The 12 Dogs of Christmas Read Online Free Page B

thought, as she breathed hard, trying to shush the puppy who wanted to bark—and so did. Suddenly, the doors flew open, and the Banshee Man stood there silhouetted by the sun, a frightening figure. But that did not stop Emma from running hard into him, pushing him aside, and running fast with the puppy in her arms to escape.
    The Banshee Man was, of course, Norman Doyle, and he was not happy to have been thwarted. He gestured off to the distance, and that gesture brought forth bug-face Melvin on the Fearsome Machine; Norman jumped on board and ordered Melvin to give chase. Emma had looked back and seen all this and, with the puppy snug in her coat, ran even harder down the road and into some woods until she found a tree to hide behind. But she could hear the Fearsome Machine come close and stop, and then she could hear the CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH of the Banshee Man walking in the snowy woods looking for her. When the crunches got very close, Emma bolted and ran, constantly looking behind her to see how close the Banshee Man might be getting.
    â€œOomph!” Emma ran right into a big, bundled-up old man in a fur cap with cold eyes and a gray beard. Was he another Banshee Man? The old man grabbed Emma and spirited her away!
    Norman, who thought he knew which way the pesky girl had gone, now realized he had no idea where she was. He looked in front of him, and to the right. He looked to the left, and behind him. But nowhere could he see the girl. Suddenly he heard the infernal howling of hounds. He twisted around and flashing before him was a dogsled being pulled by seven powerful Huskies. On the runner sticking out behind the sled stood the big man with the gray beard. And in the bed of the sled lay Emma, holding the puppy tight and close, covered in a nice, warm blanket.
    â€œArragh!” Norman yelled, and he jumped back up onto the Fearsome Machine.
    The chase was on! The old man with the gray beard mushed his dogs on faster and faster, and Norman bashed bug-face Melvin on the head to get him to catch up. Soon the Fearsome Machine was running parallel with the sled.
    Norman reached and tried to grab the puppy from Emma’s embrace. “Closer, closer!” he yelled at Melvin.
    â€œWatch out!” Emma cried, watching the two contraptions almost collide.
    Norman’s glove-covered hand was just about to latch on to the pup when the sled suddenly veered to the left at a fork in the road, leaving the Fearsome Machine to veer right and go off farther and farther away.
    Emma looked up at her rescuer and smiled. The old man did not smile back. Soon he pulled up in front of Doverville School and stopped. “You should be in school!” the old man snipped, speaking to Emma for the first time. Emma got off the sled, and the old man was gone before she could thank him.
    After an adventure like that, it seemed sort of anticlimactic to have to go to school. And what was she going to do with the puppy? She figured this Mrs. Walsh, the principal, could help, so she took the puppy along with her into the school.
    She was wrong. Mrs. Walsh, with a face as sour as a summer lemon, told Emma, “It’s an old wives’ tale that dogs are good for girls. Get rid of that puppy immediately! And get back here fast so that you’re not late for class!” Emma ran out of the school. She supposed she could have just let the dog go, but she knew its mother was gone, and the Banshee Man might come back, so she couldn’t really do that. Outside, walking around the school, trying to figure out what to do, Emma saw a large storage shack attached to the back of the school. She looked in, and there was a perfectly good box that might be comfortable for the pup. She put him in, covered it with a plank of wood, and put a heavy brick on top. “I’m sorry I don’t have food for you,” Emma told the pup, “but I’ll come back. I promise.” The puppy whimpered in response as Emma ran back to