Pan's Revenge by Anna Katmore Read Free Book Online Page A

you?”
    It’s possible. Most likely, even. “I’ve never
felt an urge so strong before.” Fishing the remaining two beans out
of my pocket, I open my palm and stare at them. “That’s devil’s
work, for sure.”
    “Did it give you an idea where to go? Do you
know the right course now?”
    I lift my head and lock determined eyes with
my first mate. “Hoist anchor, Smee. Set sails. We follow the
moon.”

 
Angelina
     
    HUNCHED OVER MY essay on Shakespeare’s King
Lear for English literature, I get distracted by the noises coming
from the room next door. Paulina and Brittney Renae are fighting
over yet another hairclip from a new princess magazine I bought
them on the way home from school. It’s hard to concentrate when
listening to one five-year-old twin calling the other an ugly toad.
A couple more years might have to pass until either of them
understands just how such an insult backfires. Biting the backend
of my pen, I chuckle then focus on the last paragraph on my page
and try to continue.
    A drop falls
onto the paper. Onto to the words his heart in particular. The blue
ink blurs.
    Confused, I lift my gaze to the ceiling to
see if water is dripping from there somehow. No sign of a leak. It
would have been strange in this noble mansion anyway. With a
tissue, I tab the damp spot on the sheet and write on. Only seconds
later, another drop lands on the paper. What the heck?
    I wipe my hand over my cheek. There’s a wet
trail. Surprise makes me drop my pen. Why in the world am I crying?
I’m feeling alright.
    Gazing out through the window above my desk,
I enjoy the warm caress of sunlight on my face. It’s almost the end
of March. Trees start to bloom, birds are chirping in the twigs,
the adorable scent of lilac drifts through my open balcony door.
There’s no reason at all to be sad, or worse to cry.
    Maybe it’s
just a dust particle causing those tears. I squeeze my eyes shut
and rub my thumb and forefinger across them toward the bridge of my
nose. No more tears fall after that. But something strange freaks
me out just a second later. The faint beat beat pause of somebody’s
heart echoes in my ears. The sound repeats over and over. And it’s
not my own heart, I can tell, because it beats in a slight
disharmony.
    Jerking up from my chair, I move a few steps
backward, away from my desk, but my gaze keeps focused on the small
drawer at the bottom right side. I know what’s in there, but it
can’t be that a glass heart suddenly starts to beat. Can it?
    I rake my
hands through my hair. Obviously, I’ve been sitting over this
homework one hour to many. A break, that’s what I need. But the
consequent beat beat
pause draws me in like a beacon, slinging
its noose around my neck and pulling me forward. My fingers
trembling slightly, I open the drawer. At the back lies the red
glass heart. Of course it’s not beating. In fact, the sound has
stopped the moment I squatted in front of my desk ready to take a
look.
    Very. Very. Creepy.
    Slamming the drawer shut, I rise and walk out
into the wide carpeted hall on the first floor of our mansion.
Brittney Renae runs squealing out of her room and toward me. I
catch her, scoop her up, twist her in the hall and press her to my
chest. “What’s going on, fairy bug?”
    “The toad wants to steal my hairclip.”
Pouting, she holds her tiny hand out to me, showing me the clip
with a Snow White image on it.
    Only seconds later, Paulina joins us in front
of my room, folds her arms over her chest and taps her foot. “Put
her down, Angel. She has my hair clip. I want it back.”
    My laughter spills out over how much
determination comes from that five-year-old. I set Brittney Renae
to her feet and take both girls by their hands. “Come on, get your
coats. We’re going out and I’ll get you another magazine, with
another hairclip.”
    Both their
faces light up like birthday cakes. They hurry to slip into their
identical Alice in Wonderland shoes and red coats. With a