Forest Secrets by Laurie Woodward

Author:Laurie Woodward [Woodward, Laurie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780692510995
Publisher: Laurie Woodward
Published: 2016-01-18T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Luck was on their side when they crept around to the back and found a kitchen window wide open, just waiting for two kids to crawl through. Daisy tapped her foot impatiently as she stood on the rickety porch, waiting for a hemming and hawing Albert to decide what to do. Finally, she pushed past him in exasperation.

“I’m smaller, I’ll go first,” she said, pulling herself up onto the wooden frame with peeling paint. Daisy tried to be careful, but the old wood on the windowsill still scraped her belly as she crossed it.

“It’s pretty splintery. You wait there and I’ll unlock the door for you,” she ordered, brushing the slivers off of her stomach.

Daisy turned toward the glass-paned door where Albert waited to be let in. The series of locks on the dilapidated door confounded her at first and she fumbled with the levers, turning them right and left as Albert raised a single eyebrow on the other side. When she finally got the door open, it swept a cloud of dust right onto her, and she sneezed loudly.

“Gesundheit,” Albert said, brushing some of the dust from his clothes. He strolled into the house and grinned. “Nice job with the locks. Some cat burglar, huh?”

“Shut up.”

Albert chuckled.

Daisy glanced around. She could see why dust clouds had blown out when the door was opened. Dust was everywhere. A layer at least a half-inch thick lay over everything.

“I’ve heard that Percival never cooks. Just eats takeout all the time,” Albert said.

“I can see why,” said Daisy, pointing at a sink full of dishes that had sat so long, cobwebs hung between them.

“We’re not going to find anything in here. Let’s try that living room.”

The two of them tiptoed out of the kitchen into the labyrinth of hallways and rooms that made up this once-beautiful mansion. It wasn’t easy going—yellowed stacks of newspapers and magazines were piled high on either side as they made their way through the passageways.

“This is gross,” Daisy whispered.

“I know. How could anyone live like this?” Albert agreed.

They looked in several rooms only to find them either empty or filled with sheet-draped furniture. Even the sheets had a layer of dust on them, making each piece of covered furniture look like a lumpy ghost that desperately needed a bath. Finally, at the very front of the house, they found the room Percival had been in.

“Percival must just use this one,” said Albert, pointing into the enormous parlor.

Daisy nodded her head in agreement. She stood for a moment at the threshold of the huge room where more yellowed stacks of newspapers and books were piled high like a preschooler’s teetering stack of blocks. Percival’s mother looked down on them with a sneering smile that made Daisy shudder.

Albert led the way through the maze of magazines and books toward the cheap computer desk near the enormous fireplace. An empty chair sat facing the portrait. Atop the desk a dark computer monitor screen reflected the myriad memos and books strewn all over its surface.

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