خون هیولا فصل نهم

Monster Blood Chapter 09

“Are we going to bake that pie today?” Evan asked his aunt, writing the question on a pad of lined yellow paper he had found on the desk in his room.

Kathryn read the question while adjusting her black ponytail. Her face was as white as cake flour in the morning sunlight filtering through the kitchen window.

“Pie? What pie?” she replied coldly.

Evan’s mouth dropped open. He decided not to remind her.

“Go play with your friends,” Kathryn said, still coldly, petting Sarabeth’s head as the black cat walked by the breakfast table. “Why do you want to stay inside with an old witch?”

It was three days later. Evan had tried to be friendly with his aunt. But the more he tried, the colder she had become.

She’s mean. She’s really mean, he thought, as he ate the last spoonful of cereal from his bowl of shredded wheat. That was the only cereal she had. Evan struggled to choke it down every morning. Even with milk, the cereal was so dry and she wouldn’t even let him put sugar on it.

“Looks like it might rain,” Kathryn said, and took a long sip of the strong tea she had brewed. Her teeth clicked noisily as she drank.

Evan turned his eyes to the bright sunlight outside the window. What made her think it was going to rain?

He glanced back at her, seated across from him at the small kitchen table. For the first time, he noticed the pendant around her neck. It was cream-colored and sort of bone-shaped.

It is a bone, Evan decided.

He stared hard at it, trying to decide if it was a real bone, from some animal maybe, or a bone carved out of ivory. Catching his stare, Kathryn reached up with a large hand and tucked the pendant inside her blouse.

“Go see your girlfriend. She’s a pretty one,” Kathryn said. She took another long sip of tea, again clicking her teeth as she swallowed.

Yes. I’ve got to get out of here, Evan thought. He pushed his chair back, stood up, and carried his bowl to the sink.

I can’t take much more of this, Evan thought miserably. She hates me. She really does.

He hurried up the stairs to his room, where he brushed his curly red hair. Staring into the mirror, he thought of the call he had received from his mother the night before.

She had called right after dinner, and he could tell immediately from her voice that things weren’t going well down in Atlanta.

“How’s it going, Mom?” he had asked, so happy to hear her voice, even though she was nearly a thousand miles away.

“Slowly,” his mother had replied hesitantly.

“What do you mean? How’s Dad? Did you find a house?” The questions seemed to pour out of him like air escaping a balloon.

“Whoa. Slow down,” Mrs. Ross had replied. She sounded tired. “We’re both fine, but it’s taking a little longer to find a house than we thought. We just haven’t found anything we like.”

“Does that mean—” Evan started.

“We found one really nice house, very big, very pretty,” his mother interrupted. “But the school you’d go to wasn’t very good.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t have to go to school,” Evan joked.

He could hear his father saying something in the background. His mother covered the receiver to reply.

“When are you coming to pick me up?” Evan asked eagerly.

It took his mother awhile to answer. “Well… that’s the problem,” she said finally. “We may need a few more days down here than we thought. How’s it going up there, Evan? Are you okay?”

Hearing the bad news that he’d have to stay even longer with Kathryn had made Evan feel like screaming and kicking the wall. But he didn’t want to upset his mother. He told her he was fine and that he’d made a new friend.

His father had taken the phone and offered a few encouraging words. “Hang in there,” he had said just before ending the conversation.

I’m hanging in, Evan had thought glumly.

But hearing his parents’ voices had made him even more homesick.

Now it was the next morning. Putting down his hairbrush, he examined himself quickly in his dresser mirror. He was wearing denim cutoffs and a red Gap T-shirt.

Downstairs, he hurried through the kitchen, where Kathryn appeared to be arguing with Sarabeth, ran out the back door, then jogged to the backyard to get Trigger. “Hey, Trigger!”

But the dog was asleep, lying on his side in the center of his run, gently snoring.

“Don’t you want to go to Andy’s house?” Evan asked quietly.

Trigger stirred, but didn’t open his eyes.

“Okay. See you later,” Evan said. He made sure Trigger’s water bowl was filled, then headed to the front of the house.

He was halfway down the next block, walking slowly, thinking about his parents so far away in Atlanta, when a boy’s voice called, “Hey—you!” And two boys stepped onto the sidewalk in front of him, blocking his way.

Startled, Evan stared from one boy to the other. They were twins. Identical twins. Both were big, beefy guys, with short, white-blond hair and round, red faces. They were both wearing dark T-shirts with the names of heavy-metal bands on the front, baggy shorts, and high-top sneakers, untied, without socks. Evan guessed they were about fourteen or fifteen.

“Who are you ?” one of them asked menacingly, narrowing his pale gray eyes, trying to act tough. Both twins moved closer, forcing Evan to take a big step back.

These guys are twice my size, Evan realized, feeling a wave of fear sweep over him.

Are they just acting tough? Or do they really mean to give me trouble?

“I—I’m staying with my aunt,” he stammered, shoving his hands into his pockets and taking another step back.

The twins flashed each other quick grins. “You can’t walk on this block,” one of them said, hovering over Evan.

“Yeah. You’re not a resident,” the other added.

“That’s a big word,” Evan cracked, then immediately wished he hadn’t said it.

Why can’t I ever keep my big mouth shut? he asked himself. His eyes surveyed the neighborhood, searching for someone who might come to his aid in case the twins decided to get rough.

But there was no one in sight. Front doors were closed. Yards were empty. Way down the block, he could see a mailman, heading the other way, too far away to shout to.

No one around. No one to help him.

And the two boys, their faces set, their eyes still menacing, began to move in on him.