The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe Read Free Page B

‘Stuff’ doesn’t even exist anymore. That , to me, is spooky.”
    The illustration on the cover was a sketchy pen-and-ink image of a shadowy attic room. A group of girls clothed in tattered dresses stood in a line, reaching out with clawlike fingernails. He thought it was pretty cool that his grandmother had been able to come up with something so macabre.
    “Go on. Read it. I dare you.”
    “Thanks,” said Gabe, tucking it under his arm. “I think.” He wasn’t sure it was the sort of book that would help him get back to sleep, but he didn’t want to offend her.
    Elyse moved toward the window and stared out at the moonlit meadow, turning her back on him.
    He realized that this was the first real conversation they’d had since he’d come to stay at Temple House. She’d been so busy helping with the baby, with the organizing, with the stress. “Why were you sitting down here in the dark?” he asked.
    “You weren’t the only one who couldn’t sleep,” she said, glancing at him from over her shoulder. “When I’m up late, I come in here and watch the night.” She sighed. “Sometimes it watches me back.”
    Gabe shuddered. “And that doesn’t, like, freak you out?”
    She glanced over her shoulder. “Freak me out?” She smiled, nodding at the collection of oddities that filled her shelves. “In case you can’t tell, it takes quite a lot to ‘freak me out,’ Gabriel.”
    “Where did you get all of it?” Gabe picked up a stone figurine from a small collection. The humanoid figures all wore long cloaks. Their postures were static, erect, almost monklike.
    “Here and there,” said Elyse. “New York thrift stores. Massachusetts junk shops. Flea markets and yard sales all over New England.”
    Gabe held up the figurine. “I think Seth Hopper has one just like this,” he said. “I saw it at his house the other day. Standing on a shelf in the spare bedroom.”
    Elyse was silent for a moment, then said, “How funny.” She deliberately took the object from him and placed it back on the shelf. Gabe felt like he’d made a mistake by mentioning it. “A couple years ago, I remember purchasing five of these little men at a comic book store where I was doing a signing. But now, there are only four. Apparently, one simply walked off.” She gazed directly into Gabe’s eyes. “Isn’t that the strangest thing?”
    “Yeah,” said Gabe. Was she implying that Seth had somehow taken it from this room? How was that possible? Seth had never mentioned entering Temple House. “Really strange.”
    Elyse nodded at the book under Gabe’s arm. “You found what you were looking for. Better hurry back to bed, before the monsters under your mattress realize you’re still awake.”

AFTER THE ROBBER PRINCES RETURNED the blonde baby to her parents, the kingdom of Haliath rejoiced, but Wraithen and Meatpie only allowed themselves to feel a fleeting victory. They were certain that the Hunter was still out there in the dark forest of Howler’s Notch, watching, waiting, plotting to lure them into the shadows once again.
    And so, early the next day, they met at the forest edge, where Wraithen’s territory gave way to wilderness. The morning air was warm and damp. A canopy of silvery leaves towered high above, providing a cool, if temporary, shade. The boys listened to the woods. Critters scurried through ground brush. Birds called playfully to one another from across the rocky cradle of land beyond which stood the Kingdom of Chicken Guts. That the forest was so vocal was a good sign. No animals were hiding from predators.
    “I received a tip,” said Wraithen, shouldering his pack and starting into the forest, “from an archer who went to retrieve a lost arrow.”
    Meatpie followed reluctantly. “Why would an archer risk entering these woods for a stupid old arrow?”
    Wraithen threw him a dirty look. “I don’t know why . He just did. He said he found an altar of some sort—a pile of rocks next to a tree with