Stolen Secrets Read Online Free PDF

clowns. I wandered down the hall to wait for Mom and noticed the technology room. The computers were awesome.
    I sat at a computer hooked up to the Internet and put my fingers over the keys. I remembered the guy on Sam’s answering machine. He had said a lot of things I didn’t understand, but one thing stood out. “Sam . . . have to get used to that.” What did he mean?
    I typed in Samuel Timberline on a search engine, and a bunch of things came up. A water well survey in Louisiana, a bus route in Texas, a magazine with features about the sawmill industry, but no Sam Timberline—as in stepfather of Ashley and Bryce.
    I went to another site where you could look up phone numbers and addresses and typed in our home number. The computer stared at me like I had digital bad breath. Finally, it came back with an error message. I typed in Sam’s office phone number, and the same message popped up. I typed in our address and the message said, “No information for that listing.”
    Strange.
    I typed in our nearest neighbor’s information, and it popped up like lightning. Every house around us came back with complete listings. Every house except ours.
    I heard applause in the auditorium and shut down the computer. I hoped the clown was finished.

Chapter 23

    Wally clapped and giggled at the clown—Ding-Dong—whose big trick was to pull balloons out of his nose by pushing a button that made a doorbell sound. He then blew the balloons into animal shapes and passed them out.
    Ding-Dong tripped on his oversized shoes and fell. I thought Wally was going to split his sides laughing. The rest of the kids clapped politely as Mrs. Genloe helped Ding-Dong up. The clown pulled her down with him, and Ping-Pong balls fell out of his hat. He held up a sign: Ding-Dong’s Ping-Pongs.
    Finally, a whipped-cream pie came out, and the kids whooped. I could tell Mrs. Genloe knew the drill by the way she moved away from it, but the kids thought it was real. When Ding-Dong slipped again and let go of the pie, Mrs. Genloe ducked and the beloved gym teacher (wearing a plastic bag over his clothes) took the pie full in the face. The kids laughed wildly, pointed at him, and screamed when he shook his head like a dog and sent whipped cream flying.
    Wally rolled on the floor and stomped his feet. His face turned red.
    Ding-Dong brought out his trained pigs that had been on some late-night show doing tricks. I felt bad for Mom having to follow an act like this, but that’s show business.
    Mrs. Genloe had everyone stand and stretch after Ding-Dong gave a final ring of his bell and left. Then she introduced Mom as a successful author who lived in the area. She mentioned Bryce—who wasn’t there—and pointed me out. Wally looked up at me like I was some kind of a celebrity.
    I got nervous. Mom didn’t have orange hair, balloons coming out of her nose, whipped-cream pies, or dancing pigs. She just had a few pages in her lap.

Chapter 24

    The room got really quiet when Mom began, especially after the laughing and squealing over the clown.
    “I want to read a scary part of a new story I’m working on for kids,” Mom said. “The main characters are twins, and they live right here in Red Rock.”
    Kids looked at each other, and the one Ashley was watching pointed at me and nodded.
    “This chapter is called ‘Underwater.’”
    As soon as she started, I realized this was really our story about being chased by robbers near Gold Town. She made the reservoir into a river and changed lots of stuff, but I knew where the idea came from. When the car went into the water, you could’ve heard whipped cream dripping from the gym teacher’s face. A couple of kids put their hands over their eyes.
    Mom and Sam had told us we couldn’t tell anyone about that weekend, how our SUV had plunged into the water and we almost drowned. Now Mom was telling it in a story! That didn’t seem fair, but something about it also felt great.
    There was a lot more screaming in