Read Online How to Live Forever by Colin Thompson - Free Book Online Page B

the rubbish on the steps, but there was no going back.
    The tenth level seemed almost deserted. Something scurried off through the debris that was piled up against the bottom of all the books. A way off round the gallery there was a fire burning and a group of dark figures standing around it. Peter and Festival tried to keep to the shadows so the figures wouldn’t see them, but a dog that had been by the fire caught their scent and ran towards them barking.
    â€˜Who’s that?’ shouted one of the figures as Peter and Festival ran up the stairs to the eleventh level.
    None of the figures followed them. Looking down, Peter could see them gathered round the foot of the stairs, yet no one, not even the dog, lifted a foot onto the first step.
    â€˜Who were they?’ said Peter.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ said Festival. ‘My dad says criminals and madmen live up here, where no one will come after them or bother them.’
    The ground beneath their feet was no longer bright soft grass. Now it was unkempt weeds and brambles that scratched the children’s legs as they picked their way through them. There were no signs of life, though in the tangle of plants, there were bits of rusty machinery and bright flashes ofbones. They were too hidden to tell if they were human or animal, but something had picked them clean. Neither Peter nor Festival wanted to stop and find out what.
    â€˜Well, there doesn’t seem to be anyone alive up here,’ said Peter as they walked round to the next staircase.
    He had spoken too soon.
    â€˜Dinner,’ said a voice. ‘Easy come too.’
    A door flew open ahead of them, hitting the handrail and blocking their way. Another slammed open behind them. They were caught between two books whose open doorways held only darkness.
    â€˜The rarest,’ said another voice. ‘Children. Too good to cook.’
    â€˜Yes, yes, eat them alive,’ said the first.
    â€˜Oh yes, keep them alive,’ said the second. ‘Just cut off what we need each day.’
    â€˜Yes, yes. Done properly, you can keep them going for over a week, before the pain kills them off.’
    â€˜Tongues out first, to stop the screaming.’
    â€˜Long time since I ate a tongue,’ said the first voice. ‘Best bit, that.’
    â€˜Hands is nice,’ said the second voice. ‘Boiling tar on the stumps to stop the bleeding.’
    Peter and Festival threw their arms round each other and held tight. The two open doorways besidethem were as black as night. The voices were coming from inside one of the two books, but they couldn’t see anyone.
    â€˜Can’t see us, can they?’ said the first voice.
    â€˜No,’ said the second. ‘Even less chance when we eat their eyes.’
    â€˜Eyes is good too, not as good as tongues but better than hands.’
    â€˜Not as good as brains though, specially if you tip the head up and suck them out the ear.’
    â€˜Oh, I loves brains.’
    â€˜Do you think eating brains makes you cleverer?’
    â€˜S’pose it depends on how clever the person was whose brain you’re eating.’
    â€˜I never thought of that.’
    â€˜Maybe, if they be really stupid, you might get less clever.’
    â€˜I never thought of that either. You are a clever boy,’ said the first voice. ‘Mummy’s very proud of you. Maybe we better give them some sort of exam before we eats their brains so we can see if they’re stupid or clever.’
    â€˜Good idea,’ said the second voice. ‘Hey, children, boy first, what’s two times the square root of four?’
    â€˜Eighty-three,’ said Peter, thinking if he got the answer wrong, they might not kill him.
    â€˜Correct,’ said the second voice.
    â€˜No it isn’t,’ said Festival, looking from door to door.
    â€˜Can’t tell which door we’re in, can they?’ said the first