Sabrina Fludde Read Online Free Page A

ghosts and ghouls ready to jump out. This was Hallowe’en night, after all! Not that Bentley believed in ghosts and ghouls, of course!
    All the same, he made a quick dash for it, getting halfway down the alley before the BC boys started coming the other way.
The BC boys –
far more trouble than ghosts and ghouls! Bentley headed for hisfront door, and the boys came whooping down the alley, dressing in Hallowe’en masks and chasing somebody. Bentley fumbled for his front-door key, pitying whoever it might be, but telling himself that it had nothing to do with him. After all, he knew what Border Commandos were like! Some of them were still in school, and if you dared to get in their way they could make your life a total misery.
    Bentley’s key wasn’t in his pockets, so he started on his school bag. The BC boys’ quarry had nearly reached him, and they were right behind. He could hear their panting, and see them in a solid mass, yelling, ‘Trick or treat!’ through their masks at what was nothing but a little girl.
    Just a child, half their size!
    Bentley couldn’t quite believe that even BC boys would waste their time on a little girl. He stared at them contemptuously. The girl drew level with him. Her shoes were too big for her and she kept tripping over. Briefly he caught a glimpse of her white face, then she turned towards the Seventy Steps, which led down from the alley to the bus station.
The Seventy Steps
, where anything could happen in the darkness! And it often did.
    Behind her in the alley, the BC boys howled with delight. They’d got her now! They knew they had! They headed for the steps as well, devils in plastic masks – and if anybody was going to stop them, they’d have to do it now!
    Bentley didn’t even pause to think about it. He shouted at the girl. The BC boys would get him for it, but he did it all the same.
    â€˜Not down there! This way!’
    The girl turned, saw Bentley waving at her, and seized her chance. She whirled about and leapt up the steps before the boys could grab her. Bentley found his key as if by magic. He unlocked the door and the two of them tumbled inside.
    The BC boys howled with rage. ‘Witch! Bitch! Little gypo vampire-girl! Out, out, out!’ they yelled.
    The girl backed down the hall, her eyes two perfect moons, round and shining with fear. Bentley bolted the door, glad that it was old and solid. He leant against it, unable to stop shaking as he waited for the BC boys to charge.
    But as if they knew that they were beaten for today, the BC boys gave up. Bentley heard a last few yells, then silence settled over Dogpole Alley. Bentley closed his eyes, wondering what had come over him, and knowing that the BC boys would make him pay. And when he opened them again, there was the girl, staring at him.
    She wore nothing that would keep her warm, just a lacy sweater which wasn’t really thick enough, and a little ragged blanket-thing knotted under her chin. Her hair looked as if it hadn’t been washed for weeks, and her face was stretched to breaking point by sheer exhaustion. Bentley could see it in her eyes, along with the fear. Fear of him as well as everybody else. Fear of everything, including this dark, silent house.
    â€˜I won’t hurt you. I only want to help you. I’m not like them,’ Bentley said.
    He unbolted the front door, as if to say that she was free to go. But she looked at him, and suddenly he realised that she had nowhere else. And when he started up the stairs, she followed him.

Part Two

River Fortress

Abren
    The boy turned on the light as they started up the stairs, revealing a worn strip of carpet and a high, moulded plaster ceiling, a row of hooks on the wall and coats piled on them. The girl followed him up into the winding darkness. They passed a single door on the first floor, then carried on to the top of the house. Here, beneath sloping eaves, she found a succession of rooms