Jasmine Lin and the Dollhouse by M. Kate Allen

Author:M. Kate Allen [M. Kate Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sticky Ones, M. Kate Allen, Children's Novels
Publisher: Thea Press
Published: 2022-04-01T14:14:52+00:00

Chapter 6

She’d never noticed how many cracks and uneven sections of sidewalk there were. At normal size it was no issue at all, but at one twelfth her normal size, it was like moving through an obstacle course.

Bees buzzed in the flowers in the yards she passed. She was allergic to bees and wasps. Her parents had warned her to be especially cautious around wasps, as they can sting more than once and are generally regarded as vicious.

She’d read more about wasps after her parents’ warning. In addition to eating nectar, they also preyed on small insects and spiders, paralyzing their prey before eating them. Sometimes they took their paralyzed prey back to the nest to feed to their young.

Jasmine gulped.

Wasps weren’t the only predators she might have to face. A garden snake could swallow her whole, she thought as she passed by another garden and saw a shimmering flash of green where there was no leaf.

She thought of Roxy’s pet mouse, whose neck had been broken by her dog, Heidi. A dog could shake her to death.

Mice were omnivores. A mouse with an appetite might come after her.

Even a line of marching ants could be a threat, she realized as she passed a small anthill.

Her t-shirt stuck to her skin now. She was covered in sweat generated both by her rapid pace and the terror that arose at the thought of the newfound dangers of being small.

To her relief, she made it to the house at the end of Arcadia Lane. As she looked around for a way up the steps, she listened for the sound of the owner of the white van. All she could hear were chirping birds.

Birds eat worms, Jazz. You could be mistaken for one. Get inside!

She wiped her hands on her shorts as her eyes darted around. The steps to the house were too high.

Something caught her eye.

A cat. There’s a cat. I’m dead. I’m dead.

No, Jasmine, think, she scolded herself. Not the steps. How else can you get in?

She stepped carefully away from the front steps and away from the cat, pretending she hadn’t noticed it. As long as the cat thought she didn’t know it was there, she had an advantage.

There!

In a mad dash, she ran for a basement window. Her dollhouse had no basement, but it had basement windows.

The cat leapt for her just as she slipped through the narrow gap between the window and its frame.

The cat howled as it batted at the window. The window was unlocked, loose on its hinge, and the cat’s efforts resulted in the window being pushed inward. If the cat kept it up, Jasmine would fall backward from the windowsill into the basement below

The cat will keep trying to get me as long as it can see me.

She looked into the dark of the basement that shouldn’t have been there.

Then she jumped.

The floor met her feet almost as soon as she’d jumped—it was even with the bottom of the windowsill. This wasn’t a proper basement after all, but a crawlspace.

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