Read Online The 39 Clues: Unstoppable Book 2: Breakaway by Jeff Hirsch - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jeff Hirsch
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Kabra’s voice.
“Some sort of truth serum–like compound —”
“But not one that makes you tell the truth!” Hamilton shouted in the background.
“I said truth serum–
like
, Hamilton. Now please, I’m trying to talk.
Tomas
,” Ian grumbled and then turned back to the phone. “We think Pierce must have slipped some kind of will-weakening drug into their water so when the reporter suggested what he wanted the Tollivers to say, they said it. Simple, really.”
Amy was on her back, staring at the pressed-tin ceiling. The heat from the shower had dissipated and a chill was snaking up her legs. She felt distant from herself, like she was watching from above.
“Amy?” Ian said. “Amy, are you there?”
“It wasn’t drugs,” she said.
“You can’t believe that these people would honestly think —”
“How often do you think about Natalie?”
Now it was Ian’s turn to go silent. Amy’s ear was filled with the soft in and out of his breathing.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to . . .” he started with his usual brusque energy but then his voice faltered. “I think about her all the time,” he admitted.
Amy turned onto her side, pressing the phone between her ear and the pillow.
“But sometimes is it like you . . ” Amy struggled with an idea that seemed to retreat from her even as she grabbed at it. “Forget?”
“Forget what?”
“That she’s really gone? Like one day you’ll just turn a corner and” — Amy’s voice caught in her throat but she pressed on — “she’ll be there? Or you’ll look at other people and for a second you see her in their place.”
“I hear her voice sometimes,” Ian confessed. “I mean I think I do. There’s always this split second when I think,
Oh, no, what does she want me to do now?
but then I catch myself.”
“I guess that’s what other people don’t get. That people who are gone aren’t really gone.”
“No,” Ian said. “They never are.”
A lump grew in Amy’s throat.
“Yo, Ian!”
Amy could hear a scuffle for the phone.
“Jonah! Unhand me!”
“Go get me a spot of tea, old man,” Jonah said in his best Ian impression. “Gotta holler at the boss a minute.”
Amy heard Ian harrumph and then Jonah’s swaggering voice filled her ear.
“Yo! Amy K-to-the-Hill.”
“Hi, Jonah,” Amy said. “How are things there?”
“Never mind that. This is wisdom-dropping time. What those two said on TV was cold.”
“I really don’t want to —”
“I know. I know. I’m not here to discuss your feelings. I’m here to make a knowledge deposit.”
“Oh, yeah, and what’s that?”
“All those people crowding around you with cameras and little notebooks? Those
reporters
.”
Jonah said the word with obvious disgust. “They are nothing but dogs looking for a bone to chew on.”
“Well, unfortunately that bone is us.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be. See, all a dog wants is something between its teeth. It doesn’t care what it is. Reporters are the same way. All they’re trying to do is make a buck by keeping a lot of bored people entertained.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if you want a dog to drop one bone, all you gotta do is give him a new one.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“When I want to get reporters off my back, I call in an anonymous tip that Justin Bieber is getting a crew cut on the other side of town.”
“Somehow I don’t think they’re going to buy that over here.”
“I don’t know, Cahill, that little dude gets around.”
Amy surprised herself by laughing. “All right. Thanks, Jonah. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Hard-won knowledge, Amy. Hard. Won.”
Amy said good-bye to Jonah and then stared at the door. She couldn’t hide in here forever. Amy got dressed, then stood with her hand on the doorknob listening to the quiet shuffle of Dan and Atticus and Jake on the other side. Her stomach did flips as she remembered the sound of
“Some sort of truth serum–like compound —”
“But not one that makes you tell the truth!” Hamilton shouted in the background.
“I said truth serum–
like
, Hamilton. Now please, I’m trying to talk.
Tomas
,” Ian grumbled and then turned back to the phone. “We think Pierce must have slipped some kind of will-weakening drug into their water so when the reporter suggested what he wanted the Tollivers to say, they said it. Simple, really.”
Amy was on her back, staring at the pressed-tin ceiling. The heat from the shower had dissipated and a chill was snaking up her legs. She felt distant from herself, like she was watching from above.
“Amy?” Ian said. “Amy, are you there?”
“It wasn’t drugs,” she said.
“You can’t believe that these people would honestly think —”
“How often do you think about Natalie?”
Now it was Ian’s turn to go silent. Amy’s ear was filled with the soft in and out of his breathing.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to . . .” he started with his usual brusque energy but then his voice faltered. “I think about her all the time,” he admitted.
Amy turned onto her side, pressing the phone between her ear and the pillow.
“But sometimes is it like you . . ” Amy struggled with an idea that seemed to retreat from her even as she grabbed at it. “Forget?”
“Forget what?”
“That she’s really gone? Like one day you’ll just turn a corner and” — Amy’s voice caught in her throat but she pressed on — “she’ll be there? Or you’ll look at other people and for a second you see her in their place.”
“I hear her voice sometimes,” Ian confessed. “I mean I think I do. There’s always this split second when I think,
Oh, no, what does she want me to do now?
but then I catch myself.”
“I guess that’s what other people don’t get. That people who are gone aren’t really gone.”
“No,” Ian said. “They never are.”
A lump grew in Amy’s throat.
“Yo, Ian!”
Amy could hear a scuffle for the phone.
“Jonah! Unhand me!”
“Go get me a spot of tea, old man,” Jonah said in his best Ian impression. “Gotta holler at the boss a minute.”
Amy heard Ian harrumph and then Jonah’s swaggering voice filled her ear.
“Yo! Amy K-to-the-Hill.”
“Hi, Jonah,” Amy said. “How are things there?”
“Never mind that. This is wisdom-dropping time. What those two said on TV was cold.”
“I really don’t want to —”
“I know. I know. I’m not here to discuss your feelings. I’m here to make a knowledge deposit.”
“Oh, yeah, and what’s that?”
“All those people crowding around you with cameras and little notebooks? Those
reporters
.”
Jonah said the word with obvious disgust. “They are nothing but dogs looking for a bone to chew on.”
“Well, unfortunately that bone is us.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be. See, all a dog wants is something between its teeth. It doesn’t care what it is. Reporters are the same way. All they’re trying to do is make a buck by keeping a lot of bored people entertained.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if you want a dog to drop one bone, all you gotta do is give him a new one.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“When I want to get reporters off my back, I call in an anonymous tip that Justin Bieber is getting a crew cut on the other side of town.”
“Somehow I don’t think they’re going to buy that over here.”
“I don’t know, Cahill, that little dude gets around.”
Amy surprised herself by laughing. “All right. Thanks, Jonah. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Hard-won knowledge, Amy. Hard. Won.”
Amy said good-bye to Jonah and then stared at the door. She couldn’t hide in here forever. Amy got dressed, then stood with her hand on the doorknob listening to the quiet shuffle of Dan and Atticus and Jake on the other side. Her stomach did flips as she remembered the sound of
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