The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick Read Free Book Online Page B

afternoons were really short. Overhead, the lights of the snowflakes began to blink on. They looked pretty nice, floating against the gray sky.
    At the top of the hill, Feenix crossed the street and reached the low stone wall that was the outer boundary of the park. She hesitated and half-turned around, looking behind herself.
    Danton grabbed Edward and pulled him down behind a parked car. They crouched there waiting.
    “I think she’s going into the park,” Danton said. “She’ll climb over the wall. That’s the way she does things.”
    Suddenly, Edward remembered what his aunt had said to him about the park. What had she meant? Something about dangerous things being astir.
    “We’ll watch and see where she’s headed,” Danton whispered. “Probably toward the swings in the playground. When we know where she’s going, I’ll circle around in front of her and you’ll bring up the rear. We’ll surprise her. Catch her with her defenses down.”
    “Her defenses don’t go down. She’s an armed warship.”
    Danton laughed. “That’s just the way things look. Nothing’s really solid like that. There’s always a way around or through.”
    Edward was startled. It was exactly the kind of thought he often had. He stayed quiet for a moment, and then he said, “Okay. We surprise her. Then what?”
    “And then, you know, we’ll demand the rock. We’ll, uh, reason with her.”
    “REASON WITH HER? REASON WITH FEENIX?”
    Danton grinned. “Don’t worry. You worry too much. C’mon. There she goes. She’s over the wall. Let’s see where she’s going.”
    The boys darted across the street and crept up to the spot where Feenix had disappeared.
    “You keep down,” Danton ordered. “I’m going to take a look and just see which way she went.” He periscoped his head up and peered over the wall into the park.
    He was silent for so long that Edward finally asked him what was going on.
    “Wow,” Danton whispered. “This is so amazing. Look at this, will you?”
    Very cautiously, Edward stuck his head up, too.
    At first he couldn’t figure out what he was seeing. The world he expected to find—the small woods and then the playground beyond—were gone. Instead, a dense gray fog met his eyes. Ghostly figures could be made out here and there, probably just trees and bushes and park benches muffled up in fog. The heavy mist went floating and sliding over the damp ground. Where had it come from so fast? Here and there, the globe-shaped street lamps could be seen. They looked like they hung suspended in the air.
    “Was that fog there a few minutes ago?” Edward whispered.
    Danton shook his head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention. But it’s wild, isn’t it?”
    As they watched, the mist began to creep over the walls of the park, poking blind and sluggy fingers into the air.
    “Where’d it come from, you think?” Danton asked.
    “Whaddaya mean? It came out of the sky, right? Fog is just like a low cloud.”
    Danton was watching the curling wisps as if he were hypnotized. “Maybe it came out of the lake,” Danton whispered.
    “Well, whatever,” Edward said. “The question is, what do we do now?”
    Danton didn’t answer for a long time. Edward was beginning to think he hadn’t heard the question, when finally Danton said, “What do we do about what?”
    Edward stared at him. “Whaddaya mean? You’re the one who wanted to go after the rock. And Feenix.”
    Danton looked puzzled for a moment. Then his face cleared. “Oh. Yeah. That’s weird. I nearly forgot.” He turned back to stare at the shrouded park. “Well, I don’t think there’s any point in going in there now. We’ll never find her in that.”
    Edward didn’t know what to make of this. The guy had been so wired up about his mission a few minutes ago. And he definitely didn’t seem like the kind of person to retreat in the face of a little fog.
    “What time is it?” Danton asked him. “I’m starving.”
    Edward