The Child Thief: A Novel by Brom

Author:Brom
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-08-17T16:00:00+00:00

KIDS LINED UP in front of the privy. Fires were set, torches lit, porridge put to boil; you could feel the excitement as the Devils rushed about getting the day going. Nick got his bowl and took a seat next to Cricket and Danny.

Danny looked in his bowl and frowned. “That’s all we get? There’s hardly enough to fill the bottom of my bowl.”

“What are you complaining for?” Cricket asked. “I thought you hated this gunk.”

“Wow, would you look at that!” Danny said. He was holding his glasses away from his face, pulling them off and on, and squinting. He looked straight up.

Cricket and Nick looked up too.

“Danny?” Cricket asked. “What the hell are you doing?”

“How…about…that,” Danny said. “I can see better without my glasses now. This magic porridge might taste like bark, but man, is it goood for you.” He stood up, turned sideways, and pulled his shirt up. “Check this out.” He patted his stomach. “My gut’s almost gone.”

“You’re sucking in,” Cricket said.

“Am not. I’m turning into a lean mean killing machine.”

“Puh—lease!” Cricket said, slapping the table and letting out a laugh.

“Y’know,” Danny continued, “if we could figure out the ingredients to this slop, we could make like a couple million bucks back home.”

“We’re not ever going back home,” Cricket said, and as the profoundness of her words hit them, they all fell quiet.

“I am,” Nick said. “I’m getting out of here.”

Cricket and Danny stared at him.

“What do you mean?” Cricket asked.

“I mean, I’m going home.” He paused. “I have to get back to my mom. One way or another, I have to.”

“How you gonna do that?” Danny asked.

“I don’t know yet.”

A sad smile crossed Cricket’s lips. She reached out and clasped Nick’s hand. “I’m sure there’s a way.”

“DEVILS,” Peter called. “Gather round. There is a tale to tell!”

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