Books Of Elsewhere: The Strangers Part 21

Still glimmering in the fireplace was Annabelle McMartin's locket. Its chain was tangled in the grate, and its filigreed gold was smudged with oily soot. Olive bent down and picked up the locket, feeling its familiar shape against the palm of her hand. Annabelle had said she had something new to put inside of it. Olive slipped one fingernail along the locket's edge, hearing the tiny click of its catch.

Inside the once-empty locket was a portrait. It was very small, made up of nothing but delicate lines of black ink, but it was perfectly clear whose portrait it was-and who had created it. Olive would have known that sharp brow, those hollow cheeks, and those sunken firepit eyes anywhere on earth, whether they were staring at her from an old photograph, or inside an antique locket, or from the just-finished portrait that had vanished from the attic of the old stone house.

"Well," said Horatio, from the rug beside her feet. "We know the best and worst of it all."

"What are you going to do now, miss?" Leopold asked.

Olive let out a long, heavy breath. "I think . . . I think I'm going to give my dad his gla.s.ses. And then I'm going to go to sleep for about three days."

Leopold nodded. "An excellent plan."

The cats glided ahead of her through the library doors. Olive watched Harvey bound for the staircase, muttering "Agent 1-800 returning to headquarters. Over and under. In and out." Leopold slipped toward the bas.e.m.e.nt like a sleek black shadow.

Horatio paused in the doorway. "Sweet dreams, Olive," he said softly, over his shoulder. "And don't worry. We'll be standing guard."

JACQUELINE WEST is obsessed with stories where magic intersects with everyday life-from talking cats, to enchanted eyewear, to paintings as portals to other worlds. An award-winning poet, former teacher, and occasional musician, Jacqueline now lives with her husband in Red Wing, Minnesota. There she dreams of dusty libraries, secret pa.s.sageways, and more adventures for Olive, Morton, and Rutherford.

When eleven-year-old Olive moves into the crumbling old mansion on Linden Street, she's right to think there's something weird about the place-the creepy antique paintings, the three very unusual cats. But the weirdest thing? When Olive finds a pair of old-fashioned gla.s.ses in a drawer, she discovers she can travel inside the paintings to Elsewhere, a sinister world with strange secrets to keep. There she meets Morton, a small boy with a big temper. As he and Olive form an uneasy alliance, Olive finds herself caught in a plan darker and more dangerous than she could have imagined, confronting a power that wants to be rid of her by any means necessary. It's up to her to save the house from the shadows, before the lights go out for good.

Some terrifying things have happened to Olive in the old stone house, but none as scary as starting . . . junior high. When she plummets through a hole in her backyard, however, Olive discovers two things that may change her mind: First, the wicked Annabelle McMartin is back. Second, there's a secret belowground that unlocks not one but two of Elsewhere's biggest, most powerful, most dangerous forces yet. With the house's guardian cats acting weird, her best friend hiding something huge, and her ally Morton starting to rebel, Olive isn't sure where to turn. Will she figure it out in time? Or will she be lured into Elsewhere and trapped there forever?

Olive is getting worried. With no way into the McMartins' enchanted paintings, her friend Morton is still trapped on the other side-in Elsewhere. Worse? The house's three guardian cats are absolutely no help at all (they're hiding something; Olive is sure of it). So when the new oddball kid next door mentions a grimoire-a spellbook-Olive feels a breathless tug of excitement. If she can find the McMartins' spellbook, maybe she can help Morton escape Elsewhere for good. Unless, that is, the book finds Olive first.

end.