Free Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms by Lissa Evans

but all he could find was wildlife. Admittedly, the beetles were fascinating, scrambling over one another as they panicked in the candlelight. Stuart stood staring at them for at least a minute before realizing that a low noise coming from outside the house was getting louder.
    It was a truck, backing up. And there were shouts too, and boots on the pavement and the whine of the gate hinge. He went over to the window and tried to peer through a slit between the boards, but before he could see anything at all he heard a regular thud, thud, thud and realized that someone was climbing up the ladder onto the scaffolding.
    And from downstairs, he could hear a ripping, tearing noise, as someone else started to pull the planks away from the front door.
    Stuart blew out the candle and ran for it.

CHAPTER 15
    Stuart hurtled down the stairs, just as sunlight flooded through the newly uncovered stained glass of the front door, illuminating the jaunty hat and wand and the letters T-T TH . The living room was still in darkness, and as he tried to hurry he found himself kicking a footstool halfway across the room. The crash sounded enormous, but by now there seemed to be crashes coming from all sides of the house.
    He carried on groping his way toward the kitchen, but before he got there he heard a different sort of noise: quieter but distinct. It was the sound of the back door being opened.
    “Here, it’s not locked,” said a man’s voice, surprised.
    Stuart stood paralyzed. If he was caught, he’d get into trouble. The builders might even tell the police, but they’d definitely, definitely tell his parents. If his mom and dad found out that he’d been trespassing on condemned property at seven in the morning, then they wouldn’t trust him to go off by himself at all, and then that would be that—the whole quest smashed, the trail frozen. The threepences would rust unused, while somewhere in Beeton, Great-Uncle Tony’s workshop would remain forever undiscovered.
    Stuart could hear footsteps crossing the kitchen.
    Was there anywhere he could hide? He looked around frantically, squinting in the darkness. Except that it wasn’t darkness any longer. Another of the boards covering the front window was at that very moment being wrenched free and an arrow of light shot across the room, bouncing off the framed picture that he’d looked at earlier. And all of a sudden, he knew where he could go.
    He scurried over to the fireplace, ducked down, and crawled into it. It was larger than it looked. He could feel the draft stirring the air around him and he realized that if he stood at the back with his head and body actually up the chimney, then only his legs below the knee would be seen from the room, and since his jeans and sneakers were black, he’d be nearly invisible.
    He got in as far as he could and then stood upright. With a painful thud, his head hit something hard.
    “Start in the upstairs bathroom,” said the voice coming along the passageway. “Get the tub out and then strip the piping. It’s all copper.”
    Stuart ducked back down again, clutching his head. He could already feel a lump pushing up under his fingers. He half rose again, extended the other arm and felt around inside the chimney. He could feel the corners of a metal box. He gave it a shove, but it didn’t move; one side of it seemed to be fixed to the brickwork. He stood up as much as he was able, his head crooked awkwardly to one side.
    The clump of boots approached the fireplace.
    “Any of the furnishings worth anything?” asked a second voice.
    “A dealer came around and said he had a client for the big items. The rest is just trash.”
    The boots retreated again, and in a few moments Stuart heard the drumbeat of footsteps going up the stairs. In the living room all was momentarily quiet.
    He took his chance. He crawled out from the fireplace and was about to make a dash for the back door, when the throbbing in his head seemed to push a thought into his