The 39 Clues: Book 8 Read Online Free PDF Page B

from these Cahills! Bad enough your whole family is in a perpetual state of warfare; you have to start something up with your brother."
    "Sorry," Amy mumbled. She had to hold herself back from spilling the beans about the argument she'd had
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    with Dan. Not that it would change anything, but the idea that someone else knew might help her feel a little less alone.
    And yet--how would she even begin to describe it? The feelings about Mom and Dad were just too personal and too painful. Aside from a few dusty memories, all they had of their parents was the belief that Hope and Arthur had been good. To lose that --
    No wonder Dan couldn't handle it.
    Her words came back to haunt her. She had suggested they should be glad their parents were dead.
    Harsh. True or not, it was a cruel thing to say. Madrigal cruel.
    This is my fault. I drove him away.
    She swallowed hard. "He wouldn't go far, right?"
    "Let's search the square," Nellie decided.
    They did --for two solid hours. Dan was nowhere to be found.
    "I'll kill him!" Amy threatened. "He's doing this on purpose just to make me nuts!"
    Nellie's face was whitening steadily as she scanned the crowd. "Where can he be?"
    "Mrrp," put in Saladin pointedly.
    The au pair regarded the cat with annoyance. "How can you think of food at a time like this? Dan's missing."
    "Never underestimate Dan's capacity to disappear just to be a rotten kid," Amy put in.
    Nellie was more serious. "I don't think so. He has
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    no Chinese money, no clothes to change into, no place to sleep --he doesn't even have his laptop, and you know how much he loves that. I have to admit I'm worried."
    "Animals have a good sense of smell," Amy suggested. "Maybe Saladin can be like a bloodhound." She took the belt from her jeans and looped it through the cat's collar, forming a makeshift leash. Then she took out the silk that had been inside Dan's shirt and held it to the cat's nose. "Come on, Saladin. Find Dan."
    Nellie sat Saladin on the pavement, and the Egyptian Mau took off across the square. He was moving so fast that the girls had to run to keep up with him.
    "Good boy!" Amy urged. "He's on the scent!"
    They drew a lot of curious glances -- two Westerners scrambling (behind) a cat on a leash. The threesome left Tiananmen Square and headed east on Dong Chang'an Jie. That was where Saladin's destination became clear. He led them straight to a sidewalk food vendor selling dumplings. There, he took his place in line behind the current customer, waiting his turn.
    Nellie clucked disapprovingly. "For a cat, you're a pretty big pig."
    "Mrrp!"
    At last, Amy was able to step back from her short-term irritation and see the big picture.
    Something's happened to Dan.
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    CHAPTER 7
    The headache came first, and it was awful -- a pounding behind his right eye that would not quit. The whole room seemed to thrum in rhythm with his pain --or, wait! Maybe it was his pain thrumming with the room. What was that noise?
    And why was his bed moving?
    He sat up with a start and very nearly toppled off the conveyor belt to the factory floor forty feet below.
    What the -
    It all came back to him --being kidnapped, interrogated, and chloroformed by the Kabras. They must have dumped him here --in one of the factories that made China the industrial engine of the entire world!
    He took stock of the situation. Behind him and in front of him on the belt were large sheets of multicolored plastic. About ten yards ahead, the pieces were being dropped into a hopper that fed a gigantic stamping machine beneath it. The closer he got, the louder the noise, until it threatened to jar loose his molars.
    All remaining grogginess disappeared in a heartbeat.
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    I'm going to get stamped into the door-crasher special at Walmart!
    The only way off the conveyor belt was a four-story drop. And there was no point in yelling for help. No one could possibly hear him over the general din. He had to find a way to stop this belt!
    He jumped up and ran against the