September Read Online Free

life on the run. I told her that she was now living with Mum at Rafe’s house, and how happy they’d both be to find out she was all right and would be able to come home to them.
    I didn’t tell her about the time they almost switched off her life-support system, thinking she was never going to wake up. That would have been too much for anyone to take.
    As dawn broke over the mountains in the distance, I had to tell her my side of the story—of how I’d been on the run, desperately trying to understand the mystery Dad had begun to uncover. Gabbi kept quiet through most of it, shaking her head in disbelief as I spoke.
    ‘There is some huge secret attached to our family,’ I said, ‘that affects the first-born son in each generation.’
    ‘That’s you,’ Gabbi pointed out.
    ‘That’s me. And I have to find out what itmeans. I know that it’s dangerous, so the stakes are high. Boges and Winter have both been helping me. And now Nelson Sharkey, too.’ I put my arm more firmly around my little sister. ‘He’s an ex-detective. But you mustn’t tell anyone anything I’ve told you. You have to keep it secret. It’s too dangerous if you let on you know anything, OK? I’m afraid you can’t even tell anyone—not Mum, not Rafe—that you’ve seen me.’
    ‘But you saved me!’
    ‘Gabbi Ormond,’ I said very seriously. ‘Please promise me you won’t say anything.’
    ‘Because of the police?’
    ‘That’s right. If I’m arrested, I’ll never be able to clear my name and track down the Dangerous Mystery of the Ormonds. No-one can know where I am. You must pretend you know nothing, OK?’
    ‘Cross my heart,’ she said. ‘I would never, ever dob on you.’
    We linked pinkie-fingers and agreed to secrecy.
    ‘I know. Thanks Gab.’
    After telling her a bit about Winter, of how she’d saved my life once, Gabbi stared at her wide-eyed.
    Winter gave Gabbi one of her rare smiles and Gabbi managed a smile of her own. That pink candle, I thought, remembering how it hadglowed for Gabbi on Winter’s desk, would not need lighting ever again.
    ‘Bits seem to be flashing through my mind now,’ Gabbi said, her eyes searching mine. ‘I think I had some really strange dreams. Freaky. Really scary.’
    ‘Tell us about them,’ I said.
    ‘This will sound weird, but I thought there was a woman. A really scary woman with red hair piled up on her head. And purple sunglasses.’
    I was suddenly very alert. Red hair. Purple sunglasses . At some stage, Gabbi must have briefly regained consciousness and been aware somehow of Oriana de la Force! Oriana was definitely behind the kidnapping! Even though she already had the Ormond Riddle and the Ormond Jewel—the two precious parts of the double-key code—she had still wanted more.
    Boges, Winter and Sharkey were leaning in, listening intently.
    ‘Gab,’ I said, leaning closer to her. ‘I think that might have been real—not a dream. See, some stuff is coming back to you. That red-head is a real person. Can you tell me any more about her?’
    ‘I don’t think so,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I feel like she was bossing these men around. But I think I was dreaming that, because I also felt like Uncle Rafe was there, protecting me.’
    ‘Well that’s good to hear,’ I said. ‘Even if it was only a dream.’

    I promised Gabbi that I was well on my way to clearing my name so that I could come home and be with her really soon.
    ‘I’m going to help you,’ Gabbi announced solemnly , sitting back on her heels, her face very serious. ‘I know I can’t say anything to anyone, but somehow I’m going to help you.’
    ‘Of course you are,’ said Winter, leaning over to hold Gabbi’s hand.
    ‘Gab, when you’re fit and strong, what would you think about being an undercover detective for me?’ I asked.
    ‘You can count on me,’ she said with a grin.
    ‘I’m sorry to say it, guys, but it’s time we got going,’ announced Sharkey, rearranging his bandaged