Touch the Sky (Young Underground #8) by Robert Elmer Read Free Book Online Page A

about. ”
                  “ What are you going to tell your mom? ”
                  “ I ’ m going to tell her the truth. ” Henrik hurried along with his hands in his pockets and his head down. “ But I might need your help. ”
                  Peter wondered for a moment what he could do. “ Tomorrow, ” he finally replied, “ we can both tell her. Maybe she ’ ll listen to both of us. ”
                  “ Yeah, ” agreed Henrik, stopping at the corner of St. Anne ’ s Street, where he usually cut off to get to his apartment. “ First thing tomorrow. ”
                  “ Tomorrow, ” Peter said. “ See you. ”
                  Peter hurried home, half jogging, half walking the last two blocks to his apartment. He felt in his pocket for his key, then felt the other pocket.
                  No , he told himself silently. I didn ’ t lock myself out without a key!
                  Peter gave a sigh of relief when he thought back to how he had left, less than an hour before. The deadbolt on their front door could only be locked with a key or from the inside, which he knew he hadn ’ t done. He tried the door, knowing it would be unlocked.
                  What? He turned the knob again. It ’ s locked!
                  Quietly but firmly, he pushed the door, but it wouldn ’ t budge. It was definitely locked, and he had definitely not locked it.
                  Great! he sighed. What do I do now? Sleep on the doorstep?
                  Peter took a step back and looked up at his second - story window. There was another way up, but he hadn ’ t ever dared to climb up the downspout. The pipe that drained rainwater from the roof ran right by his window and to the street, but it hardly seemed strong enough to hold his weight. But it was either that, or ...
                  He gave the downspout a tug. Maybe .
                  Peter rubbed his hands on his pants, crouched, and tried to get a flying start. But the pipe was slippery, and he struggled to get up a few feet.
                  Come on, keep going .
                  He dug in his knees and gripped with his fingertips, but the pipe was too slippery. And five feet up, the pipe started to creak and groan, swaying away from the outside wall of their apartment building.
                  “ Peter! ” someone whispered from the sidewalk.
                  Peter looked down over his shoulder to see Elise, wrapped in a robe and leaning out the front door.
                  “ Peter, get down from there. It ’ s going to break! ”
                  Peter gladly let go of the downspout and jumped back down to the sidewalk.
                  “ Boy, am I glad to see you, ” he whispered. “ I thought I was never going to get back in. Did you lock the front door after I left? ”
                  She nodded as they walked back inside together. Tiger was waiting inside the doorway.
                  “ I heard you leaving, ” she whispered. “ What were you doing sneaking around? ”
                  “ Listen, I had to. It was an emergency. ”
                  “ I don ’ t think Mom and Dad are going to like this. ”
                  Peter shuffled slowly up the stairs, thinking for the first time what his parents might do if they found out about his late - night wandering. He stopped by the living room couch.
                  “ Henrik and I followed Matthias to a rusty, old ship out in the harbor, ” he told his sister quietly. “ And we think we know what ’ s going on with him. ”
                  “ Oh? ” Elise still didn ’ t sound convinced.
                  “ He was talking to some other guy in English, and