Villainous by Matthew Cody

Author:Matthew Cody [Cody, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-75491-0
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2014-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

An Unexpected Hand

“C’mon, New Kid. We’re getting out of here.”

Daniel was being dragged through the junkyard clearing, hauled to someplace far away from the scene of the fight and from his friends. It had been easy enough for Clay to grab Daniel and run—all eyes were on Johnny at the time. The principal’s sudden, and dramatic, appearance had been a shock to everyone.

It made sense that a small-time criminal like Clay could tell when there was about to be trouble with the law. He knew how to read the signs, and he knew when to make a run for it.

Unfortunately, he was taking Daniel with him. Daniel didn’t know where, but it couldn’t be anyplace good. He’d have asked, but Clay kept one hand firmly planted over Daniel’s mouth to prevent him from calling out for help. Still, Daniel didn’t go willingly. He fought and he tried to wriggle out of Clay’s grip, even as the super-strong kid very nearly squeezed the breath out of him. Beyond fearing for his own safety, Daniel wanted to know what was happening to his friends.

“Stop squirming,” said Clay. “ ’Cause you and me, we’re going to have a talk.”

They didn’t stop until they reached a lonely corner of the junkyard Daniel had never seen before. Once, back in Philadelphia, Daniel’s father had taken him to a cemetery to visit the grave of his grandfather on his father’s side. As they walked past the grave markers looking for Daniel’s grandfather, they wandered into an old section of the cemetery where soldiers were buried. Several graves there dated back to before the Civil War, and those gravestones weren’t like the rest. Some were imposing crypts that looked more like stone houses than graves, while others were so small they looked like little more than flat stones in the grass. But what had struck Daniel the most was the age of the place, the sense of time that hung over everything like a cloud. Those graves belonged to another era, the whole place felt old, and Daniel couldn’t help but think he was trespassing in someone else’s world, the modern boy stumbling over history.

This lonely section of the junkyard was like that cemetery. The rusted-out cars here weren’t shaped like modern cars—the corners were too rounded and they possessed none of the sleek curves of today’s automobiles. Daniel spotted cast-iron stoves built for burning wood, and there was even what looked like the metal skeleton of a horse-drawn wagon. And like the old section of the cemetery, there was a feeling that Daniel didn’t belong. The shadows were too dark, and everything was too old to be welcoming.

Clay carelessly tossed Daniel to the ground, and then started pacing back and forth beneath the stacks of antique junk.

“You know, the first time we met, I treated you fair,” said Clay. “Since you weren’t from around here, I thought you might be all right. Thought we might even be friends.”

Daniel remembered. He also remembered that Clay’s way of making friends was to threaten and laugh at them.

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