Read Online The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman - Free Book Online Page B

I’m sitting in a kitchen in Hopeless, Minnesota, drinking apple juice instead of beer and talking to a twelve-year-old kid —”
    “I’m fourteen,” Tucker said.
    Kosh grinned, and suddenly he looked like a completely different person. “Well, I’m thirty-two, and what do I know? Look, you come stay at my place, you’ll do fine. You get your own room. And when your folks come back, they’ll know right where to find you.”
    The more Kosh talked, the less scary he became. Tucker even started to imagine himself on the back of that monster Harley.
    “Would you teach me to ride?”
    Kosh tipped his head. “I got a little Honda dirt bike might fit you.”
    Tucker thought for a few seconds. “People are going to wonder where we went.”
    “Adrian took care of that,” Kosh said. “Said he let enough people know so they won’t think I kidnapped you.”
    “What about all my stuff?”
    “There’s not much room in my saddlebags,” Kosh said. “How much stuff are we talking?”
    “We could take my dad’s car. Load the food from the fridge and all my clothes and stuff.”
    “What about my bike?”
    “You could put the bike on the trailer.” Tucker pointed at the utility trailer parked alongside the garage.
    Kosh thought for a moment, then sighed. “Okay, kid, we’ll do it your way.”
    “It’s
Tucker.
”
    Kosh rolled his eyes. “Tucker.”

K OSH ’ S H ARLEY FILLED MOST OF THE TRAILER, BUT there was room for Tucker’s bicycle, the perishable food, a couple of suitcases, and a few other items: his chess and checkers set, an old microscope that sort of worked, a poster showing the New York City skyline, his old metal fire truck, his snowboard —
    “Why are you bringing
that
?” Kosh asked.
    “It’s mine,” said Tucker.
    “It won’t snow for another six months. You’ll probably be home before school starts. Your folks won’t be gone forever.”
    Tucker’s insides went hollow as he looked at the snowboard, the only gift he had received on that last sad, lonely Christmas. The stunted spruce tree he and his dad had decorated was now rotting in the brush pile behind the garage. Was it true that his parents would be back before the end of summer? He was not so sure.
    Kosh said, “Look, anything we leave behind, you absolutely got to have it, we can come back. My place is only a couple hours away. Okay?”
    What Kosh said made sense, but that didn’t make it any easier. If he could, Tucker would have strapped the entire house to the top of the car.
    “Let’s lock and load and hit the road,” Kosh said.
    Tucker put the snowboard back in the garage. He was trudging toward the car when he noticed the aluminum extension ladder leaning against the back of the house. It wasn’t like his dad to leave things out, so why was the ladder there? He thought back to the day his dad had disappeared off the roof.
    “You coming or not?” Kosh said.
    “Just a minute.” Tucker ran to the ladder and started to climb.
    “Hey, where you going?” Kosh yelled.
    Tucker ignored him. He stepped from the ladder onto the steep roof. Only the grip of his sneaker soles on the rough asphalt shingles kept him from sliding off. He quickly reached the peak, grabbed on to the chimney, and looked around. He could see the repair his father had made last year. The replacement shingles were a slightly different color from the originals. He looked up the road, but no one was in sight. In the distance he could see the Hopewell water tower, the roof of Hopewell House, and the radio tower.
    “Tucker, come on down.” Kosh had climbed to the top of the ladder.
    There was something very strange about that roof. It was where his father had disappeared the first time and where Tucker had seen one of the ghosts. He scanned the horizon, looking from downtown Hopewell to the Reillys’ silos on the far side of the pond. The water was choppy. A light breeze ruffled his hair. He turned his head and looked east, toward the woods. Tucker