Storm at the Edge of Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

that its eyes looked like two glowing blue marbles. Weird, but just another trick of the light.
    She sighed, tossing the snapshot onto her bed. The only good picture, and it
would
be of those wretched stones. The glowing blue aura in the last photo gave her a brief surge of hope, but it was just the reflection of the flash in her window. Fuzzily, through it and the rain, she could make out the standing stone with another stupid bird on top. Great, a clean sweep. A hundred-percent waste of film!
    Smoldering, she stomped downstairs.
    Two days later Jamie had read most of the books she’d brought and, out of intense boredom, had agreed to go birding with her parents. On the drive to the island’s west coast, she paid little attention to theirbird chatter. When they finally parked the car and all started crossing a field, she fell behind, stopping to watch some cows grazing. She found them impressively big.
    Looking up, Jamie realized that her parents had disappeared over the top of a hill. She plodded after them. The hill sloped up steeply, giving the feeling of climbing right into the cloud-racked sky. She reached the top and gasped. There was nothing below.
    Ten feet in front of her, the land dropped abruptly away. In the distance beyond, gray sky and sea almost blended together. At the base of the cliff, she could hear surf pounding onto rocks.
    Her fear of heights hit with the same force as the wind, and she staggered back. Crouching down against both, she clutched the grass and dizzily scanned the clifftop for her parents. She spotted them, in their turquoise jackets, some thirty feet away. They were lying on their stomachs above a narrow cove, studying the opposite cliff with binoculars. Fighting back queasiness, she crawled along the ridge to join them.
    â€œCareful of those burrows,” her mother yelled over the wind, pointing to small dark holes slanting into the sandy earth. “They’re mostly old rabbit burrows—the puffins use them as nests during the summer. It’s still early for puffins, but there are some great gannets over there.”
    Jamie was handed the binoculars and dutifully looked through them at some long-necked white birds with dirty-yellow heads. Big deal. Actually she wouldn’t half mind seeing some puffins—funny fat bouncy birdswith huge, colorful beaks. She sighed. It was too much to ask to have any birds about worth looking at.
    She handed the glasses back to her mother and, using her parents as windbreaks, snuggled into the sand and grass. Maybe she could imagine being a puffin tucked into its burrow. No, she wouldn’t even
imagine
being that close to a cliff edge. How about flat beaches instead? Flat, warm, sunny beaches. Flamingos flying over. Palm trees swaying in a soft quiet breeze.
    She managed to drift into sleep, but the rain awakened her. It started as big heavy drops, splashing little craters in the sandy soil. Then the drops became smaller and harder. They bounced off the ground like tiny marbles. Hail.
    â€œBack to the car,” her father said. Jamie couldn’t believe the reluctance in his voice, but she jumped up and tore down the slope, past the grazing cows, and into the car. When her parents joined her, she found their conversation equally hard to believe.
    â€œIt’ll pass over soon,” her mother assured them. “There’s a major seabird sanctuary marked farther down the coast. Let’s head there.”
    Stifling a groan, Jamie said, “Sounds delightful, but could you drop me off at the house first?”
    â€œThat’s a bit out of our way,” her mother commented.
    Her father was studying the map. “How about a compromise? It looks as if we can take this road and let you off where it crosses this other one. Then it’s a straight walk back to the house. Kind of a long one, but the hail’s stopped and the day’s still young.”
    â€œYeah, fine,” Jamie agreed. Anything but more