Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and so many re-runs of Full House that I think
my head is going to explode. I go to sleep at night and have dreams
of Uncle Jesse.”
    Evie smiled as her brother
came to sit on the end of her bed. Considering they had not had any
other human contact for the past week, they were getting along
rather well. Most of the time they watched television in Seth’s
room. When they couldn’t take any more of that, they usually
resorted to playing card games and I
Spy . It had gotten that bad. “Hey, at
least you have a TV,” she reminded him. “When I can’t stand your
company anymore I have to come in here and stare at the
walls.”
    He rolled his eyes.
    Evie giggled.
    “Why are we even still here?” he asked.
“It’s obvious that guy doesn’t give a crap whether we’re here or
not. Come on, Evie, we’re going to die of starvation soon. I am
sick of eating pizza. We’ve been eating it every night for seven
straight days because it’s all we can afford. Sooner or later, our
money is going to run out and then we won’t even be able to get
home! I mean, has he even come to talk about painting?”
    She sighed. “No. The most I’ve received is a
Neanderthal-like grunt.”
    Seth sighed as well and ran his fingers
through his short hair. “Please, Evie, let’s just go home. This
sucks so major.”
    She thought for a moment. Seth had a point.
It was apparent that Traevyn had no intention of ever even
acknowledging their presence. It irritated her. She’d had to quit
her job to come on this trip. Meg was taking care of her cat, and
her parents were paying her rent. Paybacks for springing Seth on
her at the last minute. She should at least be getting money for
being there if she wasn’t getting anything else. What Seth said
about running out of funds was true. If they kept going at the rate
they were, they wouldn’t only be broke, but fat and pimply and
probably sweating pizza sauce.
    She smiled. “I have an idea.”
    He frowned.
    “This will either give us some money, or
change his attitude.” She stood with a smirk and headed for the
door. “Either way, it’ll improve our current situation. I’m going
to go find our dungeon master.”
    Seth snorted. “Good luck. If you die, I get
your car.”
    Evie strode down the dark
hall with its wrought iron candle sconces and made her way to where
the staircase met the top floor. Branching off the other direction
from it was another hallway, his hallway. She squared her shoulders, raised her
chin in a determined fashion and plunged ahead, wondering where in
the heck she was even going to find him. His house was only about
the size of a small country.
    She opened the first door
that she came across, which was an office filled with so many books
that she had to stop and stare. She stepped forward with caution,
forgetting her purpose. She was drawn to the many works before her.
Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, John Steinbeck and so many others.
She ran her finger gently along a row of them. Well, he was a
well-read ogre. Too bad he didn’t have a book on manners somewhere.
Her fingers grazed the spine of a book that was worn and frayed.
She frowned and peered at the title. Shakespeare’s Sonnets . She smiled
and pulled the book out, flipping through some of the pages. Many
were dog-eared. This book had apparently been read many
times.
    “Taking up snooping, are we?”
    Evie jumped and whirled, dropping the
book.
    Traevyn stood in the doorway, regarding her
with his piercing green eyes. He strode forward and picked up the
book. He snapped it shut with a scowl and placed it back in the
shelf, trailing his fingers across the spine in almost a
caress.
    She took a deep breath and tried to calm the
pounding of her heart that his unexpected entrance had caused. “Mr.
Whitelaw,” she began, sounding much braver than she currently felt.
“I have a proposition for you.”
    He turned with a frown and folded his arms.
“Do you?”
    She nodded. “I want to clean your house.”
    He