be sure when they might come upon a human being.
    And if anyone realized she was a faerie, not just a small girl, people would talk.
    The news would spread.
    And then Lord Dunraven’s guards
would
come looking for her.
    â€œAlida?”
    She turned; Gavin was pointing at a narrow road that ran between the trees. Without saying a word, they both veered away from it.
    And as they walked, Alida pulled her shawl higher, making sure it covered her wings.