A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano Read Free Book Online Page B

bottle of perfume and misted the air with it. In a ray of sunlight, the drops were visible as they fell amongst the other things. He held a picture frame next and ran his large, strong hands over the photo inside.
    It felt like an eternity before he left, closing the door gently behind him.
    Pram was relieved that they hadn’t been caught, and she thought Clarence would be as well. But when she looked at him, there were tears in his eyes. And Pram understood, even before he said the words.
    “It wasn’t a ghost at all.”

CHAPTER
    9
    T o find her father, the only tools Pram had were some old photos, a compass (which she wore around her neck for safekeeping), and a name: Maxwell Baines.
    And Clarence and Felix, of course.
    The air was icy and held the promise of a first snowfall. And shorter days meant that the sky was already darkening by the time they’d made the hour-long walk to the ocean.
    The boats were all docked and gently swaying. During the daylight, the boaters could mostly be found in a series of tall buildings that had once been ware houses or factories long ago. But now the only light came from a shanty tavern.
    Pram hesitated. Her shoes were just beyond the reach of the tavern’s light, and she felt afraid.
    But Clarence wasn’t going to let Pram back down. He stepped into the light and took her hand.
    Felix, who had been three paces behind Pram the whole time, cleared his throat. “Your aunts will wonder where you are,” he said.
    Pram looked back at him. “You’ve never cared what they thought before,” she said. “You think they’re silly.”
    “All living people are silly,” Felix said defensively. “Especially you, worrying so much about someone you’ve never even met.”
    Pram spun away from him and joined Clarence in the beam of light. “Felix is being cruel,” she told him. “So he’s going to wait outside.”
    “Fine by me,” Felix muttered. But it wasn’t fine. It very much upset him to watch his only friend in the world holding a living boy’s hand. She wasn’t the sad and lonely girl he’d known for years. It wasn’t that he wanted her to be sad and lonely—only that he’d wanted to be the one to make that sadness go away. But his light tricks and dancing clouds could never do the things a boy with a heartbeat could do. He couldn’t even remember what it had been like to have a heart beating in his chest.
    Soon Pram would outgrow him entirely. This was only the beginning of things.
    Felix watched at the window. If anyone tried to harm her, he could knock a few glasses from the shelves, at least.
    Pram squeezed Clarence’s hand. Together they pushed open the door to the tavern. A sign above the door read, the Oak Mermaid
.
Anything to do with mermaids couldn’t be that scary, Pram told herself.
    The smell of cigar smoke and fish was the first thing she noticed. Also, the floor was filthy. There was a roar of laughter that rose up like a wave, and it hurt her ears.
    “Excuse me,” she said. Her voice was immediately lost.
    Clarence took a step forward. “Excuse me,” he said, much louder, and Pram was impressed. He’d gotten the attention of the men who sat at the bar. They were all broad-shouldered with thick arms.
    The man behind the bar tossed a towel over his shoulder and laughed a little. “Have you two lost your way, then?” he said. “The playground’s a few miles back.” Another roar of laughter.
    “We aren’t lost, thank you,” Pram said politely. “We’re looking for a sailor.”
    “A little young to come here looking for that, love,” a waitress said, wielding a tray of drinks on one hand.
    Pram didn’t understand what this meant, but Clarence had an idea about it.
    “His name is Max,” Pram said. “Maxwell Baines.”
    The name was too formal for this lot of sailors; it was regal and they were burlesque. They laughed again, and Pram began to see them as something other than human. Hyenas that she’d seen in picture books, maybe.
    “Go