Read Online Ripped by Shelly Dickson Carr - Free Book Online

which was a bright whitish-grey. Leading up to the Stone from the entrance was a broad, squishy line of footprints tracked across a long mat, like an Oscar-night red carpet.
    Toby strode toward her. “Beware of pots and dishes . . .” he said in a dead-serious voice, reaching out his hand to stop her from touching the Stone.
    Katie jerked back her hand. It wasn’t possible to touch the Stone, nestled on top of the well, because it was encased in a prickly, wire-mesh cage. What had startled Katie were the words “pots and dishes.”
    Please don ’ t let “ pots and dishes ” mean wishes , Katie thought, peering at Toby, who seemed to have an uncanny ability to read her mind.
    â€œHuh?” Collin sputtered, stumbling through the doorway, following close on Toby’s heels. “Pots and dishes? Er . . . ya mean bitches?”
    â€œJust an expression, mate. ‘Beware of what you wish for, because it might—’”
    â€œ ‘Come true,’ ” Katie finished his sentence.
    Toby’s eyes fastened on Katie’s and didn’t waver.
    Collin tugged on his lower lip with his thumb and forefinger. “You don’t . . . really . . . believe the legend, right? I mean . . . you weren’t going to try—”
    Katie flinched. “Of course not.”
    Collin was pinching his lip out so far that Katie wanted to swat his hand from his mouth, like Aunt Pru always did, but resisted. It was a nervous habit. Collin couldn’t help it.
    â€œOf course, I don’t believe in the legend,” Katie answered, inching around the London Stone, which appeared from this angle to be rising up out of the well. No muddy footprints straggled around the back of the well, and as she followed it around, she ran her hand over the small, waist-high rocks jutting out just below its rim, rough and flinty against her palm like the boundary walls surrounding Grandma Cleaves’s garden.
    As she came to the back, Katie heard a weird sort of thrashing sound and glanced over her shoulder. Behind her was a solid, cinder-block wall.
    â€œIt’s a rum thing about this bleedin’ Stone,” said Toby, following her around the well. His voice was jovial and light, but there were deep furrows in his forehead. “Legend has it that those who believe, truly believe , can rewrite history. Change the past.”
    Katie nodded. “Most historians think the Stone was part of a pre-Roman stone circle.”
    â€œLike Stonehenge,” Collin muttered, tugging at his lip so that the word Stonehenge came out sounding like sternage. “Thousands of people flock to Stonehenge at the summer solstice. I’ve seen it on the telly. They do all those weird dances and chanting.”
    Toby frowned. “The London Stone has nothing to do with Neolithic stone circles. It’s the stone of Brutus, part of a Druid altar. That ’ s what historians believe.”
    â€œSo it was used for . . . sacrificial stuff?” Collin’s red brows rose. “Cool!”
    â€œOr creepy,” Katie said. “But you’re wrong.” Katie glanced at Toby. She had done a lot of research on the London Stone. The only thing that historians did agree on was the fact that the Stone had resided in London as far back as written records existed, along with the fable — or curse—that if the Stone were ever to leave London, the city would instantly cease to exist.
    â€œSign over there says it could be the stone King Arthur drew his sword from.” Collin let go of his lip and puffed out his freckled cheeks.
    Toby’s eyes fastened on Katie with an odd watchfulness.
    Katie took a step closer to the Stone, and the room suddenly filled with darting light. Shadows chased one another around the Stone— not unusual , Katie thought. This was Madame Tussauds, after all, known for its weird special effects. But what was that strange