Rachel Golden and the Retriever of Sin Read Online Free PDF Page A

‘I got lost!’ he wailed. ‘When they said I was going to be tested that time, I got lost. I don’t know how it happened.’ He scratched at some pebbles on the ground with his paw.
    ‘Yeah right,’ Kel said, ‘I heard you got lost all the way to the Bahamas. And you seemed to have no problem finding the buffet.’ Rachel got the feeling that if dogs could blush, Ros would be glowing. ‘Anyway,’ he went on, turning back to Rachel, ‘we’re in the Altworld now.’
    Rachel looked around her. Apart from the weather change it seemed exactly like the world they’d just left. ‘So what’s “alt” about it then? I’m guessing alt is short for alternate?’
    Kel nodded and Ros looked surprised. ‘Is that right?’ he asked. ‘I never knew that. How come no one ever told me that?’
    ‘Most people figure it out for themselves, Ros. And trust me, there’s plenty that’s alt about it. But we’ll break you into that gently. Right now we should probably get moving.’ He tossed Rachel the gold pocket watch Sinbad had been carrying. ‘I guess this is yours now. Can you read it?’
    Rachel pressed the little winder on the top and the cover popped open. She frowned at the face. There was a main dial with four hands—some spinning backward—and three smaller dials. None of the symbols on it made any sense to her. Though it did seem somehow familiar. ‘I… I don’t know,’ she said slowly, ‘I don’t think so.’ She turned it this way and that in the light. There was something faintly hypnotic about it.
    ‘I wouldn’t worry about it,’ Ros said as Kel shouldered the backpack. ‘I don’t think Sinbad could read it too well either. From what I can gather it either reminds you of things, or warns you of things. But sometimes it doesn’t.’ He sniffed. Right on cue the watch dinged. They all looked at each other, then scanned the beach for any sign of danger. ‘Oh and sometimes it just dings for no reason,’ the dog added.
    ‘Sounds great,’ Rachel said, and rolled her eyes. She slipped the watch into her pocket and followed Kel back in the direction of the park. As they walked she kept shooting sideways glances at Ros. It was all feeing quite unreal.
    Ros noticed her looking. ‘Pretty trippy, right?’ he said, grinning. ‘A talking dog. Pretty Alice Through the Looking-Glass stuff.’ He started to sing Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’.
    ‘One pill makes you larger…’
    Rachel sighed. She was starting to get a headache.
    ‘And one pill makes you small.
    And the ones that mother gives you
    Don’t do anything at all.
    Go ask RACHEL!
    When she’s ten feet tall…’
    ‘Do you mind not doing that?’ she snapped at the dog. ‘It’s really quite annoying.’ Ros looked hurt, and she felt bad. ‘Sorry. It’s just that, this is all kind of a lot to take in, you know?’ Ros nodded. Maybe if she talked to Kel, who she knew existed, it would help. ‘So what’s this mission all about then?’ she called ahead to him.
    Kel looked back over his shoulder. ‘Well, from what Sinbad told me, most of the unicorns in the area have started to move north. It’s our job to track them and find out why. When they start to move all at once it usually means something’s up.’
    Rachel laughed out loud. ‘You can’t be serious! Unicorns ? Come on. Now I know you’re messing with me.’
    ‘He ain’t messin’, missy,’ Ros said. ‘Where we came in, back at the lake? That’s where the last two were spotted. I could smell them.’
    Rachel thought for a minute, then something occurred to her. ‘Ah, now I know you’re full of sh… it. Full of it. We were on the other side of the portal when you said that. In real world, not Altworld.’ She looked triumphant.
    Ros sniffed. ‘Nope. I can smell in five dimensions. That’s my skill. Tell her Kel.’
    Kel looked back again. ‘Uh, he can smell in five dimensions. That’s his skill,’ he said awkwardly.
    Rachel snorted. ‘FIVE dimensions? Come