September Read Online Free Page B

agreed. ‘You did give it to me, but then I visited you once—in the hospital—and Iput it back on your finger to show you I’d been there.’
    ‘Even though everyone was after you?’
    ‘I snuck in. And I’ll visit you again, I promise.’
    ‘But it will be too dangerous!’ she protested.
    ‘I’ll find a safe way. OK? Now quickly, you’d better get going.’
    ‘Come on, Gabbi,’ Winter said, taking my sister’s hand again.
    But Gabbi stood firm and twisted the Celtic ring right off her finger.
    ‘You have to take this back,’ she said, ‘It’s kept me safe so far. You need it more than me now.’
    She passed the silver ring through the window, and I slipped it back onto my pinkie-finger. I looked down at the two interconnecting strands that reminded me of the symbol for eternity.
    ‘When I come home for good, I’ll give it back. See you soon, Gab,’ I whispered, turning the ring on my finger.
    I watched again as the pair walked away. I still couldn’t believe Gab was OK, and that Winter—this girl I’d doubted, countless times, risked her own life by jumping into Spindrift River to save mine.

    We’d been back on the road for an hour and a half after collecting Winter. Sharkey decided itwas safe enough for us to pull over for a quick bathroom break near a picnic spot in the bush.
    ‘Be back here in under ten,’ he called out, as the three of us—Winter, Boges and I—wandered off through the bush in different directions.
    In the distance, I spotted a family with little kids playing under shady paperbark trees beside the curving lagoon. The trees along the banks reminded me of how Dad used to make toy boats for us when Gab and I were little, playing around the ponds at Richmond Park. He’d use some of the long strips of papery bark that hung down from the massive trees to craft a little hull, then fasten some wafer-thin paperbark on a pointy willow stick to make a sail.
    I thought about Gabbi and imagined how shocked the cops back at the station would have been to find her at their door. And, far more exciting than that, I imagined Mum’s joy on receiving the news that not only was her daughter found alive, she was out of the coma.
    It was almost unbelievable.
    I’d lost the Riddle and the Jewel, but Gabbi was safe and well.
    It was September. I had less than four months left to sort out the Ormond Singularity before it expired. Or, as the crazy guy warned me, before I expired. By December 31st, I told myself, I mustfind the Riddle and the Jewel, get them back and then somehow get myself over to Ireland … All while escaping the clutches of the law, Vulkan Sligo and Oriana de la Force. It seemed impossible , but I was starting to feel convinced that going to Ireland was my only hope of tracking down the missing pieces.
    I stared sightlessly ahead as the hugeness of the job in front of me loomed in my mind.
    From one of the nearby trees, a magpie warbled.
    What should I do next?
    The magpie warbled louder. I turned my head, shielding my eyes from harsh sunlight that streamed through a gap in the leaves of the tree I was under.
    Within seconds, I was forced to duck as a fast-moving , black and white dive-bomber narrowly missed my face. Sunlight must have reflected from the silver Celtic ring on my finger.
    The black and white flurry whooshed past me, then settled on a willow branch growing from a half-submerged tree in the lagoon.
    Could it be?
    It couldn’t. Not a chance.
    I squinted.
    ‘Maggers, is that you?’ I asked, examining him.
    He squawked and ruffled his feathers.
    I was sure it was him! He was getting ready for another dive.
    ‘Maggers! It’s me! Enough with the dive- bombing , OK?’
    At the sound of my voice, Maggers stopped his attack and flew to a lower branch to check me out. I took a step backwards. I wanted to keep my eyeballs in their sockets.
    I noticed distinctive black flecks around his white collar, and the small white patch over his right eye. I was almost one hundred