Spyforce Revealed by Deborah Abela Read Free Book Online

persistently.
    Why didn’t Linden ever know when it was time to let something go?
    â€˜Are you two coming inside?’ asked Eleanor, popping her head out the front door.
    Saved! Max thought. ‘Yep. Just having a look at the farm.’
    â€˜A pretty close look,’ said Linden, as he picked a chicken feather from her hair.
    â€˜Let’s go inside,’ Max said quickly, wanting tochange the subject and suddenly remembering the other animal that had smudged itself all over her. ‘I need to de-Ralph myself.’
    Max headed straight for the bathroom and after a complete scrub-down she went to the kitchen to find a ‘Welcome Back Max Feast’. Eleanor, Ben, Francis and Linden, all wearing big hats, stood around a table so packed with food there was hardly any room for plates. There were streamers and balloons, and candles on a chocolate-covered cream-and-strawberry-filled cake, and above it a bright red banner strung across the length of the kitchen that read, ‘We Missed You Max’.
    It was another of those times in Max’s life when she was looking at one of the best things ever done for her and the only thing she could think to say was, ‘Thanks.’
    As if that was the signal to start, everyone sat down and dug in. Plates were passed over heads, gravy was poured over sausages, corned beef and vegetables, spoons clanged against bowls as mashed potato was scooped out and piled high next to beans, peas, beetroot, broccoli, pumpkin, yellow squash and honeyed carrots, making everything look like giant tubes of paint had been squirted everywhere.
    Eating was so quiet in Max’s home. There was the correct amount of matching knives and forks, small portions of food carefully arranged on plates and her mother always had on what she called her ‘dinner’ music. Something classical or something filled with tiny bells and the sound of dolphins or whales. She’d read that it helped digestion, which Max could have told her wasn’t true because it always made her want to throw up.
    At the farm, dinner was filled with clanging and laughing and excited talk that flew around the table. Max was burning to know the most important thing.
    â€˜Is the Time and Space Machine nearly finished?’
    There was a brief silence as Francis and Ben looked at each other.
    â€˜We’ve been busy lately and haven’t been able to spend as much time on it as we’d have liked,’ said Ben, shovelling another spoonful of peas and mash into his mouth.
    Everyone kept eating but Max had to know more.
    â€˜So it’s only a little more ahead than when I was here last?’
    â€˜In some ways, yes,’ stuttered Ben, shooting a quick look across at Francis.
    More clanging and silence and eating. This was getting frustrating.
    â€˜In which ways?’ Max was feeling a little nervous about how quiet everyone was being.
    â€˜Well, you see Max …’
    Max was instantly wary. When sentences started with ‘well, you see Max …’ people were usually trying to avoid telling her something she wasn’t going to like.
    â€˜â€¦ there’s been a slight hitch,’ Ben continued.
    â€˜What kind of hitch?’ she asked slowly.
    â€˜When Francis got back to Australia it wasn’t long before people found out he was here and were keen to get him working again,’ explained Ben. ‘We’d started work on the machine but had to stop because Francis kept getting called away for other projects.’
    â€˜So how far did you get?’ asked Max, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
    â€˜Maybe it’s best if we just show you.’ Ben wiped his mouth and pushed back his chair.
    When they got to the shed and Max stood in front of the machine, a few things happened. First, she felt numb and tried to focus on what she wasseeing, then she felt confused, which was followed by a swift feeling of anger and finally panic.
    And all of this