Olivia's Enchanted Summer Read Online Free PDF Page A

time.
    â€œYou need to report what’s happened to the police,” she said, and even as she said it, shefelt as if she were the sensible grown-up and Jack the bewildered child.
    Jack nodded. “I’d rather like to find this Mitch myself,” he said, “but I don’t know where to start and besides it’s probably not a good idea. Come on, chick, let’s go and join the others and work out what to do.”
    Olivia turned reluctantly, and she noticed the vase of flowers again. It made her curious. Jack had already started trudging down the path. She jumped on to the drainpipe that ran down the side of the building, then shimmied up until she was at eye level with the dirty little window near the roof of the garage. Olivia moistened her thumb with saliva, used it to wipe away the grime and peered in.
    The garage was gloomy and she couldn’t see much except piles of boxes and crates. But then she noticed some camp beds and bedding on the floor, a tiny little gas stove and saucepan, and two tins of beans. It looked as if someone was camping out in the garage. There was a dog bowl filled with water in the corner.
    Olivia twisted her head to get a better look at one of the beds. It was covered by a blue sleeping bag, and just peeping out from underneath wasa yellow dress with a distinctive blue trim. Olivia slithered down the pipe in surprise. The rude girl in the yellow dress must be living here with her sister and the collie dog! It was such an amazing coincidence. She couldn’t wait to tell Georgia and Aeysha.
    As she and Jack arrived back at the bus, an elderly woman walked by, dragging a small yapping poodle behind her.
    â€œExcuse me,” said Jack. “You don’t happen to know if there’s a number 13 Jekyll Road?”
    The woman looked surprised. “Goodness no, not for years. It burned down ages ago, when I was still quite young. It was a terrible tragedy.” The woman was clearly lonely and pleased to get the chance to chat. She talked on and on while Jack and Olivia nodded politely, although Olivia could tell her dad was eager to get away. Finally the woman concluded: “The house was never rebuilt. Lots of people are superstitious and don’t want to live in a house with an unlucky number or on a plot with a bad history.”
    They thanked the woman and got back on to the bus. Everyone could tell from their faces that there was no hope.
    â€œSo,” said Pablo, “what do we do now?”
    â€œWe go back to Calton Hill and consider our options,” said Jack.
    â€œI’m not sure we’ve got any options,” said Alicia quietly but with such intensity that Olivia knew as soon as Alicia got Jack alone, she was going to give him an earful. She wouldn’t like to be in her dad’s shoes when that happened.

Chapter Four
    Olivia walked along the tightrope, stumbled slightly and jumped off just before she lost her balance completely and fell. Normally, she loved walking the wire, and even if she was feeling down it always cheered her up, but her heart wasn’t really in it today. What was the point of practising any part of her routine when she might never get to perform it? The day had curdled. The time on the Mound, the girl in the yellow dress and the boy-magician all seemed like a long-ago dream that had turned into a nightmare. She had spent some time poring over the Fringe programme in the hope of spotting the show the boy-magician might be in, but with no success.
    Everyone’s luggage was piled up in themiddle of the big top and the children were all sitting around, playing cards or reading. The sandwiches they had bought on the way back to Calton Hill lay half-eaten on the floor. Most people had lost their appetite and nobody could quite settle to anything. Eel, Aeysha and Georgia had tried to practise their excerpt from Swan Lake , which formed part of the show’s witty, opening number, but like Olivia they