Free Quest for the Secret Keeper by Victoria Laurie Page A

ready to go chasing after Theo to offer her comfort, when a faint buzzing sound came to his ears. The noise was so odd that it caused them all to pause and look about.
    “What
is
that?” Carl said, his chin slightly tilted as he searched the dark sky.
    Ian realized that the noise was indeed coming from above. It sounded like a very large hornets’ nest getting closer and closer. “Look, there!” Jaaved said, pointing at the horizon just offshore.
    “What?” Ian asked, his voice now raised above the din.
    “Those dark shadows!” Jaaved said. “I think they’re planes!”
    “Good heavens!” the earl exclaimed. “Everyone! Get down!”
    No sooner had the earl spoken than a whistle pierced the night sky, and seconds later an earth-shattering explosion sounded down by the harbor.
    Ian was pulled roughly to the ground by the earl justas a second whistling and explosion sounded, and then another and another. Ian could barely think past his own fear and the events taking place around him.
    But then his eye happened to catch a glimpse of white moving across the downs and he jumped to his feet and shouted,
“Theo!”
He burst into a run as if his own life depended on it, and it wasn’t long before he was gaining on her.
“Theo, stop!”
he shouted, but either she could not hear him above the noise from the planes or she was ignoring him completely.
    A whistling noise pulled his attention skyward again just as an alarm was sounded down at the wharf, echoing across the downs too late to do any good.
    Another bomb went off, lighting up the night sky with fire, and Ian twisted his head, knowing it had come from behind him. He gasped when he realized the bomb had hit Castle Dover, and the sight so shocked him that he tripped over his own two feet and went sprawling to the ground. For a moment he lost all orientation, and then the shadows overhead seemed to be right on top of him.
    “Oh, nooooooooooo!”
Ian cried just as another explosion blew more of the wharf apart.
    Adding to the cacophony were screams and shouts of panic. Ian scrambled to his feet but he was now shaking from head to toe. Another blast to his right lit up the area all around him, and with no small amount of horror, he realized the Nazis were dropping their bombs everywhere from the harbor to Castle Dover. At any second, they would strike the keep!
    As if she were immune to the chaos and horror around her, Theo continued her mad dash across the downs, her small figure vulnerable to the murderous horde above her. Ian set off after her again, but this time, he didn’t bother shouting; he knew his voice could never rise above the noise. Instead, he put every ounce of energy into reaching Theo.
    And then, as if things weren’t bad enough, small explosions sounded just to his right, and clumps of grass and dirt flew up into his face and against his clothing. He knew that at least one of the pilots had seen him and was loosing his machine gun on him. The shock of being shot at was enough to cause Ian to lose his footing yet again, and he crashed to the ground, covering his head and trying in vain to make himself disappear.
    More gunfire erupted, but in the chaos, Ian couldn’t tell where it was aimed, and he shivered all over, waiting to feel the bite of the bullets—but none came.
    And then something tumbled to the ground beside him, and he heard Carl’s cries. “Ian!
Ian!
Are you hit?”
    Ian lifted his chin and stared at Carl. “I’m all right!” he shouted, staggering to his feet. Desperately he searched the dark terrain for any sign of Theo.
    Finally, he spotted her, facedown on the ground, and after crying out her name with such force that he felt a searing pain in the back of his throat, Ian raced to reach her. At last he got to her still form, dropping to his knees a few feet from her, unable to touch her for fear he’d know for certain that she was gone. His chest heaved, and his fistsclenched, and an anger so keen that he thought he’d