City of Lies by Lian Tanner

Author:Lian Tanner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780375896965
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2011-09-26T22:00:00+00:00

“Where are we going?” panted Toadspit.

“Down near the harbor. Are they following us?”

Toadspit looked over his shoulder. “No sign of them. Morg’ll keep them busy.” He laughed shakily. “Good old Morg.”

They ran and ran until they were heaving for breath. By then they were only four or five blocks from the harbor and it had begun to rain. Most of the revelers had disappeared from the streets. The cobblestones were black and slippery underfoot.

Goldie heard a flurry of wings overhead. “Morg!” hissed Toadspit. He held up his arm, and the slaughterbird fell out of the sky like a patch of night. Toadspit bit his lip at the sudden weight, but his face glowed. “You found us. You and Goldie both.”

“And the cat,” said Goldie.

“Ffffound,” agreed the cat, rubbing its wet body against Goldie’s legs.

“We’d better get off the streets as soon as we can,” said Toadspit.

Goldie nodded. “The sewers. We’ll go there. I don’t know anywhere else that’s safe.”

Morg ruffled her feathers and glared down at the cat. “Sa-a-a-a-a-a-afe.”

By the time they reached the entrance to the sewers they were soaked through. Morg wouldn’t go in with them, though Toadspit spent several minutes trying to persuade her. She perched on a pile of fallen bricks, then clacked her beak and flew off into the night.

Toadspit watched her go with a mournful expression on his face. “I expect she’s hungry,” he said. “I hope she finds something to eat.”

All three children were shivering, but Goldie lingered in the tunnel entrance. “There are two boys living here,” she whispered. “Pounce and Mouse. Pounce is the older one. Don’t believe anything he says. Don’t believe anything anyone says, from now on. It’s the Festival of Lies and everything is back to front.” She stopped, then said, “Oh yes, and you have to talk in lies, too.”

“Even when we’re talking to each other?” whispered Bonnie.

“Not when it’s just us,” said Goldie. “But when there are other people around I think we’d better. Unless we’re touching an animal. Then we can tell the truth.”

The cat led the way into the tunnel, which was even darker than Goldie remembered. She gritted her teeth and felt her way along the slimy walls, with Bonnie clinging to her jacket and Toadspit bringing up the rear. The dripping sound was louder tonight, and she could hear water gurgling through underground cisterns somewhere nearby.

When she thought they had gone approximately halfway, she stopped and called out softly. “Pounce? Mouse? Are you there?”

There was no answer, but Goldie thought she could hear someone breathing. “Pounce?” she said. “Is that you?”

“Nah,” said Pounce’s rough voice. “It’s the bogeyman.”

A tinderbox scraped, and a yellow light sprang up. Directly in front of the three children, hanging in midair like a phantom, was a hairy snout, with long silver tusks and little wicked glinting eyes.

Bonnie squeaked with fright. Toadspit leaped forward to stand in front of her.

“I know that’s not you, Pounce,” hissed Goldie.

There was a moment’s silence; then Pounce moved the lantern so that Goldie could see his skinny arms.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.