The Day the World Went Loki by Robert J. Harris Read Free Book Online Page A

something to do with Aunt Vivien,”Greg groaned.
    Lindsay gaped at the carriage. “Isn’t that the cutest thing! Could you take me for a ride in it?”
    “It’s not ours, Lindsay,” Lewis explained. “We don’t know who it belongs to.”
    “Best not to find out,” Greg said. “The fewer weirdos we run into, the better.”
    They ducked and took a roundabout route to their back garden. They slipped stealthily through the gate and wove a cautious path around the well that had appeared that morning.
    Lindsay bobbed excitedly up and down in the air in front of them. “Is this some kind of a game we’re playing?” she asked.
    “Yes, it’s loads of fun,” Greg agreed, signalling her to shut up.
    “Ooh, a Lokiday prank!” Lindsay squeaked. “Can I help?”
    Greg was starting to seethe. “It would be a big help if you got—”
    “See that window up there, Lindsay?” Lewis interrupted in the nick of time. He was pointing to his bedroom window. “Could you fly up there and see if anybody’s inside?”
    “Is this part of the prank?” she asked brightly.
    Lewis nodded.
    “Yes, it’s hilarious,” Greg said. “Now will you fly up there?”
    Lindsay flitted up to the window and peered inside.
    “There’s nobody there,” she said just loud enough for the boys to hear.
    “Is my computer there?” Lewis asked eagerly.
    Lindsay frowned, her little nose wrinkling under her glasses. “What’s a computer?”
    “Well, it’s got a glass screen and it can answer questions.”
    Lindsay peered into the room. “Yes, it’s there,” she reported, looking pleased.
    “Going in through the door is too risky,” Greg grimaced. “We’ll have to climb up the drainpipe.”
    “Lindsay can fly,” Lewis said thoughtfully. “Maybe she could carry us up there one at a time.”
    Greg’s face took on an instantaneous look of horror. He clamped a hand over his brother’s mouth before Lindsay could hear him, and repeated with grim determination, “We’ll have to climb up the drainpipe.”
    Lewis looked up. “Lindsay, could you twinkle inside and open the window please?”
    “Yes, if that’s what you and
Greg
want.”
    “It’s what we both want,” Greg confirmed. He made a face at her as she blinked out of view.
    Marching up to the drainpipe, he took a firm grip with both hands and began hauling himself up. Luckily there were enough cracks in the worn brickwork to provide footholds.
    By the time he reached the top Lindsay had opened the window and was standing back to leave him space. He clambered in and fell to the floor in an ungainly fashion.
    Lewis came puffing over the window ledge and lowered himself to the floor one foot at a time. He could see at once that the room had changed, just like the rest of the house. There were stone statues of dragons and gargoyles dotted about the place, garish hangings on the walls, and the air was so thick with incense it was stifling.
    Aunt Vivien’s ghastly Persian rug was one of the things that still looked the same, but there was no sign of Lewis’ computer.
    “Where’s the computer, Lindsay?” he asked.
    Lindsay pointed to the mirror hanging on the wall. “It’s not  what I’d call it, but why quibble.”
    “That’s not a computer,” Lewis told her, aghast.
    “It has a glass screen and it answers questions,” Lindsay insisted. She sounded a little hurt.
    “And you told me what a big help she’d be,” Greg reminded Lewis.
    Lindsay pouted. A tiny tear sprang to her eye and she disappeared.
    “Now look what you’ve done!” Lewis accused.
    “Big deal. She just made us bash our knees in for nothing.”
    “Maybe not. She said it answers questions.”
    Understanding dawned on Greg’s face. “You mean it’s a magic mirror, like in a fairy tale.”
    “It makes sense, I suppose. But how do we start it up?”
    “That’s simple,” Greg told him confidently. “Have you never seen
Snow White?”
    He walked up to the mirror and saw that instead of his