House of Stairs by William Sleator

Author:William Sleator
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Peer Pressure, Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Social Issues, Fantasy & Magic
ISBN: 9781439514931
Publisher: Paw Prints
Published: 2008-08-11T10:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

“But what did we do that made it work?” said Blossom.

Oliver had no idea what the answer was. He was still furious at Lola. He felt stubborn and ornery, and wanted to make Blossom’s question seem trivial and unimportant. “It just decided to work again, that’s all,” he said, shrugging.

“No, that can’t be it,” said Lola, chewing on her nail. “There’s got to be a reason for it. This goddam thing has a reason for everything.”

“You … you’re right,” Abigail said hesitantly. “It always does.”

“Oh, why the hell do you always think she’s right?” Oliver snapped at her. “Didn’t you hear what Blossom told us about her? Why do you pay any attention to the dumb bitch?”

“But …,” said Abigail, who seemed to be about to cry, “but I … I mean she … just because….”

“Oh, stop whimpering!” cried Oliver, suddenly in a rage. “I’m sick of your stupid whimpering!” And he grabbed Abigail by the hair and shook her head roughly back and forth.

“Nude in the house of be careful in Oliver’s food will be coming she gobbled him up in the dish ran away with the,” said the voices to all of them. And the light was flashing again, flashing brightly not five minutes after it had stopped; and they were dancing.

“But why?” Abigail said aloud through her tears, unable to keep from asking, even though the terrible answer was there, inside her, someplace where she didn’t want to look. She bent forward, touched the step with her hands, lifted her leg in the air, turned around, down to the landing, to feel Oliver’s hands around her waist, bending backward, then rising. “What made it work?” Back to the steps. “Was it because we were fighting?” Bowing to the landing, rising to her toes. “Does it want us to fight?”

Lola spun around and wailed. “No,” she called out hoarsely, dancing around the hole. “Oh my God. I think … it wasn’t just fighting.” She spun around and wailed. “We’ve had fights before. It was more than that. Oh my God, it must be….” She spun around and wailed. “It was Blossom, ratting on me, betraying me. And then Oliver, hurting you because of it. That’s what it wants us to do!”

With slow regularity the pellets rolled out one by one onto the landing.

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.