Read Online Words of Stone by Kevin Henkes - Free Book Online Page B

you?”
    Blaze could barely speak. His words cracked and melted. “My name is Blaze,” he finally offered in a scratchy whisper.
    â€œThat’s an odd name.”
    Blaze shrugged and scuffed his shoes.
    â€œYou’re so little, too,” Joselle said in a thrilled voice, rumpling his hair. “And if it wasn’t impossible, I’d swear you were shrinking right before my very eyes.”
    Looking down, Blaze scanned his entire body, checking to make sure that he wasn’t, in fact, becoming smaller. And then, as though he had no control over what he was saying, words spilled out of his mouth like the beads of a breaking necklace: “I’m the smallest in my class. I am every year.”
    â€œNo kidding,” Joselle said sarcastically. “It wouldn’t take a brain to figure that out. Unless you go to school with midgets.”
    Blaze only fidgeted, regretful.
    â€œWell, who cares anyway?” Joselle said, marching in place. Then she strutted around the black locust tree like a queen. “All I can say is—just look at this view! I’ve never been up here before. It’s tremendously fantastic.” She cleared her throat. “I just arrived today, you know,” she said, turning her head toward Blaze, her eyes thin as slits. Because she wasn’t looking ahead, Joselle tripped over one of Blaze’s stones. Dust rose, veiling her as she stumbled and fell. Her knees and hands were streaked with dirt.
    â€œAre you okay?” Blaze asked shyly, lightly nudging the stone with his shoe.
    â€œI’ll live,” Joselle answered, her face bunched. And then suddenly her mood swung and she smiled again. This time gleefully. “Hey, look, I’m injured,” she said merrily, pushing her knee at Blaze. Marking the middle of her knee was a perfect drop of blood. “It’s an enchanted liquid ruby,” Joselle whispered. “I’ll seize it like this,” she said, wiping her knee with her finger. “I’ll share it with you like this,” she continued, smearing blood on Blaze’s leg. “And then I’ll seal the magic like this,” she told him, licking her finger several times. “Now we’re true friends. Forever.”
    Blaze pulled the edge of his T-shirt into his mouth and bit down, and because he was breathing so hard, his mouth sounded like the wind. “I’d better go,” he said tentatively, moving away. In his mind, he was already home, lying on his bed with the door closed.
    â€œCome back tomorrow,” Joselle called. “You have to. Same time. Same place.”
    Blaze ran all the way down the hill. As he tore through the weeds and grass, his arms making huge loops in the air, he felt as though he were emerging from a terrible and wonderful spell.
    Thoughts of the girl stayed with Blaze all afternoon like a film on his skin. She baffled him and intrigued him. His mind strayed to her even as he set the table for dinner. He saw her face in each plate and bowl. Her teeth and her eyes materialized vaguely on the china like the Cheshire cat.
    The day had grown hotter and hotter, so they were going to have a big salad and gazpacho. “Too hot to use the oven today,” Nova repeated as she moved around the kitchen. Her skin had taken on a sweaty sheen. When she turned from reaching for the large wooden salad bowl in the cupboard, her forehead glistened and Blaze noticed damp saggy half-moons under her arms on her thin housedress. The heat didn’t bother him nearly as much as it did Nova.
    Glenn was slicing hard-boiled eggs for the salad. It had been just over a week ago that he had introduced Claire to Blaze and Nova. Since then, he had been spending a considerable amount of time doing domesticthings: helping to make dinner, washing dishes, shopping for groceries. He wasn’t painting nearly as intensely as he usually did.
    â€œI’m going to freshen up before Claire