Read Online Storm by Virginia Bergin - Free Book Online

Whitby! Last seen howling, abandoned, on a highway in this very city! Huggable hound! Sweet puppy of my heart!
    That big, goofy, dummy of a dog blundering out of the bushes, ready to snatch the tasty ribs of the butchered something.
    Brain screeches: He’ll get shot!
    Heart acts. Big, goofy dummy of a girl races out.
    â€œWhitby! Whitby! Whi—”
    THUNK!
    â€¢ • •
    Silent bullet bites earth.
    Big, goofy dummy of a dog—he stops; he doesn’t quite get it, but he doesn’t like it.
    â€œWhitby!” cries girl.
    Big, goofy dummy of a dog sees girl running at him. Big, goofy dog snarls.
    â€œWhitby!” cries girl.
    It hurts, the confusion in his brain. Girl stops. Dog snarls; humans bad.
    â€œWhitby!” cries girl.
    Big, goofy dog remembers that is him. Smells girl he likes. Forgets his pack-food-guns-scary, forgets all that stuff: GIRL-I-LIKE!
    â€œRuby!” someone shouts.
    Girl looks up at balcony. King Xar’s Court gazing down. Who shouted?
    Saskia! Saskia—pointing—
    Big, goofy dog launches himself, lickily, at girl.
    At last second, girl realizes she HAS TO STOP HIM. Puddle drinker. Lick of death.
    â€œNO!” she roars.
    â€œNO!” with more power and force than she has ever spoken to another creature in all her life.
    Big, goofy dog hesitates. GIRL-I-LIKE?
    â€œNO!” she screams. She has to scream it. It is killing her to scream at him; all she wants to do is hug him, but—
    â€œ NO ! ” She has to make him stop.
    Big, goofy dog sinks down. He isn’t sure what he has done wrong, but he is so very pleased to see Girl-I-Like, he will do anything.
    See how pleased? He is lying down, but his tail is sweeping around, mad with joy! Oh pet me, pet me, pet me, I like you, I like you, I like you, I like you lots! See how good I am?! Hey, Girl-I-Like, hey girl, hey girl —
    â€œSTAY! Good boy! STAY!”
    â€œRuby!”
    Other-Girl saying that. Girl-I-Like looks round.
    Other-Girl running at Girl-I-Like. Dog called Whitby doesn’t like it. Thinks Girl-I-Like is being attacked. Other-Girl flings her arms around Girl-I-Like. Whitby charges—
    â€œ NO ! ” Girl-I-Like screams.
    He crouches. He cringes. He does So-Sorry Good Dog.
    He is a good dog. He didn’t know.
    He didn’t know.
    It is too late. The Other-Girl…she backed off so far…she stood on the edge of the lily pond. She lost her balance.
    But Saskia was a gymnast; Saskia gets her balance back.
    Only her toe had dipped into that cool, dark water.
    THUNK!
    I’d never heard a dog scream like that. My heart screamed for him. He never, ever would have meant this to happen. I screamed back at him. “ GO! GO ON! GO ! ”
    I never, ever, for as long as I live, want to scream like that at another living creature. I never ever want to do that again.
    Whitby, shot, yelping—with no thought now but HURTS —is already going. Dumb dog makes smart decision: Girl-I-Like or Pain and Fear. He is already limping as fast as he can away from this terrible place.
    Saskia is going nowhere.
    She had sat down; the tiny patch of damp on her left Converse spreading.
    â€œ!” she cried, clutching her leg. “CUT IT OFF!”
    I just stood there. Weird, awful, half-forgotten memories of stuff I thought she’d tried to say last night banged around my head. I just… You can’t do that, can you? You can’t just say, “Oh, OK then,” and chop a person’s foot off, can you?
    Everyone piled outside, watching Saskia pleading with me, for—it felt like hours. It wasn’t even minutes. She crawled at me and grabbed my leg. “CUT IT OFF! YOU HAVE TO CUT MY FOOT OFF. IT’S THE ONLY WAY. I’VE SEEN IT! I TOLD YOU! THAT’S WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. DO IT. CUT IT OFF! IT’S THE ONLY WAY! CUT IT—”
    Her scream was louder than the sound the ax made. It took another blow for Xar to chop Saskia’s