Page 3 - SAMPLE The House on the Edge

big fat lie to Noah’s sour-faced, interfering teacher, Ms Hollowbread, about Dad’s homecoming, setting in mo- tion a chain of events that starts with Sam Hollowbread, the teacher’s grandson, trying to be her friend.And ends with Noah. . . disappearing.
Faith’s certain Noah’s only gone all Swallows and Ama- zons because he’s angry she locked the cellar door (well, Dad said never to go down there!), because she won’t listen to Noah’s stories about helping trapped sea ghosts search for their treasure (because, it’s all nonsense!). Besides, Noah’s perfectly fine, creeping back inside for food; somehow unlocking the cellar door! Probably making all those noises that go bump in the night too. So, it’s okay to keep Noah’s disappearance a secret from Mum, to lie to school that he’s ill. Faith’s priority is to keep The Lookout safe. More so now Uncle Art is sniff- ing about, stealing stuff and threatening to get the house condemned and remove them.
The only person she can’t seem to avoid is Sam Hol- lowbread, though he won’t stop his teacher gran poking around (he says she doesn’t notice him).With Ms Hol- lowbread threatening to find out everything, and with cracks appearing inside the house, Faith has to act now. While it hurts to think about Dad, something the librar- ian Mr Kowalski says, about her dad applying for funds to preserve The Lookout because of its centuries-old history of saving ships, leads Faith to explore what Dad was up to before he left (that was annoying her mum so much).
Except, far from a past of honour and bravery, Faith finds that her dad uncovered a different story about the