The Second Forever by Colin Thompson Read Free Book Online

thought he had everything under control, and when my dad vanished he hadn’t been expecting it at all and that frightened him.’
    â€˜I suppose,’ said Festival.
    â€˜And I reckon he knew that was where my dad had gone and if he could get me to go there, I might be able to find him and somehow bring him back.’
    â€˜What if you’d got stuck there too?’ said Festival. ‘Do you think he considered that?’
    â€˜I hope not,’ said Peter. ‘If he did, it would mean he was quite prepared to risk losing me as well.’
    â€˜Losing his only child might have made him desperate,’ said Festival. ‘I’m sure he wouldn’t have been that thoughtless deliberately.’
    â€˜We need to talk to him,’ said Peter.
    â€˜Yes, he may know something that can help us.’

In the end it seemed that the only option left for Peter and Festival was to wait until the next full moon, when they’d be able wake the giant bat and return to Festival’s world. They decided that before going outside the museum, they would confront Peter’s grandfather to try and get as much information out of him as possible. Obviously it wasn’t going to be easy to get the old man to tell them anything, never mind everything. If he had told Peter everything he knew when his grandson had first found the book, it could have made things easier for him.

    The old man was lying in his bed with the curtains closed to keep out the afternoon light. He appearedto be asleep, but Peter knew that often when he looked like that he was actually wide awake. One of the benefits of being old was that you could pretend to be deaf, or forgetful, or simply quite unable to understand what anyone was saying, but Peter knew his grandfather was none of those things.
    â€˜Grandfather,’ he said as he and Festival stood beside his bed.
    Nothing.
    â€˜I think he’s asleep,’ Festival whispered.
    â€˜No he’s not,’ said Peter.
    â€˜He looks asleep.’
    â€˜Oh yes, he’s very good at that,’ said Peter. ‘Aren’t you?’
    The old man opened his eyes and grinned. ‘Normally I would pretend to be waking up from deep sleep now. I would be all disorientated and out of focus,’ said Peter’s grandfather.
    â€˜Grandfather, it’s me,’ Peter said and smiled. ‘You know I wouldn’t believe any of that.’
    â€˜I know. I was just lying here, remembering when I was a boy,’ the old man said before turning to Festival. ‘Do you know where we lived?’
    â€˜In my world,’ she said. ‘Peter told me.’

    â€˜Yes, but where?’ said the old man. ‘I’ll tell you. We lived on the island. My family, we were the only ones. It was so beautiful then, before the book and allthe terrible trouble it caused. You didn’t see my house when you were there, did you?’
    â€˜No, we didn’t see any houses on the island,’ said Peter. ‘Oh, except for the one inside the waterfall where the Ancient Child lived.’
    â€˜It’s the only house there. That was where I grew up.’
    â€˜Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this before?’ Peter asked.
    â€˜As I said, I fled to this world after Darkwood threatened to kill me when my grandfather stole the book, hoping he could hide it away forever,’ the old man explained. ‘I promised him I would never say a word about it to anyone, not even you or your father. You never know who might be listening.’
    â€˜So what happened?’ said Peter.
    The old man fell silent. The children could see he was torn between telling them everything and as little as possible. His face changed from yes to no and back again, and in between each mood he gave a deep weary sigh. He started to speak several times, but then fell silent again. Finally he made up his mind.

    â€˜My grandfather took the book to the most remote place in