Ruined 2 - Dark Souls Read Online Free PDF Page B

soccer on TV,” said Rob, his mouth full of scrambled eggs.
    Peggy gave an exaggerated sigh.
    “Guess again,” she said, drying her hands on a dish towel.
    “Today and tomorrow are the only days your mother has free.” In an armchair by the window, Jeff wasstruggling with what looked like dozens of newspaper sections, bought first thing that morning, when he ventured out in the drizzle for groceries. The snow was gone, but the sky was the color of lead.
    “You and Mom go out, then,” Rob suggested. He was sitting at the table, his duvet wrapped around his middle like some kind of inflated sarong. Miranda could barely squeeze past him to take her own plate back to the compact kitchen. “Have some quality adult time. Like a date night, but during the day.”
    “We thought we’d all do some fun things
together,”
Peggy said. “As a family.”
    “It’s phrases like ‘fun things’ that make me want to go back to bed,” said Rob, taking swift, greedy bites of a toasted English muffin. He waved its remains in Miranda’s direction, gesturing at the toaster. He wanted another one, she guessed, and he wanted her to make it for him.
    As if,
she mouthed at him.
    “Where’s your sense of adventure?” called their father, wrestling with another newspaper section. “You’ve got all week to mope around alone, acting like disaffected youths. Today and tomorrow we’re all going to do things your mother and I want to do.”
    “So — no fun at all,” Miranda muttered. She poured herself another glass of orange juice and slid the carton back into the fridge before Rob noticed and demanded she pour him one as well.
    “We’ve got a lot to fit in,” her mother said, breezily ignoring any signs of mutiny. “Your father wants to go to Micklegate Bar …”
    “Where the heads of traitors were impaled on spikes,” Jeff said, oblivious to Peggy’s pained expression.
    “And there are several churches I want to see, including one nearby called Holy Trinity — someone in the orchestra told me about it.”
    “And Clifford’s Tower, which is that medieval castle keep on top of the grassy knoll you and I saw yesterday, Rob.” Jeff picked up one of his newspapers and various inserts slithered out onto the carpet.
    “And Bettys Tea Rooms, for a traditional Yorkshire afternoon tea. Someone told me there’s a cute branch called Little Bettys right on Stonegate.”
    “Let the games begin,” drawled Rob, scowling at Miranda. She’d toasted herself another English muffin and was eating it, standing up at the kitchen counter.
    “It’s starting to rain again,” she pointed out. Through the small kitchen window, all she could see were slick rooftops. “Maybe we should stay in.”
    “And they say we never take them anywhere,” Jeff remarked drily to Peggy. They both looked pained, Miranda thought, despite their determination to act all cheery. They were right, she had to admit. There’d be plenty of time this week for lying around. Two days of family activities, however dull, would make her parents happy.
    “But could we do some shopping today?” Miranda couldn’t resist asking. The stores here had to be better than the ones in Iowa. Cami, whose aunt lived in London, had told her she had to go to H&M and Topshop at least.
    “Sounds like a deal,” said her father, jumping to his feet and managing to dislodge the stack of newspaper sections he’d piled onto the coffee table. Like it or not, thought Miranda, family fun was under way. For her parents’ sake, she’d make an effort. Even if she’d much rather be snuggled up in bed with her book, lost in another place and time — somewhere far away from a city of tourist sites, and tea shops, and ghosts.
    Saturday was market day in York. The cobbled square they could see from Rob’s bedroom window, with its market stalls under green-and-white striped awnings, was thronged with shoppers. Mostly, people were buying food — glistening fresh fish banked on shores of ice,