"Jane Yolen - Lost Girls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yolen Jane)

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"Him!" They all breathed the word together quietly, as if saying it aloud
would summon the horror to them.
"Him? You mean Hook, don't you?" asked Darla. "Captain Hook."
The look they gave her was compounded of anger and alarm. Little Lizzy
put her hands over her mouth as if she had said the name herself.
"Well, isn't it?"
"You are an extremely stupid girl," said Wendy. "As well as a dangerous
one." Then she smiled againтАФthat luminous smileтАФat all the other girls,
excluding Darla, as if Wendy had not just said something that was both
rude and horrible. "Now, darlings, how many of you are as hungry as
Madja?"
One by one, the hands went up, Lizzy's first. Only Darla kept her hand
down and her eyes down as well.
"Not hungry in the slightest?" Wendy asked, and everyone went silent.
Darla felt forced to look up and saw that Wendy's eyes were staring at
her, glittering strangely in the candlelight.
It was too much. Darla shivered and then, all of a sudden, she wanted to
get back at Wendy, who seemed as much of a bully as Peter, only in a
softer, sneakier way. But how to do it? And then she recalled how her
mom said that telling a story in a very quiet voice always made a jury lean
forward to concentrate that much more. Maybe, Darla thought, I could
try that.
"I rememberтАж" Darla began quietly. "тАж I remember a story my mom
read to me about a Greek girl who was stolen away by the king of the
underworld. He tricked her into eating six seeds and so she had to remain
in the underworld six months of every year because of them."
The girls had all gone quiet and were clearly listening. It works! Darla
thought.
"Don't be daft," Wendy said, her voice loud with authority.
"But Wendy, I remember that story, too," said the whey-faced girl,
Nancy, in a kind of whisper, as if by speaking quietly she could later deny
having said anything at all.
"And I," put in Madja, in a similarly whispery voice.
"And the fairies," said Lizzy. She was much too young to worry about
loud or soft, so she spoke in her normal tone of voice. "If you eat anything
in their hall, my mum allas saidтАж you never get to go home again. Not
ever. I miss my mum." Quite suddenly she began to cry.
"Now see what you've done," said Wendy, standing and stamping her
foot. Darla was shocked. She'd never seen anyone over four years old do
such a thing. "They'll all be blubbing now, remembering their folks, even
the ones who'd been badly beaten at home or worse. And not a sticky bun
left to comfort them with. YouтАФgirlтАФought to be ashamed!"
"Well, it isn't my fault!" said Darla, loudly, but she stood, too. The
thought of Wendy towering over her just now made her feel edgy and even
a bit afraid. "And my name isn't girl. It's Darla!"
They glared at one another.
Just then there was a brilliant whistle. A flash of light circled the
kitchen like a demented firefly.
"It's Tink!" Lizzy cried, clapping her hands together. "Oh! Oh! It's the