Squishy Taylor and the Vase That Wasn't Read Online Free PDF Page B

door. Nothing to pull on. Just a keyhole. We scrabble down the side, trying to squeeze our fingers in the tiny gap.
    No use .
    We’re stuck here on the roof.

‘ Help! Help! ’ Vee shouts as we all run to the edge of the building. The wall is concrete and comes up to my chest. I have to stand on tiptoe to see the street properly. The few tiny people under the streetlights don’t look up. Anyway, if they did, they wouldn’t see us up here in the dark.
    ‘Do you think the ghost locked us up here?’ Vee asks.
    ‘No!’ Jessie says. ‘There is no ghost, remember? Someone edited the video.’
    For the first time, I feel a little bit scared. I glance at the closed door. ‘Do you think the person who made the video locked us up here?’ I ask.
    ‘No!’ Jessie says. ‘It was the wind and our own stupid fault.’
    I think she’s probably right. But we are stuck on a roof in the dark. So it’s a bit scary anyway.
    In a big rush, all I want is Mum. And the iPad is right here. I grab it.
    ‘Good plan,’ Jessie says. ‘Message Mum.’ But I’m not messaging Alice. I tap through to Skype.
    Bloobleep bloobleep.
    ‘Squishy, no,’ Jessie says.
    But it’s already connecting.
    Mum’s face comes up. She’s not at her desk. She’s at home with wet hair and a dressing gown.
    For one second she squints at me, confused .
    Then the iPad goes black with a little white turning circle in the centre. It’s run out of battery.
    ‘You idiot, Squishy,’ Jessie says. ‘Skype takes so much more power.’
    We watch the last light on the screen fade. This is it. We’re really alone up here. For some reason, the black screen reminds me of Dad not cuddling me goodnight. I bite my lip and my eyes blur from tears. Both my parents have deserted me.
    Jessie is frowning. ‘We need to get a message to someone.’
    She tries to turn on the iPad again, but the battery is definitely flat. Vee rips pages out of the recipe book and runs to the edge and starts folding a paper aeroplane. She throws it down to try and get someone’s attention, but it just death-spirals into the darkness.
    I watch it go and think it needs a message. I try to write Help on the next one with wet turmeric instead of a pen, but it ends up a big yellow mess. Jessie stands beside me, flashing the torch towards the street, but nobody notices.
    Finally we slide down with our backs against the wall. I’m out of ideas and this has stopped being a fun adventure. It feels like we’re going to be here for the rest of our lives . I’m getting cold. I realise I don’t even care about the vase. I just want to go home and eat breakfast.
    Vee shivers, and says, ‘I’m hungry.’
    I realise I can see her face. ‘It’s starting to get light,’ I say. The sky is turning pale all across the horizon.
    ‘We have to figure a way out,’ Jessie says. ‘Mum and Tom will wake up soon.’
    I pull back up to my feet and lean my elbows on the wall, looking across the street. The angles of the buildings and the trees below look very familiar.
    ‘Is that Boring Lady’s office?’ Vee asks, joining me and pointing.
    She’s right, it is. And Boring Lady is already at work. She must start early. She’s directly across from us, and two floors below. Which means –
    ‘That must be Haunted Harry’s balcony just down there,’ Jessie says.
    We’re looking straight down at a balcony with a table and some pot plants.
    And a big white vase with blue decorations.

Vee stares down at the vase. ‘We brought it back. We did it.’
    ‘Vee!’ Jessie’s got her grown-up voice on. ‘There was no ghost .’
    ‘Anyway,’ I say, ‘we haven’t finished the job yet. The vase needs to go to that temple in China.’
    We all lean out, looking down at the vase glowing white in the orange sunrise. Along the wall are the remnants of us trying to signal our way out: the torn recipe book, the torch, the turmeric.
    ‘We can’t do anything while we’re stuck here,’ Jessie says. She starts waving