Vacation Dreams (4 page)

“That’s better. Follow me.”

The moment the housekeeper’s back was turned, Becky quickly hid Arrow under her T-shirt. She sighed. This was terrible. The last thing she’d expected to be doing on the first day of her farm vacation was washing sheets!

Becky sat cross-legged on the laundry room floor, where she’d been for the past ten minutes, staring glumly at the washing machine. Mrs. Kelly had gone out after giving Becky strict orders not to move a muscle until all the sheets were done.

“That woman is superscary. I bet she’ll tell on me to Uncle Den and insist
that he grounds me! And how come she didn’t seem to notice I was holding you?” she asked Arrow, who sat in her lap, calmly grooming himself.

The magic bunny looked up at Becky, the tip of his little pink tongue still sticking out.

“I used my magic, so that only you can see and hear me.”

“You can make yourself invisible? Cool!” Becky smiled, wondering what else her magical friend could do. “I wish that could help us do the washing. These sheets are taking a long time. We might be here for a while.”

Arrow put his head on one side. “I do not think so.”

Becky felt the familiar tingling sensation down her back as Arrow’s
magic key began pulsing again with a glowing light. Another cloud of sparkling crystal dust appeared and trickled down onto the washing machine. The machine started whizzing around at superfast speed. Becky’s eyes widened in amazement as it stopped dead with a
loud burping noise. The door flew open and out came the clean sheets, floating through the air like ghosts and drifting out of the back door.

Becky scrambled to her feet and ran after them. She was just in time to see the sheets drape themselves magically over the washing line.

Snap! Snap! Snap!
A row of unused clothes pegs, dangling from the line, marched toward the sheets like a line of soldiers and clipped themselves smartly into place.

Becky clapped her hands in delight. “That was amazing! Thanks, Arrow. That would have been a horrible job. Let’s go upstairs now and I can show you my bedroom.”

Becky and Arrow had just reached the landing when Leon’s bedroom door opened.

“What was all that shouting downstairs earlier?” he asked curiously.

Becky stiffened and started to hide Arrow behind her back before she remembered that he was invisible.

“That was Mrs. Kelly. She blew up at me!” she told him, rolling her eyes.

“Why?” Leon asked.

Becky told him about tripping over the sheets, being careful not to mention anything about Arrow. She was halfway through explaining when Leon began grinning and then laughing out loud.

“I wish I’d seen her face when she saw you trampling her clean laundry! You’re a lot braver than I am!”

Becky looked at him in astonishment. Someone seemed to have stolen her quiet, serious cousin and put this boy with the infectious laugh in his place. She found herself smiling with him and then both of them fell over laughing.

“Killer Kelly was so angry! I thought her apron was going to come right off, like the clothes pegs!” she gasped,
dabbing at her eyes with her T-shirt.

“Killer Kelly? That really suits her!” Leon laughed, holding his ribs.

Arrow watched them both from Becky’s arms, with a look of puzzlement in his big soft brown eyes. He shook his head slowly.

“Humans are very strange sometimes.”

Becky laughed even more. “Arr—um…I mean…
anyway
,” she quickly corrected herself. She would have to be a lot more careful about keeping Arrow a secret. “I washed the sheets in double-quick time. I was just going up to my room because I don’t want to be around when Mrs. Kelly gets back.”

“I don’t blame you.” Leon looked thoughtful. “Come on!” he said, edging
past her and starting to walk downstairs.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere I often go. Somewhere secret,” he said mysteriously.

Becky was intrigued by the fact that her cousin was including her in something for the first time ever. She didn’t need telling twice. “You’re on!”

Arrow nudged Becky gently, obviously as eager as she was about having an adventure. She tucked him more securely under her arm before hurrying after Leon. It wasn’t a moment too soon. As Becky, Arrow, and Leon crossed the kitchen, they heard the front door opening.

“Hello, Becky,” Mrs. Kelly called. “How’s that laundry doing?”

“Run!” Becky whispered.

Leon shot out of the kitchen door and headed down to the garden. Becky raced after him, but slowed down when she saw the tall, prickly hawthorn hedge that formed a barrier at the bottom.

“It’s a dead end!”

“No, it’s not! This way!” Leon kneeled down and wriggled through a gap near the ground that Becky hadn’t noticed.

She put Arrow down so he could hop through and then picked him up again after she emerged. “Are you okay?” she whispered.

“I am fine.” He settled in her arms again.

Leon looked back at her and frowned. Becky realized he had heard her.

“Just talking to myself. It’s a habit of mine!” she said, scrambling upright.

They jogged down a narrow strip of grass that ran along the edge of a cornfield. Leon was ahead of her and just turning onto a rough track.

Becky ran after him. This was fun—like doing cross-country at school!

After a couple of minutes, Leon paused. “That’s where we’re going,” he said, pointing to a hill that rose above the farm.

Becky shaded her eyes to look at it. It was mainly grass with just a few scrubby bushes on the slopes.

“What’s so special about it?” she whispered to Arrow, as Leon quickened his pace again. “Maybe there are really good views from the top or something.”

Arrow nodded.

Tall heads of corn rustled in the warm breeze and skylarks called overhead as they jogged onward. Becky could see the woods she’d glimpsed from her bedroom window and the towering shapes of other hills much farther away.

She’d almost caught up with Leon now. Picking up the pace, she caught up to him and then ran past him, her sneakers pounding the ground.

“Last one to the top loses!” she cried.

“No, wait!” Leon cried.

But Becky took no notice as she sped away. “Eat my dust!” she crowed.

Holding Arrow didn’t slow her down. Even cradling him carefully, Becky was a fast runner. They reached
the hilltop seconds ahead of Leon.

“Yay!” she cried triumphantly.

Panting, Leon pushed back a strand of damp blond hair as he caught up with her. “Are you always like this?”

“Pretty much!” Becky said, grinning. She bent her knees to let Arrow jump down and flopped onto the grass while he hopped over to a patch of clover.

“I was
trying
to tell you that we have to be quiet up here if we want to see anything,” Leon told her, sounding a bit miffed. “The wild rabbits that live here are used to me, but you’re a stranger so they might take longer to come out.”

“Oh, sorry.” Becky smiled sheepishly. She did get carried away sometimes. She turned over onto her tummy to watch Arrow nibbling the juicy leaves.
Even if the wild rabbits are feeling shy, I can see one special bunny right now!

Just then Arrow’s ears twitched and his big brown eyes glowed with tiny rainbows as he looked more closely at the hilltop. “There is a warren
here. Like back home in Moonglow Meadow!”

He gave a mighty leap, followed by three hops and disappeared down the nearest burrow.

“Arrow!” Becky gasped in shock, only just managing not to leap straight to her feet and take off after him.

Why had he run away? She hoped the magic bunny hadn’t decided that he’d rather hide among his wild cousins.

“Why did you say “arrow”?” Leon asked, looking at Becky curiously.

“Oh, well…um…” Becky
didn’t know quite how to answer without giving away the little magic bunny. But luckily, Leon forgot their conversation.

“Look!” He grabbed Becky’s arm and pointed toward a large grayish-colored rabbit emerging from a burrow a couple of yards away. Its nose twitched as it stood up on its back legs, watchful and alert. “That’s Smudge—at least that’s
what I call her because of that brown mark on her right ear. She’s the top female.”