The House of Puzzles Read Free Page B

flying as he was slammed onto the muddy ground,
jolting his injured arm. Lights burst inside Gerald’s eyes, a barrage of fireworks
detonating in his brain. A knee crushed into his chest, squeezing out whatever air
remained in his lungs.
    Gerald tried to move but strong hands held him down. Another shunt on his shoulder
and he howled in agony.
    Then a voice sounded in Gerald’s ear.
    ‘Do not go out for the Triple Crown.’
    The voice was haggard, short of breath.
    ‘Do not go out for the Triple Crown or you’re dead.’
    Gerald’s eyes popped open in surprise. In the dark he could barely make out the cloth
that shrouded his face. Gerald had been terrorised before. But this voice in his
ear, threatening his life, was truly astonishing.
    It was a boy.
    Gerald stopped struggling and lay back in the muck. The cold crept through his clothes
like a million burrowing ice worms.
    ‘D’you understand?’ The voice demanded an answer. ‘Do not try for the Triple Crown.’
    Gerald nodded. But with his head inside a bag, his attacker could not see the response.
    ‘Well?’ The boy pushed harder against Gerald’s shoulder.
    Gerald cried out. ‘Yes!’ Then he swore, a broad Australian curse that would strip
the paint from the back of a ute.
    ‘Good,’ the boy said.
    Then the knee lifted from Gerald’s chest and the hands released his shoulders.
    Gerald sat up and pulled the bag from his head. It took him a moment to realise it
was a pillowcase. He blinked to clear his vision and looked to a gap in the trees.
But, in the smudgy darkness of a winter’s evening, there was no sign of his attacker.

    ‘Someone seriously blindfolded you with this?’ Sam held up the pillowcase. It was
still soiled with mud and rotting leaves from Gerald’s roll in the mire.
    ‘Yep,’ Gerald said. ‘I couldn’t see a thing.’ The clatter of knives and forks on
plates rang around the cavernous dining hall where Gerald, Sam, Felicity and Ruby,
along with the rest of the year nine students of St Cuthbert’s and St Hilda’s, were
eating their evening meals.
    ‘But it’s got Hello Kitty all over it,’ Sam said. He screwed up his face. ‘Who threatens
somebody with a Hello Kitty pillowcase? It’s not natural.’
    Felicity nibbled on a carrot stick and frowned at Gerald. ‘And you’re not going to
tell a teacher about this?’ she said. ‘This is just the type of bullying that Dr
Crispin was talking about. You could have rebroken your collarbone, or worse. Don’t
you agree, Ruby?’
    Ruby held a forkful of macaroni cheese in front of her mouth and shrugged. ‘In my
experience, getting Gerald to do anything sensible is like trying to teach a monkey
to read or a crocodile to see reason. It doesn’t matter how much you tell him to
do the smart thing, he’ll just go ahead and do the boy thing. It’s genetic—it’s what
they do. Besides, as if anyone would actually kill him just for taking part in some
school camp challenge.’
    ‘That’s ridiculous,’ Felicity said. ‘He was attacked. He was threatened. He was—’
    ‘Blindfolded with a Hello Kitty pillowcase,’ Sam said, interrupting. ‘Do you really
think Gerald wants everyone to know that he’s frightened of someone who attacked
him with a brushed-cotton pussycat?’
    Felicity regarded Sam blankly. ‘You are kidding, aren’t you? He won’t report it because
it will somehow make him look like a bit of a wuss?’
    ‘Actually,’ Sam said, shoving a spoon-load of peas into his mouth, ‘it would make
him look a colossal wuss. A prize princess. He may as well dress in a lilac tutu
with matching tiara for the next ten weeks.’
    Felicity looked to Ruby in exasperation, but Ruby just laughed. ‘It’s simple mathematics,
Flicka,’ Ruby said. ‘Boy equals stupid.’
    Felicity turned her frustration back onto Gerald. He held up both his hands, as if
defending a punch. ‘What do you want me to do?’ he asked. ‘I have no idea who attacked
me. I didn’t see a