BreadCrumb Trail (The Yellow Hoods, #2): Steampunk meets Fairy Tale Read Online Free

he’d accidentally put the laundry on the fire, and put his sister outside instead of the cat.
    Another time, when his father had an inventors’ meeting coming up, he’d refused to listen to Franklin’s advice about the amount of pressure a prototype steam engine could take. He nearly blew up the house.
    With a scowl on his face, Franklin crossed his arms. “Send me in the morning? What are you on about? I’m not going anywhere.”
    Maxwell walked over to a writing desk in the corner of the room, sat down on the ribbed chair, and pulled out a piece of paper. With a distracted tone, he replied, “Yes, you are. You have to. They can’t get their hands on it.”
    Franklin rubbed his face in frustration. “On what , father? On your never-going-to-be-finished steam engine? I haven’t had the heart to say it, but it’s never going to work. Let them have it. Maybe it can consume their fortune, as it has ours.”
    Putting his quill down, Maxwell turned and looked at his son. He could see that Franklin was right on the cliff of losing faith in him. He motioned his son closer.
    Franklin hesitated, hating being treated like a child, but he could see something in his father’s eyes that he hadn’t seen in a while. Rolling his eyes and giving in, he dragged his feet to stand beside his seated dad.
    Glancing about as if a spy could be hiding in the room, Maxwell whispered, “It does work. It’s been working for the past month. I didn’t want anyone to know, so I kept messing around, purposely blowing things up every now and then. Nikolas’ last letter helped—I had it working within days.”
    Franklin folded his arms and curled his face in disbelief. “I don’t believe it. It’s working?”
    “Yes,” replied his father, nodding.
    “For real?” said Franklin, putting his hands on his hips.
    “Yes,” replied his father, smiling.
    “Really?” asked Franklin. He was starting to feel that his father had been more devious than he’d thought possible.
    Maxwell smiled a rarely seen devilish smile. “ Yes , Franklin. This will change the world, but we can’t let St. Malo get his hands on it. I’m sure the only reason he’s still around is that he’s in league with others, and they’d tear the world apart with my invention.” He returned to the letter he’d started writing.
    Franklin was stunned. “You got it working,” he repeated several times, quietly. Finally, he came out of that loop and said, “You got it working … and I didn’t even notice. You cheeky monkey.”
    His father looked at him quizzically. “Cheeky monkey? Is that any way to talk to your father?” he said, trying to sound firm.
    Franklin chuckled. “My father? No. A sneak who has been making me think that he’s only half the genius I hoped he was? A cheat who made me believe that my father was an old codger? That man is one cheeky monkey indeed.”
    Maxwell changed to a serious look, and his eyes locked on those of his son. “You’ll need to take my plans to Mister Klaus himself. He’s the only one I can trust with them.”
    Franklin blinked, surprised. “Me? By myself? Why me? Wouldn’t the journey take weeks?”
    Maxwell stood up, maintaining his look at his son, who was only an inch or two shorter. “You’re the only one I trust to carry my plans there.”
    Worried, Franklin thought about all the people his father knew, hoping to think of someone he could mention that would take the burden, but he couldn’t think of one. “Why can’t you take it, father? I can come with you. We could—”
    Maxwell sighed and smoothed his thin hair again. He removed his spectacles in order to clean them on his shirt. “You don’t understand, Franklin. They will be looking for me, whoever they are. They won’t be looking for you, at least not yet. I will try to go north, maybe to Eldeshire where we spent the summer a couple of years ago, but I’m certain they’ll catch me before then. I doubt I will evade their clutches for