Lord Sunday by Garth Nix Read Free Book Online

anyway.”
    “Yes, sir,” said Chen. She took Leaf by the arm and started to lead her away.
    “Thanks,” said Leaf. Then, because she was wondering about Arthur and where he was, she added, “Are you related to Arthur Penhaligon, by the way?”
    Major Penhaligon swung round. “He’s my little brother. Do you know him? Do you know where he is?”
    “He’s a friend of mine,” said Leaf. “But I don’t know where he is.”
    “When did you last see him?” asked Major Penhaligon.
    “Er…sometime last week,” hedged Leaf.
    “Did he mention anything strange?”
    “What do you mean?” asked Leaf. She tried to keep her face from showing anything. By any definition, everything Arthur had been involved with in recent times was strange.
    “Dad’s house is gone,” said Major Penhaligon. “Not destroyed. Just plain gone. I’ve tracked downMichaeli and Eric – they’re with friends, they’re OK – but I can’t find Arthur or Emily.”
    “A lot of weird stuff has happened around here,” offered Leaf.
    “That’s for sure,” said Major Penhaligon. “Where did you see Arthur?”
    “In the hospital,” said Leaf. She hadn’t been ready for the sudden question. “Friday’s hospital, I mean. With the old people. But he left.”
    “Where was he going?”
    Leaf shook her head. “I don’t know.”
    “When was this?”
    “Friday night. Uh, after you called him.”
    “After I called him?” asked Major Penhaligon. “But I called him on the home number! He wouldn’t have had time to get anywhere near here from home and according to the neighbours the house was already gone…”
    “The phone was switched through,” said Leaf, which was true. She just couldn’t say that it was switched through to a telephone that materialised out of nowhere.
    “I guess that kind of explains how the house could be gone, but I still spoke to Arthur.” Major Penhaligonshook his head. “This just gets weirder and weirder. I don’t see how there can be an entire hospital full of patients that’s not on any database or map either. I’ll see you at Decon Four in fifteen minutes, Sergeant Chen, Miss Leaf.”
    He turned around and strode away. Chen pulled lightly on Leaf’s arm, directing her towards one of the side streets.
    “This way,” said the soldier. “It’s not far.”
    “OK,” said Leaf. She was quiet for the first few steps, just thinking about Arthur, and her family, and all the sleepers back at the hospital. There was so much to do. For a moment she wondered why she was bothering, since it seemed the whole Universe might get snuffed out by Nothing anyway.
    But the Universe might not end, Leaf thought. And then where would you be? Better to do something, because it might just work out.
    “What other weird stuff is happening?” she asked Chen.
    “Plenty,” the soldier replied, but she didn’t elaborate. They walked another twenty yards or so, around the next street corner. Leaf saw that the whole avenue ahead was full of dozens of Army and FederalBiocontrol Authority vehicles. The car parks for the shops and buildings on either side of the avenue were occupied by five huge pressurised tents, soon to be joined by three entire prefab structures the size of Leaf’s house, which were in the process of being off-loaded from oversize semitrailers.
    Ominously, the prefab buildings had large red crosses on them, and Leaf noted that beyond the Army vehicles, there were at least twenty big, six-wheeled hazardous environment ambulances.
    Everyone working wore full protective suits with masks. The whole place added up to an expectation by the authorities that they would have to deal with a very large number of dead and dying people. Chen pointed to the closest pressurised tent, which was pitched in a supermarket car park. The tent had a newly painted sign in front of it, staked into the pavement. The sign had a cartoon picture of a smiling fat man scrubbing himself in a bubble bath, and read: 11 TH CBRN BATTALION