Unleashed by Amy McCulloch

Author:Amy McCulloch [McCulloch, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471169991
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

EVERYONE IN THE ROOM LEANS forward, sitting up straighter after lounging on the squishy couches, suddenly alert. This is what we’re all here for. River shifts so that Zora and I can sit down, and we form a semi-circle around Tobias.

Aero spreads his wings and the map shimmers into view. ‘This is where we are,’ says Tobias. We all lean forward. The cottage is perched right at the edge of a long, thin lake, labelled as Lake Washington.

River lets out a low whistle. ‘This is like billionaire cottage country,’ he mutters. He’s not far wrong either. All around the lake are cottages marked with the names of the richest people in the country. Monica Chan and Eric Smith both have cottages on the map.

‘Why is it called Lake Washington if everyone has a cottage here? What makes your family so special?’ asks Kai.

‘My mom found this place. It was just a bunch of rundown old shacks around the lake before. She designed all the buildings and turned them into luxury cottages.’

‘Holy cow – your dad is a top companioneer at Moncha and your mom is an elite level architect?’ says Zora. ‘Impressive.’

‘Thanks,’ he says. He looks awkward at all the attention on his family, so I reach out and touch his arm.

‘Where’s Lake Baku?’ I ask.

‘Here.’ Tobias zooms in on the map, flashing me a grateful smile. Just to the west of Lake Washington is a much smaller body of water. It does appear to say ‘Lake Baku’, in very teeny tiny writing. Tobias must have really studied this map closely – and thank goodness for his prodigious memory. ‘It’s about two kilometres from here, if we cut through the woods.’

‘The woods?’ asks Zora, her voice sounding sceptical. ‘Are there like . . . wild animals and stuff in there?’

‘Well, it’s winter, so there won’t be many wild animals. But there will be a lot of snow. Thankfully I think we’ve got enough winter gear in the basement for all of us. Ever been cross-country skiing before?’

Zora and I exchange a look. We might both be Canadians, but we’ve never really had much experience of life outside of the city – and apart from a few large parks, there’s not a lot of green space. Zora’s family has never taken her skiing, and although I went to the Blue Mountains last year with Mom, it was kind of a disaster. The best thing about that trip was warming up at the lodge at the end and having a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream.

She’s a coder and I’m an engineer. Neither of us are exactly the typical ‘outdoorsy’ type. But I grit my teeth. I know I will do whatever it takes.

Zora shakes her head vigorously at Tobias. ‘I’ve never even been on a pair of skis before.’

‘Cross-country skiing isn’t too difficult to get started . . . But I do think we’ll need a team based here, in the cottage, to help guide us and keep things on track in case something goes wrong at Lake Baku.

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.