Read Online The Olive Conspiracy by Shira Glassman - Free Book Online

oil?”
    “ So it’s true that the queen is
well learned!” Gil beamed, but even through his flattery Shulamit
could see the stress lines in his face and the fire of nervousness
in his eyes.
    “ Tell me about the
flies.”
    Gil sighed and nodded slowly. “Walk, and I’ll
show you.”
    Followed closely by Rivka and the rest of the
guards, Shulamit let Gil lead her over to the trees.
    “ These trees are our oil crop, so
they have smaller leaves,” he explained, his hand thrust into a
cluster of brown strips. “If they were healthy, they’d all look
like these.” He gestured over to the few plants here and there that
still carried the silvery gray-green leaves of a healthy olive
tree.
    He didn’t have to point out the bugs to the
queen. She saw them everywhere—in the air, on the branches, on the
leaves themselves. They glittered in the air as if they were
literally making off with the queen’s jewels instead of her
country’s economic prosperity. “Ew.”
    “ They’re not the worst of it. If
only they were,” Gil continued sadly. “First, there’s this.” He
pointed out how some of the leaves that hadn’t turned brown still
carried a strange black smear that reminded Shulamit of soot or
even eye kohl, which was what Aviva would have said. “They carry that ,” said Gil, “and what’s worse, they carry an invisible
blight that moves with them from tree to tree.”
    “ The perfect weapon,” Shulamit
murmured. This was all horrible, and unthinkable.
    “ That was a long flight,” Isaac
spoke up from Riv’s shoulder, startling Gil, “and I think I deserve
a nosh.”
    Rivka chuckled low in her throat. “You
certainly have your pick of them.” She approached one of the trees
so that Isaac could crawl into their infested branches, then
stepped back and watched as he prowled.
    Shulamit watched with amusement as Isaac caught
one, then another of the insects, wolfing them down in two or three
gulps with no chewing.
    “ He can have as many as he wants,”
said Gil, smiling bitterly. “I wish he could eat them
all.”
    There was a rustle in the midst of the olive
tree as all six feet five inches of a transformed, human Isaac
stepped out of it. On his face was a sly smirk that Shulamit knew
meant he was feeling extremely full of himself right now. He
brushed dead olive leaves from the sleeves of his black sherwani , commenting, “Let’s see what I can come up
with.”
    All of Gil’s family filtered over to observe
curiously as Isaac began to wave his hands in the air. As magical
energy flowed through the wizard’s massive body, his gaze traveled
slowly and deliberately over the grove. He was targeting his
prey.
    Shulamit watched with admiration as the insects
began to pop. One by one, here and there, they disappeared in tiny
bursts of light. She noticed that with each fizzling insect,
whichever of Isaac’s hands was nearest its tree twitched
slightly.
    The farmers began to applaud and hoot, and
Rivka smiled widely enough that it was obvious even through the
mask because her cheeks were sticking up.
    But the process was too slow, and with each
insect that was killed, two more appeared from other trees to take
its place. Isaac’s eyes blazed with determination, and his hands
twitched faster. The miniature explosions continued, more at a time
now, so that the trees nearest them were glittering as if sunlight
sparkled on a rippling sea.
    The film of lights expanded to cover more trees
as Isaac widened his influence, and Shulamit was startled to hear
him breathing heavily, almost panting. His skin had grown
alarmingly pink, with the sweat rolling off his face in
drops.
    “ Isaac…” Shulamit called out to him
with alarm.
    Pop, pop, pop , the insects went off all
around them. Isaac was shaking.
    With a gasping noise that felt like a knife in
Shulamit’s stomach, Isaac went limp. It was only thanks to Rivka’s
great strength that she was able to cushion his body as he fell to
the ground, motionless and