Beetle Boy by M.G. Leonard

Author:M.G. Leonard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2015-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

Darkus got off the bus at Regent’s Park and walked alongside the railings. To his left, trees and parkland stretched up toward the entrance of London Zoo. On the opposite side of the road were grand detached white houses, some with names and some with numbers. He walked along until he came to a tall imposing town house with TOWERING HEIGHTS written over the gates, and he suddenly realized that he’d no idea what he was going to say to Novak Cutter.

There was a wall in front of the property, about the same height as Darkus. Beyond it, the house was surrounded by a copper beech hedge at least eight feet tall. There was an intercom on the gatepost to let people in. Through the gate, a white gravel driveway veered to the left of the house. The front yard, to the right, was paved black and white, like a man-size chessboard, and a glossy black door was framed by enormous flowerpots bursting with red lilies.

Darkus paced up and down, talking to himself, trying to think of a good way to ask Novak Cutter if her mum had kidnapped his dad. All sorts of ridiculous sentences came out of his mouth. He cursed himself for not practicing on Virginia and Bertolt.

He crossed over the road and looked through the bars of the gate. He couldn’t even think of something to say into the intercom.

This was not good. He’d have to go back to Base Camp and ask Virginia and Bertolt what to do. He took two steps toward the bus stop and froze. Ahead, and coming straight toward him, were Pickering and Humphrey, dressed in ridiculous yellow and purple suits. Without thinking, Darkus pulled himself up onto the wall and dropped down the other side into the copper beech hedge surrounding Towering Heights. He could hear the cousins arguing.

“You’d better not ruin this for me, Humphrey.”

“Shut it, Pickers, or I’ll change my mind about bringing you.”

“We had a deal. I got your door open, didn’t I?”

Darkus held his breath as the voices approached. His neck was being scratched by the shrubbery, but he didn’t dare move. He heard the buzz of the intercom and the two men saying their names. The black door opened silently, and a butler with dark slicked-back hair and a mournful face came out. He walked stiffly and steadily to the gate.

“We have an appointment to see Lucretia Cutter,” Humphrey shouted.

“Monsieur Gamble and Monsieur Risk, yes, I know,” the butler replied in a French accent. Now that he was closer, Darkus could see that he had dark circles under his gray eyes.

“That’s right.” Humphrey puffed up his chest and Pickering nodded eagerly. The butler opened the gate by keying in a number, and the cousins followed him through the front door, which closed behind them.

Darkus wriggled out of the other side of the copper beech hedge, covered in scratches. He stood facing the house. Coming here alone had been a mistake. He needed to get back to Base Camp.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.