displeasure at the idea of a bath — a person does have limits. Sliding the hangers across the pole, the array of costumes took her swiftly through the ages from caveman to Sumerian, through Greeks and Romans, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and oh bother! Uncle Augustus should have opened a costume shop!
Finally, she settled upon a pirate costume with brown breeches (knee pants), a leather vest, and a white shirt with a wide collar. Even better, the outfit would feel more familiar to him than cargo shorts and a band T-shirt.
Perfect.
She grabbed the costume, hanger and all, and slipped it through to the boys in the bathroom. As she did so, she heard Walter say, “You have to wash your hair, Quasi. It looks like porcupine quills there’s so much dirt in there.”
“What’s a ‘porcupine’?”
Ophelia stifled a giggle as she turned away.
She hurried back to the attic to make the bed and tidy the place a bit, and there on the worktable sat an empty milk glass and her plate of now nonexistent cookies. Nothing surprised her anymore. She gathered up the empty dishes just as Cato Grubbs’ instruction book began to rumble and the pages began to flip. They stopped at page thirty-three, and the words in bold print caught Ophelia’s attention:
If you haven’t finished reading the novel by 11:11 a.m., the summoned character’s plight will be the same — whether he or she is inside the circle or not.
Ophelia sucked in her breath. “Oh no! Part of this is up to me?”
She deposited the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, washed them as quickly as she could (while still meeting Uncle Auggie’s high standards), and rushed back up to her room.
She laid down on her bed, scooped up the copy of
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
, and settled back in for the read. It was now 2 p.m.; that meant there were forty-five hours left, and she still had hundreds of pages left to read.
After Quasimodo asked for a carving knife and a block of wood, Linus walked two blocks down Rickshaw Street to Broderick’s Hobby Shop and purchased the required materials. Meanwhile, Walter was visiting the rector of All Souls, no doubt charming Father Wellborne with a story about his love for astronomy and the opportunity to look at Jupiter from the vantage point of the church’s bell tower later that night—all while having a lovely pot of tea.
“Finally! Someone who knows how to make a decent cup!” Walter reported later when they reconvened (gathered together again) in the attic. “At 10 p.m. we can head to the top of the tower.”
Quasimodo’s eyes gleamed. “What about the bells? Will I get to ring them?”
“The church bells are automated now,” Linus said.
When Ophelia explained to Quasi that this basically meant the bells rang themselves, he looked as if he was going to cry.
“But it will be good to at least be up there with them, right?” she said, placing that calming hand on his arm once again.
He nodded and continued carving what looked like a dancing woman.
Oh great
, thought Ophelia,
that nitwit Esmeralda
.
Just then a raindrop hit the trefoil window.
And another. And then another.
None of them knew it at the time, but the real trouble was about to begin. And soon enough, trying to contain and entertain the hunchback of Notre-Dame would be the least of their worries.
ten
If Only Noah Had Come Through the Enchanted Circle
A t the end of the last chapter, I added some tension to the story. If things had continued along in the same vein, then you might have set down the book and hopped onto a computer somewhere. And we all know that some shortsighted knuckle-heads designed those devices to turn people’s brains to porridge (hot breakfast cereal, like oatmeal) — especially children’s. The powers that be—and nobody knows who they really are—want to make sure the next generation turns into a flock of mindless sheep. Corporations and conglomerates (a grouping of corporations) are able to get more of
Finally, she settled upon a pirate costume with brown breeches (knee pants), a leather vest, and a white shirt with a wide collar. Even better, the outfit would feel more familiar to him than cargo shorts and a band T-shirt.
Perfect.
She grabbed the costume, hanger and all, and slipped it through to the boys in the bathroom. As she did so, she heard Walter say, “You have to wash your hair, Quasi. It looks like porcupine quills there’s so much dirt in there.”
“What’s a ‘porcupine’?”
Ophelia stifled a giggle as she turned away.
She hurried back to the attic to make the bed and tidy the place a bit, and there on the worktable sat an empty milk glass and her plate of now nonexistent cookies. Nothing surprised her anymore. She gathered up the empty dishes just as Cato Grubbs’ instruction book began to rumble and the pages began to flip. They stopped at page thirty-three, and the words in bold print caught Ophelia’s attention:
If you haven’t finished reading the novel by 11:11 a.m., the summoned character’s plight will be the same — whether he or she is inside the circle or not.
Ophelia sucked in her breath. “Oh no! Part of this is up to me?”
She deposited the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, washed them as quickly as she could (while still meeting Uncle Auggie’s high standards), and rushed back up to her room.
She laid down on her bed, scooped up the copy of
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
, and settled back in for the read. It was now 2 p.m.; that meant there were forty-five hours left, and she still had hundreds of pages left to read.
After Quasimodo asked for a carving knife and a block of wood, Linus walked two blocks down Rickshaw Street to Broderick’s Hobby Shop and purchased the required materials. Meanwhile, Walter was visiting the rector of All Souls, no doubt charming Father Wellborne with a story about his love for astronomy and the opportunity to look at Jupiter from the vantage point of the church’s bell tower later that night—all while having a lovely pot of tea.
“Finally! Someone who knows how to make a decent cup!” Walter reported later when they reconvened (gathered together again) in the attic. “At 10 p.m. we can head to the top of the tower.”
Quasimodo’s eyes gleamed. “What about the bells? Will I get to ring them?”
“The church bells are automated now,” Linus said.
When Ophelia explained to Quasi that this basically meant the bells rang themselves, he looked as if he was going to cry.
“But it will be good to at least be up there with them, right?” she said, placing that calming hand on his arm once again.
He nodded and continued carving what looked like a dancing woman.
Oh great
, thought Ophelia,
that nitwit Esmeralda
.
Just then a raindrop hit the trefoil window.
And another. And then another.
None of them knew it at the time, but the real trouble was about to begin. And soon enough, trying to contain and entertain the hunchback of Notre-Dame would be the least of their worries.
ten
If Only Noah Had Come Through the Enchanted Circle
A t the end of the last chapter, I added some tension to the story. If things had continued along in the same vein, then you might have set down the book and hopped onto a computer somewhere. And we all know that some shortsighted knuckle-heads designed those devices to turn people’s brains to porridge (hot breakfast cereal, like oatmeal) — especially children’s. The powers that be—and nobody knows who they really are—want to make sure the next generation turns into a flock of mindless sheep. Corporations and conglomerates (a grouping of corporations) are able to get more of
Similar Books
