Devil's Paw-e

by Marie Prato

Emily Divico faces her summer vacation with dread of staying with relatives she hardly knows in a strange country she’s never seen. On top of that, she’s sure she caused her parents’ divorce by betraying her father. And she will be the last one he wants to see.

She’s right about that but not for the reasons she thinks. Dad’s in danger up to his neck and before long Emily will be the only one who can save him.

Her determination to save her gambling-addicted father from the clutches of loan sharks takes her through the beguiling and bizarre city of Palermo, Sicily. In a land where police cannot be trusted, Emily recruits aid from the most unlikely candidates of all. Can wits and broomsticks take on the illegal underground and hope to win? Unwrapped corpses in catacombs and criminals might be enough to frighten off most detectives but, with only days to save her father’s life, Emily can’t give up.

Young Adult, Mystery ISBN 1-59431-237-0

Also available in RTF and HTML formats.



CHAPTER 1

Flying Above The Clouds

Thirteen-year-old Emily Divico sat in the rear seat of her stepfather's Lexus staring at the back of his balding head.

"Sue, did you get someone to watch the house while we go to Gettysburg?" asked Emily's stepfather. "I don't want to have to worry about the mail piling up while we're gone."

Emily scrunched down further into the seat. Well, she thought, at least they'll be enjoying my trip. Her mother and stepfather had made all kinds of plans for themselves while she was in Sicily visiting her dad who didn't want her and relatives whom she had never met.

"You'll have a great time, Emily," said her mother, turning around and looking at her.

For the thousandth time, Emily wondered how a beauty with golden hair, porcelain skin, and large green eyes could have married a tall, dark, handsome man like her father and managed to produce a sallow-skinned, mousy-haired, gangly creature like herself.

As they pulled in front of the international terminal at Kennedy Airport, Emily brushed a hasty kiss on her mother's cheek and walked as casually as she could to the registration desk.

At least I have a window seat, thought Emily as she boarded the plane and headed down the cramped rows. She shoved her small carry-on luggage under the seat in front of her and buckled herself in. A stout elderly man crammed two large carry-ons into the overhead bins before plunking down next to Emily. Beside him plopped a large, white haired woman who began jabbering in what sounded to Emily like Italian.

Emily clutched at her purse and made sure her carry-on was secure. She hadn't trusted her handmade presents to be loaded in the cargo area under the plane. As the plane started to taxi down the runway, Emily remembered the time her father had flown the three of them to Martha's Vineyard in the small plane he had rented.

The couple next to her kissed as the plane successfully lifted off the ground and banked left. Off to the side she could see the shoreline of Long Island disappearing in the distance.

"We'll be eating soon," said one harried mother from across the aisle to her whining youngster. "And wait to you see the special meal I ordered for you."

Emily tried to concentrate on the disappearing landscape below. Well, she thought, I have no one to blame but myself for being alone. Despite her mother's efforts to ease her guilt, she knew her parents would still be together if she hadn't snitched on her father.