Tracked by Terror by Brad Strickland Read Free Book Online Page B

of reality. Why should his world look false when he was such a master of illusion?
    Jarvey reached the door at last, soaked to the skin and miserable, and tried the handle. It opened immediately.
    Jarvey tiptoed down the hallway, and as he was passing a darkened doorway, someone inside went “Psst!” making him jump about a foot.
    â€œIt’s me,” Betsy hissed from the darkness. “Here’s where they live!”
    Jarvey ducked inside the doorway. First he passed through an alcove, then into a cluttered room thickly furnished with overstuffed chairs, sofas, and love seats. Colored-pencil sketches of Junius, Augustus, Honoria, and Sarah Midion almost covered every wall in the room, the pictures showing their subjects in various theatrical costumes: pirates, soldiers, ancient Greeks and Romans, and kings, queens, princesses, and princes. With a rush of relief, Jarvey saw that Betsy had laid the Grimoire on a table. On top of it she had opened a large scrapbook. “Look at this,” she said.
    The pages seemed very old, yellowed and brittle with age. Pasted in the scrapbook were dozens of newspaper and magazine stories, all about Junius and Sarah Midion. Some were dated. Jarvey saw one that came from the year 1822.
    All of the articles were reviews of plays that the Midions had done back on the real Earth. Jarvey didn’t have to read many to understand that Junius Midion’s reputation as actor and playwright had been pretty miserable back in those days. The kindest of them said one of the plays was “not actually completely foul.”
    â€œAccording to these, they’re all horrible actors,” Betsy said.
    Jarvey told her what he had overheard in the garden. “I was right,” he finished. “Junius Midion got hold of the Grimoire and used its magic to build a world where everyone would always love him and his family. Now he can make up any play at all, and it’s always a hit.” He reached for the Grimoire, and Betsy, who never liked to be close to the book, shivered a little. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here. Maybe we can leave tonight, when the family’s asleep. But we can’t let them catch us in their apartment.”
    â€œBut your mother and father—”
    â€œI don’t think they could be here in this world,” Jarvey said. “When Siyamon Midion tried to trap me in the book, he told me to turn to the very last chapter. This can’t be the last chapter in the book. It must’ve been written even before the Lunnon one you came from, because the date’s earlier. When I tried to use the Grimoire, we went the wrong way. Siyamon would probably put my mom, my dad, and me in the chapter he was writing, not just stick them somewhere else in the book. Come on. Let’s get someplace where we know we’ll be safe and I’ll open the Grimoire and get us out of here.”
    They followed the hall to the backstage of the theater. The whole group of actors and actresses, real and artificial, seemed to be out on the stage, singing a very loud song that didn’t even rhyme very well:
    Oh, our lovers face much woe,
And they don’t know where to go,
For the world seems turned against the four of them;
Will they find the way
To a new and brighter day,
And will their parents pay,
We cannot just now say,
But soon we’re sure we shall hear more of them!
    â€œAwful,” Betsy grumbled in a low whisper.
    They hid behind the hanging curtains against the back wall as the Midions trooped out, all except Augustus seeming very pleased with themselves. “You were in excellent voice, Mrs. Midion,” Junius said heartily. “I am sure you will make a most popular hit.”
    â€œThank you, Mr. Midion,” returned his wife. “I am only sorry about poor Katrina Three.”
    â€œWell, they do wear out, you know,” Junius said. “She shall be put to ushering until she falls apart, and