Orphan, Monster, Spy by Matt Killeen

Author:Matt Killeen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd

The dormitory slept as Sarah, fully dressed, slipped out from under the covers. She dropped soundlessly into her waiting shoes, but the rain beat on the windows with a ferocity that masked any noise she could make. She wondered if she should plan on returning in wet clothes – find a place to dry them, or leave clean clothes for the next day somewhere – but she just couldn’t focus. She was getting out, she was sure of it.

She looked at her nightstand. Should she be taking the contents? Would she need Ursula Haller again? Would that girl vanish and leave her personal effects behind?

“Haller? What are you doing?” the Mouse’s voice croaked out of the dark.

God…

“I’m going for a pee, shush.”

“In your coat?”

“Mouse! Shut up, you’re going to wake Liebrich,” she pleaded.

“Sorry.”

“I’ll be back in a minute. Go to sleep.”

She slipped soundlessly across the floorboards and was lost in the shadows, hoping that the Mouse would stay where she was.

Sarah knew her escape route well. The landing window was still broken, just as she had left it weeks earlier. Always have another way out. The swing to the drainpipe was no kind of challenge. The bushes were evergreen and gave good cover all the way to the crumbling walls. But in the moonless midnight hour, in a rainstorm, each of these things acquired a new peril. The window sill was slick. The rainwater poured from the blocked guttering and down the outside of the drainpipe. Sarah waited for her eyes to adjust, but the grounds were invisible in the gloom.

She climbed out of the window and felt the water beat against her face. Since the race, she’d started to dislike getting her head wet: she couldn’t shake the feeling that the water was going to swallow her up. She’d avoided the showers and washing her hair had actually been frightening for her. Now the water soaked into her hair and ran down her face. It dripped into her nose and filled her ears. She resisted the emerging chaos inside her, the animal that had to run, to flee, to escape.

When she was calm enough, she swung to the pipe and slid down the two floors to the ground. She looked up into the deluge and wondered whether she’d be able to climb back up later if it was still so wet – another reason to hope this was it.

She sped through the grounds away from the school, from tree to bush, skipping over the growing puddles until she had no choice but to splash through them. As she reached the wall and leaped onto it, a bright white flash illuminated her. She was relieved to realize it was just lightning. She began counting.

One.

She threw a leg over the top of the wall.

Two.

She rolled over the top and landed smoothly on the other side.

Three.

She took a moment to remember which direction she should be heading, and then cautiously trotted into the darkness.

Four, five, six…

The thunder was so loud that Sarah, who was waiting for it, jumped and let out a squeak.

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