Read Online Countdown by Natalie Standiford - Free Book Online Page A

trying to lead him astray?
    Jonah Wizard passed through the command center, looking for something to eat. “Yo, man, you ate all the pizza?”
    Pony shrugged. “I’ve been working ten hours straight. I need something to keep me going.”
    â€œLooks like I gotta eat sushi again.” Jonah left in a huff. “Keep at it, whatever you’re doing.” Jonah gave Pony’s hand a casual slap as he walked away. Pony tried to act cool about it, but whoa — Jonah Wizard just gave him five. Like it was no big thing.
    Teamwork had its upsides. Sometimes.
    It’s a new world, P-Man
, he said to himself. He gave another tip of his imaginary cowboy hat and went back to work.

Tikal, Guatemala
    â€œAtticus, how much farther?” Dan slapped another mosquito on his arm, then wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was only nine o’clock in the morning, but the sun was already burning the back of his neck as he slogged through the humid jungle air.
    Amy, Dan, Jake, and Atticus had set out at dawn in search of the temple that held the riven crystal, following the map Atticus had drawn by connecting the dots in Olivia’s book. Two and a half hours later and there was still no sign of the temple.
    â€œFrom what I can tell of the distances on this map, we’re almost there,” Atticus said. “Another half hour or so, maybe.”
    Dan groaned. It had been exciting to hike through the jungle at dawn, seeing howler monkeys, exotic birds, strange plants, and huge colorful flowers, hearing the distant roar of pumas and jaguars. But now that the sun was higher in the sky, the heat was punishing. His hair was damp under his Red Sox cap, and his skin was like candy to the mosquitos. The jungle was deep green and stretched for miles in all directions, as far as Dan could see. He tried to imagine what it had been like to live in this place thousands of years ago, when it was a thriving city. They passed a sign that said, GROUP F . Beyond it was a large plaza and a stone pyramid.
    â€œThat’s Temple III,” Atticus told him. “It was the last structure built here, in A.D. 869, and archaeologists think that the last ruler of Tikal, Chi’taam, might be buried there. But if he is, they haven’t found his tomb yet. By the time he died, this city was on the decline and would soon be abandoned.”
    â€œWhat happened?” Dan asked.
    â€œNo one’s really sure,” Atticus replied. “But it’s likely that the city was overpopulated, and there was a drought, which brought on water shortages and famine. Thousands died and the civilization never recovered.”
    They crossed through the grassy plaza, a shortcut to the next trail.
    â€œThis was once a marketplace. Farmers sold their produce here, and during Tikal’s heyday, traders from all over the Mayan world came to sell their goods. Maybe the riven crystal we’re looking for was sold to a priest right here in this marketplace.”
    Dan tried to entertain himself on the long hike by imagining the priests in their temples, wearing fierce animal masks to please the gods, and warlike Mayan kings ruling from their palaces, heavy feathered headdresses weighing on their heads. They didn’t have time to study the ruins closely, but every time they passed a set of ancient stairs, the crumbling wall of a town square, or a tunnel leading to rooms where people lived thousands of years ago, he got a chill. And in this heat, chills of any kind were welcome.
    The clayey mud sucked at his feet. There were a lot of ruins in this jungle. A
lot
. And when you’re hot, sweaty, and tired, after a while the ruins all start blurring together into one big, stony mess.
    â€œAtticus, are you sure you picked out the right temple?” Amy asked. Normally, her questioning Att would have bugged Dan, but he caught the same uncertainty on Att’s face that she must have seen.
    â€œI’m pretty sure,”