A Kiss in Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

shake him harder and yell louder. Hey! Dude! Hey, you!
    Now that its that obvious theyre not zombies or any- thing, Travis steps forward and
     starts shaking a different guy. Were sorry to bother you, but were looking for directions.
    Nothing.
    There are five guys on stools and the bartender asleep on the floor. Trav and I spend five
     minutes shaking, yell- ing, pulling, and practically dancing with them. Theyre definitely
     alive, but theyre totally asleep. I think we need to try another place, I tell Trav.
    Theres only one person at the next shop, an old lady asleep with a bunch of falling-apart
     hats on stands. We shake her, but she doesnt wake.
    We try three more places, and theyre all the same.
    Freaky, Travis says when we step out of the greengro- cers. There was nothing in the bins,
     not a single grape or carrot. The grocer was napping on the floor. Can we leave now? A
     grocer without groceries is just . . . wrong.
    I sigh. I guess so. But when I turn the corner, I stop. Whoa!

A Kiss in Time

Chapter 4
    I
    
    
     ts a castle. Not a modern-looking one like Buckingham Palace, with electricity and toilets
     (when we visited it, the plumber was therehis truck said
    
    
     THE DIPLOMAT OF DRAIN AND SEWER CLEANING
    
    
     and Trav and I had fun joking about what the queen had done to stop up the drains), but a
     real castle, the kind that comes in a set with a bunch of plastic knights and horses. It
     could even have a dungeon.
    Check it out. I start toward it. Hey, wrong way. I want to go back. Suit yourself. I walk
     faster. But I have the sandwiches. Hey! Travis starts running after me, but hes got on flip-flops. I have sneakers, and I was on the track team at school, so I can outrun him.
    The castle is farther than I thought because its bigger than I thought. Its big enough to put a whole city in. I finally reach it about ten
     minutes later. Theres a moat around it full of brown, sludgy water.
    Oops. Cant go in, Trav yells from way back.
    I walk around the perimeter until I see where the draw- bridge is. Its open, and theres a
     castle door at the end of it. I start across.
    Are you sure you should do that? Someone might behead you.
    Come on, Travis. What are we going to do, go crawl- ing back to Mindy? This is the first
     interesting thing weve seen in the past three weeks. I just want to look around.
    At the door, I see two guards. Surprisetheyre sleep- ing. I grasp the handle and pull on
     it. It opens with a loud squeal. I step inside.
    Were in this huge room with three-story ceilings. Wow, its like the ballroom in Shrek 2,
     Travis says. I nod and hand him a sandwich. It lightens the load,
    and weve still got six or seven more. To be safe, I hold on to the beer.
    Hey, look. I point at a suit of armor standing in a corner. Lets try it on.
    There could be someone in it.
    I jump back. I hadnt thought about that. I dont think the sleeping people around here look
     like they date back to medieval times, but better safe than sorry. I slowly, gingerly lift
     the bill of the knights face mask.
    Its empty. I breathe out. Maybe this place wont be as freaky as the rest.
    This is so cool. All the castles and towers weve been to, youre either not allowed to look
     around inside at all, or if you are, you just get to stand behind velvet ropes and see
     stuff in climate-controlled boxes. This place is real, even if it is a little dusty. I
     start down a hallway that goes out to the side. I look in the first room. Hey.
    What is it? The kitchen? Better. Its an actual throne room like in the movies, and there are people in it, peasants maybe, waiting to see the king or something. The king isnt
     there, though.
    Theyre asleep like everyone else in this town, Travis says.
    But look.
    Two guards sleep off to one side. Each has a pillow in his lap. On each pillow is a crown
     encrusted with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. Its just like the stuff we saw in the Tower
     of London, only its out where we can touch