The Atomic Weight of Secrets or The Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black Read Online Free PDF

opened his mouth to scold, but stopped. What difference did it make now? Lucy was right.
    “Why,” he said, swallowing, “why did Mummy take them, Lucy?”
    “She said she would need them.”
    This, to Jasper, seemed utterly absurd. “Need them? For what? Grandmother gave them to us when we were small—so small we don’t even remember. They were ours, we always had them, they... they were ours.” Jasper found himself crying. Lucy was crying too now, right into his shirt. “She didn’t say anything?” Jasper said, wishing he hadn’t gotten so upset in front of Lucy.
    “Just that she wished...”
    “Wished what?” asked Jasper.
    Lucy sat up a bit and cocked her head to one side. Then she shook it. “She didn’t say. Just that she would need them both, but not for any particular thing.”
    “What could she need a charm bracelet for? Two children’s charm bracelets? It’s not like they’re made of gold, or belong to King Edward or something. They don’t do anything. They’re ours.” He noticed Lucy chewing on her torn fingernails. “Stop that!” Jasper said grumpily.
    How could his parents leave him to take care of Lucy, let alone himself, on a train, in a foreign country, without his charm bracelet? This was not right. He put his arm protectively around Lucy’s shoulder.
    Well, he would take care of her. Clearly, no one else wasgoing to do it.

    The train ended its journey in Dayton, Ohio in the early afternoon. No one came to fetch them from the cabin. No one let them know where to go. Jasper and Lucy took their bags and walked to the exit at the back of their train car. They looked out at the sea of people, waiting to greet their long-awaited arrivals. Among the coaches and horses and carts, Jasper and Lucy saw the one they knew had to be theirs—a big black carriage, like the ones that had taken them from their home to the ship, and then from the ship to the train. Gingerly, the two children stepped down from the train.
    As soon as they descended, a man grabbed for their bags. Jasper cried out and struggled to keep a hold of them with both hands. With a flick of the wrist, the man yanked the bags from Jasper’s grasp and, with one hand, held them well above Jasper’s reach. With the other hand, the man hustled the two children along the platform. Jasper turned to shout and, for the first time, got a good look at the man.
    Wiry, dressed in a black linen jacket and trousers much too large for his skinny frame. His hat, too, seemed much too large, and his face was invisible in the shadow it cast. It was precisely because of this strange black attire that Jasper knew this man was there to fetch them, and was not some nefarious stranger out to do them harm. Well, he might well be a nefarious stranger out to do them harm but, if so, he was their own personal nefarious stranger, and Jasper knew they had no choice but to follow. Theman placed their bags next to the black carriage and disappeared into the crowd.
    “Where are our parents?” Jasper asked of a second man—this one in a black brimless hat bent at the very top and dark thick triangular glasses the same shape as his hat, as he heaved their bags up onto the carriage. The man did not answer, but he ushered the children toward the open coach door. Jasper stopped and Lucy bumped into him.
    “We’re not going anywhere with you until you tell us where our parents are,” Jasper said. “What have you done with them?”
    The man simply grabbed the children, one by one, and placed them bodily into the carriage. Jasper fought burning tears of anger and humiliation as he sat like a prisoner. Lucy clung to his arm, the little fingers of one hand digging deep into his flesh, the other hand poised against her chin. As she nibbled her nails, Jasper pulled Lucy’s hand away from her mouth. Lucy looked down, feeling a bit sheepish for having been nibbling unawares. She placed her hand firmly in her lap. Within seconds, however, once again without