Dark Muse Read Online Free PDF Page B

your mouth, boy.” He slammed his fist
into the arm of the chair. Muddy watched the thick veins on the
dark hands grow and shake. “You have no idea what you’re dealing
with over there.” Fire burned in his one eye. “Take it seriously or
go home and cry when your brother never comes back.” Why did the
man seem so angry? What did he know about where they would go?
    None of them still had any idea what “over
there” meant, but they figured he would show them the light—or lose
them in darkness soon enough.
    “What’s the second thing?” Muddy asked.
    He kept his gaze on him. “We leave
tonight.”
    “But how? We have school tomorrow.”
    “You chicken,” Corey said. “It’s your
brother!”
    “Yeah,” Otis chimed in, “you’re not scared,
are you?”
    The old man stomped his foot again to get
their attention. “You’re all scared. Or should be. It’s a
messed up world over there. I still get the trembles every time I
go.”
    “Besides,” Silver Eye continued. “Time
doesn’t listen to any of our rules over there. So, you might not
even miss one of your arithmetic classes if you’re lucky. If you’re
not, I hope whoever comes back can spell the words right on your
tombstone.”
    “What is over there?” Muddy asked,
ignoring the taunt.
    Now Poe jumped into the fray. “Is it beyond
that landfill? Some isolated part where people don’t go to
anymore?”
    The old man looked directly at Muddy. “You
can’t walk there. You know that, so why are you asking? It’s not on
a map. It’s not past the landfill, but it is somewhere that people
hardly visit anymore, at least from this area.”
    Otis smirked and had to add his two cents.
“So…you’re saying it’s somewhere only you can take us, but
it’s not past the landfill and it’s not across the river.”
    The old man went silent.
    “So…are we gonna click our heels together
like in the Wizard of Oz and float there?”
    The old man suddenly stood. “Listen, you
little… I don’t need this crap. You don’t believe me, fine. Let
that boy die over there. It ain’t my issue. You wanna cross over
with him, fine, but don’t go making me out to be no crazy
idiot.”
    Damage control time. It always happened when
Otis got riled up.
    “Wait, Mr. Watkins,” Muddy pleaded. “I need
to get over there, wherever there is. I know it’s
something weird—I saw it with my own eyes. I believe you, but they
don’t. Can you tell them what this place is?”
    “Nope,” he said, shaking his head again. “You
either believe and go with me, or run home to mama and let them have at it with your kin.” He stood, walked over to a
closed door and leaned against it. “I shouldn’t even be taking you
there.”
    “Yes, you should,” Poe insisted. “Whatever,
wherever this place is, we’ve gotta go there, for Zack’s sake.
Please.”
    A minute of silence ensued. Then his eye
moved as his gaze slowly rolled over them. “You really think you’re
up for this? You’re not afraid?”
    “Of course we’re scared,” Corey said. “We’re
not stupid. The three of us haven’t even seen the place yet.”
    “When’s the last time you went there?” Poe
asked Silver Eye.
    “Never mind that. I know what I’m doing.”
    “But,” he warned, “You can’t go there
unarmed. You go in there with empty arms, and you might as well be
dead now. You need instruments. Otherwise, you won’t last a
minute.”
    “But, we didn’t know,” Muddy said. “All our
band equipment is back home. Heck, I don’t even have a guitar
pick!”
    The old man just smiled and pushed open a
door in the back of the house. “Welcome to ol’ Silver Eye’s toy
store.” The door swung wide and a musty stench wafted out for all
to choke on, but only until they saw what lay inside. The room
loomed massive yet it couldn’t be—not inside a house as small as
this.
    “Now, come on back here and find something to
play.” He gestured to the back room where a bevy of