Atlas Cloud And The Amulet of Thieves Read Online Free PDF Page B

time.” He said.
     
    “No you weren’t.” I said pointing a finger back at him.
     
    “Yes I was.”
     
    “Then why were you snoring then?” I said confident of no comeback.
     
    “I was snoring because um…um…because I’m a good actor. Fooled you!”
     
    “Bull.” I said smiling, it was funny how committed he was to the spy act.
     
    “Whatever, where we going then?” He said changing the subject.
     
    “We aren’t going anywhere, I’m going alone.”
     
    “No you’re not.” He said wriggling closer to me in his sleeping bag, the bottom half of his body was still inside it.
     
    “Look, it might be dangerous, the last time someone talked to him someone died. I almost died for Christ sake.” I said, standing my ground. As much as I love having him around, I couldn’t bear to see him hurt. I closed the distance between us, putting him out of his caterpillar like nightmare, and put a hand on his shoulder. He was stiff as a rock. It was two degrees and he wasn’t even shaking. He looked at me, with a deadly intensity.
     
    “I’m here to stay.” He whispered. I didn’t like the idea, but I couldn’t argue with him, he was my best friend, my only friend and in that moment, I just prayed I didn’t regret that decision.
     
    After packing up our things, we slowly crept out of the window. There was a trellis attached to this side of the house with all sorts of flowers and vines along it. I tried my best not to trample them into oblivion, but I failed miserably. I figured the best way to get there would be to take the bus, as there is always a late night bus route just down the road from Eli’s house. After climbing down, we ventured onto the main road. It was a long and narrow piece of tarmac. Nothing special.
     
    You could see far into the distance, the only thing abstracting the view was the curvature of the Earth, bending the road to its will. I perched on the seat under the bus shelter. Eli stayed standing up; we waited around, twiddling our thumbs.
     
    “Are you sure buses come this late, Atlas?” Eli said, pacing up and down the pavement.
     
    “Yes, it says right there.” I get up and show him the sign that stated the bus times. “Look, right there, we’ll be fine.” I said, not really believing myself. I mean it did say that it was running this late, but if it’s late or its and old sign then we could be sat here for hours. I thought over what might happen when I confront Farro. What would I say? What would I do? I thought I had so many questions but they’re all slipping away from me, escaping me. My palms get sweaty as I think about how it could all go wrong. What if he caused the accident? Would I be walking into a trap? I am in way over my head. I jerk up to tell Eli that this has all been a waste of time and that we should turn back and go home.
     
    “Atlas!” Eli cried out bobbing up and down, “There it is!” He said picking his bags up off the floor waiting eagerly on the edge of the curb.
     
    “Damn.” I mutter under my breath, I guess I have to go now.
     
    “You coming Atlas?” He said with a grin on his face. “You’re not chickening out on me are ya?” I walked over to him, a bit of swagger in my step and put my arm around his shoulders.
     
    “Me? No, I thought for a minute there you were going to run off and leave me here.” I said putting on a pretty terrible grin of my own. We step on to the bus and are greeted by a slimy, deathly thin driver. He had large stains on his shirt, spots on his face. He obviously didn’t wash, the foul stench tearing through my senses. I threw the change I had in my pocket into the bowl under the window, and walked to the back. I took a quick glance at everyone else on the bus. Not many people were on which didn’t surprise me. They all looked weird. We sat down on the back seat; I grabbed the window seat before Eli could. He looked at me but then submitted and settled down next to me. The bus smelt like old boots