Alex and the Alpacas Ride Again by Kathryn Lefroy

Author:Kathryn Lefroy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Alex knew she would be in trouble for coming home when she was supposed to be at school, but she also knew it was too risky staying out all day, alone, with the twins on the hunt for the Oroto. Alex might be stubborn, but she wasn’t stupid.

Alex let herself in the front door, armed with a story about an upset stomach and the school nurse. Grandpa Jacob was on the phone. When he saw her, he steadied himself against the wall.

‘Oh, here she is now.’ His cheery voice didn’t match his haggard appearance. ‘Yes, she must have forgotten something and come home. Thanks so much for checking in.’ He hung up. His mouth was a tight line. ‘Your school. Wondering if you were sick today.’

Alex cringed. Of course. The school phoned if students didn’t turn up to class. ‘I, um, felt sick so I decided to come home.’

‘You can’t just leave school when you feel like it!’ His voice was taut. ‘There’s a protocol for this. What if they had called your mother?’

‘Sorry,’ Alex said.

‘Sorry?’ Grandpa Jacob’s voice cracked. ‘Do you have any idea how worried I was? Anything could have happ —’ That’s when he caught sight of her wrists.

Alex hurriedly tugged her sleeves down. ‘It’s nothing.’

He pushed one of her sleeves back up. ‘Alex! What happened?’

There was no way he was going to drop this, even though, to Alex, the magpie assault felt like a million years ago. She gave a breezy, underplayed version of the morning’s events, which involved a couple of magpies, a lovely chat with Ivette, and then straight home to report back to her grandfather. ‘See?’ Alex gave him what she hoped was a confident smile. ‘Not a big deal.’

But Grandpa Jacob wasn’t buying it. His face was like a storm cloud. ‘You knowingly took an ancient artefact to school, which caused you to be attacked by two dangerous spirits, and instead of coming straight home and telling us what happened you endangered yourself even further by tracking down an unstable individual — someone we know virtually nothing about, except for the fact she’s trained for battle her whole life!’

When he put it like that, it really didn’t sound good. ‘But I’m fine.’

‘This time!’ He was yelling now. The alpacas stopped what they were doing outside and were all staring through the glass door. ‘What about next time? Or the time after?’

‘But —’

Grandpa Jacob wasn’t done. ‘You act like this is a game, but this is your life you’re playing with. Your life!’ His voice cracked. ‘If something happens to you … I’m the one who has to tell your mother. Me!’ He jabbed a finger at his chest. ‘Can you try and remember that next time you show such blatant disregard for yourself and everyone else around you?’

Alex glared at him, then stomped to her room and slammed the door. She flung her bag into a corner then flopped onto her bed. What was his problem? If he hadn’t forced her

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