Raven's Mountain Read Online Free PDF

It just broke into three pieces and slid further down the cliff. The smallest chunk landed square on the ledge, blocking off the trail in front of me as neatly as a door; the other two huge boulders are resting on the cliff below.
    Exactly where Lily and Scott were the last time I   saw them.

7

3:58 FRIDAY AFTERNOON
    â€˜Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily . . .’
    My face is pressed against the rock where the trail used to be. I’m the only one left alive and there’s nothing I can do but scream.
    â€˜Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily . . .’
    My throat gives up. Gasp-hiccup-burp. It sounds disgusting, but it doesn’t matter, no one can hear.
    I can’t move; I’m emptied out and hollow inside, glued to my sister’s grave.
    â€˜Raven! Raven, can you hear me?’
    The voice is whispery and muffled. I spin around, but there’s no one there.
    Lily’s dead and now her ghost is haunting me!
    â€˜Raven, would you stop screaming and listen!’
    That sounds more like my sister. Not like a ghost.
    â€˜Where are you?’
    â€˜In here   – behind the rocks.’
    â€˜You’re not dead?’
    â€˜Of course I’m not dead! I wouldn’t be talking to you if I was dead!’
    Behind the rocks, not under the rocks! Alive, not dead; behind, not under! It runs through my head like a poem; I’m so happy that it takes me a minute to realise that behind the rocks is still not great.
    When I ran through it on the way up, the trail was like a cave with the front side open. Now it’s a tunnel because the two biggest chunks of the nose have only slid far enough to completely cover the front. Except tunnels have exits.
    Lily’s voice is coming from a crack between the door rock and the cliff. I put my face to the gap, but it’s too small, I can’t see her.
    â€˜Why don’t you go out the other end?’
    The world’s stupidest question; luckily she’s talking at the same time.
    â€˜It’s so dark I can’t see   – and I can’t get through to the other end. Can you see how we can get out?’
    The nose rocks are huge. This one is as big as a door; the other two aren’t even rocks, they’re slabs of mountain. There’s no way I could move them; even Scott . . .
    â€˜Where’s Scott?’
    â€˜He shoved me under the hollow when the first stone hit   – it sounded like a gunshot! But the next rock got him before he was all the way in. He’s breathing, but I can’t wake him up.’
    Her voice is trembly and that’s the scariest thing of all. My big sister and stepfather are trapped; he’s unconscious and she’s scared. I’m the only one on the outside.
    If I scrunch my eyes up tight, I can pretty well see the puzzle pieces of where these three nose rocks fitted together. I’m hoping that means there wasn’t much left over to fall anywhere else.
    â€˜Lily, I’m going to go check the other side.’
    I’ll have to go straight across those huge pieces of nose, below where the trail used to be. The two boulders are so big and lumpy that if I slip, I’ll only slide down to the next bump. Easy for someone who’s already fallen off a cliff.
    It would be even easier if I had a rope. I could lasso one end around that pointy bit at the top of the door rock where it juts up over the roof of their cave, and the other end around me.
    But the rope’s in Scott’s backpack.
    I probably couldn’t lasso it anyway. I might as well get started and stop wishing for things I can’t have.
    I wish I could see better, I wish I had gloves, and I wish my hands weren’t already bleeding! I wish I could have a hot chocolate with marshmallows, and I wish Mum was here and I wish Lily and