In The Dark Read Online Free PDF

green-grey leaves dancing in the light. Now they were dark and shadowy, creaking and groaning as they bent in the wind. And there were noises everywhere. As well as the constant rustling of the leaves, there was a low buzzing.
    â€˜Crickets,’ said EJ to herself as she walked on, ‘or frogs. I remember them from school camp. They are quite nice when...’

    EJ stopped and stood completely still when she heard the high-pitched, whipping noise ring through the bush. That wasn’t a frog, she thought.

    That wasn’t a cricket. EJ swung her torch around but couldn’t see anything.

    The noise sounded closer. EJ’s heart was pounding. What was that noise? That noise coming towards her ... Towards her to attack? Stay calm, EJ said to herself. It’s only a bird or something ordinary like that. Remember the possum at home. This is just like that. The noise sounds scary but it actually just belongs to a cute animal. EJ shone the torch around again and this time, sitting on a high branch above her, she spotted a bird.

    Mystery solved, thought EJ. It is a bird, of course. Now stop thinking scary thoughts. Then came another sound.

    â€˜That’s an owl,’ said EJ out aloud. ‘You are a cute owl aren’t you?’

    â€˜Thanks,’ said EJ. ‘I knew you were.’ And so it went on as she walked through the bush. There would be a noise and EJ would tell herself what was making the noise, sensible things not crazy, scary, spooky slumber-party things. But there were noises everywhere and they seemed so close. EJ couldn’t work out what they all were. She felt her heart start to beat fast again and she felt a warm flush run up her neck. She was starting to panic. EJ felt alone, she felt small and, most of all, she felt scared.
    She wanted her mum.

    Now EJ’s heart was beating so hard she thought it was going to burst. What is that? I need Mum! EJ pressed the BEST app and her mum answered immediately.
    â€˜Hey Em, I mean Agent EJ12. You’ll do anything to get out of eating fish pie, won’t you? I must say I’m not sure what I think about SHINE giving you a mission on a school night. I might email A1 about that.’
    â€˜Mum, don’t you dare!’ said Emma, who was thinking her mum may not have been the right BESTie to choose after all. But the sound of her mum’s voice made EJ feel calmer, safer. ‘Mum, there are some pretty scary noises here.’
    â€˜Remember our possum at home,’ said her mum. ‘She made a pretty horrible noise but was actually very cute and not dangerous at all.’
    â€˜I tried to remember that,’ said EJ, ‘but now there are so many weird noises, I’m not sure.’
    â€˜Why don’t you put me on loudspeaker so I can hear too?’ suggested Mum.
    EJ was slightly surprised her mum knew phones had loudspeakers but didn’t say anything as she switched it on.
    â€˜Okay,’ said her mum, ‘let’s keep walking.’
    And so EJ walked through the night bush chatting with her mum, who would sometimes say, ‘Oh that might be a sooty owl, EJ. Lucky you, they are very rare. Now that, I think, is a tawny frogmouth and that is definitely a barn owl.’
    And so it went on as EJ walked through the bushand up the hill. She wasn’t sure that her mum really knew the names of all the birds or whether she was making them up but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t afraid any more, she was even kind of enjoying it, and before long she had reached the top of the hill.
    â€˜Okay Mum, thanks, I can do it myself now,’ said EJ.
    â€˜Of course you can. Good girl and good luck, EJ,’ said Mum, ‘and I’ll save some fish pie for you.’
    EJ groaned but smiled as she put her phone back in her pocket. She must be getting close now. She needed to go down this hill and then the mine was on the next hill. And somewhere would be an entrance. As she headed down the