Steemjammer: Through the Verltgaat Read Online Free PDF

that?”
    “Did you ever see him vanish?”
    “Good point. What is this Internet thing, anyway?”
    “I don’t know, but it’s like a magic crystal ball. It can tell you about anything.”
    “Except purple penguins. You know what Dad’d say.”
    “Oh, yeah.” She glanced down and became very serious. “Where do you think he is?”
    Stay positive, he warned himself. Keep her happy. “He’s looking for Mom. I’m sure of it.”
    He believed it, too. He knew that she was constantly on their father’s mind and that he desperately wanted to find her.
    “Yeah,” Angelica said.
    “Or he’s hiding,” Will ventured, “and this is some weird way to test us.”
    “He wouldn’t do that!”
    “He could. There are rooms in Beverkenhaas I’ve never been in.”
    She stopped in mid-throw and arched an eyebrow.
    “If you’ve never been in them,” she said, “how do you know they’re there?”
    “I just do. There’s a four-foot space, for example, between your bedroom and Mom’s sewing room.”
    “Ect neet!”
    “Yep. And there’s a big space between the library and the dining room. Maybe ten feet wide.”
    She threw the last herring and squinted, trying to process what he’d just told her.
    “What do you think’s in there?” she asked.
    He thought how he’d always wanted to know but had been afraid to search for the hidden door that had to exist, and a mischievous grin crossed his face. With his dad gone, what could stop them? Furthermore, the discovery of footprints had alarmed him, making him think his sister really had seen someone peeking in their windows. It was time to get some answers. “Let’s find out.”
     
    ***
     
    An hour of rapping on the walls of the dining room and library produced nothing. Hoping to find a hidden catch that might open a secret door, they tugged on wall sconces, and Will got up on the library’s ladder to push knobs on the crown molding. His sister worked the flue lever in the small fireplace, but she only got soot on her hand. No secret door opened.
    Angelica tensed with fear. She’d seen something out of the corner of her eye and wondered if it was one of those strange creatures they’d been preparing for.
    She had no idea what Shadovecht were, except that they were bad, like burglars or kidnappers – and yet somehow worse. Each room in Beverkenhaas had weapons hidden in secret compartments, but she wasn’t supposed to fight. During a Shadovecht drill she had to lock herself in a safe room and not come out until a family member tapped a special code on the door.
    She’d asked her father a lot about Shadovecht and had received few answers, save for the distinct impression that they weren’t even human. He’d told her to report anything she saw that was strange or out of place.
    “Will,” she whispered, not daring to move.
    He didn’t hear her and continued pushing at knobs.
    Now she realized what bothered her. The room had darkened slightly, which meant that someone or something was blocking the light coming through a window. Maybe it was only the man in the green coat again, she thought. She overcame her fear and turned her head just enough to see.
    A shadowy figure loomed on the other side of the nearest window pane! It was far too large and dark to be the little man. Her eyes opened wide.
    “Will,” she managed to cry. “Shadovecht!”
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    The thing in the shadows
     
     
    “Shadow what?” Will said.
    “Vecht!” Angelica peeped in a high, frightened voice, pointing at the window. She popped open a secret compartment in the wall, and a heavy, two-handed battle axe fell out. THUNK. Its sharp blade sunk in the wooden floor, narrowly missing her foot.
    Will turned his head with alarm. “Shadovecht?”
    A dark shape lurked in the window. For a second he froze stiff, clutching the ladder tensely, but he hopped down and rushed to his sister, who was trying to free the mighty battle axe.
    With a grunt he tugged it from the