Shadow Conspiracy Read Online Free Page A

large, square door in the shared wall. This provided access to the stable loft from the adjoining coach house. I had hoped for a crack large enough to see through. I got something much better—the door was poorly fastened and stood slightly ajar. The latch was on this side of the door as, of course, it had to be, for on the opposite side was a two-story drop to the coach house floor.
     I opened the door and gasped aloud. There was nothing between us and the cobbles far below but the broad, heavy beam from which hung the pulley and rope necessary to hoist hay up to the loft. But that was not what made me gasp. My surprise and awe was for the collection of items that inhabited the shadowy interior of Dr. Polidori’s laboratory.
    There two tables or beds—both really, and yet neither. Both were fitted with odd leather harnesses. And there were cages, just as Elise had reported, each with an occupant or two. I saw dogs, cats, rabbits, and yes, the capuchin monkey. He must have had them all brought in under cover of night, while we were asleep or otherwise engaged in the main house. I promised myself I would try to be more wakeful from now on.
    The thing that captured my attention most awfully was the Machine. It sat between the tables and was half-again as long—perhaps nine feet. It was, as Elise had said, an amalgamation of wheels and gears and rods and strange little cylinders, and at its apex, which was perhaps four feet from the low trestle it sat upon, were two thin rods that curved toward each other like lovers frozen just short of embrace.
    The hay rustled and Elise whispered, “Is there a way down, Mam?”
    I peered at the beam. “Just that. We could possibly lower ourselves to the floor using the ropes and pulleys.”
    Elise looked at the apparatus sceptically. “I don’t know, Mam. It’s a fair piece down.”
    It was indeed a fair piece down, but I had the sudden urge to attempt it. “I’m going to try,” I said, pleased that my voice did not quiver in the least. “You can help me balance.” So saying, I slid my legs out of the little door and straddled the beam.
    Elise gasped. “Maybe I should go first, Mam.”
    It was too late. I was already a foot away from her and then two and then I was right over the pulley assembly. I stopped to consider the best course of action.
    “Throw one leg over the beam,” advised Elise as if she had done this sort of thing before, “and lie across it on your stomach. Then you can wrap your legs about the ropes and let yourself down until you can get a foot on the pulley.”
    She was right, of course. “Smart girl,” I applauded her, then set out to do as she’d suggested. I had just gotten sideways on the beam on my stomach, when I heard the sound of a door being unlatched. The rear door of the coach house, I realized. I froze.
    “Miss!” hissed Elise and held her hand out to me.
    I wriggled around trying to throw my leg back over the beam so I could scoot to safety.
    The rear door creaked open.
    All that separated it from this room was the narrow expanse of the tack room, which was little more than a broad hallway. I got my leg over the beam, but overbalanced and almost went down head-first.
    Light spilled into the laboratory from the tack room.
    I wobbled for a moment, then felt Elise’s hand grasp my habit at the shoulder. She had come half out onto the beam, herself, to get me. I righted myself and frog-hopped in ungainly fashion the two feet to the loft. Elise, exhibiting surprising strength, hauled me in and shut the door.
    “Who’s that?” said a man’s voice. There was silence, then: “Paolo? Is that you?”
    Directly below us on the ground floor, the door between the stable and coach house rattled and opened with a sigh. We held our collective breath.
    “ Sì, medico. È me. ”
    “Ah,” said Polidori. Then, “Lights, Paolo. Luminosi, per favore .”
    We waited—we fine, brave spies—until they had gone off to work at the far end of the lab