Fear Ground (2) by Jennifer Killick

Author:Jennifer Killick [Killick, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers

‘Let’s start with an easy question,’ Mr Canton says. ‘Why were you in school so early today?’

‘We just wanted to hang out,’ Hallie says. ‘We didn’t get a chance to yesterday, because of the performance stuff.’

‘Ah yes, we’ll come back to that in a moment,’ says Mr C. ‘Why did you go up to the library?’

‘Because of Hal’s chicken,’ I say. ‘Hallie got a message from her mum that the vet had found a parasite. We wanted to look it up on the computer so we could understand what’s going on.’

‘We don’t really know much about chicken parasites,’ Colette says. ‘It’s never come up before.’

Mr Canton nods. ‘Same, actually. So you were in the library, researching chicken parasites, and then Hallie and Angelo left the room . . .’ He turns to Gus to continue.

‘Hallie was upset,’ Gus says. ‘Because we saw some images of the parasite, and it looked like a sausage skin with teeth.’

‘You felt sick, didn’t you, Hal?’ Naira says.

Hallie nods. ‘So I ran out to the nearest toilets, thinking I was going to vom everywhere . . .’

‘. . . and Angelo followed to make sure she was OK.’ Naira starts retying her ponytail, even though it’s perfect.

‘But there must have been a wet patch on the floor in the toilets,’ Hallie says. ‘Because I slipped when I was running in and smashed my head by the sinks.’

‘Got it,’ Mr Canton says. ‘And how did you end up with your injuries, Angelo?’

‘I heard Hallie yell out, and the thud when she hit her head,’ I say, and I already know that there’s no way to make this last part believable. ‘So I ran into the toilets, and . . . slipped too.’

‘In the same wet patch?’ Mr Canton raises an eyebrow.

‘The taps in there are broken,’ I say. ‘And maybe there’s a leak in one of the pipes. There was dripping in there the whole time.’

‘It’s basically a death trap,’ Hallie says. ‘We should probably sue the school.’

‘I will definitely get the leak looked into,’ Mr Canton says. ‘It’s true that since the Latchitts disappeared, nothing gets fixed as quickly. Mr Latchitt would have had it sorted, lickety-split.’ He looks around at all of us, and I mean really looks. He suspects something along the lines of the truth, or he knows something. I’m not sure which.

Colette wriggles in her chair.

‘What’s lickety spit?’ Gus says. Trying to cover, I think. ‘And how does it fix leaks? Sounds freaking disgusting.’

‘Lickety-split, Mr Gustav,’ Mr Canton says. ‘It means in a jiffy.’

‘Jiffy?’ Naira says. ‘Mr C, we can’t understand what you’re saying.’

‘Quickly.’ Mr Canton sighs. ‘It means quickly. So, the three of you in the library – what happened there?’

‘We sat looking at the sausage skin a while,’ Gus says. ‘Then when Hallie and Angelo didn’t come back, we decided to go look for them.’

‘So we logged off the computer, grabbed all our stuff, and went to leave,’ Colette says.

‘The side door was locked, which was strange, because Hallie and Angelo both left that way,’ says Naira.

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