The Wonders Read Online Free Page B

growl. Her yellowish teeth were one of the few giveaways of her age. She had obviously never bleached them, unlike everyone else Leon had met since he arrived in the States. “I’m joking. It’s paradise for them here. And they’re not dangerous animals anyway. The fences are to stop people from getting in.”
    The second gate groaned shut behind them, and the car eased into a driveway flanked by newly dug flower beds. Straggly thin trees arched over the path to form a shadowy tunnel. Though the car windows were closed, the white pebblescrackling under the tires made the sound of wealth—limousine pulling slowly down a long, manicured driveway.
    Rhona sighed. “I still love Overington. I built it twenty years ago. I had a crazy dream that one day it could be a retirement home for some of my old friends. Never again. Give me a wild animal over a greedy human anytime.” Rhona leaned forward to peer through the window. “Here it comes. I hope you’ll love it too.”
    The limousine swept around the last curve and the house came into view. It was two stories with a long roof, pitched low despite being in Vermont, where, Leon had heard, in winter the snow fell for days on end. Ribs of blond beam framed the stucco walls. The same blond timber surrounded the windows and doors. At the top of the walls, under the roofline, hung long wooden louvers, silvered with age.
    â€œThe louvers open and close over the course of the day to let in light. If you look from above, the building is shaped in the form of a cross. Four wings extending from the central shared space. Four fully self-contained apartments, plus a communal kitchen, dining room and living area. Gymnasium, sunroom, massage room, that kind of thing. What do you think?”
    â€œWhy all the cameras?” Christos asked.
    Leon had noticed them too, hanging from corners of the building, fixed at regular intervals to the fence.
    She told them the cameras had been installed for the animal sanctuary. When the animals were first brought in eight years before, the landscape designer built discreet wire fences covered in vines and wild grasses around the enclosures. One morning in the third week after its arrival, an aged lion, doped up on pain medication for arthritis, was found by the animal keeper stabbed fourteen times and left to bleed to death on the rocky mound at the center of its enclosure. The next monthan elephant was shot in the thigh with a homemade bow and arrow. The tip of the arrow was steel, filed so sharp it could have pierced brick. The boy who did those things was caught, but a year later two of the five chimpanzees were kidnapped, and a video of them cowering in the corner of a student dorm was posted online. They were later dumped at an animal shelter and returned to Overington.
    â€œI should have realized earlier—the animals would stay in, but I had to keep the humans out. Don’t ever underestimate the cruelty of the public. Especially you three, you need to be prepared.”
    â€œKids are kids.” Christos shook his head. “They do silly things without thinking. Most of them don’t mean to hurt anyone.”
    Leon agreed. “I’ve never met a bad kid. My niece is a sweetie.” He could remember the moment she first saw his metal heart, her terror mingled with delight and laughter, the way she ran screaming to her mother, then rushed straight back to have a closer look. “She calls me See-Through Man.”
    Rhona shook her head. “Not all kids are good kids. We’ve ruined some. You give them too much, they forget their humanity. I’m not joking. They don’t care about anything or anyone. It’s all sensation to them.”
    After the incidents, Rhona had built the double fence around the perimeter of the estate. But fences were not enough. Fences were mere passive protection. A year later a young woman climbed the fences and tried to cuddle the chimps. The two