Doll Bones Read Online Free PDF Page B

blister.
    “We’re too old anyway, don’t you think?” he made himself say.
    Alice looked stricken.
    “That’s stupid,” Poppy said. “We weren’t too old the day before yesterday.”
    “We were,” Zach said.
    “It’s because of your friends on the team, isn’t it?” Alice glanced over at Poppy, like maybe they’d had this conversation before. “You think they’re going to find out and hassle you.”
    “I don’t think anything.” Zach sighed. “I just don’t want to play anymore.”
    “You don’t mean that,” Poppy said.
    He forced the words out. “I do.”
    “Maybe we could just take a break,” Alice said slowly. “Do something else for a while.”
    “Sure,” he said with a shrug.
    “And then maybe if you change your mind . . .”
    Zach thought about the time that Alice had first brought her Lady Jaye doll to a game—three months back. Before Lady Jaye, Alice’s favorite character had been a Barbie named Aurora who had been raised by a herd of carnivorous horses. But one Monday morning, on the walk to school, Alice explained that she’d repainted an action figure from a thrift store over the weekend. She wanted to play somebody new.
    Lady Jaye was different, all right. She was a thief who’d grown up on the streets of the biggest city in all their kingdoms, called Haven. And she didn’t care about anything except for what she could steal and what fun she could have along the way.
    Lady Jaye was crazy. She got a ride on William’s ship because she wanted a ride to the Shark Prince’s treasure, but every time he docked, Lady Jaye kept stealing from people, so they’d been banned from landing in at least five different places. William had to bail her out of situation after situation, until he finally got her to agree to stay aboard the Neptune’s Pearl .
    Except then she wound up doing things like climbing the mast with a blindfold on, just to show off. Alice’s descriptions of Lady Jaye’s antics had made Zach laugh so hard that his stomach hurt. His stomach hurt now, too, but for a different reason.
    “I’m not going to change my mind,” Zach said numbly.
    “But it doesn’t make any sense,” Poppy said, not willing to let him off that easily. “You can’t just stop. We’re in the middle of a scene. What happens to everyone else? What happens to Lady Jaye? Even if she gets away from the mermaids, what then? What about the crew?”
    William had promised Lady Jaye that he’d take her to the place marked on the map as the lair of the Shark Prince. He’d sworn it on his honor and on the Neptune’s Pearl .
    “Maybe one of your people can take over as captain.” Zach hated the idea, but the Neptune’s Pearl wasn’t a particular toy that one of them owned. It was just a cutout piece of paper, and there was no reason for him to hang on to it.
    “Maybe they’ll make her walk the plank,” said Poppy.
    “I don’t care what happens,” Zach said, and all the simmering anger at his father, at this conversation, and at everything bled into his voice then, turning it cruel. “You figure it out. I don’t care anymore.”
    “Okay,” Alice said, holding up her hands like she was surrendering. “How about we walk over to the dirt mall? Or bike over. Whatever. See what’s at the used bookstore and play the arcade games in the movie theater lobby. Like I said, a break.”
    Alice wasn’t allowed there, so it was a generous offer.
    “I don’t really feel like it today,” Zach said. “But thanks.” They were almost to his street, almost home. He picked up his pace.
    “Did you finish the Questions?” Poppy asked him.
    He hitched his backpack higher on his shoulder and shook his head. The note was folded and tucked away in the front zippered pocket, scribbled on and illustrated, full of proof that he did care. He couldn’t give it to her.
    She held out her hand.
    “I didn’t answer them,” he said. “What do you want?”
    “Give me the paper back anyway. Maybe I’ll