The Secret of Zanzibar Read Online Free PDF Page B

possible that life in this remote hilltop town could ever change. The baker she glimpsed througha shop window was probably using the same recipe her father had used before her; the family of the candlemaker next door had probably been making the town’s candles for generations.
    With her parents strolling arm in arm ahead of her, Alice felt as if she’d stepped into a different world. After weeks of running and hiding, here they were, walking across a market square, sitting in a cafe, ordering lunch. Her mother, she noticed, was looking around in wonder. Had she ever imagined, locked in a cell on Atticus Island, that she would one day be sitting down to lunch in the sun-dappled square of a small, peaceful town in Shetlock?
    Alice and her mother ordered cheese on toast, while Alex talked their father into trying the local specialty, a goat’s cheese and dandelion pie. ‘Uncle Ebenezer always liked to try a region’s delicacies,’ Alex explained.
    â€˜It seems you and your uncle have a lot in common,’ Emmeline observed with a soft smile.
    â€˜I guess,’ Alex muttered. As her brother ducked his head and busied himself arranging the serviette in his lap, Alice thought she saw a glimmer of a tear in her brother’s eyes. Was that even possible? No, when she looked again it was gone. But it was true, she realised; Alex and Ebenezer had grown very close in the years the triplets had lived with their aunt and uncle. Alice knew that Alex was as happy as she was to have their parents home safe, but was he sad, too, at the thought of saying goodbye to Uncle Ebenezer and Aunt Beezer? Of course they wouldsee their aunt and uncle regularly, but it wouldn’t be the same as living with them. It would never be the same again. Unless King Alex could persuade Uncle Ebenezer to move into the palace as his personal chef.
    They had just finished their meals when Alice spotted a tall mouse striding towards them across the square. The white fur on his top half seemed almost luminescent, but it was the ginger fur from his waist down that was drawing curious looks from the mice he passed.
    â€˜Solomon’s here,’ Alice announced.
    He looked pleased to see them, she thought, as their old teacher drew close. Those days in the classroom at FIG headquarters at the school in Stetson seemed so long ago, though it was really only a manner of weeks. Solomon had been a hard teacher, but he’d had to be. He had been preparing Alice and Alex for an undercover mission into the very heart of Sourian headquarters in Gerander. Alice just hoped the skills he had taught them would come back to her if she needed them on their next mission, when they would again be travelling to Cornoliana, though this time they’d be going as themselves, in hiding, rather than assuming other identities.
    Solomon shook hands with Emmeline and Rebus then put a hand on Alice’s shoulder. ‘So, Alice, are you ready for your next mission?’
    Before Alice could answer, her brother interrupted.
    â€˜Hey, Solomon,’ said Alex, ‘how are we getting to Gerander this time? Have you got another balloon?’
    â€˜You’ll see,’ said Solomon, who never gave away information before he had to.
    As they stood to leave, Alice looked around the square. At the far side, partially obscured by the statue in the square’s centre, she thought she saw a flash of silvery grey and coal black. Despite the baking heat emanating from the cobblestones, she felt a chill run through her. It couldn’t be … could it? Swallowing, she peered again. No, she must have imagined it. Still, the unease didn’t leave her, and as she followed the others from the square she cast several nervous glances over her shoulder. But no one was following them.
    They left Sharman via a different, smaller road at the top of the town. They passed a few cottages on the outskirts before they plunged into a forest of towering pines. The