Earthquake Read Online Free Page A

Chinese girl stared at it.
    Brendan tried to move, tried to run, but he could not. He stood riveted as the crack in the earth widened, like a seam splitting. It raced toward them and the girl froze. Brendan fought the heaving motion of the ground, pulling her backward.
    A sudden sideways jolt knocked them both down again. Brendan scrabbled away, weak with fear, whispering frantic prayers to the Virgin Mary. Without thought or intent, he dragged the Chinese girl with him, his grip on her hand tightening as his panic rose.
    The crack lengthened like a snake crawling toward them. The girl managed to gain her feet, pulling him upright, jerking him into a clumsy retreat through the hellish roar of falling brick and collapsing steel.
    A cold, piercing pain just above Brendan’sright eye made him stumble, but the girl kept him on his feet, kept him running. They wove through the crowd, assaulted by moans, prayers, and shouts of fury. One man shook his bloody fist at the sky, accusing God. Beside him another man knelt, weeping and begging someone to show him how to pray.
    Brendan followed the girl around a pile of bricks and shattered wood. A second later he was sliding, running across a spilled load of oranges. He saw the wagon, tilted, one wheel broken. The driver lay sideways on the bench, his forehead bloody, his eyes closed. One of the horses had fallen. It looked dead. Its harness mate stood breathing hard, trapped in the tangled leather.
    The Chinese girl yanked at Brendan’s hand and he realized he had stopped. In that instant, the world became still again. The insane motion of the street quieted and the crowds hushed. Dust hung in the air, smudging the rising sun with yellow and orange.
    Brendan let go of the girl’s hand and turned in a slow circle. His thoughts were too loud, hammering against his skull. The silence in the street seemed to swell, pressing against the buildings, flowing upwardwith the dust that drifted skyward, enveloping the city. It rang in Brendan’s ears, immense.
    Brendan shook his head and rubbed one hand over his face. The stickiness of his own blood startled him. He stared at his fingers, amazed at the glaring red.
    Dai Yue stood still, feeling as if the sudden silence had taken them all in its arms. The ground was no longer moving, had stopped its terrible shaking, but she was afraid to take a step, afraid she would rouse Day Leong again. The Earth Dragon had already shown his rage.
    The sound of bricks striking the cobblestones made her spin around. She saw two more fall, hit the street, bound up once, then roll to a standstill. A tiny murmur ran through the motionless crowd, then the silence closed in once more. The dust was thick. It was hard to take a deep breath.
    Dai Yue glanced at the Fon Kwei boy. His already pale face was an ugly white, streaked with blood running from a cut on his temple. Dai Yue looked down at her tunic. It was old, a castoff from a neighbor’s daughter, mended and faded. She pulled at the hem, her thumbs close together on the cloth, until she managed to start a tiny tear. She ripped a stripfrom around the hem. With the cloth dangling from her hand, she faced the Fon Kwei boy.
    â€œAre you all right?” he asked her when he saw her looking at him.
    Stupid, Dai Yue thought. He was bleeding, but he asked, yet again, if she was hurt. The Fon Kwei had no brains, no matter what her cousin had said about the teachers at St. Mary’s Mission School.
    â€œYou hurt,” Dai Yue managed.
    His face lit instantly. “You speak English!”
    She lowered her eyes, almost blushing at his earnest foolishness. He was looking at her as if she were a horse or a dog that had suddenly acquired human speech. All doubts were gone. Fon Kwei were idiots. “Not too much,” she answered modestly. She lifted the strip of her tunic, gesturing at his wound.
    â€œI’m bleeding pretty hard,” the boy said, nodding.
    Dai Yue motioned for him to sit