The Secret of the Painted House Read Online Free

sure.” Emily loved s’mores. Who didn’t? What about Logan, though?
    But what could happen to Logan? He called this a forest. Really, it was only a small patch of woods. Even a four-year-old boy couldn’t get lost in it. And how many people had ever had a picnic inside a picture?
    Still, Emily wasn’t sure. Were they going into this wall, too? It was one thing to step inside a picture. But to step into a picture inside a picture?
    “Come on,” Pin said. And she turned to leave.
    Emily followed, relieved. She followed Pinoutside to where the picnic waited for them.
    The red and white cloth lay on the grass. There were hot dogs, mustard and ketchup, and pickles. There was potato salad, too.
    The makings of the s’mores that Pin had promised were there, too. Marshmallows sat in a pile next to graham crackers and chocolate bars. But where had the graham crackers and chocolate bars come from? Emily hadn’t seen them before.
    Off to one side, a tepee of small sticks waited to be lit.
    The only thing missing was the artist’s palette and brush. Where had they gone?
    Pin picked up a stick. She poked it into a marshmallow. “For you,” she said. Then she handed the stick to Emily and pointed toward the unlit campfire.
    The stick felt odd in Emily’s hand. It wassmoother than a twig from a tree should be. And it had no weight. She looked at the unlit campfire.
    “Are you going to light it?” she asked.
    “No!” Pin answered. She said it sharply, her face suddenly pale.
    “Why—” Emily started to ask.
    But Pin broke in. “No fires.”

    Then Emily understood. Of course! Pin had died in a fire. She must be afraid of fires. Even a little campfire scared her.
    So Emily held her marshmallow over the tepee of sticks. She was already pretending the painted marshmallow was real. She could pretend there was a fire.
    Pin did the same.
    The silence was so heavy it made Emily’s ears hurt.
    “Do you live here in the playhouse?” she asked finally.
    Pin seemed surprised. “No, of course not! My dad’s house is over there.” She waved a hand in the direction Emily had come from.
    A shiver ran beneath Emily’s skin.
    “And your mother?” she asked. She kept her voice calm. She pretended this was a normal conversation.
    “She’s here. She went away once. But she’s here now.” Pin said it fiercely. She seemed to think Emily might argue.
    “Have you seen her?” Emily asked.
    Pin shrugged. “She plays hide-and-seek. She loves hide-and-seek. Only”—her voice caught—“I can never find her.”
    A sudden cramp brought Emily’s handacross her stomach. She looked around. What was that flash of red she had seen in the woods earlier?
    Was Pin’s mother somewhere inside this picture? But why wouldn’t she let Pin see her?
    Pin’s voice brought Emily back. “You’ll stay, won’t you?” It was half question, half demand.
    Emily didn’t know how to answer. She pulled the marshmallow off her stick. And then she held it, amazed. The marshmallow had puffed and toasted to a light brown. And it had done that over an imaginary fire!
    It was as if someone had painted it anew.
    But Pin wasn’t paying any attention. “You’ve
got
to stay!” she said. It was an order this time.
    “I—I can’t,” Emily stammered. She wasstill staring at the toasted marshmallow. “My mother … We just moved here, and you see … I … I have to help her.”
    The moment she said it, she knew it was a mistake. She should have found another excuse.
    She could have said, again, that her little brother was waiting. She could even have said that she had to go home to her father. That would have been okay. But she never should have mentioned her mother.
    “Well.” Pin’s voice was hard. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from your mommy.”
    Emily’s cheeks grew hot. She scrambled to her feet. She still held the marshmallow. It didn’t matter what Pin said. This girl couldn’t keep her here.
    She turned to go. To her surprise, Pin was