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Back The Trickster Save as PDF
Chapters (74)
  1. The Trickster
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Contents
  5. Preface to the 20th anniversary edition
  6. Introduction
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 38
  45. 39
  46. 40
  47. 41
  48. 42
  49. 43
  50. 44
  51. 45
  52. 46
  53. 47
  54. 48
  55. 49
  56. 50
  57. 51
  58. 52
  59. 53
  60. 54
  61. 55
  62. 56
  63. 57
  64. 58
  65. 59
  66. 60
  67. 61
  68. 62
  69. Keep Reading
  70. FURNACE
  71. Acknowledgements
  72. About the Author
  73. ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
  74. About the Publisher

No matter. It would take seconds to track her down. She was probably knocking back her third Caesar cocktail in a hotel in town somewhere, crunching the celery and trying to get a cab to bring her up here to get the story.

Fine. He knew he’d see her again.

37

They were talking in low voices down there, but he could still hear them. He pressed ‘start’ to pause the screen and turned the volume up. Billy didn’t want to know what was going on. He had fled from the kitchen when his Dad came bursting in like that, all scratched and wild-eyed, and his Mom had come after him. He told her he was fine and that he wanted to play with his computer for a while, so she left him. But it took a while to make her go, and he could tell she was frightened by the way Dad was. It looked like she’d been crying real hard. Bart had followed her out and Billy let him go. He knew he’d be asleep on the landing by now, with his big fluffy head on his paws as he lay there on guard outside his master’s room.

But they were all down there talking now, and in the kind of voices that people use when someone is sick or dying. Scared voices, of people who didn’t know what was going on. He wanted to escape, to be far away from all this confusion and fear, and he was playing Sonic the Hedgehog as hard as he could to try and flee those voices. It usually worked if he was worried. You couldn’t think about a thing when you were playing good, picking up extra lives and loading up the sparkly gold rings. But right now he was playing like a little kid. Jess could probably do better than this for pity’s sake. He hadn’t even made it through the Springyard Zone on the last three tries, and that was worse than pathetic.

A door closed and he heard Auntie Ann say something to Uncle Gerry. He turned the volume up again. The kooky cartoon music blared out of the speakers on the tiny TV, and he flipped Sonic into a spin to get him over some scary crabs that could lose you your rings. Except they weren’t really crabs, were they? They were little bouncy bunny-rabbits and ducklings that evil Doctor Robotnik had imprisoned in the bodies of bad crabs and bugs. Sonic released them. Billy paused the game and closed his eyes. That thing in his Dad had wanted inside him and the wolf, to make them like the bad crab. He could see it now, feel its touch on him and hear the horrible ugly words it had spoken, although they had only been voiced inside Billy’s own head, he knew that.