Mosquitoes of Summer by Julianna Kozma Read Free Book Online Page B

chased Meg. Meg ran away. She simply loved Meg to bits and followed the poor dog everywhere. Hannah thought it was a wonder Emily actually stuck close to the wreck this afternoon, what with Meg practically begging to play Frisbee.
    Normally Emily would have been chasing Meg up and down the beach, neither tiring of playing fetch. But she desperately ached to be a part of Hannah’s ‘big-girl world.’ Tagging along with her sister made Emily feel more important, even though she did not always understand, or even care about what was going on.
    Before leaving Lucy’s house, the girls promised to meet up as soon as their parents allowed. They needed to plan their next move. On the drive back, Emily fell over onto Hannah’s lap, exhausted by the hectic day. She was fast asleep within minutes. Usually Hannah did not tolerate Emily sleeping on her (she tended to drool), but this evening she was deep in thought, trying to puzzle out the meaning of the knife. She leaned her head back on the seat and closed her eyes. Within minutes she too was asleep.
    The next day dawned bright and hot. And noisy! Frustrated, Hannah slammed her blue Harry Potter pillow over her head, muffling the sounds that were coming from right above her.
    “Squirrels!” she said disgustedly. Normally she thought they were cute furry brown things and she enjoyed listening to them chatter in the trees. But not today. Today they were hopping all over the vinyl tent covering of the camper.
    Making an effort, Hannah squinted from under her pillow. She sat up instantly. She was staring face to face with one of these suckers. He was hanging off the screen window like a mini vampire, glaring at her. Hannah swore she saw tiny fangs sticking out from his upper lip! Beady little black eyes bored into her skull. On the smallish side, the mangy squirrel had a small scar over his left eye. He also had a stumpy tail.
    “Crazy squirrel! Shoo.” Hitting the screen mesh, Hannah watched the diabolical little rodent drop like a stone off the tent. Plunk! “Bye-bye. Have a nice trip Squirrellee!” Smiling, she snuggled down into her sleeping bag and prepared to go back to sleep. Cracking open one eye, she glanced at the digital clock sitting beside the sink.
    “Nine o’clock! Way too early,” she mumbled. With very little effort, she started drifting off again, dreaming of….
    “WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!!!!!!”
    Flying out of bed, Hannah’s legs got tangled in the sleeping bag and she went down hard on the floor.
    “What are you yelling about?” she shouted to Emily. “You made me fall out of bed.”
    “THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE CAMPER,” cried Emily, not lowering the decibels. “It’s right under my bed, in one of the storage containers. Just shut up for a change and LISTEN!”
    Eyes near bursting from their sockets and hair all twisted in ugly knots, Emily pointed to a spot near her feet. Standing as still as possible, Hannah strained to listen. Sure enough, she could hear furtive scratching noises. Then a thump. Scratching. Thump.
    “Something’s hitting the lid,” whispered Hannah. “We need to get Dad. Fast!”
    She sprinted out the door, leaving poor Emily alone with the evil monster. In record time she was back with her small army. Mom, Dad and the Bean (hanging precariously onto Hannah’s middle finger), found Emily huddled in the far corner of the camper, knees drawn to her chin and staring wildly ahead. A shaking finger pointed down.
    “The noise is coming from there, where we keep our Trivial Pursuit game and drawing papers.”
    Hannah watched her dad cautiously lift the cushions off the offending storage box. Slowly he opened the lid. Wow, thought Hannah. A garbage bag worth of shredded white paper filled the box to the brim. Chewed up cardboard game pieces added colour to the pile. Poking aside the mess of paper with a fly swatter, Dad carefully looked for the monster. Suddenly, a pair of black beady eyes poked up out of the mess. A small scar