Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact by A. J. Hartley

Author:A. J. Hartley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2011-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

RAVEN’S WATCH

School the next day began with an unexpected assembly. It turned out that Naia Petrakis’s bracelet was not the only thing to have gone missing from the gym lockers. An eighth grade boy had lost a stack of baseball cards and Princess Clarkson had lost her hairbrush. This last caused some private grins and eye-rolling, but the principal hinted at other cases for which he didn’t supply details.

“This must stop immediately,” he said.

The thief was instructed to bring all stolen property to a box outside the staff room by the end of the day with a note of apology. “If that does not happen, drastic measures will be taken.” The teachers exchanged serious looks and the students whispered furtively.

“In better news,” said the principal, “I am pleased to announce that Hillside will host its first ever Halloween Hop at the end of the month . . .”

As the assembly ended, the students speculated about what the teachers might consider “drastic measures.”

“They could order searches,” Melissa Young was saying to a teary-looking Naia.

“Who would steal from kids?” said Alexandra.

Genevieve Reddock looked up from her plastic kitten and shot a glance in Darwen’s direction.

“Never been a problem before this week,” she said with a meaningful look at Melissa. Her keychain cat started mewing in its tinny digitized voice.

“Aw ...” she cooed. “It’s time for his milk. Isn’t that adorable?”

Darwen marveled at Alexandra’s ability to think about anything other than what they had been through the night before, but was not surprised: Alexandra bounced from subject to subject like a pinball machine. She could be standing in a burning building and still let you know exactly what she thought about her teachers, the best music downloads, and the chance of the Halloween Hop being “deeply lame.” Darwen, by contrast, couldn’t think about a little petty theft now. The world looked different because he had glimpsed the horror of what was just beyond it. He had to see Mr. Peregrine immediately.

But classes came first, and in PE Darwen found himself playing American football. He had no idea what he was doing, though it seemed that the unofficial aim of the game was for Nathan and Chip to take every opportunity they could to flatten him. This seemed to amuse the fat gym teacher, Mr. Stuggs, who was refereeing from a folding chair on the sidelines.

“Get up, Arkwright,” he bellowed. “What, this game too tough for you? Let’s see a little backbone!”

Darwen got to his feet wearily and rejoined the game, thinking that if they kept this up for long, they’d see more than his backbone. He got steamrolled twice in the next five minutes, and when Mr. Stuggs complimented Nathan on “a nice hit,” Darwen became furious.

“I don’t know what I’m doing!” he protested. “Will someone please explain the rules of this stupid game before I get killed?”

Nathan and Chip thought this was hilarious but Mr. Stuggs rounded on him.

“You think this game is stupid?” he said, getting slowly out of his chair and rolling toward Darwen like a tank.

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