Read Online Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror by Jennifer Finney Boylan - Free Book Online Page B

forth. It’d be spring, probably, before they found the bodies. That’s what the police had said. The water was so cold, because of the bitter winter, that it wasn’t safe to send down a search team, not until spring. She hoped the bodies wouldn’t drift too far in the meantime, although who knows? Carrabec Pond was known for its mysterious undercurrents and underground springs. By summer the bodies could be anywhere.
    â€œIt’s a beautiful night,” said a voice, and Gamm cried out.
    â€œDear God,” she said. “Don’t sneak up on a person like that. Who is it?”
    A figure was standing at the bottom of the hill, wrapped up in a tattered cloak. “Forgive me,” it said with a silvery voice. “I was just admiring the night stars. Have you seen Cygnus? The Swan? My favorite group of stars.So tranquil, for those whose minds are troubled.”
    â€œWho are you?” said Gamm. “I don’t know you.”
    â€œForgive me,” said the stranger. “I come from away .”
    â€œThis is private property,” said Gamm. “I don’t like strangers here.”
    â€œWhere I come from,” the soft voice said, “strangers are always welcome.”
    â€œWell, maybe you should go back there,” said Gamm. “Stop creeping up on people.”
    â€œAh, perhaps,” said the figure. “But then, I don’t consider myself a stranger, Mrs. Quinn.”
    Gamm’s eyes grew suddenly wide. “I know you!” she said, and her voice trembled.
    The figure stepped closer. It had piercing blue eyes. “Mrs. Quinn,” it said. “We need the boy.”
    â€œMy grandson’s dead ,” said Gamm. “He fell through the ice right here!”
    The figure smiled. “They made it look like an accident, then. Typical of their kind, isn’t it?”
    â€œWho?” said Gamm. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œThe ones who have taken him,” said the figure. “The boy can stop them. Does that provide you some solace, Mrs. Quinn? I know they are not unknown to you. There was a time when they took you as well. Didn’t they?”
    Gamm’s lower jaw moved up and down. She hadn’tput her teeth in. “They—did,” she said. “Then they threw me away. They said I did not— fit .”
    â€œFalcon will put an end to them, Mrs. Quinn,” said the figure. “He has that power, although he does not yet know how to use it.”
    â€œI want to help him stop them,” said Gamm. “I want to help my grandson!”
    â€œWell, there is one thing you can do for him,” said the figure, pulling a long, blunt object from beneath its cloak and starting to laugh.
    â€œWhat?” said Gamm. “Tell me!”
    â€œYou can die , Mrs. Quinn.”
    It was snowing: fat, luminous flakes that shone like stars and danced as they fell. Everything in the world shone like that, if you looked at it with the right pair of eyes. She hadn’t thought about this before, but Gamm thought about it now, as the world exploded, and something within her began to shine.
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    There was a crashing sound, then a roar. Falcon opened his eyes. He was in a dark place. The roar came again, the piteous wailing of some tragic, enraged beast. Falcon sat up, his black eye throbbing. He was in his bed in the Tower of Aberrations. He looked over at the door. There, surrounded by dim light from the hallway, was a giant, hideous figure. It roared again, and the sound made Falcon’s ears ring.
    Then it stepped forward into the room. The door closed behind it.
    Falcon was surrounded once more by darkness, but now the darkness contained this roaring, terrible thing—a violent, lurching presence that was now stumbling around the room. It was hard to tell whether it was angry or just lost. Falcon heard things smashing onto the floor. There was a crash as a wooden chair near the window was