The Four-Fingered Man Read Online Free PDF Page A

massive deal in Forgotten Bay.
    As they walked to class, Charlie was begging, ‘Can Amelia sit with me, Ms Slaviero?
Can she? Please?’
    Amelia hadn’t thought about this, but now Charlie had brought it up, she was worried.
She liked Charlie, she really did. She could already tell that he was funny and kind
and generous. But she could also tell that being stuck with Charlie at school would
make it harder for her to make friends with other people. Even saying that to herself
felt disloyal and mean, but she knew it was also true.
    Luckily for Amelia, Ms Slaviero said, ‘Sorry, Charlie, we’ve already got ten kids
on the Dark Side of the room, and only nine on the Light Side. I need to put Amelia
with the Sophies and Shani to bring balance to the Force.’
    Amelia saw disappointment on Charlie’s face, but she couldn’t help a little guilty
sigh of relief.
    As she unpacked her pencil case and put her books into her desk, the three girls
whispered at her over the top of one another: ‘How old are you?’, ‘Do you have any
brothers or sisters?’, ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’, ‘What year were you in at your
old school?’, ‘How many –’
    Smiling to herself, Amelia chanced a quick look across the room at Charlie. He caught
her eye and sadly shook his head, as if profoundly sorry for her.

    By recess, Amelia had learnt that Sophie T’s sister’s rabbit was having babies, that
Shani had a twin brother (Dean), and that yoyos and skipping were out, but trading
cards and handball were in. And she had told them in return about doing gymnastics,
and that she had a seventeen-year-old brother. With no encouragement from Amelia,
all the girls had decided that he was probably gorgeous.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Amelia saw Charlie with a group of boys. She heard
them joking around, talking about someone.
    ‘My dad reckons he’s a criminal,’ said one boy. ‘Why else would he spend his whole
life hiding out at that dump?’
    ‘Maybe because he’s so ugly he’s embarrassed for anyone to see him?’ suggested Dean.
    With a thrill of horror, Amelia realised they were discussing Tom.
    ‘No,’ said another. ‘It’s because he’s gone crazy. My brother went up there once
at night on a dare, and he heard Tom shouting to himself – like a real argument –
but no-one else was there.’
    ‘I know what he is,’ said Charlie. ‘Isn’t it obvious? Eye-patch, missing finger,
he walks with a limp – he’s a pirate!’
    The boys recoiled as Charlie spoke, and Dean snorted, ‘A pirate? Are you six years
old?’
    The other boys laughed. Not really cruelly, not really to be mean, but just because,
Amelia could tell, they thought Charlie was an idiot. She winced in sympathy, but
was soon drawn back to the Sophies’ conversation.
    The rest of the day was a blur until after the final bell, when Amelia was free to
walk with Charlie back to the hotel.
    ‘Sucks that you got stuck with the Sophies,’ said Charlie as they walked along the
beach road.
    ‘They’re all right.’
    ‘Sophie F’s all right, maybe. When she’s on her own. But Sophie T is so bad.’
    ‘Well, she was nice to me.’
    Charlie made a disgusted sound. ‘Whatever.’
    ‘Anyway,’ said Amelia, puffing slightly as they began to climb the steep road up
to the headland. ‘Guess what happened last night? A guest arrived.’
    ‘But we’re not open yet.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘So how come –’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Amelia interrupted. ‘But that’s not the weird part.’
    She told Charlie about Tom running back and forth to the hotel before the guest arrived,
and then how jumpy and strange the woman had been, and then how Tom had been spying
on her through the door.
    ‘Spying on the guest, or on your mum?’ asked Charlie.
    ‘I don’t know, but he was definitely spying and not just looking.’
    Charlie thought about that. ‘If Tom is a pirate, he’s probably planning to rob her.’
    Amelia almost rolled her eyes. They turned off the road,