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.I promise.I won't let them.She meant it.Her happiness wrapped her in a cloak of protection.The ShadowMen could stare all they wanted, but they wouldn't get near Summer.To her relief, the torture chamber part of the fun house ended with Summer'sscene.The narrow corridor wound back and forth a few turns and then openedinto a small room with a revolving door and a neon sign that read: exit."Made it," Dee breathed.Jenny wondered if she had seen the eyes, too.Summer wriggled out from under Jenny's arm."Wait, look at this." Her voice was just as it had always been, light andchildish, eager.Jenny could hardly believe she was hearing it again.Summer was standing in front of a candy machine like the ones Jenny had seenin the arcade.She thrust her small fingers into the one pocket of hershirtdress."Do any of you guys have a quarter? I'm dying for some chocolate.""Uh." Michael looked at Jenny."I don't know if we better.""We should get out of here," Dee said positively."But I'm starving.And it'll only take one second-"Michael looked at Jenny again, and Jenny said, "Oh, give it to her so we canget out," and looked back into the black corridor for the eyes.The candypeanuts had been okay; she supposed this would be.She could hear the sound ofSummer putting the quarter in and turning the handle, and then the patter offalling M&M's."I hope I didn't get a lot of green ones," Summer said.Dee said, "I'll open it.Never mind why, Summer.""Just don't put your hand in," Audrey said, and Jenny turned around in timeto see the look Dee gave Audrey.Then the candies were spilling into Dee's hand- and Dee gave a kind of yelpthat made Jenny forget everything and run to her.Her mind had plenty of time to instantaneously flash over all the horriblethings that might have come out of that machine.Dead buss, red-hot pennies,blobs of acid.Why hadn't she thought-? But she was still a step away when shesaw the answer gleaming in the pile of candy on Dee's palm."Five brown ones, four yellows, two greens, one red, and a gold coin,"Michael said coolly, assessing the pile."Not bad."Jenny just beat Dee gently on the back."Put it somewhere safe," Dee said, and Jenny plucked it from the mound andPage 74ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlheld it tightly, feeling its coolness before it warmed in her hand.She rubbedher thumb against the engraving.When she opened her hand again, the coin wasas rich and shiny as molten gold straight from the forge.Then she put it in her shirt pocket and buttoned the flap."Come on, let'sgo.We did it, we did everything we could here.Summer and a coin." She smiledat Summer, who was looking utterly mystified."We'll explain outside."Summer accepted the pile of M&M's from Dee and looked somewhat comforted.They all began to go through the revolving door.It would only take one at a time, and Jenny pushed Summer in front of her.Then she stepped into the next segment of the iron cage and pushed briskly onthe thick metal arms, to get out of the fun house as soon as possible.Betweenthe moving arms she could see only darkness-it was pitch black outside, andshe couldn't even glimpse Summer's hair.She knew something was wrong even before she stepped out.This wasn't the outside.It was a room.And the others weren't with her,because she couldn't see any flashlights.God, where am I now?She reached behind her and wasn't at all surprised not to find the iron armsof the revolving door.She was somewhere with no light and no exit.And now I suppose I see the eyes.Instead, a small shimmering light went on, and she saw a boy in a blackduster jacket."Julian?" He looked so different."Julian!"Jenny ran toward him, joining him in the shadows.He didn't move an inch tocome toward her.It was the first time she'd ever been glad to see him.But she was glad:happiness was blossoming like a flower inside her, petals opening frantically.She stopped in front of him, breathless and triumphant."It was you, wasn't it? You gave us Summer back.""I gave you Summer back [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]