November Read Online Free Page A

the inner sole of your sneaker,’ said Boges, ignoring my comment, ‘under the arch of your foot.’ He handed me a pocket knife. ‘Here, use this. Cut a small piece of rubber out of your shoe,’ instructed Boges. ‘The transmitter will fit in without creating much of an uncomfortable bump for you to walk on.’
    The transmitter was similar to the one Oriana had buried under my skin. I turned it over in my hand.
    ‘Once you activate it, by pressing the tiny switch, it’ll set off a distress signal which means I’ll be able to track you down.’
    I pulled off my left sneaker and carefully lifted the inner sole. Where there was a raised part—to support the arch of my foot—I began digging with my knife, cutting out a shape similarto the transmitter. I tore the rubbery piece out of my shoe then tossed it into the bin. The transmitter fit perfectly in the gap I’d created.
    ‘Cool,’ said Boges. ‘Now use some of this to tape it down.’
    He handed me electrical tape. As smoothly as I could, I taped the beacon down, replaced the inner sole, then put my sneaker back on and stood up, walking around the small room.
    ‘It just feels like I have a coin stuck in my shoe.’
    ‘You’ll get used to it,’ said Boges.
    ‘Thanks, Boges. This is cool. Hopefully I won’t actually have to use it.’
    ‘So,’ said Winter, ‘let’s talk about the list of nicknames. Would you believe that “The Little Prince” is the name of a famous novel written by a French aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupery?’ The French name rolled off her tongue easily. ‘It was about a pilot marooned in the desert.’
    Immediately Great-uncle Bartholomew came to mind. But that didn’t make any sense at all. If there was one person who didn’t have the Ormond Riddle and the Jewel, it was him. And surely Rathbone would have known to cross him out, seeing as he was dead.
    Winter handed each of us a photocopy of Rathbone’s list of nicknames.

    ‘And get this,’ Winter said, ‘part of the story involves the interpretation of drawings, and—’ she paused for effect, looking hard at me, ‘—a boy and a rose. Remind you of anything?’
    ‘Freaky,’ I said, recalling Dad’s drawing of exactly that. The three of us looked at each other.
    ‘Rathbone must know a lot about my dad’s drawings and how important they are for decoding the Ormond Singularity,’ I said, ‘to pick a nickname like that.’
    ‘All the hours I’ve spent with Miss Sparks at the library lately,’ Winter began, ‘I’ve been completely distracted by this list, trying to work out who the names could belong to. But still, I haven’t really figured out anything. Only Rathbone knows who they are—he’s the one who came up with them. And obviously he was frustrated with getting nowhere, if you found the list in the bin.’
    She hesitated, as if she was about to say something more, but then shook her head. Her deep, dark eyes looked steadily into mine, and then she turned away. ‘We’re up against more than we bargained for. Maybe Nelson can help us.’
    Winter looked awkwardly at Boges and then at me.
    Boges squirmed uncomfortably. ‘If you’d like me to leave or something,’ he said, ‘I can.’
    ‘No, Boges,’ she said. ‘You should hear this, too.’ She turned to me. ‘Cal, the reason I needed to talk to you wasn’t just because of those nicknames . Sligo called me, asking me for help.’
    ‘What kind of help?’ I blurted out.
    ‘He thinks that because you and I are similar ages, I might have heard something, somehow. As far as I can tell he’s more convinced than ever that you’re the one holding the Riddle and the Jewel, and now he has Oriana convinced too.Cal, you have the combined forces of the king and queen of the underworld after you.’
    It felt like Sligo and Oriana had been after me forever—and that had made my life tough enough—but now they were working together?
    ‘And there’s something else,’ said Winter, looking away. ‘I’m