The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge Read Free Book Online

before, it was now confirmed. I definitely had a bit of a crush on Phoebe. Dana wasn’t going to like this, but I couldn’t help what was happening.
Sorry, Dana.
    “How about that movie? Maybe Friday?” I said as we walked. I think I was blushing. “Am I being too pushy?”
    This Friday? Yes!
I heard Phoebe thinking.
No, wait. Maybe I shouldn’t seem too eager to go out with Daniel. He might get the wrong idea.
    “Um, can I let you know?” Phoebe said. “I might have to babysit at home.”
    “Sure,” I said, not wanting Phoebe to feel the least bit uncomfortable. “No worries.”
    We stopped in the front of my house, and Phoebe suddenly pointed over my shoulder.
    “Awww! How cute,” she said, and smiled sweetly.
Yep, I definitely had a crush on her.
“What’s your cat’s name?” she asked.
    I turned and saw a large tabby standing on the sill of my open kitchen window. My jaw and stomach dropped simultaneously.
    Not only
didn’t
I have a cat—security nut that I am—I had made triple sure to lock all the windows.
    “Crap,” I said.
    “That’s a funny name for a cat,” Phoebe said, and rolled her eyes.
    “Isn’t it?” I mumbled, hustling up my front porch steps. “I have to go, Phoebe. I’ll see you tomorrow. Gotta feed the cat.”
    Or maybe get eaten by it.
    Chapter 27
    THE FRONT DOOR CREAKED OPEN by itself
très
creepily when I touched the knob.
    I stopped in the doorway and did a quick mental scan of the house to see if there was someone or some
thing
still inside. I didn’t sense anything—so I stepped all the way in.
    First thing I noticed was the ripped-apart couch cushions in the living room.
Crap!
Next was the waterfall rushing down the stairs.
Double crap!
I could hear an open tap in the upstairs bathroom, probably the bathtub.
    While I was assessing the water damage, I noticed burnt-rubber tire marks across the floor, as if someone had ridden a motorcycle through the house. I think someone had.
    “There goes the security deposit,” I mumbled, nimbly stepping around my new indoor wading pool.
    Next I noticed something smoldering in the fireplace. It was my book
Water for Elephants.
What kind of thoughtless creep would burn a book?
    The kitchen had taken the worst of the attack. It looked like someone had removed everything from the fridge, item by item, and smashed the bottles and cartons against the wall. The alley cat that I’d seen in the shattered window was standing on the counter now, licking up spilt milk.
    “Oh, there you are,” I said.
“Crap.”
    There was another cat on the floor, a cute calico that rubbed its cheek against my shin as it purred.
    “What happened here?” I mumbled. Suddenly Tabby leaped off the counter and attached itself to my face.
    I backpedaled, screaming as it hooked several claws into my lower lip and bit into my cheek. The smaller cat attacked too, wrapping itself around my leg like a python with claws, and sinking its teeth deep into my shin. I flicked off the kitten first, sending it through the air, then sliding across the counter and into a wall.
    There was a hideous Velcro-like rip of skin as I detached the tabby from my face and hurled it away.
    It hissed at me angrily, looking at me with strangely human eyes.
    “Get out of LA or die!”
it croaked in a demonic voice.
    Before I could react, it hopped onto the counter and the two cats disappeared out the kitchen window. “We’ll be back . . .
mouse-boy!
” they said in chorus.
    Chapter 28
    WITHOUT YOUR FRIENDS, well, what are you?
    Willy, Joe, Emma, and Dana were only too happy to help me clean up after the crazy cat attack. Dana seemed a little distant, like maybe she knew about Phoebe Cook. She didn’t say much, though, as she tended to the bloody patch of raw flesh on my face.
    I looked at myself in the mirror. “Great. I look like I just stepped out of a B horror movie with a very bad makeup job.”
    “Why should you care what you look like?” Dana said without smiling, not