Shadowcry by Jenna Burtenshaw Read Free Book Online

realize just how little she really knew about her friend. “ Does he know you?” she asked tentatively.
    Edgar looked away, refusing to meet her eyes. “He’s probably just seen me around somewhere,” he said with an awkward smile. “Like I said, crazy.”
    Kate wanted to believe him. “That’s what I thought,” she said.
    Kate had known Edgar for three years, since the very first day he had arrived in Morvane. He had moved to the town from somewhere in the south and spent all his time lurking in the bookshop talking to customers, until Artemis had finally agreed to give him a job. He had never really talked about his life before he had come to the town. All Kate knew was that he lived alone in a basement room two streets from the market square and that his family were all gone, just like hers. It had never crossed her mind that he might have something to hide. He was just Edgar. Anything else . . . she was not sure she wanted to know any more.
    The shouts of the people gathered in the market square carried down the barrow alley while Kate looked around their new hiding place. She knew the people who had owned that shop. They had been regular customers at the bookshop and were two of the few people her uncle counted among his friends. Now they were out there with the wardens—with him—and everything was falling apart.
    â€œWe should hide here,” she said, trying to sound confident. “If we stay out of sight no one will find us.”
    Edgar pushed the front door back into its frame and pressed his hands against it when the broken lock would not catch. “This door’s useless,” he said. “We need something to push against it.”
    â€œNo,” said Kate. “Leave it. The wardens won’t expect anyone to hide in an open building. They’ll think it’s empty and won’t search it again.”
    â€œWhat about Kalen?”
    â€œI don’t think he’ll follow us. Not with everything that’s going on. We should be safe in here.”
    The next hour in that shop was the slowest of Kate’s life. They hid behind the counter, side by side, and Kate sat in silence while Edgar concocted plans for their escape. He was whispering something about heading back into the warrens, dodging Kalen, and finding their way into one of the other quarters, but Kate was only half listening. Her own mind was filled with thoughts, confusion, and half-made plans to free Artemis from the wardens, which all seemed to end with their getting captured. Edgar must have known she was not listening, but he kept talking anyway, peering over the counter now and again to check for any movement outside.
    â€œMaybe you were right,” he said, ducking down as the shop’s clock rang out the hour, making them both jump. “Maybe they won’t find us in here.”
    â€œMaybe,” said Kate. “Just wait.”
    Then the noises came.
    First there was a shuffling sound and a sharp tapping noise from somewhere close by, though neither she nor Edgar were moving an inch. Then it came again. Shuffle-shuffle-tap . Shuffle-shuffle-tap . Kate tensed. Someone was outside, in the alley. Someone was walking along the cobbles.
    â€œDid you hear that?” she whispered.
    â€œWhat was it?”
    â€œWait here.” Kate crept around the side of the counter and crouched low, making her way over to the curtained window. Edgar was not about to stand back and do nothing again and he followed close behind, peering out silently into the alley beside her. Neither of them spoke as a limping figure shuffled into sight, but both held their breath.
    Kalen was back.
    The old man’s shoulders were hunched and his muddy face was stained with trails of blood. Kate crouched quickly beneath the window and peered over the window frame. Kalen’s tight lips were drawn back in anger, his sharp eyes searching every shadow for movement, his ears scrutinizing