Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame

by Zondervan

  “Come on, you guys!” she hissed, knowing the last thing they needed was for Aunt Portia and Uncle Augustus to awaken just then.

  She looked around her. The book! Where was the book?

  The group entered the attic with thirty seconds left to go. “I can’t find the book,” she said, her voice rising in intensity.

  “Get in the circle, Quasi,” said Walter. “Maybe the book doesn’t have to be there.”

  “But Cato said — “

  Ophelia spun around, her eyes searching.

  The room began to rumble. Quasimodo, now clutching his bag of treats, looked paler than a snowman, but bravely he stepped inside the circle. The circle glowed. Ophelia felt sick. What if she’d failed him? What if he melted in pain and agony? She’d never forgive herself.

  “Just think hard, Quasi. Will yourself to enter a few minutes after you disappeared!”

  “I’ll try!”

  Then she saw the book, stuck between the sofa cushions. She grabbed it and tossed it in. It landed facedown. Whatever page it was opened to was now left to fate.

  Then, like it had at 11:11 p.m. just sixty hours before, the circle glowed in rainbow hues. The wooden bird took flight and settled on Quasi’s head. Sparks shot up around the perimeter casting a violent white light that left a green circle on their retinas after it had died down, and Quasimodo, waving a hand, disappeared.

  twenty-six

  Back to Boring Old Summer — Don’t You Just Feel So Sorry for Them?

  Well,” said Walter, “I suppose the portal will open once again on the eleventh of next month?”

  Ophelia sat down on the blue couch. “Yep. Funny how all the wooden carvings disappeared, isn’t it?”

  “I guess once the portal is opened, strange things can happen until it’s closed again.”

  “What about the food?” asked Linus.

  “Cato,” Ophelia and Walter said simultaneously.

  “But how?”

  Ophelia shrugged. “I think a lot of this remains to be seen, don’t you?”

  Linus threw himself down next to her as Walter dropped and did some sit-ups.

  “So?” asked Walter. “In a month from now, the summer’s sure to be pretty boring, don’t you think? Another adventure would be brilliant.”

  Ophelia crossed her legs beneath her. “I don’t know, Walt. I’ve been thinking about that.” She reached over to the side table for a PB&J, and then looked at it wistfully. “I miss Quasi so much. Maybe it’s better not to bring people forward. It hurts too much when they go back.”

  True, thought Linus who fondly remembered Quasi up in a tree with Kyle. He could have done so much good around Kingscross. Hopefully Paris won’t be the same after Quasi’s return.

  Ophelia returned the sandwich to the plate. Oh dear. Too many of them in three days’ time, and now her favorite snack was ruined.

  “But isn’t it worth it?” Walter stood to his feet, eyes sparkling. “Think about it, Ophelia. We got to know and love the hunchback of Notre-Dame! Personally! How many people in the world can say such a thing? And what’s more, we have the opportunity to get to know others. Who in their right mind would turn down something like this?”

  Ophelia stood to her feet. “You know what? You’re right, Walter. You’re exactly right! Why wouldn’t we?”

  Uh-oh, thought Linus.

  “I’ll go to my bookshelf right now.”

  Linus put himself between Ophelia and the attic door. “Be careful. Quasi was a good guy. Maybe you should try and make sure — “

  “Make sure, nothing!” cried Walter. “Give us the adventure of our lives, Ophelia. Make what we did with Quasimodo nothing short of a walk in the park.”

  “Are you crazy?” Linus turned to him.

  Walter grabbed half a sandwich, bit down, and then smiled, shoving the bite into his cheek with his tongue. “Yes, mate. I certainly am.”

  Ophelia stood before her bookshelf, her arms crossed in front of her. It was an easy pick as far as she was concerned — especially considering the theme of Uncle Auggie’s next party. And it was a book she’d been wanting to read for a good long time. But she needed to get started right away. Some writers have no idea when to stop, you see, and Herman Melville surely fit that description with his long-winded classic (which you shall most likely have to read in high school or college).

  Moby-Dick.

  Ophelia hurried back up the steps and handed the book to her brother, who then read the title to himself and handed the book to Walter.

  “Let’s just hope the whale doesn’t show up, or we’ll be in real trouble,” said Walter.

  “Captain Ahab could do his fair share of damage too,” said Ophelia, who was well aware of the seaman’s obsession with finding and killing the great white whale who’d taken his leg.

  Linus sighed and continued tinkering with Cato Grubbs’s lab equipment. He’d made no real discovery yet, but the burner sure kept Ronda’s queso dip warm. “You’d better get started reading then.”

  A look of boredom settled over Walter’s features. “What do you say we head over to the camp and see the kids, Linus?”

  Ophelia waved them away, her eyes capturing the first line of Moby-Dick.

  “Call me Ishmael.”

  Well, okay. I certainly will, she giggled to herself and began consuming a whale of a tale.

  Thus ends the tale—or all the bits worth telling, mind you. They did sleep, use the bathroom, change clothing, and participate in mindless conversations. But a good writer leaves those bits out, usually, as they are boring and add nothing to the movement of the plot or the development of the character—the two most important considerations while writing a story. As one writer put it, “I leave out the boring bits.”

  One might say my little asides would fit that description too. But this is my book and I shall write it how I like. And now, I’m off to bed with a glass of juice and a bowl of potato chips. And you … well, please don’t disturb me; I have quite a busy day ahead of me in the English department. Those professors still don’t appreciate all that I do for them. But tomorrow the sun will rise, and those stuffy colleagues of mine might actually see the true worth of a literary fussbudget like myself.

  Good night, good day, and good heavens! Go outside and do something with your body! You can’t sit around reading all day.

  the end

  About the Author

  L.L. SAMSON lives in Kentucky and has been writing far longer than anyone needs to know. Suffice it to say, L.L. has been reading even longer, loves to do it, and hopes you will too! Chickens, children, and a cat live in Lexington with L.L. and spouse, W.A. Samson, who writes too. Despite this, it’s difficult to find a pen in the house.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  ZONDERKIDZ

  Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame

  Copyright © 2012 by L. L. Samson

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

  EPub Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN: 978-0-310-72796-5

  Requests for information should be addressed to:

  Zonderkidz, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

  *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Samson, Lisa, 1964—

  Facing the hunchback of Notre Dame / by Lisa Samson.

  p. cm. – (The enchanted attic ; bk. 1)

  Summary: When Quasimodo from Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” appears fully alive and completely bewildered in their attic,
twin twelve-year-old avid readers Ophelia and Linus search for a way to help him return home.

  ISBN 978-0-310-72795-8 (softcover)

  [1. Space and time—Fiction. 2. Characters in literature—Fiction. 3. Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885. Hunchback of Notre Dame—Fiction. 4. Books and reading—Fiction. 5. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 6. Twins—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.S1697Fac 2012

  [E] – dc232011048879

  *

  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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  Cover design: Kris Nelson

  Cover and interior illustrations: ©Antonio Caparo

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