Free The Secret of the Ginger Mice by Song of the Winns Page A

path, taking the fork that led back toward the river.
    â€œI never knew it before, but it looks like I’m the only ginger mouse in Templeton,” Tibby continued. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me, and that’s why Grandpa Nelson and Great-Aunt Harriet kept me hidden all these years.” She laughed bitterly. “Or maybe they’re ashamed of me.”
    â€œI don’t know,” said Alistair. “They didn’t seem that way to me. Maybe they weren’t ashamed so much as worried about how others might treat you.”
    â€œI suppose there are lots of ginger mice in Smiggins?” Tibby said.
    â€œI’m the only one I’ve ever seen,” said Alistair. “But no one seems to be particularly hostile toward me because of it. They often seem surprised when they first meet me, and I get teased every now and then at school, but no one’s ever called me an enemy.” He remembered the sneers of sharp-faced Janice and blockish Snodgrass. “What was that about Gerandan rebels?” he asked. “Isn’t Gerander part of Souris?”
    â€œIt’s a province kind of west and south of here. That’s all I know about it.”
    Alistair shook his head slowly. “I don’t see what that’s got to do with us,” he said. They continued down the path without speaking for a few moments, then he added, “But everything about today has been so weird that it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that I am a Gerandan rebel.”
    Tibby started to laugh. “Yeah, and I’m one too.”
    They were still laughing when the path opened out at the river bank, which was, Alistair was pleased to find, quiet and deserted. The tall reeds lining the banks bent listlessly in the heat, and the only movement came from the dragonflies skimming the surface of the river, which was deep and clear away from the churning of the swimmers. They both bent to drink, then flopped onto the ground, exhausted.
    â€œI still have no idea why I woke up in another country,and fell from the sky onto the only other ginger mouse I’ve ever met,” said Alistair.
    â€œI can’t help you there,” said Tibby Rose. “I’ve gone from being a lonely orphan to a dangerous enemy of my people in the space of a few hours.”
    â€œOkay,” said Alistair, turning onto his side and propping his head on his elbow, “maybe we should leave the big questions for later and start by trying to solve our immediate problems. We need to work out how to get to Shetlock from here—preferably without drawing any more attention to ourselves. Any ideas?”
    Tibby sat up. “Do you remember the map of Souris I showed you in the library?”
    â€œMore or less,” said Alistair. “Possibly I’ve forgotten some of the finer details since almost being captured by the Queen’s Guards and then chased by a gang of bloodthirsty savages with stones.”
    â€œPass me that stick near your elbow.” Tibby took the stick and drew a rough diamond shape in a patch of bare earth between them. “We’re here,” she said, putting a cross in the middle of the upper half of the diamond. “East of the Cranken Alps, due north of Grouch.” She drew a larger cross to represent the Sourian capital. “Between us and Grouch is the Eugenian mountain range.” She sketched in some triangles for mountains. “From Grouch, we’d need to travel southto the coast—here.” She indicated the bottom tip of the diamond. “It’s the closest point to Shetlock.”
    â€œSo we just head south,” said Alistair.
    â€œThat’s right.”
    He studied the map for a moment. “Do you know much about those mountains, the Eugenian Range?”
    â€œI think they’re pretty rugged,” Tibby replied, “going by the contours of the map.”
    â€œIs it possible to go around them?”
    â€œSure.