Bad Yeti by Carrie Harris Read Free Book Online Page B

felt pretty cool by association.
    The door opened wide, and the girls slipped out in quick succession, plastering themselves against the wall of the trailer and moving stealthily into the shadows. Their heads swiveled back and forth, scanning for danger. I pointed toward the spot where I’d last seen Tobias. He was working his way back toward us, his face pointed toward the ground. Hopefully, his tracking skills weren’t much better than mine. Otherwise the girls weren’t going to get far.
    But instead of heading for the woods, the girls crouched down and made their way toward my cage. I nearly shouted at them to go away and realized only at the last minute what a bad idea that was. Tobias was crazy, but he wasn’t deaf.
    “Are you okay?” demanded Europa once she was within earshot.
    “I’m fine. Did you call the cops?” I hissed.
    Amethyst started shaking her head about halfway through my sentence. “No landline. And we all left our cells in the cabin.”
    I tried not to let my disappointment show on my face. If I was honest with myself, the only reason I hadn’t completely flipped out was because I’d assumed help was coming. Now I’d have to deal with the mad scientist myself, and that fact made me less than thrilled.
    “All right. Then you’d better get out of here before he sees you.”
    “No! We’ll free you, Clanlord.” Calamity’s face was white and pinched. I honestly expected her to try to rip the fence apart with her bare hands. Sure, if she’d really been a barbarian princess, this would have been a great idea. But she wasn’t a barbarian. She played the violin and got straight As, and her bedroom was all pink. I’d seen it once when we were studying for an algebra test.
    “Charlotte,” I said, and she recoiled. I think it was the first time I’d used her real name since we’d started gaming together. “You guys have to get out of here before someone really gets hurt. This guy is crazy, and he’s got a gun. This isn’t a game. Do you understand?”
    The girls hesitated. Europa’s lips wouldn’t stop quivering, and the tears on her face had nothing to do with taking a boot to the nose. Amethyst looked pale and nervous; she couldn’t stop twitching, and she gripped the chain link with bloodless fingers. But at least they werelistening.
    “Now go,” I ordered, handing my compass through the links of the fence. “Find the camp, or any civilization, really. And send help.”
    Amethyst took a slow, reluctant step backward. She looked really strange, and it took me a moment to figure out what was wrong. The girl just didn’t look right without her wings. I made a mental vow to go back and get them when this was all over.
    I felt like I should say something really witty to put the girls at ease, but I didn’t get a chance to think of anything good.
    BLAM!
    The ground near the girls’ feet exploded, pelting me with dirt. A nice big clod went right into my eye.
    “Stay right where you are!” Tobias shrieked. He’d looked creepy before, but now he was totally unhinged. His eyes were wide and showed way too much white, like a skittish horse. I wasn’t sure what had made him suddenly start firing, but then, it’s not like this guy was Mr. Logic. He genetically engineered yeti and lived in a moldy old trailer. Not exactly the kind of lifestyle that inspires major confidence.
    “Run!” I yelled as he advanced, reloading the rifle.
    “Scramble!” Amethyst barked, and the girls reacted instantly, splitting off and sprinting for cover. If he did manage to reload before they got to safety, he’d have to pick a target instead of sighting them all at once.
    Europa tripped over something on the ground—due to the grime inhabiting my eye socket, my vision was too blurry to identify the object—and went down. Calamity wasn’t even looking, but she seemed to sense that something was wrong. She slowed. Hesitated. Stopped.
    Tobias slipped two shells into the chamber and flipped the rifle