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Автор Кэтрин Фишер

The Ghost Box

Catherine Fisher

First American edition published in 2012 by Stoke Books,

an imprint of Barrington Stoke Ltd

18 Walker Street, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, EH3 7LP

Illustrations © Julie-ann Murray

this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the

prior written permission of Barrington Stoke Ltd, except for

inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

A catalog record for this book is available from

the US Library of Congress

Distributed in the United States and Canada by Lerner Publisher

Services, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

241 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55401

ISBN 978-1-78112-017-0

Printed in China

eISBN: 978-1-78112-057-6

Contents

1 The Face in the Tree

2 The Silver Box

3 A Shadow

4 Broken Nails

5 The Shop by the Stream

6 A Terrible Secret

7 You’ve Made Me Angry

8 Alone

9 A Soul for a Soul

10 Together

Chapter 1

The Face in the Tree

Sarah was carrying a tray of wine-glasses in one hand and a Coke in the other hand when she saw the painting.

It was on the wall of the gallery. Between the chatting groups of people, the surprise of seeing the painting stopped her dead. She stared at the green fields, the hillside – they were the same as she could see from her house.

“Hey, waitress. Is that for me?” Matt took the Coke out of her hand and slurped it.

Sarah glared at him. “No. It wasn’t. ”

“Tough. You’ll have to get another one. ” He grinned, his black Goth hair falling into his black-lined Goth eyes. She thought he looked stupid.

“Move, Matt. I’m working. ”

“Have to make sure Mommy’s little party goes well, do you?” he said. He didn’t move, so she pushed past him and started handing around the drinks to the guests.

Sarah’s mom was a sculptor, and the party was for her new exhibition.

Her friends were mostly other artists and painters and gallery owners. They all wore bright clothes and talked loudly. Sarah saw her mom now, having a photograph taken in front of the big bronze sculpture called Man in the Rain. Mom looked flushed and excited. She winked at Sarah.

Then the photographer said, “Look this way please. ”

Sarah dumped the tray behind a sofa as soon as it was empty. She was fed up with helping. From now on she’d swan around being the sculptor’s daughter. Keeping away from Matt.

And his dad, Gareth.

Gareth was getting into all the photographs too. He and Mom had their arms around each other, and Mom was grinning like a kid.

From behind a bronze figure, Sarah watched them. She liked Gareth. He was a little up-tight, a little like a teacher in his old brown suit, but now that he and Mom were married she would soon fix him up. Gareth was OK, but Matt was his son, and having Matt in the house was a pain. He was messy and rude. He always left his music blaring really loud and left his stupid black clothes lying around everywhere.