The Secret Read Free Page A

left on the road? Did he say anything?”
    â€œNo, Mama,” said Jonathan softly. “There was no innkeeper. There is … no one.”
    Jane leaned forward, her eyes burning into his. She chewed her lower lip. “Jonathan, what do you mean?”
    â€œEveryone is dead,” said Jonathan. “Everyone. There is no one left alive in the whole town.”
    Jane gasped. She started to say something, but Ezrareturned. He climbed up beside Jonathan on the box and, without saying a word, cracked the reins. The wagon lurched forward with a jolt.
    â€œEzra?” cried Jane. “What is it? Where is everyone? What did you find out?”
    â€œPlague,” Ezra answered flatly, narrowing his eyes and staring straight ahead. “No survivors.”
    â€œAnd the Goodes?”
    â€œWe shall soon see,” Ezra said.
    Ezra drove the wagon out of town, the wooden wheels bouncing over the rutted dirt road. He said nothing. His expression remained set, hard and thoughtful.
    He didn’t slow the horses until they came to a farmhouse. It was a wooden saltbox house, smaller than the magistrate’s, but still two stories tall with a small attic. A brick chimney ran through the middle of the house. A shed connected the kitchen to a big barn.
    Ezra pulled the wagon up to the door of the house and stopped the horse.
    Is this the Goodes’ house? Jonathan wondered. Will they be dead, too? Will they be alive?
    Ezra lowered himself to the ground and made his way to the door. He knocked. Three solid knocks.
    And waited.
    No answer.
    Jonathan watched his father open the door and step inside. “Jonathan,” Jane whispered, giving him a shove. “Go with him.”
    Jonathan climbed down from the wagon. Abigail slipped out, too, before her mother could stop her. They followed Ezra into the farmhouse.
    Stepping into the front parlor, Jonathan’s eyesexplored the room. He was somewhat surprised to find it neat and tidy. He saw no sign of anyone, dead or alive. It felt as if the people who lived there had left.
    â€œHello?” he called. But he was not surprised when he received no answer.
    â€œThey must be here!” Ezra exclaimed with emotion. “They
must!
I will not rest until I see their rotting corpses with my own eyes.”
    Ezra ran up the stairs. Standing in the parlor with his sister, Jonathan could hear his father’s frantic footsteps above him.
    Ezra ran from room to room. Jonathan then heard Ezra climb up to the attic. When Ezra returned, he ran past the children as if not seeing them. Jonathan heard him as he explored the large common room, the shed, and the barn.
    A few minutes later Ezra returned to the parlor, his face purple with rage.
    â€œPapa, what
is
it?” Jonathan cried.

Chapter 4

    â€œT hey are gone!” Ezra screamed. “A plague has killed everyone in Wickham—
but the Goodes have escaped!”
    Jane Fier ran into the house with Rachel in her arms. “Please, Ezra,” she pleaded, tugging at her husband’s sleeve. “We must leave this horrible place. The Goodes are not here. We must leave!”
    Ezra shook her off. “No,” he replied firmly. “We will stay here, Jane. The Goodes lived here not long ago. Somewhere in this house there will be a clue to tell us where they have gone.”
    He made his way to a desk in the corner and started digging through the drawers.
    Jane followed him, weeping. “Ezra, we cannot stay here! We cannot! We cannot stay here all alone with only corpses for neighbors!”
    â€œWife—” Ezra started.
    â€œThink of your children!” Jane cried, holding the baby against her chest.
    â€œSilence!” Ezra screamed, pushing her away. He glared furiously at her. Jonathan trembled when he saw that mad gleam in his father’s eyes.
    â€œI have heard enough from you, Jane!” Ezra cried sternly. “No more pleading and no more questions! From now on I expect