Read Online Along Came a Wolf (The Yellow Hoods, #1): Steampunk meets Fairy Tale by Adam Dreece - Free Book Online

the horseman at the back.
    Tee ran off to join Elly behind some bushes.
    LeLoup’s horseman slowly dropped his pistol, dismounted his horse, and put his hands in the air.
    LeLoup glared at the man in disbelief. “What are you doing, fool?”
    The horseman looked back and forth between LeLoup and the Cochon brothers, who were closing in. “I am not going to die,” he replied.
    “Leave,” commanded Bakon to the horseman. “Never come back to this town.”
    The horseman turned and started to run. LeLoup grabbed for his pistol only to realize that he’d lost it. Spotting the horseman's gun on the ground, LeLoup dove, grabbed it, and fired. 
    As the horseman fell to the ground, LeLoup threw something into the air, covered his head, and closed his eyes.
    Tee and Elly heard a loud boom and the sound of a terrified horse running off. The clearing in front of the house was filled with smoke and dust.
    “What happened?” shouted Elly, her ears ringing. “Are they… are they dead?”
    Tee tried to detect any signs of life. There was only dusty silence. Frantic with worry, she turned to Elly. “They can’t be.”
    The smoke cleared a little. Someone stood in the middle of the clearing. A deep, dark laughter pierced the air.
    “There!” said Tee, hopefully.
    “Hahahaha. Oh my!” said LeLoup with triumphant joy. “You almost had me. I have to admit… what a good job you did getting under my skin! All those stories I’d heard about the Tub …When the stories of this day spread, everyone will come to know that you’re just like everyone else, and that Andre LeLoup disproved the legends. Well played, though. You had almost won.
    “But you thought yourself smarter than you are, Monsieur Klaus. You may be an inventor of sorts—and a member of the Tub—but you are nothing compared to me. I am a master of getting things done,” said LeLoup triumphantly.
    Bore, Bakon, and Squeals had been blown backward and lost their weapons, having taken the brunt of the explosion. Nikolas was on his hands and knees in the dirt, still stunned by the blast. 
    The girls saw LeLoup standing over him, slowly taking out the supplies he needed to reload his pistol. LeLoup was enjoying the moment and taking his time.
    “We’ve got to do something,” said Tee, looking around. The ringing in her ears was fading. “We don’t have long. What can we do?”
    “Um, um, um” said Elly, bouncing up and down nervously. “Should we run out there?”
    “No,” said Tee. “My grandfather would never forgive me. We’ve got to be smart.” Tee grabbed her slingshot. “Elly, find me a stone? It’s got to be—”
    “I know the size,” she answered, scrambling. “Isn’t that an impossible distance?”
    “We’ll find out,” said Tee, trying to block the panic that was building up inside of her.
    Bore clutched the ground as if it would stop the dizziness. He looked over at Squeals, who was knocked out cold. Bakon, nearby, was fighting hard to recover. His face had a blind determination on it that brought Bore back to the moment when the brothers had been abandoned, and Bakon had promised them that they’d be fine.
    LeLoup finished reloading the pistol and tucked it into his belt. He then crouched down and playfully looked into Klaus’s eyes. “You know that little boom I made, old man? I invented it. Well—I stole some parts from a man of no consequence and made it better. I gave it more force! But the real beauty is in the sound it makes. That ringing in your ears—the feeling of your head spinning? That’s the masterpiece. I hope you appreciate it.”
    Reaching into his own ear, LeLoup pulled out some tightly wrapped cotton. “But that beauty is easily defeated, if you know how. Otherwise, this”— he gestured at Nikolas—“happens to you. Now, where were we?” He stood up and grabbed the pistol from his belt.
    “I can’t find a good one!” said Elly. “How can there not be a single smooth stone?”
    “ Keep looking!