This Broken Wondrous World Read Online Free PDF

something fun and relaxing that requires minimal thought!”

    â€œWE’RE RELAXING HERE, remember?” said Henri.
    Our small sailboat glided smoothly across the waters of Lake Geneva. Henri held the tiller loosely in his hand, his face serene beneath dark sunglasses.
    â€œSorry.” I tried to reattach the small handle that I had just accidentally pried off the white fiberglass siding. Henri was getting used to me accidentally breaking things every once in a while. This had never really been a problem for me before, but I guess I never lived somewhere that had so much nice, breakable stuff around.
    â€œWhy are you nervous?”
    â€œIt’s my first time on a boat.” I gave up trying to reattach the handle and placed it on the bottom of the boat next to my feet.
    â€œI have been sailing on this lake since I was nine years old.Don’t you trust me?”
    â€œIt’s not you. It’s just . . . all this water.”
    â€œWhat is wrong with water?”
    â€œWell, I’m fairly indestructible. The only things that could kill me, as far as I know, are fire and drowning. So naturally, water makes me nervous.”
    â€œIs that so?” Henri leaned forward so he was looking at me over the rim of his sunglasses. “Well, a lot of things can kill me. Fire, water, electricity, cars, people . . . just about everything, really. So, should I be nervous all the time?”
    â€œNo, of course not. It’s just . . .” He did have a point there. Humans were so fragile. And they had to live with that fact every day of their lives.
    â€œSo stop worrying and enjoy the view,” said Henri as he leaned back and let out on the sail.
    I sat against the side of the boat and tried to get my shoulders to relax a little. I knew if Sophie were here, she’d be telling me the same thing. I missed her and Claire more and more. I’d Skyped with both of them a few times, but neither of them was really into that kind of stuff so it didn’t last long. If anything, it made them seem even farther away after I signed off.
    I sighed and tried to focus on where I was, not where I wanted to be.
    It was a nice view. The surface of the water rippled in sheets from the gusts of cool wind that came down out of the snowcapped mountains on the far shore. There were a few other boats spread out across the lake, white sails gleaming in the sun.
    Then, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I caught a glimpse of a head with long, blue-green hair. I turned to get a better look, but it was gone.
    â€œWhat are you looking for?” asked Henri.
    â€œNothing. I was just remembering your sister’s story about the mermaid.”
    He smiled. “Has she found a new believer?”
    â€œIt’s a good story,” I said.
    â€œWell, if you are looking for mermaids, you should also keep an eye out for dwarves once we get on the hiking trail. The stories say the mountains are full of them.” The sunglasses made it a little hard for me to tell if he was joking.
    â€œReally?”
    He laughed. “Of course not! We are not talking about regular short people here. We are talking about magical little men with long beards.”
    â€œAnd those don’t exist,” I said carefully.
    â€œObviously.”
    â€œObviously,” I repeated. Over the past few weeks, the urge to tell him had been slowly building until now it felt like this unspoken thing that hung over nearly every conversation we had. I knew I shouldn’t tell him. But I kept having to remind myself why. I thought of Ruthven, the theater manager for The Show. He’d always been good to me, I think because he and my dad had known each other for so long. But he was a vampire and most of the company was a little scared of him. I didn’t think he’d kill a human just because they discovered our secret. . . .
    â€œYou look worried again,” said Henri. “Is it the