Fangboy Read Online Free PDF Page B

lasts beyond my chin.”
    “Why, you filthy little rat! How dare you question my soap allotment? I had planned to spend this evening beating him—” Steamspell pointed at one of the boys near the end of the line. “—and him—” He pointed at another. “—but instead I’ll be beating you. And I’m in a foul mood, so I intend to beat you until my spirits have brightened!”
    The boys marched back into the orphanage. After a meal of soup that was more like water with a mild carrot flavor, they spent the rest of the day doing chores. Nathan’s job was to shake a rug until every last tick had been dislodged.
    Reggie’s screams echoed throughout the orphanage.
    “I’m glad I didn’t say anything about the soap,” Malcolm admitted, while he shook out his own assigned rug. “I was thinking it, and I thought he wanted a real answer.”
    Reggie didn’t return from Steamspell’s office until shortly before dinner, limping and bruised. “He won’t feed us properly, but he spared no expense on that paddle,” he muttered. “I thought it would break in half, but it didn’t even chip. Did you see that it has diamonds on the handle?”
    “Are you okay?” Nathan asked.
    “I won’t be okay until his throat is sliding down your throat.”
    “I’m not going to kill him.”
    “You stingy little miser. What makes you so special? Don’t you think that if the good lord above gave you teeth of that sort he’d want them to be put to use? By ignoring your gift, you are spitting in the face of God. Spitting right into his all-seeing eye. Blasphemy!”
    “I won’t do it.”
    “Very well, then. It’s your soul. Do what you want with it.”
    Life in the orphanage did not take an upswing in quality during the following week. Nathan missed his parents and he didn’t like anything about this place and he hated being called Fangboy. He didn’t cry as much anymore, and thought it might be because his body had run out of water to transport to his eyes.
    Every night, Nathan thought about running away. All of the boys did. Unfortunately, tales abounded of all of the measures Steamspell had taken to prevent their escape. Hungry wolves lurked in the woods. The area around the orphanage was filled with so many land mines and bear traps that a boy wouldn’t be able to take more than three steps before either blowing up or having iron jaws snap shut upon his ankle. (It also stood to reason that many of the wolves ended up getting caught in the traps as well, and if there was anything more fearsome than a wolf, it was a wolf who was angry about having been forced to gnaw off its own foot.) Goblins, or at least people dressed as goblins, roamed outdoors with giant clubs. Sharks dropped from the sky. Pits were plentiful. Men with rifles had a standing offer to earn eighty coins per orphan head.
    None of these were true, and in fact any boy who made it half a mile northeast of the orphanage would have found himself in the care of kindly nuns, but none of the boys dared risk it.
    The only thing Nathan had to look forward to was Adoption Day. He’d much rather have his real mother and father back, but since that wasn’t a possibility (at least not in a non-supernatural, non-terrifying manner) he hoped to find replacement parents soon.
    Nathan marched out with the other boys, trying to think merry thoughts in hopes that parents would want a happy child.
    The first visitor was a portly woman who explained to Steamspell that her husband had gotten caught up at work, but that he trusted her to make the right decision. Green eyes were a preference, though not a requirement. Upon hearing this, Malcolm opened his green eyes as wide as he could, so wide that Nathan worried they might roll right out of their sockets and Malcolm would have to go chasing after them, which would be awkward since he wouldn’t be able to see what he was chasing after. Nathan decided that should this happen, he would help Malcolm find his missing eyes, even if it