By the Grace of Todd by Louise Galveston

Author:Louise Galveston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

PERSEPHONE

I probably shouldn’t have bit him. But what else was I supposed to do?

He grabbed me with his massive hand and I panicked. At least I had the pleasure of hearing Spud scream before he banished me to this dark compartment of his pack. I planned to bite him much harder and someplace more painful once I escaped. That was, if I survived being nearly jostled to death in this thing.

A long, yellow stick rode in the compartment next to mine, and I climbed it, settling upon the squishy top. If I died, what would happen to the rest of my people? Were they being bandied about in compartments like this one?

And what about Lewis? He was a good friend to me. I’d never even told him how cute he was when he laughed and his freckles danced all over his cheeks.

WOOMF! Spud jerked hard, and I lost my grip on the yellow stick and fell to the bottom of the compartment. That’s what you get for being mushy, Persephone. Forget about dancing freckles. Focus your energy on escape.

“Hey, punk!” Dick was yelling. “Let me ride your trike!”

“Leave me alone!” a small voice cried. “It’s mine! I got it for my birfday!”

“Aw, how sweet. He got it for his birfday!” The pack lurched forward and I fell flat on my back. “I’mma take a ride, shorty. Beat it.”

But then Spud screamed. “YIIIIIIIKES!”

Suddenly I was traveling fast in a downward direction. I flew through the carrier and hit something hard, and everything went black. When I woke up, I was on the bottom of the pack, sore all over.

How long had I been out?

The carrier suddenly turned upside down and I tumbled out into the light, landing in a cup filled with strange, springy ropes. “Have fun, girlie,” Spud grunted, slamming the door as he left the room. I examined my new surroundings, noting what must have been Spud’s bed. I groaned, trying to ignore the way my head pounded from being tossed around in Spud’s bag.

The substance in the cup was colorful and bouncy. It reminded me of the long, stringy food from Pasta Garden that we’d seen humans eating on Max’s television. I nibbled on a strand. Definitely not edible. I pulled a blue piece loose and saw they were not single strands, but rather loops. Pulling a piece of the loop tight, I held my arms out as far as they would go. The loop was incredibly stretchy! An idea occurred to me. Too bad Herman wasn’t around; he could build anything.

Never mind that. He could build me something else once I rescued him.

I held the loop to my chest and flapped it like wings. Then I jumped on the loop pile, rising higher and higher until I bounded out of the cup and sailed onto a very messy desk. There was a large knob sticking out of a panel beneath me, and I lowered the loop until I’d caught the knob, then climbed inside the other end and walked backward until the loop was taut.

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