Rachel Golden and the Retriever of Sin Read Online Free PDF

on. There are only four. Length, breadth, depth and time. Right?’ She looked from Ros to Kel.
    ‘The fifth is Altworld,’ Ros said. ‘Or parallel universes, whatever you want to call them. Same thing.’ He tapped the side of his nose. ‘And this baby can smell between them.’ He puffed out his doggy chest proudly as he trotted along.
    Oy. Rachel was feeling whelmed. Not quite over whelmed yet, but close to it. Okay, just deal with one thing at a time, she told herself. Then brightened. ‘So there are really unicorns?’ she asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. Man, that would be cool. Real unicorns. She wondered if she could ride one in slow motion through a forest.
    ‘Calm down, spaz,’ Kel said, and Rachel was affronted. She thought she had sounded perfectly calm. ‘These are not the kind of unicorns you’re thinking of. The unicorns in Altworld are… different.’ The watch ting-ed in Rachel’s pocket. ‘The watch is right,’ he said. ‘Come on guys. It’s starting to get dark. We need to set up a camp.’ He picked up the pace.
     

Chapter Four
Assorted Colors
    ‘WAIT, CAMP? WHY CAN’T WE JUST STAY AT MY HOUSE?’ Rachel asked, trotting to catch up with Kel. They were coming close to the old playground now and it was indeed starting to get dark.
    ‘I told you,’ he replied, ‘it’s not there anymore.’
    ‘Yes, I understand that it’s not there in the real world anymore, but in Altworld—’ She stopped dead as they came through the bushes where she’d fought Toby and his boys. It was the same, but… different. She walked forward slowly, feeling a little creeped out. The old playground rides were still there, but they were transparent, and their color had faded. It was like she was looking at a picture, and the foreground was just a pale layer of celluloid. Kel and Ros stopped to watch her.
    As she got to the carousel she reached out a tentative hand to touch it. It felt solid enough, and was cold to the touch like metal should be, but it felt insubstantial. Lighter maybe. A less solid version of solid. Like when you pick up a gold statue and realize that it’s just painted plaster. It was wrong and somehow off. She shivered.
    ‘Well?’ she asked, turning to look back at Kel and Ros.
    ‘It’s an echo,’ said a voice by her feet. Rachel shrieked and jumped onto the carousel. A tiny man, maybe eight inches tall, was staring up at her. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand, then wiped his hand on his pants. ‘The name’s Assorted Colors,’ he announced proudly. ‘And there’s no need to ask who you are.’ He looked from Rachel to Kel and Ros. ‘You’re a Hero party.’
    The two boys came over to join Rachel and Assorted Colors at the carousel, and introduced themselves. Rachel cleared her throat. ‘I’m sorry, Mr… Colors, was it?’ The little man hopped up to sit on the carousel also, carrying what looked to be a transparent bag of potato chips, which he proceeded to messily stuff into his face. He nodded in response to Rachel’s question. ‘Did you say this is an echo?’
    ‘S’right,’ he said, talking with his mouth full, ‘most of this stuff here is just an echo from when you came through.’ He rapped the carousel with his knuckles. ‘It’ll be completely faded soon. Make hay while the sun shines, right?’ He winked and held the bag of chips out to Rachel, and she felt slightly nauseated at the thought of sharing half-existent chips with the less than clean little creature. She shook her head.
    Kel tried to explain. ‘See, when we came through the portal, we changed Altworld. Until we did, Altworld didn’t technically exist. But it also kind of did. Now , the real world, the one we just came from, has ceased to exist. But then it also kind of hasn’t.’ Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t find anything adequate to say, so closed it again. ‘It’s like multiple universes,’ Kel went on, ‘Each of them occupying the same