The Nine Pound Hammer Read Online Free PDF

the odds of discovering it?
    A voice drifted, close enough now for Ray to make out the words. “Just a little farther.”
    Not wanting to risk being spied, Ray lowered himself into the opening, squatting with his heels on the ledge where he had removed the silver dagger. He was there only a moment before the rotten wood of the ledge broke, plunging him headfirst into the dark belly of the tree.
    He was surprised to find that his shoulders didn’t land on rotten wood, and he was more surprised that he was lying on warm, coarse fur, which gave a squeal and began moving from under him.
    Ray pushed and pulled his way around, backing as far against the interior wall of the trunk as he could. He inhaled sharply on the acidic stench that filled the dark. Something—or some things—were moving about the interior of the tree. A wet nose pressed into his cheek, sniffing. He touched a finger to the muzzle and felt something akin to a dog snout. He may have lived in the city nearly his whole life but he knew this wasn’t a dog. And it was too big to be a raccoon.
    It was a bear. Probably just a cub, but a cub has a mother and she would come home sometime.
    The bear cub mewed and was answered by another, which sniffed at Ray’s hands. He tightened his grip on thedagger and said, “It’s all right. Not going to hurt you.” One answered with a lick at his forearm. “Yeah, nice bear. We’re friends, right? Thanks for the licks. When’s mama coming home?”
    He squeezed himself around the cubs and felt the sides of the trunk, trying to find a handhold to climb out. A gruff snort from outside stilled Ray’s scrambling. It felt as if a cold stone slipped down his throat. The tree then shook down to the roots with the clambering weight of the she-bear climbing up. Ray fell back into the two cubs, which were snorting with anticipation at the return of their mother. The circle of bright sunlight at the top of the tree darkened into shadow. The she-bear sniffed at her den.
    What was he going to do? Ray’s mind raced. He could think of only one way out. But it was going to be a rough ride.
    The great she-bear turned around atop the tree and backed into the hole. All the light was sucked from overhead as the bear inched into her den. She slid down toward the bottom, her claws scraping the sides to slow her descent. As she backed up nearly onto Ray, he gave the she-bear a quick jab in her rear with the dagger, not enough to harm her but enough to give her alarm. She gave a howl that rattled Ray through his bones. Like a cannonball she launched out of the top of the tree and dropped onto the ground below—with Ray clinging to her back.
    *  *  *
    Not far away from Ray, two figures passed into the Lost Wood, searching. The first was small—a Chinese girl with a long braid of sleek black hair extending from the crown of her head to the small of her back. The other was enormous—a young black man who stood a full eight feet.
    The girl held out her hand, which, unlike the rest of her pale skin, was solid midnight black but for tiny luminous markings moving slowly to and fro. “Just a little farther,” she said after examining the markings. She returned her hand to rest on the hilt of her knife. The girl wore a mandarin-orange silk tunic and loose black pants. On her feet were tattered slippers in need of restitching at the toes.
    “You been saying that all day,” the giant said, wiping his hand across his head of short black curls. He wore denim overalls, plain and sun-faded, over a simple cotton shirt. Burlap sacks in various states from empty to bulging dangled from a thick leather belt cinched about his waist.
    The girl looked once more at the markings on the back of her tattooed hand and then scowled. “Should be here …”
    The giant gave a wild smile. “Ah, I spy them.”
    He strode forward into a sun-speckled glade thick with colorful wildflowers. The giant took a wistful sniff as he gathered handfuls of Solomon’s seal