The Thirteenth Read Online Free PDF Page A

was now in the corner, curled into the foetal position and crying hysterically.
    “Great,” Val thought as she braced for imminent impact, closing her eyes and raising her arms in front of her face.
    After a few seconds, when the expected blow had still not come, she cautiously opened her eyes. The man was still in front of her, but now he was gazing up at the ceiling. Val instinctively looked up too and to her disbelief, a large mass of water was floating above his head with steam emanating from the edges. It was like a balloon made of boiling water. The man glanced back at Val and she thought he looked scared. For a second Val felt as if the ball was strangely in her court. She was still wondering how that could possibly be when it fell. The whole lot, it seemed like at least a gallon, came down straight onto his head. He fell to the floor screaming in pain as his flesh turned an aggressive mottled red.
    Val was left standing over the man, slightly damp, and unsure what to do next. Just when she was getting seriously worried, he sprang to his feet, knocked her out of the way, and ran out, slamming the door shut behind him. The bell rang almost off its hook.
    Val managed to get herself up and made her way to the woman who was still cowering in the corner. “Are you OK? Do you know who that man was?” Val asked hoping that she would snap out of it.
    “No, I’ve never seen him before,” the woman said. She was still sobbing and now had more than tears running down her face. Val fetched her a tissue from a tatty box she had found around the back.
    “What happened? Where did all the water come from?” the woman asked shakily.
    Val shook her head because she honestly didn’t have a clue. “Here take these.” She handed across a wad of tissues and as their fingers touched, a blue spark flashed between them. The woman watched in petrified disbelief as Val faded and then completely disappeared.

C HAPTER 2
Soldier Down
     
    Val opened her eyes and waited for her stomach to return to what she assumed was its normal position. With a shock she realised that she was once again at the back of the bookshop, looking at the window in which she had originally seen the woman being attacked.
    What on earth had happened and where was the woman now? Val wondered. She turned away from the window and was heading back towards the front of the shop when she heard the familiar scream of the woman she had just helped to save. This was followed by the ringing of the doorbell, which had once again been hit with such force that Val thought she would be lucky if it was still on the door when she got there.
    At the front of the shop, Val jumped over a large pile of books that had been knocked to the floor during the wrestling match. The mangled remains of the water cooler were also on the floor. Surveying her surroundings, she realised just how much of a mess they had all made. Val felt like she was in a dream. How had all this happened? First the tattoo and now this. What was going to happen to her next? She decided to call the police and made her way to the counter to look for a phone. Then she starting thinking about how she would tell her version of the story. “Yes officer, I have a tattoo that appeared from nowhere, and I skipped through time and space to drop two gallons of boiling water onto a giant’s head.” Wow, that would go down well. Anyway, she realised that there was no phone; somehow she wasn’t surprised. This was the shop of the oldest man on the planet; she was surprised it had electricity.
    All Val knew for certain was that she had to get the shop cleaned up before she left work. She couldn’t possibly let Wallace arrive back to find this mess. It would be hard enough trying to explain away the water cooler without trying to tell him why his precious books were on the floor. Val mopped up the water with a very dishevelled mop she found in the cupboard near the toilets. Wearily she locked the shop and headed for the bus