Read Online The Color of Darkness by Ruth Hatfield - Free Book Online

ago.”
    â€œIs it for art?”
    He shook his head, holding out his hand for the picture. Cath didn’t give it to him.
    â€œHave you seen this?” she asked Barshin. The hare hopped out from under the seat, and she held the paper down for him to sniff.
    â€œI’ve seen others like it,” Barshin said. “It’s that tree again, isn’t it?”
    Danny lunged forward and tried to snatch the paper. “Give it back!”
    Barshin leapt in surprise, but Cath jerked the picture quickly away. She was used to being quick.
    â€œGive it!” said Danny weakly, not bothering to reach out again.
    Cath shook her head. “Nah. Anyway, I’ve got a message for you.”
    â€œYeah? Let me guess … is it from Paul?”
    Cath remembered the morning, the sticks and stones. She didn’t ask why Paul hated Danny. It was clear now why anyone would hate Danny—he was a spindly, mealymouthed small kid who couldn’t stick up for himself and didn’t seem to want to try.
    â€œNah, not him. Him.” Cath pointed at the hare.
    Danny looked at the hare, and the last traces of color in his cheeks faded to gray. The rain had flattened his hair to his skull and his short bangs were spiked along the top of his forehead, each point holding its own raindrop.
    He mumbled something that Cath couldn’t hear.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI can’t talk to it,” Danny repeated. “I know hares can talk. And I could hear them, once. But it’s finished with, all that. I can’t do it anymore.”
    â€œHe can,” said Barshin. “He’s lying. I can hear him. He must be able to hear me.”
    â€œHe says you’re lying,” said Cath.
    â€œNo!” said Danny, putting his hands over his ears. “No! I can’t talk to that thing! Leave me alone!”
    â€œCalm down,” said Cath. “He ain’t some evil monster.”
    Barshin sat wisely still, twitching his whiskers.
    â€œYou don’t know anything about it,” said Danny. “Nothing at all.”
    â€œAbout what?”
    Danny looked at her with his scared-kid eyes and took his hands away from his ears. He opened his mouth, seemed as though he might say something interesting, and then abandoned it in favor of a quick gulp of breath.
    â€œNothing,” he said. “Go away.”
    â€œOkay,” said Cath. “ He ’s called Barshin, and he says to tell you a guy called Tom’s in danger. Big trouble, all that. There. Done. Bye!” She took a couple of steps, out into the rain again. “Oh yeah, and he says you’ve got to sort it out. As if.”
    She was about to walk away when Danny O’Neill punched the side of the bus shelter so hard that it gave a great cracking sound. It didn’t break, but his hand must have hurt like hell.
    Cath swung back. Barshin had gone skittering into a hedge and was peering out from under drenched leaves. Danny was staring at his knuckles, which were flashing a rapid shade of red.
    Funny, thought Cath. I’d have put him down as the crying sort.
    â€œPeople are stupid,” Danny said. “Everyone’s stupid. Adults are stupid. Even people who don’t look like they’re stupid are still stupid.”
    Cath wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but she didn’t disagree. Except maybe stupid wasn’t quite the right word.
    â€œIt’s Sammael, isn’t it?” said Danny, looking over at Cath. “I knew something would happen. I knew he wouldn’t just give up. That animal’s come from him, hasn’t it?”
    Cath shook her head. “I don’t know nothing more. That’s all he said to tell you.”
    â€œHow come you can talk to it?” Danny asked. “Did you find something?”
    â€œI told you.” Cath shrugged. “He said some people can, that’s all. He calls them ‘telas.’ He says something happens to them, and