The Secret Life of Owen Skye Read Free

chance. Andy found the coal chute and they ran all the way out.
    They had completely forgotten the hammer. But it didn’t matter because Horace had managed to pull his leg out on his own. He wasn’t hurt, but the hole was still there. And the bed was soaked.
    They pushed the bed into the corner, and Margaret put the big corn pot in the middle of the room to catch the rain that was now pouring in.
    The hole stayed in their bedroom roof for some days before Horace hired a man to plug it up properly. Owen loved to lie in bed and look up at the stars, to see possibilities where there had only been wood before. He thought a lot about his grandfather, of all the places the brass jar had sailed to around the world, and how nice it was that there might be a special spirit looking out for him. And he was able to forgive himself for almost burning down the house, because he’d had the courage to try to save his father by facing the Bog Man. He didn’t tell anyone for the longest time, but kept it kindling inside him like a small fire that was all his own.

The Bog Man’s Wife
    THERE WAS A HAUNTED house near the Skyes’ farmhouse. It was in the woods beside the bull’s field, and because it was haunted it was completely deserted.
    No one knew why the deserted house was in the middle of the woods. Trees hadn’t been cleared, except where the building was. The front door was nailed shut but the window beside it was easy to climb through, and the sign warning people away had fallen down and had moss over it.
    The house had never been finished. Inside they had to climb the beams to get to the second floor, and the walls were open. They could look from room to room and see where the electrical wires were supposed to go, the pipes and the furnace vents. Owen found a doorknob on the floor and Andy found a bone-handled knife with a rusty blade that he oiled and sharpened back into shape. Leonard found a clawhammer with one broken prong. There were rusty nails lying around, and odd bits of wood.
    And right in the middle of what was going to be the living room sat a red couch.
    There was something secret and scary about the red couch. Every time they visited, it looked like someone had been sitting in it. That’s how they knew the house was haunted, and why they would only go during the day and never stay long.
    Weeks passed, the days grew colder, and then it was Halloween. Owen was the family superhero Doom Monkey the Unpredictable, Andy was Frankenstein, and Leonard was a Living Corpse. It was the first Halloween they were allowed to go out by themselves, if they stayed together, and Andy thought they should do something terrifying so they would remember it. Owen thought that was a great idea. But Leonard was scared. He didn’t even like going to the haunted house in the daytime.
    Leonard finally agreed to go if Andy gave him all his chocolate bars and took Leonard’s unshelled peanuts. They made the exchange on the road and then Leonard insisted on eating two of his chocolate bars right away.
    He finished them, then had a third, but was still scared.
    â€œI’ll wait here while you guys go!”
    â€œCome on!” Andy said. “You agreed! You took my chocolate bars!”
    Leonard did his best to get out of it, but the chocolate was on his face and he had to go. He whimpered along the path in the woods to the haunted house. Andy was in front with Owen’s Indian Brave flashlight, which was working again, though the batteries were low. Leonard was in the middle so he couldn’t run away.
    It was a cold night and the darkness in the woods was almost as deep as the darkness in the basement. Leonard held onto Andy’s chainlink Frankenstein belt until they were going so slowly that Andy turned around and shone the light straight into Leonard’s eyes.
    â€œDon’t!” Leonard said.
    â€œWell, hurry up!” said Andy.