Read Online Villain's Lair by Wendelin Van Draanen - Free Book Online Page A

histroubles. You see, in addition to being a sassy, saucy thirteen-year-old, Lily Espinoza was quite a looker. One of those girls whose mere presence turns ordinarily coordinated boys into blushing, bumbling fools.
    But for once Dave hadn’t stuttered in her presence.
    He hadn’t tripped.
    Hadn’t bashed into her with his bike.
    For once he’d been smooth. (Or, as Sticky might say,
suavecito!)
    Yes, at that moment, the Bandito Brothers and Damien Black were the furthest things from his mind.
    Too bad for Dave, he was the only thing on theirs.

Chapter 13
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE MANSION
    Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Damien Black had survived his own dragon’s attack. So, too, had the Bandito Brothers, but that was only because they had traded their lives for loyalty. (Which is to say they were now firmly aligned with the evil treasure hunter.) (And
that
is to say they’d promised to help Damien find the boy.)
    But where to begin?
    Damien Black’s mansion loomed behind the city in an otherwise uninhabited area known as Raven Ridge. Like an eerie shadow, it was present yet overlooked by people as they hustled and bustled through their lives. A tingling of the spine, a sudden chill or a shiver…these were felt by thepeople of the city, but they were largely shaken off, dismissed, or ignored.
    It was only if one paused to consider the shiver, paused to look up at the house, that the source was revealed. The house was, as you already know, wholly and totally spooky. But it’s a well-known fact that adults don’t buy into wholly and totally spooky. They buy into terms like “antique” or “fixer-upper” or “old and decrepit.” (Perhaps because they, too, are becoming old and decrepit, and would rather be viewed as antiques.)
    But a young person calls a dog a dog (not a canine or man’s best friend or hunny-bunny-poochy-woochy). So a young person calls a wholly and totally spooky house (or person) exactly what it is—wholly and totally spooky.
    So the house (and all the activities within) had a certain immunity. Adults ignored it, and children avoided it. This, then, explains how oddly jutting rooms could be built or dungeonscreated or Komodo dragons introduced, all without notice. It also explains how a telescope of mega-multiplying magnification could poke out of the window of one of those oddly jutting rooms without objection from the neighbors below.
    Nobody noticed.
    Now, the amount of time it took Dave and Sticky to get out of the mansion and onto the bike was exactly the amount of time it took Damien Black and his new cohorts to get out of the dragon pit and up to the mega-multiplying-magnification telescope (or, as the brass plate on the side of the telescope boasted, the Mighty Triple-M).
    Damien put one of his dark and dangerous eyes up to the Mighty Triple-M (which, I think you’ll agree, actually makes it a
Quadruple-M)
.
    He swiftly moved the telescope across the landscape.
    â€œBwaa-ha-ha!” Damien laughed when he caughtsight of Dave racing off on his bike. “Bwaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

    â€œYou spotted him, Mr. Black?”
    The treasure hunter raised an eyebrow in Pablo’s direction as if to say, Why
else
would I be bwaa-ha-ha’ing, you fool? then resumed tracking the boy with his Mighty Triple-M.
    â€œWhat does he have, anyway?” Angelo asked.
    â€œWhat are those coins about?” Pablo added.
    â€œThey were very shiny!” Tito said with a head-bobby nod.
    Again, Damien gave them a look. A long, hard, dark look, which meant, Ask any morequestions and I’ll feed you to the dragon. The Brothers took a step back. Even Tito gulped.
    Damien continued to stare until, with a jolt, he realized that his long, hard, dark look had gone on way too long. What if the boy had gotten away? He quickly turned
    back to his scope, and when he found Dave again, he began muttering things like “You pesky little thief!