Joshua and the Lightning Road by Donna Galanti Read Free Book Online Page A

alone, and I tugged the blanket up to my neck.
    My eyes adjusted to the darkness. Only one light at the entrance lit this bunkhouse that held hundreds. Guess they didn’t want to waste the light on us—the very light we generated. Hurry up, sleep! Dreaming was my one form of escape.
    “Hey,” a voice startled me with a tap on my headboard, and a boy poked his head down. “When’d you get here?”
    “Just today, I think.”
    “I’ve been here for weeks now.” The boy climbed down and plopped on my bed. His chubby body squished next to mine. He looked like a little Bo Chez. A Lo Chez. He even smelled like cheese gone bad.
    I sat up. “I’ve got to get out of here.”
    “There’s a bunch of us planning the same thing.”
    “I don’t belong here.”
    “Oh, and what, the rest of us do?” He leaned in and poked me in the chest, blowing out a big, stinky cheese breath.
    “Sorry, didn’t mean that. Are you from here or kidnapped, too?”
    “Kidnapped.” He sat back and fisted my blanket, frowning at me. “We all were.”
    The boy whistled long and low. Shapes moved toward us in the dark and kids crowded on my bunk bed.
    “This is a new kid,” Lo Chez said. “So, newbie, we’re figuring out a plan to take Hekate down and escape.”
    “How?”
    “We sneak attack the guards when they do their early morning check, grab their vapes, and kill ‘em. Hekate will follow behind them, but we’ll vape her, too.”
    “How will we get home?”
    “Her brother, the Child Collector, comes in the morning for his special breakfast the chefs make. We’ll kidnap him, threaten to zap him too, and make him send us all home.”
    The kids nodded at their leader, Lo Chez. Sounded risky to me.
    “So are you in or what, new kid?”
    “We could die,” I said. They just stared at me as if that was obvious. “I’ve got to get back home to my grandfather.”
    “We’ve all got someone to get back home to.”
    The kid next to Lo Chez started to cry. “My mom’s real sick. She’s in the hospital and I don’t think I’ll get to see her again, even if I do get home.”
    Lo Chez draped his arm on the kid’s shoulder. “You’ll see her. Right, guys?”
    One by one each kid spoke, their dirt and tear-streaked faces floating in the dim light.
    “My dad is going overseas in the Army. I wanted to say goodbye.”
    “My family’s going to England to visit my cousins. Don’t guess I’m going now.”
    “We’re moving this month. I won’t know where to find my family even if I do escape.”
    The crying kid wiped his nose. “We’ve all got to get out of here.”
    I smiled at the kid with fake confidence. “We will.”
    “Back to your bunks,” Lo Chez said. “Wait for the sign.”
    The kids slunk away, except Lo Chez who darted his eyes around, then focused on me. My fingers slipped to the crystal in my pocket. Share it or not? My heart thudded, trying to decide. I would wait. Besides, could it even help us?
    “Are you in?” He thumped my bed.
    “Okay.” What choice was there? Maybe Charlie was here somewhere too and we could escape together.
    “Get some sleep. You’ll need it to be ready to go.” Lo Chez climbed back on top of his bunk.
    He never told me his name, or the others. I don’t guess it mattered. We were all the same here, just a brand and a resource for the world of Nostos. And we were lost in this Lost Realm.
    I stretched out on my bunk and gave in to the dark. And, finally, in the cramped warmth of my dark prison, sleep dragged me away.

Chapter Nine
     
     
    Shouts rang out. I jolted up and hit my head on the bunk with a painful whack.
    Lo Chez hauled me out. “They’re on to us!”
    Sleepy-eyed, I stood up. Sam must have turned me in!
    “You!” Lo Chez grabbed me, his nose touching mine. “New boy. You told!”
    “No, it wasn’t me.” Terror ran through me. “I swear!”
    “Bunk four hundred and two, get over here.” Hekate’s voice crawled over us.
    Lo Chez’s frown fell, and he let