Free The Mapmaker and the Ghost by Sarvenaz Tash Page B

softly.
    â€œNot really a lie. I could’ve been named Dahlia,” Goldenrod muttered.
    â€œHow did you find us?” he asked.
    Goldenrod remained silent, her brain reeling as to how to get herself and Birch out of all this.
    â€œAnswer me.” It appeared as if the older boy—who apparently was the same Spitbubble she had heard mention of earlier—had no intention of letting go of Goldenrod’s arm.
    â€œYou’re not going to answer me?” he said, tightening his grasp on her wrist.
    Goldenrod stared defiantly into Spitbubble’s eyes. Not a word escaped her lips.
    â€œAdmirable.” The boy sounded like he was almost laughing as he turned to Jonas. “Drag her brother up here. Let’s see if she keeps her silence as easily if it’s his arm.”
    â€œNo!” Goldenrod blurted.
    Spitbubble turned to her and spoke slowly and calmly, “Just one more chance, then. How did you find us?”
    Somehow, Goldenrod didn’t think the boy would be terribly understanding about a story involving a ghost with a finely tuned sense of direction, one actually named Meriwether at that. So she skipped that part and came up with, “I followed Randy.”
    There was a glint of anger in the boy’s eyes before they darkened again. He slackened his hold on Goldenrod’s arm and yelled, “Toe Jam!” into the cavern.
    Within a few seconds, there were more scuffling footsteps, and the staircase produced the dirty, ruffled frame of Randy.
    â€œYes, Spitbubble?”
    So Randy is … Toe Jam?
Goldenrod thought.
    â€œThis girl here tells us that she followed you all the way to Headquarters.”
    Toe Jam’s jaw dropped as he saw Goldenrod. “Mold-and-rot…,” his voice trailed.
    â€œExplain yourself,” Spitbubble said.
    â€œI … I don’t know how she got here,” Toe Jam said.
    â€œWhere were you when you saw him?” Spitbubble asked Goldenrod.
    â€œDue west,” Goldenrod grumbled.
    â€œAre you trying to be funny?” Spitbubble asked.
    â€œNo. If I was, I wouldn’t be doing a very good job.”
    â€œShut up and answer the question. I don’t need any extra words out of you,” Spitbubble said.
    â€œI was answering your question. I was due west.” Goldenrod looked at the blank faces staring at her and sighed, pointing to where she had come from. “Over there, by a bunch of bushes with red berries.”
    Spitbubble rounded on Toe Jam. “Well?”
    â€œI don’t know … maybe she means where I was meeting Toulouse,” he said.
    â€œToe Jam, I believe this is the second time I’ve warned you about bringing your
butler
into these woods.” He exaggerated the word
butler
in the same slow, dangerous way he had exaggerated
Meriwether
.
    â€œHow else am I supposed to get the stuff from him?” Toe Jam muttered.
    â€œOh, I don’t know. By going to the house where you live and he works and where no one will suspect you hanging around. The fact that you actually have a house you can go to and get that junk from is the only use I have for you.” Spitbubble didn’t blink once, penetrating Toe Jam with his glare. “And, if you can’t even do that right, well …”
    â€œThat junk seems to pay for a lot of things,” Toe Jam mumbled.
    â€œIt pays for the privilege of letting you hang out with us. You don’t want to do it anymore, no problem. The exit is that way …
due west
,” Spitbubble pointed.
    That shut Toe Jam up. For a minute, Spitbubble continued to glare at him. And then he turned away as if nothing had happened. He handed Goldenrod’s arm to Jonas.
    â€œTake her down and keep her with her brother, Brains. Until I figure out how to clean up your mess.”

    Birch had stopped crying, but he couldn’t stop sniffling. He needed to figure out how to get himself out of there.
    Maybe he could