The Crooked Sixpence Read Online Free PDF

ree?!’ He swallowed hard, teeth clamped together, and pointed a shaky finger at the suitcase.
    â€˜Good question,’ Ivy said, resting her hands on her hips. ‘Where
are
we?’
    The boy scratched his head. ‘What do you mean
where are we
? Arrivals chamber. Lundinor.’
    Lundinor. There it was again . . .
    Seb took a large gulp. ‘Lun-di-huh?’ He cleared his throat. ‘Does anyone want to explain how we just crawled through a suitcase to get here?’
    The boy narrowed his eyes and assessed Ivy and Seb very carefully, as if taking notes. Then he reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a comb. It was dark brown, made of plastic. ‘What’s this?’ he asked, studying their reactions closely. ‘And what’s it used for?’
    Seb and Ivy exchanged an uncertain glance before Ivy fumbled for an answer, more out of politeness than anything else. ‘It’s a . . . comb?’ she said slowly. ‘You untangle your hair with it?’
    The boy went very still for a moment, then sucked in a huge breath and dragged a hand along his jaw. ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘You can’t be. You shouldn’t even be—’
    All of a sudden the tinny voice of a shopping-centre tannoy filled the cave.
    â€˜
Traffic build-up in tunnel thirty-four D. Underguards are on site.
’
    Ivy searched for where it was coming from and spotted a conch shell hanging from the ceiling, just like the one Officer Smokehart had used. Somewhere outside the cave she heard the crunch of footsteps.
    The boy looked around. ‘Don’t just stand there,’ he hissed. ‘Hide!’
    Seb threw himself behind a large sun-bleached portmanteau. Ivy looked around desperately, but before she’d had time to pick anything, the boy seized her arm and pulled her behind a set of matching tweed trunks.
    And not a moment too soon.
    Lumbering through the cave opening came a hulking man in the same black uniform as Officer Smokehart –
an underguard
. He had a thick grey moustache and huge wiry eyebrows, beneath which his small black eyes hid like flies.
    Ivy’s heart pounded as she watched him plod into the centre of the cave and sniff. She shot a glance over at the pool of vomit. Seb was hiding a metre away from it, directly opposite her. She could see his scuffed trainers poking out from behind the portmanteau.
    Wait . . . I can
see
him.
    Ivy jerked forward, but the dark-haired boy hooked his arm around her chest to keep her still. He twisted round, making sure she could see his face, and gestured for her to be quiet. His eyes looked hollow with fear.
    Ivy peered back out. She couldn’t whisper over to Seb – the underguard would certainly hear her. She just had to hope that the man didn’t spot him.
    â€˜Ha-hum.’ The underguard tapped his polished boots on the floor. ‘OK, go ahead,’ he instructed, as if speaking into a walkie-talkie.
    On his command, a short brown feather popped into the air. It floated in front of him and then tipped upright, zipping to and fro as it wrote a message. The man focused on the words intently, nodding as he read.
    Ivy thought back to the feather in Granma Sylvie’s house and shivered. She squinted.
    NOTICE TO ARREST
    SUSPECT ONE : FEMALE, 4’ 10”. PALE GREEN EYES, BROWN HAIR. AGE AND NAME UNKNOWN. LAST SEEN WEARING DARK BLUE COAT AND YELLOW RUBBER BOOTS. POSSIBLY DANGEROUS.
    SUSPECT TWO : MALE, 5’ 9”. GREEN EYES, BLOND HAIR. AGE AND NAME UNKNOWN. LAST SEEN WEARING GREY HOODED SWEATSHIRT, WHITE TRAINERS AND JEANS. POSSIBLY DANGEROUS.
    SUSPECT THREE : VALIAN KAYE. MALE, 5’ 7”. DARK HAIR. 15 YRS OLD. LAST SEEN WEARING LEATHER JACKET, DARK TROUSERS AND FINGERLESS GLOVES. EXTREME ATTITUDE PROBLEM. KNOWN THIEF.
    REPORT ALL SIGHTINGS TO OFFICER SMOKEHART.
    The underguard’s eyes widened as he read the last line. The feather twirled, gave a puff and