Thirteens by Kate Alice Marshall

Author:Kate Alice Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2020-08-17T16:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

At ten forty-five, thirty minutes after Ben and Jenny had gone to bed, Eleanor shoved the book into her backpack. She held her shoes in one hand and hurried down the steps in her socks so she’d be quiet, and even managed to dodge the creakiest floorboards. When she was almost at the back door, she stopped and backtracked. She ducked into the living room, where the giant fireplace stood, the staircase leading into shadows at the back of it. A heavy set of iron fire tools sat next to the fireplace, untouched for years. The kids in “The Graveyard Dog” had used an iron shovel to drive the dog off. Hopefully an iron fire poker would do just as well.

She stuck it into her backpack, closing the zipper around it to hold it in place, and ran to the back door.

There was no bus to take her to Otto’s. She couldn’t run that far, and even if she knew how to drive, she thought stealing Ben and Jenny’s car would probably wake them up. But she’d seen some old bikes in the shed, so she sprinted across the scrubby grass, ignoring just how spooky the orchard looked at night.

She pulled open the door. It groaned and whined but gave. The old car was under a cloth to keep the dust off. The bicycles shoved against the wall next to it didn’t get the same protection, and they were practically one big cobweb. Eleanor picked the smaller of the two and wheeled it out. It wobbled a little, and the wheel made a whine of its own, but she didn’t have time to oil it. She did her best to swipe the dust off the handlebars and the seat, then flung her leg over.

The pedals were stiff at first, and as she worked her way up the dirt track to the road, she thought she would have gone faster at a brisk walk. But they loosened up as she pedaled, and the effort kept her warm even though she’d forgotten a coat. Soon she was sailing down the road in the dark.

The wind bit at her, but it was worth it for the speed. She pedaled as fast as she could, her legs already aching. She had to get to the others. It was all she thought about. Her plan, her list: Get to Pip. Get to Otto. Stay safe. Stay free. Find the answer.

She was wheezing for breath by the time she saw the lights at the end of Otto’s drive—and the black car parked just down the road, its lights off but a figure in the driver’s seat. She wrenched the bike to the side, careening off the road before they could spot her, and pulled herself and the bike behind a big pine. She peered around the trunk, hoping she hadn’t been seen. The car didn’t move. Neither did the person in it. From the way their head was tipped down, she thought they might be asleep.

Mr. January? Did Mr.

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