Read Online Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner - Free Book Online Page A

quiet I barely hear him. “I’m frustrated, I guess. I thought I’d figured out how to stop them all together.”
    â€œThe storms?”
    He nods and starts picking at the weathered wood of the picnic table.
    â€œI’m starting to think it’s impossible. My dad’s been working on this forever. He’s got some exclusive agreement with the government for his weather manipulation research. Anyway, Mom told me they were sure they had the formulas this winter, but when they did the simulation, it failed.”
    â€œDid you see the formulas?” He leans forward.
    â€œNo. I probably wouldn’t have understood them anyway. This stuff is out of our league.”
    â€œNo, it’s not. Last summer at Eye on Tomorrow, I had a formula drawn up, based on the same theory, and it
worked
. At least on paper.”
    â€œDid you run it through the Sim Dome?”
    He sighs. “That didn’t work, and I don’t know why. It should have.” He jerks his hand back from the table. “Ow! Splinter.”
    He pulls it out, and blood seeps out from under his thumbnail. He stands and shoves his hand into his pocket. “Look, I just . . . I feel like I’m out of ideas. That’s why I was kind of hoping we could work together.” He doesn’t look at me and doesn’t wait for an answer. He starts gathering sandwich wrappers and picks up the rest of my apple. “Are you going to finish this?”
    I shake my head. He looks down at the DNA-ture sticker and grimaces. “Is this stuff all you ever eat?”
    â€œIt’s not bad. I’m not in the mood for fruit right now.”
    â€œOh no?” His dark eyes smile a little. “Come with me.” He takes off across the field with Newton at his side.
    I look over my shoulder for Risha, who’s plopped down in the weeds, showing Tomas how to weave daisies together into a chain. Behind them, the clouds are growing, but they’re still a long way off.
    There’s time before our weather alerts go off, so I catch up with Alex as he reaches the barn. It smells like old paint and hay. A twisted copper weathervane with a rooster on top leans against the side.
    â€œThat’s an old one, huh?” I run my finger along the W for West.
    â€œIt was already here when my grandpa bought this place way back,” Alex says. He looks up at the barn’s sloped roof. “Came flying off in the wind Friday night.”
    â€œThat storm we saw coming from the fence?”
    He nods. “Just missed us. We were lucky. Tomas says theirneighbors two places down lost their barn and almost their whole herd of Scottish Highland cattle.”
    â€œThat you, Alex?” a deep voice calls from the barn, and a man in a faded blue shirt steps out, brushing dust off his hands. His face looks like he’s spent a lot of time working in the sun, and he has warm brown eyes surrounded by the kind of wrinkles you get from laughing. “You take care of the chickens yet?” he asks Alex. Then he sees me.
    â€œDad, this is my friend Jaden I told you about. From camp.”
    His father nods at me and reaches out to shake my hand. His is warm and rough with calluses. “Very nice to meet you,” he says. But he doesn’t smile. He looks back at Alex and raises his eyebrows. “Don’t forget we have a farm to run.” And heads back into the barn.
    â€œSorry,” Alex says, turning to me. “He’s . . . not thrilled with us being friends.”
    â€œOh.”
    Goats or sheep bleat from inside the barn, and there’s the sound of feed pouring into a trough. Alex looks at the barn door as if he can see through it. “He’s really not cold like that. He’s just—I made the mistake of telling him who your dad is, so . . .”
    â€œSo he figures I’m here to make another offer on your farm?” My face flushes hot, and I turn away from the barn. “I . . . I