The Frost Child Read Online Free PDF

intolerable--they would be able to stand in the sun without pain. She had promised them light.
    Without even the faintest of rustles the Albions faded into the night. Cati was alone again, without ever realizing that she had been surrounded. She yawned and trudged up the stairs and into the Workhouse, leaving the night to its wild and scurrying creatures.
    Rosie woke feeling stiff and frozen. The cell didn't look any better in the daylight than it did at night, and it certainly wasn't any warmer. She crawled to the top of the steps and examined the door. She remembered again how she had freed the Yeati by picking the lock of his cage in the basement of the Museum of Time. But that trick wouldn't work here. The door was padlocked on the outside. She sat down on one of the lower steps and tried to think. She was a prisoner. The man who held her must have had some purpose. Why did you keep a prisoner? Perhaps to question them? (Rosie tried to push the notion of torture out of her mind.) Or as a hostage or some other kind of pawn? If she found out, then perhaps she could turn the situation to her advantage.
    The door at the top of the stairs flew open.
    "Good morning!" Johnston boomed.
    "Not so good from down here, fatso," Rosie said, but her voice quavered, more from weakness and hunger than from fear. Johnston roared with laughter.
    "The little squeaker has spirit! Come on up and have
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    some breakfast. Sorry about putting you down there, but I had to check you out. The Resisters are suspicious folk. Anyway, the Navigator wants to see you in an hour!"
    "Not taking any breakfast from you," Rosie muttered as she made her way up the stairs. Johnston took hold of her arm lightly, but she could feel the strength in his huge hand. Her resolve faded as she went along the corridor and smelled good things cooking. There had been little food in Hadima, and none on the road, otherwise she would have been more cautious.
    Johnston led her into the kitchen. In contrast to the rest of the house, it was spotless. A table was laid with an oilcloth cover, and pots and pans gleamed on the wall. Johnston went to the oven and took out a platter laden with bacon and sausages, fried mushrooms and tomatoes, and hot buttered toast. He put the platter down in front of Rosie.
    "Eat up! I've had mine." And he watched as Rosie overcame her suspicions and started to eat. The food was delicious and it was a full ten minutes before she had enough.
    "Wonderful." Johnston beamed. "Excellent! Have some tea. Sugar?"
    Rosie took the mug of hot, steaming tea from Johnston, feeling warmth creep back into her body, the feeling of well-being so strong that she had to remind herself that the smiling man had in fact kidnapped her and locked her in a freezing cell.
    "When are we going to find my friends?"
    "In a little while."
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    "In a little while? What does that mean ... ?" Rosie was feeling light-headed. Johnston swam in and out of focus.
    "It means that I'll let you go when I'm finished with you," Johnston said softly.
    Fell for the oldest trick in the book , was Rosie's final thought before her head hit the table.
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    Chapter 5
    Late the following morning Cati went back to the Hadima entrance and scouted around, but could find no tracks on the riverbank. It was cold and the sky was a strange silvery gray color. The movement in the mouth of the entrance played on her mind. She had brought a rope and a grappling iron with her, and she stood for a long time looking up at the entrance. Before he had gone back to sleep, Dr. Diamond had made it plain that he did not want her going anywhere near the entrance.
    "It is far too dangerous, Cati," he said. "We don't know enough about it." Cati thought about what he had said. But I am the Watcher , she said to herself, and she took the grappling hook from her pack.
    It took several goes before the hook gripped. She tested it with her weight, then climbed rapidly upward. She grabbed the slimy edges of the entrance and pulled