Emma and the Minotaur Read Free Page A

said. “You’re not actually that stupid.”
    When she finished eating, Emma scanned her surroundings as she sipped out of her box of apple juice. There were too many kids and she couldn’t see very far because she wasn’t tall enough. With a sigh, she climbed on top of her chair.
    A carrot stick flew by her head while she looked. From her vantage point, she estimated that she could see maybe two thirds of the students in the cafeteria but that she would miss the boy if he was somewhere on the periphery. If the boy didn’t have any friends, and wanted to avoid company, then he was certain to be somewhere along the edge of the room. She needed to go higher.
    Without thinking, she climbed on top of the table.
    “Emma, what are you doing?” Will said.
    “Looking for someone,” she said absently. A pizza crust sailed past her.
    “Mr Clarence is coming,” Joey said.
    “Who?” Emma said. She spun around in time to see the arrival of the elderly man from before, the one she had run into at the bottom of the stairs.
    “Oh. Hello,” she said.
    “Emma, he’s the principal,” Will said.
    “Oh. Hello, sir.”
    “What is your name, young lady?” Mr Clarence said.
    “Emma, Mr Clarence.”
    “Please get down from there, Emma.”
    “Yes, Mr Clarence.”
    Emma looked for the boy again during the afternoon’s recess period. She climbed up on the slide in the playground and stood at the top like a sentry.
    Over by the basketball courts, Will and his friends were bouncing a ball around. Emma waved to him but he didn’t see her. On the soccer field, there was a gathering of eighth graders. They were hanging around the goal posts. The playground was filled with younger children. They were running about and playing.
    Emma scanned the school in this way for a few minutes. From school building to basketball courts, over to the soccer field, and then to the playground. She saw no sign of the boy. It was like he was invisible.
    When she finally spotted him, it was near the basketball courts. He was watching Will and his friends shoot the ball around. He was standing on the grass beyond the court, leaning under the shade of a tree.
    Emma went down the slide and ran through the playground. She took her eyes off the boy for only a moment but when she reached the basketball courts he was nowhere in sight.
    Will saw her and stopped in mid-dribble.
    “Emma?” he said.
    “Hey, Will.”
    “What are you doing?”
    “Just looking for someone,” she said.
    During dinner that evening, Emma didn’t say much. She was lost in thought trying to figure out how to corner the disappearing boy. She imagined a giant box and a stick with a string tied to it, but she couldn’t think of anything that she could use as bait.
    “Who were you looking for today, Emma?” Will said, interrupting her imaginings.
    “A boy,” she said.
    “A boy?”
    Mr Wilkins arched an eyebrow. He was at his normal place at the head of the table. Will was to his right while Emma was sitting at the other end.
    She snapped to attention. “Not like that!” she said. “There is a boy in my class and I think he has powers.”
    “Powers?”
    Emma nodded. “One, at least. I’ve been trying to become his friend and he keeps disappearing.”
    “I don’t blame him,” Will said.
    “I’m serious!”
    She was about to explain her failed attempts to catch the boy when a peculiar idea occurred to her.
    “Dad, what if Andrew Milligan disappeared on purpose,” she said, “just like this boy does? What if they both have powers?”
    “Like maybe they’re wizards?” Will said.
    “Yeah!” Emma said. “Maybe that’s it. Maybe they’re both wizards.”
    “Now,” Mr Wilkins said, “while that’s entirely possible, maybe there’s another, more reasonable explanation. Do you know the boy’s name?”
    “No,” Emma said. “How can I find out his name if I can’t even talk to him?”
    “Don’t they take attendance at Briardale?”
    “Brilliant, Dad!” Emma