Read Online Ripped by Shelly Dickson Carr - Free Book Online Page B

tugged angrily at the tear in the wire mesh, widening it. I don ’ t just want to see my sister for a week or two every summer. I want her in my life!
    Katie squeezed her eyes shut trying to picture her sister, but only managed to conjure up a shapeless image without a face. Last year Grandma Cleaves had argued with Courtney about the “lewd” lyrics in her songs, the “unwholesome” metal studs in her body, and the “ridiculous” tattoos snaking up and down her arms. Now they weren’t speaking. I just want Courtney back in my life. I want Grandma Cleaves and Courtney and me to be a family. I lost my parents. I want my sister back! Is that too much to ask?
    Wriggling and poking at the hole, Katie thought about the waxwork girl downstairs who resembled Courtney, the black velvet ribbon fastened round her neck, the delicate cameo hanging in the hollow of her throat.
    Katie glanced down at the widening hole, large enough now to plunge several fingers into. She wriggled them around until her knuckles poked through the hole, and a moment later she plunged her entire hand in.
    The tangled wire gave a little at first, then clamped shut around her wrist, like a prickly metal bracelet. Now I ’ ve done it, Katie thought, trying to wrench her hand free. But it stuck fast. Making a tight fist, she drove her arm in further, then tried to yank it back out again. But each time she swung back, the surrounding mesh circled her arm more tightly, pulling her in.
    Frustrated, she hurled her full weight against the cage. Instead of loosening her arm, she managed only to plaster her cheek against the upper portion of the chicken wire, with her hip and thigh pressed tight to the rough side stones of the well.
    If she had a little Vaseline, she could slide her arm out.
    Behind her she heard Collin wheezing. The air had a different odor now, like the damp smell of wet stones. With her cheek pressed against the tangle of mesh wires, she tried to call out to her cousin but stopped when she noticed that the rocks surrounding the lip of the well were crusted in green slime, sticky against her hip and thigh.
    Okay, this is crazy , Katie thought, opening and shutting her fingers on the inside of the wire cage. She tugged her neck back like a turtle, trying to peer around. Where were Collin and Toby?
    The London Stone had a barely visible crack just beyond the wire casing. Katie wriggled her fingers until her index finger was touching the small, smooth fissure. When she poked her finger into it, she was reminded of that finger-plunger game she used to play with Courtney when they were kids. At the thought of her sister, laughter bubbled up from her throat with an hysterical edge. Her mind flashed to Beatrix Twyford, who had died such a horrible death. If only I could go back in time, I ’ d solve the Jack the Ripper mystery and save Lady Beatrix Twyford!
    A deafening explosion sent shockwaves through her body. A fierce white heat seared through her, as if she were on fire. She tried with all her might to wrench her hand back. Shadows darted around the Stone, then around her head. She rattled the cage with her free hand. She was in agony. Someone must have set off a bomb . . . and she was trapped!
    Her grandmother’s words came to her, reverberating in her mind with a melodic cadence. “ Beware of what you wish for . . .”

Chapter Seven

    Maids in White Aprons say the Bells of St. Katherine’s
    M i nutes later , with the palm of her right hand still pressed firmly against the London Stone, and her index finger embedded in the pitted hole, the gut-wrenching feeling of something exploding inside Katie was gone, along with the painful fire-hot sensation.
    Taking a deep breath, she glanced around. Something wasn’t right. The light was peculiar. And what was that brick wall doing in front of her? She blinked. The London Stone was protruding from a wall. A brick wall . Some sort of curved,