Gecko Gladiator by Ali Sparkes Read Free Book Online

“Do you think she’s dead?”
    Danny, wobbling on Josh’s shoulders, peered through the dusty window into Petty Potts’s front room. He didn’t answer his twin brother but pressed his nose up hard against the glass, trying to see past the grimy net curtains and figure out whether the large blue shape on the sofa was moving.
    â€œDanny!” hissed Josh. “You’re breaking my back!” He was doubled up, supporting his brother’s weight. His forehead was grinding against the damp red brick under their neighbor’s windowsill. “Is she dead?!”
    â€œIt’s hard to say,” muttered Danny. “I mean—she never looks all that healthy at the best of times, does she?”
    â€œNo—but she doesn’t usually look like a corpse!” grunted Josh. “Is she moving?”
    Danny got up onto his feet, treading carefully on each of his brother’s shoulder blades, hanging on to Petty’s rather rotten window frame. The top panes didn’t have nets, so they’d be easier to see through.
    â€œI can’t hold you up any longer!” gurgled Josh, but he didn’t have to. Three seconds later, there was a creak and a crack and a crash. Danny had fallen through the window.

    â€œGah!” remarked Josh, in surprise. He stood up and glanced all around,guiltily. Had anybody seen his brother accidentally breaking and entering? No … there was nobody around. “Danny! Are you OK!” he whispered. He peered inside through the broken glass and wood. Below he could make out Danny, struggling out of a dusty, gray net curtain, spluttering.
    â€œOK—I’m coming in!” Josh said, carefully climbing through. It was a good thing, really, that the wooden frame had been weak. Even if it meant that Petty’s window had been smashed. If they’d broken down her front door, they would probably be skewered on the ends of poison-dipped spears by now. Or reduced to a heap of ash and charred bones or something. Petty had put some formidable defenses in place in her house recently. But amazingly, she had failed to secure the window.
    Danny had escaped the dusty net curtain by the time Josh jumped down next to him—and he wasn’t cut by broken glass. That was good news. On the other hand, Petty was still motionless on the sofa. That was not so good. They looked at each other, gulping.
    From this angle, they could only see her gray mop of hair. It was hard to tell whether she was dead or alive. As he got closer, Danny could see one small patch of wrinkled cheek. He prodded it gingerly with one finger. “It’s warm!” he said, with relief. And then he shrieked as Petty’s hand suddenly swiped up and grabbed his wrist.
    There was a moment of silence during which Petty eased herself up on one elbow and peered at him. “Hello, Danny,” she croaked. “Hello, Josh. What, exactly, are you doing in my front parlor?”
    â€œWe came to find out if you were still alive,” Danny said, panting with relief. “You haven’t been answering the door for days, and we thought you might have died.”
    â€œOh really?” Petty raised an eyebrow behind her smeary spectacles.
    â€œWell, you know … you are quite old,” Danny said.
    â€œDanny!” Josh kicked his brother’s ankle. “Don’t be rude!”
    â€œNo—not a bit of it!” Petty said, sitting up properly now. “After all, I am ancient. It’s a wonderI can even walk, talk, or safely visit the toilet. My heart could pop. I could just keel over at any time. Just one loud noise or a funny smell, and it could be curtains for Old Granny Potts. Better not stand too close to me when you’ve got an attack of flatulence, Danny. You could take us both out.”
    â€œSo—why didn’t you answer our calls? Our knocks? Our doorbell ringing?” asked Josh.
    â€œI have had chicken pox,” Petty