The Dark Lord's Demise Read Free Page B

door. If only! The white robe, the glow of his face that
was young yet ageless, the brightness beyond sunlight dancing
from his powerful figure as he laughed and opened his arms in
welcome ...
    The bell sounded a third time. Wes turned the knob and swung the door open. He stared. He didn't know exactly who or what he
had expected to see, but the sight of an ordinary girl about Lisa's
age surprised him.

    The girl grinned at Wes. In a rather loud voice she announced,
"Hi! I'm Betty Riggs. I'm your new neighbor." Her attitude was so
bold and confident, Wes thought she must be older than she
looked, closer to his own age. Number Five: Go meet new neighbor kid,
he thought. The new neighbor had beaten them to it and come to
meet them.
    Betty Riggs raised her eyebrows. "Well, aren't you going to invite
me in?" It was more a statement than a question, especially since
she was already halfway across the threshold as she spoke. Automatically Wes opened the door wider and moved out of the way to
let the visitor in. He wasn't sure what to say. It didn't matter
because the new neighbor kept talking. "We only moved in yesterday. I couldn't help but notice there were kids about my age who
lived here. I hope you don't think I'm nosy, but a person is naturally curious about who else lives on the block. I'll bet you go to
River Heights School, right? You didn't see me there today. I didn't
go. We're still unpacking. So what are your names?"
    "My names?" Wes was confused. He thought Betty wanted his
first, middle and last names. He noticed she was focused on something behind him. He turned to see Lisa and Kurt watching with
curious expressions. Kurt leaned on his wooden sword.
    Wes got his voice back. "I'm Wes, and that's my sister, Lisa, and
my brother, Kurt. Uh-Friesen. Our last name's Friesen."
    Betty looked unhappy at this news. Her sour expression irritated Lisa. What was so bad about the last name Friesen? Betty
said, "Oh, then you're just visiting here. The name on the mailbox said McNab. I hoped there were other people my age who
lived here-"
    "We do live here," Lisa insisted. "With our Uncle John and Aunt
Eleanor McNab." Her own defensiveness startled her. Wes shot
her a look that asked What's wrong with you? Lisa decided she didn't
care. They had enough problems right now without a nosy new
neighbor on top of everything else.
    If Betty felt the lack of welcome in Lisa's voice, she gave no sign of it. "Oh, you live with your aunt and uncle. Then your parents
are-

    "Diplomats," Kurt said quickly. He was positive the visitor was
about to say "separated" or "divorced." He didn't want to hear
either of those words.
    Betty surveyed the hallway. She acted like a building inspector in
search of an excuse to condemn the place. "Looks like this house is
laid out basically the same as ours. The parlor's in here, right?" She
walked into that room as she said the words. "Of course, our house is
bigger. Your parlor is really small compared to ours."
    "I'll bet it only looks smaller," Lisa retorted as she and her
brother and sister followed Betty into the room. "You notice it's
packed full of things our parents have brought back from all over
the world." Right away Lisa wanted to kick herself for the remark.
It only encouraged their visitor to snoop more.
    Betty started to inspect Fred and Jane Friesen's souvenirs. Most
of the objects met with her obvious disapproval. "That's a funnylooking piece of junk," she would say, and "Where'd they get this
ugly thing?" and even "I'll bet they paid too much for this. Looks
like a fake to me." When Betty picked up a fragile vase, flipped it
over and examined the bottom, Wes said, "Watch out! The only
way our parents can replace these things is to go back where they
got them."
    "And some of those places, we wouldn't want them going back
to," Kurt added.
    Betty smirked. "Sounds like your parents are the travelers in the
family. Haven't the three of you been to any