Shades of Red Read Online Free PDF

the book.”
    â€œYeah, well until Professor Tooth gets back, looks like we’ll get our history that way, too.”
    â€œIs there any other way to get history than by the book?”
    Darrell jumped at the sound of the quiet voice in her ear. She looked around to see a tall boy with a mop of vivid magenta hair who seemed to materialize out of thin air behind her.
    â€œParis!” Kate’s face went almost as pink as the boy’s hair and she started to babble. “We didn’t see you. How’ve you been? Had a nice holiday? Geez, your hair looks great. I was just saying to Darrell —”
    Paris grinned and cut her off. “Nice to see you too, Kate.” He hiked his binder higher under his arm. “Funny, but you seem kind of nervous for some reason. Did I interrupt a private conversation?” He looked from Darrell to Kate as they struggled to find something to say. Darrell recovered first.
    â€œKate was just complaining about Professor Tooth being away,” she said as smoothly as she could manage. “But I’m always ready for a new take on things, myself. We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.”
    Paris laughed out loud. “That’s not what I heard, but I guess I’ll just have to take your word for it, because here we are.”
    Eagle Glen had been built in stages, and before the turn of the twentieth century its first incarnation had been as a fishing lodge. Sometime during the First World War regal stone turrets had been added and it had been pressed into service as a convalescent home for injured and ill soldiers. After the wars the building had been used as a hospital and had even served as a hotel for a while, but it had only been converted into a school in recent years.
    This hallway was in a seldom-used wing of the school. A cluster of first years including Lily and Andrea stood uncertainly outside the heavy wooden door.
    Kate slipped through the group and pushed the door open, stopping just inside. The classroom was filled with the velvet darkness of a room that had been deserted awhile. Darrell followed Kate into the room and bumped her hip painfully on a table near the door.
    â€œOuch!” She slammed her books down onto the table and reached with both hands along the wall.
    Kate slid her laptop onto the desk beside Darrell’s pile of books and stumbled towards the only glimmer of light in the room, a thin line of yellow on the outside wall of the classroom.
    â€œI can’t find a light switch,” complained Darrell as milling bodies began to fill the room, bumping and crashing into each other and various pieces of furniture.
    â€œIt’s okay,” called Kate over the muttering voices of the other students, “I think this is a ...”
    The roller blind flew up with a clatter, flooding the room with rare winter sunshine and sending a cascade of dust down on Kate’s head. Blinded as much by the light as by the previous dark, the students continued to bumble into one another until everyone finally found a seat.
    Huge windows lined the outside wall of the classroom, and Kate opened the rest of the blinds before making her way over to where Darrell had pulled out a couple of chairs at a table near the front of the class. Kate shook the dust from her hair and coughed a little. “This place looks like it hasn’t been used for a long time,” she wheezed and turned to follow Darrell’s puzzled gaze.
    At the front of the classroom, a rumpled figure sat curled like a caterpillar in the teacher’s chair, palms placed neatly on the desk on either side of a head adorned with hair as white and fuzzy as an old dandelion.
    Darrell looked quizzically at Kate. “I’ve got a question,” she said. “Who is that and what is he doing?”
    â€œThat’s two questions,” said Kate.
    â€œI’ve got a more important question,” came a voice behind them. Darrell looked around to