Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly - Trilogy) by Dennard Susan

Author:Dennard, Susan [Dennard, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2012-07-23T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

At nine o’clock the next morning and without Mama’s knowledge, I waited with a grim face for the Exhibition to open. I was the first through the turnstiles, and I fled instantly to the Spirit-Hunters’ door.

“Bonjour.” Joseph waved me into the lab. I skidded to a stop at the sight of Jie wrapped in a blanket on the floor.

“Is she asleep?” I whispered.

“Wi, but do not worry. She worked on the railroad, so she can sleep through anything.”

“Why is she here? Why not in your …” I furrowed my brow. “Well, wherever it is you sleep.”

He chuckled and spread his hands. “This is where we sleep.” He tapped his foot on the floor. “This is our bed.”

“You mean the city never gave you lodging? A house or a hotel to stay in?”

His eyebrows rose. “Are you offering your own?”

I opened and closed my mouth, my face flooding with heat. “I … um … No.”

At that moment the door screamed on its hinges and banged into the table behind. Daniel stormed in.

“They won’t give it to us.” He slammed the door shut. I flinched at the violent whack. Jie jerked awake.

“I ran into one of the officials,” Daniel continued, “and he said the city can’t trust us with dynamite.” The muscles in his neck strained, and his body was tense with fury. He pounded his chest. “Us. The ones who’ve done nothing but risk our lives.”

Joseph lifted his hands. “Calm yourself.”

“How can I be calm?” Daniel shouted. “They treat us like a bunch of dogs, and we put up with it.”

Jie stretched her arms overhead. “It’s true—” A jaw-cracking yawn overtook words, and she tapped at her mouth. “It’s true,” she tried again. “They want us to save them from the Dead, but then they don’t help us.” She drew herself gracefully to her feet.

Daniel opened his mouth to speak, but Joseph laid a warning hand on his shoulder.

“Settle down.”

Daniel ground his teeth and stomped to the window. He pressed his hands against the glass and leaned, his gaze moving to some distant spot outside. Judging by his labored breath, he was trying to keep his temper under control.

I gulped. The Spirit-Hunters needed dynamite? Why? I had to admit I’d be wary to hand over explosives to just anyone. Except the Spirit-Hunters weren’t just anyone.

Jie shifted her head side to side, and her neck popped loudly. “We can’t fight the entire cemetery, you know.”

“I know,” Joseph answered. “But if the city will not let us have dynamite, then there is nothing we can do.”

She spoke her next words casually. “We can take it, Joseph. We just break into the factory and take what we need. It’d be fair enough to—”

“No,” Joseph and Daniel snapped in unison.

Daniel dropped his hands from the window and inched around to face Jie. “No stealing. Especially not that.”

I spoke up, my voice breaking. “I-I know what the Dead want.”

Three heads spun toward me.

“It’s one of the grimoires—Le Dragon Noir—and it’s on display here. I saw it listed in the Exhibition catalogue.

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