Humbug Holiday Read Free

Wrong-o!
    Frankie and I found out the hard way that these gates do work. Only not in any normal regular everyday way. No, no. If a book happens to go through these gates, a weird blue blinding bright light flashes out.
    Sound impossible?
    Of course, it’s impossible! And even more impossible is what happens next. The wall behind the gates cracks open—that’s right—it cracks open, and the book gets sucked right through the crack! And suddenly you find yourself getting sucked right through after it!
    Believe it!
    It’s happened to Frankie and me a couple of times.
    And each time it happens, we get all tumbled and rumbled and wumbled around and finally get thrown out smack dab in the first chapter of the book.
    That’s right. Frankie and me—in the book!
    It’s crazy. It’s impossible. It’s ultraweird.
    But it happens.
    So far, we’ve been lucky enough to make it back out again. But we’ve had to read our way to the last page every time. That’s why we know the books so well and how we get good grades.
    Anyway, I found the glue and went back to the table, pulling up a chair. “Move over a bit,” I said. “I want to see the book.”
    Frankie pulled the book away, with a sudden sly look in her eye that I didn’t like. “I’ll share the book if you share your cookies.”
    â€œHa, I don’t think so!” I said.
    â€œThen, I don’t think you can see the book,” she said.
    â€œBut it’s not the same,” I protested. “If you share the book with me, the book is still there. But if I share my cookies with you, those cookies are gone.”
    Frankie frowned. “They belong to the Christmas Banquet, anyway. They’re for other people to eat.”
    â€œOther people like you?” I said. “I don’t think so.”
    â€œI only want one.”
    â€œThen show me the book.”
    â€œNot without a cookie!”
    â€œNot without the book!”
    I made a grab for the book. She tried to seize my pack. Our arms got tangled. Our hands collided. And the next thing we knew the book was flying up in the air.
    â€œGet it!” Frankie screamed.
    We both jumped for the book. Too late.
    The book fell right between the zapper gates.
    Zzzzz — kkkkk — zzzzzt! The room flashed with a sudden bright blue light that practically charred my eyeballs. We were thrown to the floor. Then everything quaked and the back wall cracked open and it sucked us through the gates and we tumbled and rolled and fell and bounced down, down, down, and finally out onto a dirty, dark street on a dirty, dark night.
    Thick yellow fog rolled over us.
    Frankie sat up next to me. We looked at each other.
    â€œUm, sorry about the tussle for the cookies,” she said.
    â€œMe, too, for the book,” I said.
    We looked around at where we were.
    â€œDo you want to say it, or should I?” she asked.
    I groaned. “In the spirit of sharing, I have to say it’s probably your turn. Go ahead.”
    Frankie drew in a sharp breath, then said it.
    â€œWe’re in a book—again!”

Chapter 3
    I stood up and peered through the fog.
    The blue light had faded and the zapper gates were gone. So was the crack in the wall we’d come through.
    â€œWell, so far, so weird,” I grumbled. “We’re totally in the book now. I hope it’s a good one.”
    Frankie scooped the thin red book up from the street. “And I hope it’s not too dark to read.”
    It nearly was.
    The street we were in was narrow, but the fog was so thick that we barely saw the buildings on the other side.
    â€œOkay, we’re in some city, probably at night,” I said. “An old city, with lots of old stone buildings. We’re definitely not in Palmdale anymore.”
    â€œNot likely,” she said, flipping open to the title page. “It says here the book was published in London. That’s in