The Yanti Read Online Free PDF Page B

driving as fast as he could. He would reach Breakwater in five hours—six at the outside. Now he was demanding to know where she had been the last few days. He was waiting for an answer. Ali found the pause more painful than his rambling. What was she supposed to say?
    “I was up on the mountain,” she said finally.
    “What were you doing there?”
    “I was in a cave.”
    “A cave? Were you camping out? All this time?”
    “Not exactly. I was in this cave and . . . it sort of leads to other caves.” She added, “I didn’t actually have to camp out.”
    “Were you alone?”
    “No.”
    “Were you with Steve and Cindy? You know, when I couldn’t reach you, I called the police. They said your friends are missing. Are they back home yet?”
    Ali hesitated. “Cindy’s sleeping here, right now, in my room. She’s going to go home soon.”
    “Wake her up and send her home this instant. I spoke to her parents. They’re frantic about her.” Her father paused. “Where’s Steve?”
    Ali swallowed thickly. “He’s not here.”
    “Where is he? Is he still up on the mountain?”
    “No.”
    “Then where is he? This is no time for games! I spoke to his mom earlier this evening, and she cried the whole time. She’s talked herself into believing that you kids had been kidnappedby the same people who took Karl. I had an awful time trying to reassure her. To be frank, I’m shocked at your behavior, Ali. This is so irresponsible of you. Your adventure—or whatever you want to call it—is over with, finished. You kids are not going near the woods the rest of the summer. Do you know I wasn’t even able to deliver my load to Miami when I discovered you had disappeared? I got too upset. Just so you know, the load is still in the back of my rig. That’s another account I’m going to lose. Fifteen hundred bucks a month down the drain.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Sorry doesn’t pay the bills.” Again, her father paused. “Is Steve there with you? He is, isn’t he? Let me talk to him.”
    Suddenly, all of Ali’s fairy powers did not feel so powerful. She had to struggle to breathe. She spoke in a whisper. “Dad, you can’t talk to him.”
    “Why not?” he demanded.
    “He’s dead.”
    “What?”
    “He’s dead. He died . . . a few hours ago.”
    “What are you talking about? Don’t be ridiculous.”
    Tears burned her eyes. She felt as if she were falling then, into a hole, a black pit without a bottom. Suddenly she was not so detached. Geea, Alosha—the fairy queen had fled for parts unknown. Thirteen-year-old Ali Warner was the only one left to answer his questions.
    “Dad, I’m not lying. Steve’s dead. He was killed by this woman who lives in Toule. Her name’s Sheri Smith. She stabbed him in the heart. No, I mean, she ordered someone else to stab him.”
    “Who?”
    Now was not the time to talk of Karl. “It doesn’t matter, aguy who works for her. It was Sheri Smith who was behind the murder.” Ali added, “She almost murdered Cindy, too, but she managed to escape.”
    Her dad was a long time responding. “Do the police know about this?”
    “Cindy tried to tell them, but they didn’t believe her.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because the woman who killed Steve—she stole his body.”
    “Ali . . .”
    “He’s dead, Dad, and Cindy’s lucky to be alive. Now you’re right, I’ll wake her up and send her home right away. And I’ll call Steve’s parents, and talk to them, and tell them what’s happened to their son.”
    “You can’t do that. You can’t make up a story like that.”
    “It’s not a story. It’s the truth.”
    “Who’s this woman you’re talking about? The name sounds familiar.”
    “She runs a software company out of Toule—Omega Overtures. They make tons of money selling computer games.”
    “I’ve read about her in the paper.” Her father didn’t sound as if he was buying her story. “So tell me why this rich and famous woman would want to kill