Lord Sunday by Garth Nix Read Free Book Online Page B

like soft blue paper. Leaf put it on.
    “Walk through,” said the voice. The inner door opened, revealing a larger room, but one that was as equally bare and white, except for a small folding table. There was a pair of scissors on the table, a portable diagnostic unit and a medical case. A soldier stood behind the table. She was wearing a protective suit like the soldiers outside, but instead of a gas mask she wore a visored helmet like anastronaut’s, with an air tube that ran to a small backpack.
    “Hi,” said the soldier. “My name’s Ellen. Leaf, isn’t it?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut off most of your hair. We’ll be doing some quick tests as well.”
    “Great,” said Leaf. “Better get it over and done with.”
    “That’s the way,” said Ellen. “You’re just getting in ahead of everyone else. We’ll be decontaminating everyone in the fallout area, once we get completely set up.”
    “Everyone who’s still alive, you mean,” said Leaf.
    “Yes,” said Ellen quietly. “We’ll save everyone we can. Stand on this square, would you, and we can begin.”

C HAPTER FIVE
    A rthur grabbed the flaming garden fork around the central tine, ignoring the heat and the flames, and ripped it from the grasp of the boy, who fell over backwards and collided with the pantry door, smashing it in. While the boy was still trying to get up, Arthur flipped the fork so he could hold it by the haft and raised it over his head, ready to strike. He was just about to furiously drive it into the boy when he stopped.
    He’s only a boy, just like me…just like I was, Arthur thought through the red mist of rage. What am I doing?
    “Don’t kill me!” the boy shrieked.
    “Why were you trying to kill me ?” Arthur asked. He didn’t lower the flaming garden fork.
    “You’re s’posed to be a weed,” said the boy. Now that Arthur had a good look at the intruder, he was sure he was a Piper’s child. He was wearing green boots made from something like rubber; muddy tartan trousers; a short-tailed tan coat over a mustard-coloured waistcoat and green shirt with a frilled front; and a large cloth cap that overhung his face.
    “A weed?” asked Arthur. “But I’m inside a house . And I’m clearly not a plant.”
    “I’m s’posed to find a weed that’s got into the Garden,” said the boy. He reached into a waistcoat pocket and pulled out a grubby piece of paper that had been folded several times. “Look, I got the work order. A mix-up, I guess. They never said someone high up was going to do the weeding—”
    “Shut up,” ordered Arthur. He leaned the flaming garden fork against the bench and added, “And you, go out.”
    The fire on the fork snuffed out. The Piper’s child stared at it and whispered, “Blimey!”
    Arthur took the paper and unfolded it. Despitea muddy stain across the middle, it was easy to read the fine copperplate handwriting.
    Weed Intrusion. Bed 27. Pot 5. Dispatch gardener.
    “You’re a gardener?” asked Arthur.
    “Second Assistant Sub-Gardener’s Aide Fourth Class Once Removed Phineas Dirtdigger,” said the boy. “Sir.”
    “Are there a lot of Piper’s children in the Incomparable Gardens?” asked Arthur.
    “Dunno, sir,” said Phineas. “It’s a big garden. I only work this bed…well, pots one to fifty. Are…are you Sunday’s Reaper, sir?”
    “Sunday’s Reaper?” asked Arthur. “Who’s that?”
    “You know, sir. The Sower, the Grower and the Reaper. I did always think they were green, but I’ve never seen them, not in person, like.”
    “I suppose they must be names for Sunday’s Dawn, Noon and Dusk,” mused Arthur. “Now tell me, you called this place a pot. But it’s a house, with a woman in it upstairs.”
    “Oh, yes, sir, she’s what we call an exhibit,” said Phineas eagerly. “This part of the IncomparableGardens is the Zoological Gardens, with people and animals and such like that Lord Sunday has collected. He always