Read Online The Warriors of Brin-Hask by Cerberus Jones - Free Book Online Page B

and go straight to your parents. Right?’
    ‘Promise,’ said Amelia.
    Tom grumbled to himself and limped towards the stairwell. Halfway there, he paused.
The gateway had been still since that last bang, so he continued over to the top
of the stairs. The rope had been tied so he had just enough length to make it across
the room and down the stairs. Amelia watched it slither across the floor after him,
uncoiling, straightening and then tightening as he reached the bottom. They heard
the door close – carefully, not slammed shut by the wind, so it must have been Tom
– and then the thud of his boots returning up the stairs.
    When he emerged from the stairwell, he was in his singlet, carrying his shirt rolled
up in a bundle.
    ‘What’s that?’ said Charlie.
    Tom carried the bundle over to the kitchen table, shoving aside some plates. ‘Shut
the door, Charlie. Let’s not let anything in or out of here until we know what we’ve
got.’
    Charlie pushed the door closed and Amelia crossed her arms, uncertain. It didn’t
smell like dead fish. It was smaller than a tree. That still left a lot of things
in the universe it could be.
    Tom unwrapped the corner of his shirt, and out popped a square, black head, softly
furred with two enormous yellow eyes.
    ‘What’s that?’ said Charlie.
    The eyes blinked and then a wide, toothy mouth opened in a yawn, revealing a long,
purple tongue.
    ‘It’s a puppy!’ said Amelia, and ignoring Tom’s gruff, ‘Hey!’ she stepped forward
and lifted the little animal into her arms. She gazed at it, taking in the stout
body, the fat paws and the soft black fur. The animal gazed back, cocking its ears
intelligently.

    ‘That’s not a puppy,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s an alien.’
    The creature turned its head and looked balefully at him.
    ‘It’s a creepy alien,’ he corrected himself.
    ‘Don’t be silly,’ said Amelia. ‘He’s lovely.’ She snuggled her face against his fur.
    ‘Don’t do that!’ snapped Tom. ‘You don’t know where it’s been!’
    ‘Don’t know where he’s from ,’ Amelia said. ‘So what do we do with him?’
    ‘I’ll have to contact Control,’ said Tom. ‘Search the databases, match the description
and find its origin. There’s all probability that it’s from the Brin-Hask planet,
but we’ll have to verify that officially. Unless the thing can talk for itself …’
    He regarded it for a moment, but it only wagged its tail and tucked its head trustingly
under Amelia’s chin.
    ‘What will Control do with him?’ she asked.
    Tom ummed and ahhed a bit. ‘They’ll most likely order us to negate the security breach.’
    Amelia looked at him steadily. ‘Meaning?’
    ‘Meaning,’ Tom admitted, ‘that they’ll send someone to put it down.’
    ‘Oh, no, that won’t happen,’ Amelia said. ‘I’ll keep him. Dad said I could get a
dog anyway.’
    ‘Hmm,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s not exactly a dog, though, is it?’
    Of course it wasn’t a dog. His glowing yellow eyes had vertical slits for pupils,
like a cat’s, and he smelled more like the beach than an actual dog. And rather than
yapping his head off and trying to bite and chew everything in reach, he was cuddling
quietly into her arms. But those didn’t seem like reasons to let Control kill him.
If anything, didn’t they make him more precious? More deserving of her protection?
    ‘I’m keeping him,’ she said. ‘That’s all.’
    The little creature opened its mouth into a wide, happy smile and barked, just once:
    ‘ Grawk!’

Cerberus Jones
    Cerberus Jones is the three-headed writing team made up of Chris Morphew, Rowan McAuley
and David Harding.
    Chris Morphew is The Gateway’s main story architect. His job is to weave the team’s
ideas together into awesome, page-turning story outlines. Chris’s experience writing
adventures for Zac Power and heart-stopping twists for The Phoenix Files makes him
the perfect man for the job!
    Rowan McAuley is the team’s chief writer.