Chapter 4
A Cottage in the Woods
As far back as Nicolas could remember, he felt at home in the woods. When he was still a “wee lively lad” (as his father often said), he would join his father for walks through the stretch of woodlands bordering the Bennetts’ small sheep pasture. He came to know them well, and those woods had become a second home for Nicolas. They were a place he could go to be alone and feel free at the same time. Two years ago, when his parents had transferred Nicolas from the North Lakes School to Hunter Hall, an esteemed preparatory school situated in Frenchfield Farm outside of Penrith, Nicolas had spent time in the woods almost every day after school. The initial stress of missing old friends, the awkwardness of trying to make new ones, and the uncertainty of new su
