Jack Staples and the Ring of Time

Jack Staples and the Ring of Time by Mark Batterson Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: Jack Staples and the Ring of Time by Mark Batterson Read Free Book Online
Authors: Mark Batterson
Tags: Fantasy, Young Readers, allegory, C. S. Lewis
scales?” For a long moment, she sat unmoving. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and Jack was beginning to wonder if she’d fallen asleep. By the look on Arthur’s face, it was clear he was thinking the same.
    Just as Jack opened his mouth to speak again, Mrs. Dumphry’s shoulders began to shake. It seemed to Jack that she was both laughing and crying at the same time. Arthur glanced at Jack and raised an eyebrow.
    “It’s time to go,” Mrs. Dumphry said. She stood and began walking toward the schoolhouse.
    After a moment Jack called after her, “We can’t just leave her here!”
    Mrs. Dumphry turned and looked back. “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools speak because they have to say something. Which are you, child?”
    Jack shuffled his feet. “It’s just … I don’t think we should leave her.”
    “Well, of course not. But a true leader does not need to be asked to do the right thing; he does it.” She turned and continued walking toward the school.
    Jack watched her go, utterly confused.
    “I guess that means we have to carry her,” Arthur offered.
    Both boys lifted the girl between them, one of her arms over each of their shoulders. With her feet dragging along the forest floor behind them, they stumbled forward, doing their best not to lose sight of Mrs. Dumphry. But within the first minute, their ancient teacher was nowhere to be seen.
     

Chapter 8
    THE BIRTH OF THE ASSASSIN
     
    Darkness had fallen by the time Jack and Arthur stumbled into the schoolhouse, dragging the red-cloaked girl between them. She was covered in mud from when the boys had dropped her, face-first, into a puddle. It hadn’t been on purpose. A rabbit had been scared from its hole and leaped out in front of them. Both boys had screamed in fear and dropped the poor girl without thinking.
    Once inside, Jack was glad to see a fire already burning in the hearth, though Mrs. Dumphry was nowhere to be seen.
    “You don’t think she went home for the night, do you?” Arthur’s voice trembled slightly.
    “I don’t think she’d leave us here.” Jack was skeptical. “Maybe she just went to fetch some wood or something.”
    With fear weighing heavy on his mind, the firelight made the once-familiar schoolhouse more unnerving than warm. Shadows jumped and danced as the light shifted continuously. More than once, Jack was certain he saw dark fog slithering across the floor, yet each time he looked, there was nothing there.
    As the boys carried the girl to the fire, they tracked thick, muddy footprints across the entire length of the room. And as he passed Mrs. Dumphry’s desk, Jack noticed a large number of odd-looking papers scattered across it.
    “Why do you think she hates you so much?” Arthur motioned to the muddy girl as they laid her next to the fire.
    “I told you already—she thinks I killed the lion.”
    “You’d think she’d be happy you killed the lion!”
    “I didn’t kill it,” Jack said angrily. “I ... I don’t know what happened.”
    “I’m just saying she’s mad, that’s all.” Arthur glanced at her as he sat on a nearby chair. “Anyone who considers a lion to be their ‘best friend’ is as loony as a loon.”
    Jack had to agree; she did look rather mad with her face all muddy and the firelight casting deep shadows on one side.
    “Either way, she’s Mrs. Dumphry’s problem now, assuming she ever comes back,” Arthur said.
    Too agitated to sit, Jack made his way to Mrs. Dumphry’s desk. There was something odd about it. His teacher was the most orderly woman he’d ever met. Her voice rang in his head, “An unordered desk points to an undisciplined mind.”
    “The thing is”—Arthur sat facing the fire with his back to Jack—“this girl isn’t right. Just look at how she’s dressed. It’s not proper!”
    The flickering firelight only partially illuminated the desk, so at first, Jack had trouble understanding what he was seeing.
    “A girl should wear a dress, not

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