Stolen Child Read Online Free PDF Page B

marble pillars and a set of white steps leading up to fancy double doors on the second floor. I walked up the steps and stood on my toes so I could peer through the glass. I could see a marble entranceway, and beyond that, a room lined with books. How I longed to touch those books. To smell them …
    “It’s the library,” said a familiar voice behind me.
    “Why did you creep up on me like that?” I said, turning to face Mychailo.
    He had a silly look on his face. “I didn’t,” he said. “You just didn’t hear me.”
    I tried to stare him down, but then noticed that he was holding a thick book.
    “Did you get that from in there?” I asked.
    “It is a library,” he said. “What do you think?”
    “How much did it cost?”
    “It’s free for me to read,” he said. “As long as I return it.”
    “Who gets to use the library?” I asked.
    “Anyone,” he said. “You just have to fill out a form and they give you a library card. Then you can take out books as often as you want, as long as you return them after you’ve read them.”
    “Who decides what books you can read?”
    “It’s not like that in Canada,” said Mychailo. “You can read any book in the children’s department, as long as you have a library card.”
    “Can I go in now?”
    “It just closed,” he said. “But do you want to go tomorrow after our class with Miss MacIntosh?”
    I was beginning to warm to Mychailo. He could be rough and rude, but that could be said of any boy. This one liked books.

Chapter Five
Eva
    I would have liked to sleep outside under the stars again, but angry clouds had formed in the sky just as the sun was setting. We swept up the sawdust, and Ivan dragged one mattress out to the middle of the living room.
    “It’s almost like you’re outside,” said Marusia. “This is a big room. And if you need us, we’re right in there.” She pointed to the bedroom. The look in her eyes told me that she was exhausted, and I knew that Ivan was even more tired, so I smiled and said that I would be fine. I took Miss MacIntosh’s word book to bed with me and looked at the pictures and tried to sound out the words until it got dark.
    The rain pounding on the rooftop muffled out the sound of the frogs — or maybe frogs sleep inside during the rain too? The rain was comforting, but the distant grumbling of thunder reminded me of gunfire.
    The windows were bare, so when a car passed, strange shapes played across the walls. I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing deeply and hoped I would fall asleep quickly.
    I am snuggled under a down comforter, surrounded by
people who love me. I hear pounding on my door. I try to snuggle in and hide behind the others, but they’ve melted away. I am alone. More pounding at the door. A child’s voice asking me to open up. Who is that child, and why does her voice terrify me?
    I sat up with a jolt. Where was I? A frog chirped. I looked around in the darkness and saw moonlight coming in through the window. Rain still pounded on the rooftop. I was in Ivan’s house in Brantford. This room had no furniture and smelled of freshly sanded wood. I was safe here. I wrapped my arms around my legs and rocked myself back and forth. I felt like screaming but I didn’t know why. I closed my eyes and chanted the
kolysanka
under my breath.
    Who was the girl I had dreamt of? I did not want to go back to sleep and I did not want to wake up Ivan and Marusia, so I tiptoed into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. I sat down at the table and watched the raindrops on the kitchen window. I wanted to remember that time. If I could figure out the puzzle, maybe the nightmares would go away. Marusia said I had nothing to be ashamed of. But how could she know that for sure? I stared out the window again, still thinking of that girl …
    I am in the bedroom with the high ceiling. Raindrops trickle outside pink-curtained windows and I see the beginning of daylight peeking around the edges. There is