Between Two Ends by David Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

fist.
    Skin rested his peg leg on the edge of a book and picked at his nails with a dagger. “A touch jumpy, are we? The ‘metal clowns’ bit was good, though. Very witty.”
    â€œYou start talking or I’ll knock over this bookshelf. Then I’ll tell everyone in this house—no—I’ll tell the whole world about you! Then you’ll have more explaining to do.”
    Skin and Bones exchanged glances. “Will ye,now?” they chimed simultaneously, with chilling calm.
    â€œYes,” said Yeats. “Now what’s all this about a wish?”
    Bones sighed. Then he said simply, “If we’re caught using our magic then ye gets one wish.” The bristles of his metal mustache twitched.
    â€œA wish,” Yeats repeated.
    â€œAye.”
    Odysseus rubbed against Yeats’s leg. “Are you suggesting,” asked Yeats, “that I can ask for a wish … as in a fairy-tale kind of wish? Like a genie?”
    â€œThat’s the idea.”
    â€œAnything?”
    â€œNo,” said the pirate. “Can’t bring the dead back to life. And the wish has to come from here.” He swept a hand around the shelves.
    â€œWhat do you mean? I can’t leave the library?”
    â€œNo! Ye can go anywhere a book goes.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œOur magic is limited to books!” Skin shouted.
    â€œWhy?” asked Yeats.
    â€œBecause we’re BOOKENDS!” cried Skin. He rolled his eyes and tapped his forehead.
    â€œOh,” said Yeats. “Fair enough.” He frowned. “Does that mean I can ask for anything inside a book? Like all the treasure from Treasure Island?”
    Bones shook his head. “Can’t take things out of books. Ye can only go inside. And ye can come back out.”
    Thoughts were swirling in his head so fast that Yeats could hardly think. “So I can go inside any book I want?”
    â€œAye.”
    â€œWow.” Yeats’s mind was flooded with possibilities. He knew a lot of good stories!
Peter Pan
. He could go to Neverland!
Robin Hood
. Fighting the Sheriff of Nottingham with a quarter staff. Wa-hoo!
    The pirates waited impatiently. He shook his head vigorously to clear his mind. “Wait, wait a minute,” he murmured. “This is what happened to Shari, isn’t it?” His eyes widened as the truth struck home. “She made a wish, didn’t she?”
    Skin and Bones nodded. Yeats’s gaze droppedto the book on the floor. “She wished to be in the
Arabian Nights!
”
    â€œAye,” said Bones. “More to the point, she wished to be Shaharazad.”
    All the glorious possibilities drained away as Yeats imagined his father’s desperate face. “What did my dad wish for?” he murmured.
    Bones covered his heart with his hat. “He wished to be with her. Very honorable, I’ll give him that. Then, not long after they were in the story, he broke the spell and came back.”
    â€œWhy? How?”
    The pirate snapped his fingers at Yeats’s eyes. “Would ye mind settin’ a poor old man down for a moment? To get me balance?”
    Yeats regripped and said vehemently, “No way!”
    â€œAll right, all right,” grumbled the pirate.
    â€œHow did my dad break the spell?” Yeats repeated. “And why?”
    Bones rested his sword arm on Yeats’s thumb. “Spells are meant to be broken,” the pirate said. “That’s the way of magic. It don’t last. But ye’vegot to want it with all yer heart—more than anything else—before it will break. Yer dad wanted to come home. And he wanted the girl to go with him.”
    â€œBut she wouldn’t,” Yeats said softly. “Because her parents were dead. Because she was searching for a happy ending.”
    â€œYe can’t wish for another person,” said Bones. “Only yerself. Yer father had to come back alone. And in the nick of time