Ghost of Spirit Bear Read Online Free PDF Page B

Peter said, starting down.
    “I’m a big
live
chicken,” Cole said. “Don’t be crazy!”
    Peter paused to listen. “Th-th-there’s nobody here.”
    “Then why are you going so slow?”
    “It’s dark—I don’t want to trip.” Peter descended cautiously into the darkness.
    “I don’t like this!” Cole called down.
    “I found them,” Peter called back, returning up the stairs with his bowling ball. “They were on the bottom step.”
    “Where’s mine?”
    “Go get your own.”
    Cole tiptoed down, grabbed his ball, and rushed back up. “This place really gives me the creeps—I’m out of here.”
    “I think we should still carry our ancestor rocks,” Peter said stubbornly.
    “And what if some mass murderer is hiding upstairs waiting to attack us?” Cole tried to sound like he was kidding.
    Peter headed up the stairs on his own. “W-w-wait here if you don’t dare.”
    Reluctantly Cole followed. “Don’t forget to think about your ancestors.”
    As he climbed, Cole reminded himself of all the generations of people who had lived and died before him to create his life. Just as he had on the island, he thought of the events that made him who he had become, the beatings by his father, all the fights at school, the arrests, the Circle meetings, going to the island, the mauling, discovering beauty and forgiveness, and now being here with Peter. And then Cole thought about his own future. He still hadn’t seen or heard anything from his father.
    Floor by floor they worked their way up. Suddenly Peter stopped. “I heard something.”
    Cole paused. “It’s your imagination,” he said, passing Peter on the stairs. “Now who’s chicken?” He led the rest of the way to the top. “Okay, let’s drop these things and get out of here.”
    Carefully Peter balanced his ball in the broken window. “We have to remember we’re getting rid of our anger,” he said, then shoved hard.
    Cole looked out in time to see the impact, and then he gave his own ball a heave. As he watched it plummet down, his anger at Keith still smoldered.

Chapter 4
    C OLE AND PETER circled quickly down the steps, floor after floor, until they reached the lobby. Peter headed straight for the broken doors, but Cole stopped him with a loud whisper, “Hey, Peter, look!”
    A grocery cart piled high with junk was parked in the hallway. “Isn’t that the cart the old homeless guy was pushing?” Peter whispered.
    “It wasn’t here when we came in,” Cole said. “He must live in the basement!”
    “I told you I heard something.”
    Both boys rushed from the building and across the overgrown lawn toward the street. “Forget the bowling balls,” Cole said.
    “Do you think he lives there?” Peter asked, hobbling.
    “It’s probably where he stores his victims.”
    “Quit it! I’m being serious.”
    When they reached a stoplight and paused to catch their breaths, Peter said, “Cole, maybe that old g-g-guy is scared of us, too.”
    “We haven’t done anything to him.”
    “He hasn’t hurt us either. I wonder what happened to make him homeless?”
    “Who knows. What happened to make Keith a bully?” Cole said.
    “If we run into those guys again, you should just run,” Peter said. “Then only one of us gets beat up.”
    “That’s dumb,” Cole said sharply. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
    Peter scratched his chin in thought and then broke into a smile. “I think I have a secret weapon.”
    “It’s not a gun or a knife, is it?” Cole asked.
    “No, I’ll bring my cell phone to school.”
    “So you can call the ambulance after we get beat up?”
    “Don’t be a jerk. Listen—we’re not allowed to use cell phones in school, but it’s not illegal to
carry
them. I’ll get the principal’s number somewhere, then I’ll program it in so all I have to do is push the Send button and it will dial automatically. I won’t even have to take the phone out of my pocket. I have one of those little microphones that I’ll