The Passage to Mythrin 2-Book Bundle Read Free Page B

roll in half and stabbed his knife into the mustard jar. “She hates Dunstone. She hates me!”
    â€œShe doesn’t hate you at all. She’s just at a funny age. Probably isn’t sure who or what she is, half the time.”
    â€œI’m the same age and I’m not like that!” He hacked at the block of cheese.
    â€œEveryone’s different.” She tapped him on the wrist. “Go easy on her, okay?”
    â€œ
Me
go easy on
her
?”
    Before he knew it his sandwich was ready, and so was Ammy’s. He glanced at Celeste. “Will you call her?”
    â€œNo, you call her. Better yet, take it to her.”
    â€œBut she —”
    â€œ
Simon
.”
    He knew that tone of voice. While Celeste poured out a glass of milk, he cut one sandwich in half and put it on a plate. Then he carried the glass and plate out of the kitchen and along the hall to Ammy’s room.
    The door was closed. He knocked. “Ammy? It’s me. You want a sandwich?” He hoped she would say no, or, better yet, throw a shoe or something at the door, so he could go away and say he’d done his best.
    No such luck.

C HAPTER T HREE
T HE R UBY R ING
    As soon as they got back to the apartment, Amelia went to her room and unpacked. As she shoved sweaters into drawers and lined up CDs on her desk, she thought about what to do.
    It ain’t over till it’s over
, she thought. That was one of her dad’s favourite sayings.
Stick to it, girl
— that was something her mother liked to tell her.
    Okay, I’ll stick to it. I won’t give up yet.
    Her laptop was almost the first thing she’d unpacked. She sat down cross-legged on the bed, pulled the laptop close, and opened her mail. Nothing from her parents yet, but they’d given her the email address where they could be reached, once they got to their destination. She addressed a new message.
    Dear Mom and Dad, I hope you get to Huaculamba soon so you can read this. Remember how you said you didn’t want my education interrupted? Well, I have seen the school here and it is tiny! You probably didn’t know that when you sent me here. So I am sure I can get just as good an education in Peru. I can bring textbooks and take online classes. Please let me know as soon as possible when I can come. Love, Ammy.
    Then she backspaced over
Ammy
and typed in
AMELIA
, all in capitals. Her mother remembered to call her that now, most of the time, but her father still insisted on calling her Ammy. Usually Ammy the Something. Ammy the Great. Ammy the Terrible. Ammy the Barbarian, that was his latest.
    â€œI am not a barbarian!” She scowled hideously at the computer screen and attacked the keys again.
btw, don’t get kidnapped or anything and be careful driving on the mountain roads. And please write back soon!! I miss you!!! Lots of love, AMELIA.
    She clicked “Send,” then started a new message.
    Hi Silken! So here I am in an apartment in downtown Dunstone, Ontario. All my worst fears have come true. This place is dire. Luckily I won’tbe here long, I’ll be in Peru soon if I can get my parents to see reason.
    The one cool thing is our apartment building. It’s old and only three floors high, with stores and a bank and a newspaper office on the ground floor and apartments on the top two floors. But nobody lives on the top floor right now, because people keep leaving Dunstone instead of coming here (big surprise) so Granny uses one of the top apartments for storage.
    She stopped, deleted
Granny,
and typed in
Grandmother.
    So, what’s cool, you ask? For one thing, my grandmother owns the building. It even has our name in a stone block over the front door. The Hammer Block, 1922. Also, it has these black iron fire escapes down the sides, just like Audrey Hepburn’s building in that movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, remember? And it has a marble lobby and this really slow, creaky brass elevator, like a