The Poe Estate by Polly Shulman

Author:Polly Shulman
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2015-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Phineas Toogood’s Kiss

You know how to get to the roof?” asked Elizabeth. I shook my head. “No, of course you don’t—this is your first time here, isn’t it? Griffin better show you.”

She put two fingers in her mouth and let out an earsplitting whistle. A minute later, an enormous nose pushed the door open a crack and an eye peered in. “Griffin, can you take Sukie up to the roof?” Elizabeth leaned around a pile of stuff on her desk and held out her hand to me. “It was good to see you again. Nice to meet your sister, too. Get home safe.”

“Thanks for all your help.” I zipped up my parka, picked up my broom and backpack, and squeezed through the door.

The gigantic dog set off down the corridor, his nails clicking. He stopped expectantly in front of the elevators, so I pressed the up button. When the elevator came, he gave a little bark. It sounded like “Roof!”

I looked for a button marked roof but there wasn’t one, so I just pushed the top button. “Is that what you meant?” I asked.

He sniffed.

Kitty thought it was ridiculous of me to have a one-sided conversation with a dog.

The top floor was way fancier than the floor with Elizabeth’s chimney office. We passed rooms paneled in oak and mahogany, rooms with mural-painted ceilings, a room lined with card-catalog drawers, and a big room with rows of tables and fantastic stained-glass windows on all four sides. I wanted to stop and stare, but Griffin bounded ahead, making me run a little to keep up.

At the end of a hallway, a ladder hung halfway down the wall, with a trapdoor at the top. Griffin stood on his hind legs, hooked his front paws around the bottom rung, and pulled. The ladder slid down. He bent his head, stuck his nose in the small of my back, and nudged me up.

“Thanks, Griffin,” I said, reaching behind me to pet his gigantic floppy ears. Then I tucked the broom under my arm and hauled myself up the ladder.

• • •

The sun had set. The roof stood in a grove of tall, twinkly-windowed city buildings, with glimpses of Central Park peeking through. Andre was waiting for me, wearing his hiking boots. They made him even taller.

“So what happens? Do your boots let you fly?”

“No, they’re seven-league boots. They make me go seven leagues a step.”

“How far’s that?”

“About twenty-four miles.”

“So, what, you just walk off the roof?”

He nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve done it before. Lots of times.”

“Carrying a person?”

“Carrying a person, carrying a dozen eggs, even carrying a haunted harp one time. Now, that was heavy! How do you want to do this—piggyback or fireman’s lift?”

“I don’t know—which way are you less likely to drop me?”

“I’m not going to drop you.”

“I thought you said you were so unathletic?”

“I never said I’m unathletic! I’m just bad at sports. Big difference. Fine, fireman’s lift. Ready?” He took me under my arms and swung me around his shoulders, draping me like a scarf.

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