Obsidian Pebble Read Online Free PDF Page B

the kitchen window. “Go on, be honest, would I pass muster as one of the undead, do you think??”
    â€œNot,” Ellie muttered dubiously.
    â€œI thought I’d done well,” Tim said, sounding crestfallen, “but the others at the party said I looked like a painter and decorator that had fallen asleep in a corner for two years.”
    â€œFancy dress?” asked Caleb.
    â€œAll I could come up with,” Tim explained, and took in the hot chocolate. “You four look nice and cozy.”
    â€œThe Three Musketeers here have been Halloweening in the old orphanage.”
    â€œAh.” Tim grinned. “That must have been fun.”
    â€œBuzzard,” Ruff said, smiling.
    Ellie shot him a disbelieving glance. Clearly, the beverage was working its magic and morphing what had been quite a scary supernatural experience into a great adventure in Ruff’s hot chocolate-mellowed mind.
    Tim frowned as if he’d misheard and was thinking about asking Ruff something else, but then decided against it and just stood watching them and grinning good-naturedly for several long seconds. “Right,” he said finally. “I’m going to hit the shower. Oz, tell your mum that I’d be happy to have a go at that guttering for her. I’ve managed to borrow a long ladder, okay?”
    â€œFine,” Oz said without the faintest idea of what he was talking about.
    â€œHe seems quite…helpful,” Ellie said when Tim had gone.
    â€œDoesn’t he just,” Caleb said in a way that made them all glance at him. But his face remained inscrutable.
    By one o’clock, they’d finally decided that going back to the orphanage was not a great idea. They would leave attacking the library until first thing next morning and, after
    Ruff set up an infectious bout of yawning, they all agreed that bed was probably the best option. Twenty minutes later, Oz lay in his, duvet up under his chin, mulling over the evening’s events and not feeling the least bit tired, hearing his stomach groan under the internal pressure of one too many freaky fingers.
    But it wasn’t indigestion that was keeping sleep away. Since the conversation with Caleb, an idea had taken root in his head and was growing with every minute. The thought that Penwurt really was haunted thrilled Oz. He’d always known that it was a different sort of place and the mysterious footsteps merely confirmed what he’d suspected. He still vividly remembered the day they’d first driven here after hearing that his dad had inherited the place. The Chambers had sat in the car outside the old house like a gang of potential burglars, looking at it in silent awe.
    â€œIt’s huge,” Oz had said.
    â€œIt’s brilliant,” replied his dad. “Just look at those bartizans and those mullioned windows and that turret at the top. I bet you can see for miles from there. And this street, can’t you feel it?”
    Previously, they’d lived on the outskirts of the town in a small house that had been modern and identical to a hundred others on a sprawling new estate. But in the car on that first day, Gwen Chambers went very quiet.
    â€œI dread to think what it will cost to heat,” she muttered.
    Michael Chambers turned to her, his eyes shining with excitement, his grin infectious.
    â€œWe’ll take in lodgers. The university is always looking for accommodation.”
    Mrs. Chambers had merely smiled wanly. In that smile was the knowledge that she’d lost the battle before it had even started.
    So began the adventure.
    And in the seven or so months before the accident, what an adventure it had been. Oz and his dad explored the house, and almost every week found something new and surprising that they could investigate and enthuse over. Great Aunt Bessy had done little in the way of decoration since the middle of the last century and much of the old house was hung with ancient