Hollow Earth Read Online Free Page B

to the post room.
    Arthur’s office door had now liquified into a silver puddle on the floor. The tall figure slid a drawing pad into the wide sleeve of its robes and stepped into Arthur’s office.
    ‘I didn’t think you’d be alone,’ said Arthur.
    ‘I’m not alone.’
    Something sprinted through the doorway, darted past the hooded figure’s legs and shot under Arthur’s desk. Arthur looked down just in time to see the grinning demon from the painting tearing through his trouser leg with its needle-like teeth.
    The changeling child worked on Arthur for a very long time, finally reaching the desktop, where it knocked over the dregs of Arthur’s morning coffee. The liquid splashed across the desk like dark tears.

EIGHT
    P acing outside the Kitten house, the leader of the group rang the doorbell once again. No need to hurry. Not yet. He could sense the children were still on the top floor. Although Sandie was more difficult to track, he knew she’d be near the twins.
    Upstairs, Matt and Em, backpacks on, were taking one last look around the flat.
    ‘We can’t carry anything else,’ insisted Sandie, unlocking a dusty door on the landing and beckoning to the children. ‘We must go!’
    The three of them dashed down the old servants’ stairs at the rear of the house. With the twins close at her heels, Sandie pushed open the terrace doors to the garden – and crashed directly into the man in the sunglasses, sent to guard the rear of the house.
    Sandie’s momentum gave her the advantage when they collided. They both went flying against the garden wall. The man’s head bounced off the bricks as he landed with Sandie on top of him, winded but unhurt.
    ‘Get back up to the flat,’ Sandie screamed at the twins.
    This time the twins didn’t hesitate. They scrambled as fast as they could, back up the servants’ stairs. In an adrenaline-fuelled panic, Sandie followed her children. They could hear Violet and Anthea in the hall downstairs, yelling that they were not opening the front door and the police were on the way.
    Sandie locked the flat’s front door behind them, ran into the kitchen and swept everything off one of her worktables, sending paint supplies and tools crashing to the floor. Climbing on top of the table and standing on tiptoe, she stretched up to unlock one of the skylights.
    She couldn’t reach the latch.
    ‘Matt, Em – bring me a chair.’
    From downstairs they could hear glass breaking, wood snapping, and more yelling from Anthea and Violet.
    ‘Mum, I think Auntie Violet and Auntie Anthea are getting hurt,’ sobbed Em.
    ‘They’ll be fine, sweetie,’ Sandie assured her, trying to stop her voice from shaking. ‘Vi and Anthea are tough.’
    The twins each took an end of a sturdy wooden kitchen chair and passed it up to their mum. Sandie climbed on top and unlocked the skylight, scattering a family of doves roosting near the window. She pulled herself up and looked across the roof. The pitch was steeper than she’d hoped, but if they were careful they could crawl across to the roof next door, then from there head on to the roof of the mews apartments that were once the Kitten stables. From the stable roof, the jump down to Violet and Anthea’s car parked in the courtyard in front of the mews would be difficult, but not impossible.
    She dropped back down into the kitchen. The twins were gone.
    Frantic, Sandie scrambled off the table. ‘Matt! Em!’
    ‘Under here!’
    For a second, Sandie was so relieved to see the twins safely huddled under the table that it took her an extra beat to observe that they’d spread their pens on the floor and were drawing on a sketchpad between them. She hauled Em out from under the table and scrambled on to the table with her.
    ‘No,’ screamed Em, stiffening her body and digging her heels in. ‘I need to help!’
    Em’s backpack and flailing limbs were making it impossible for Sandie to make any progress.
    Stop fighting, Em. I think I can finish it