Earthquake by Kathleen Duey

Author:Kathleen Duey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

Chapter Seven

Brendan stood, his heart slamming in his chest as the earth quivered and rolled. The wind bells hanging from the balconies above his head swayed, ringing. A shower of bricks crashed around him and he flinched. For a second he tried to make himself run. But what good would that do? Any building could be the one to collapse, to bury him alive.

Finally, the shaking stopped. Brendan was tired, he was hungry, and he felt more alone than he had since the day his father died. He heard shouts and looked up. A heavy-jowled woman stood on a second-story balcony. She was yelling at him, the words razor-sharp and coldly unfamiliar.

Without thinking, Brendan ran until her voice faded behind him. Then he stopped again. He shivered. His old bakery route had included two stops at the white groceries on Dupont Street in the middle of Chinatown. Usually, he liked the exotic smells and sounds, the sight of the black-coated men with their long queues and the delicate, flowerlike women. But the alleys and the narrow streets had always scared him.

All his life, people had told him there were tunnels beneath the streets, miles of them, where the opium addicts and the lepers lived. Brendan had never talked to anyone who had actually seen the tunnels, but it seemed possible. There was an air of secrets and mystery in Chinatown.

Four men appeared around the corner. Their faces were twisted into grim frowns. They walked fast, one older man in front of the others. Brendan tried to step aside, but he wasn’t fast enough. The older man pushed past him. One of the three who followed pushed him a second time, glaring into his face.

Brendan regained his balance. When none of them even looked back at him, his heart began to slow. He waited until they were almost out of sight, then followed the alleyway. He tried to recall the turns Dai Yue had made. It was confusing. The buildings were close together and the signs and bright red banners meant nothing to him.

Turning right, Brendan searched for something familiar about the buildings that would let him know that he was on the right path. Finally he spotted a laundry he was nearly certain they had passed on the way in. A few hundred feet farther on, he bore left into another narrow alleyway.

With every step, Brendan’s uneasiness increased. The alleyways were full of people and every time his eyes met someone else’s he saw surprise harden into hostility. He wanted to explain why he had come into their part of the city, but he knew he couldn’t. So he hurried, glancing up just often enough to keep from bumping into anyone.

As he got closer to Brooklyn Place, Brendan hesitated. He was starting to regret his decision not to get his pouch. The idea of losing his mother’s ring and his father’s watch made him feel almost sick.

Shaking his head, Brendan turned right off Brooklyn Place and onto Sacramento Street. He hurried past the cigar factories.

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