Read Online Kingdom Keepers VI (9781423179214) by Ridley Pearson - Free Book Online

maybe by doing so, it upset things.”
    â€œThe balance of power,” Philby said.
    â€œThat’s what I’m talking about.”
    â€œYou’re saying we’re the problem.”
    â€œI’m saying we may have started things going wrong.”
    â€œEscalation. So they’ve brought in OTKs,” Philby said. “They’re attacking the Base. If we win, they lose—”
    â€œWhich is probably different from when both sides won and lost, but not all the time.”
    â€œMore permanent.”
    â€œPermanent vacation,” Finn said.
    â€œAnd now that we’re winning some of the time, they bring along Chernabog. Though, granted, he’s sleeping or in a spell or something. They see a chance for real victory, not the give and take that’s been going on after hours in the parks for decades. The only thing is, we’re in the way. As long as we’re alive…”
    â€œCheery thought.”
    â€œSo their mission has two parts: get rid of us, and bring Chernabog to power.”
    â€œAnd the journal’s part of that,” Finn said.
    â€œThis journal’s important to them. This journal is why they’re on the ship in the first place.”
    â€œWe don’t know that!”
    â€œLet’s assume it,” Philby said. “The kind of detailed planning that went into the Chernabog pickup? This thing’s on a whole new level.”
    â€œAgreed.”
    â€œWe need the others,” Philby said, pointing to the journal. “We’re better at figuring out stuff like this when it’s all of us. The sooner we crack the code, the better chance we have of stopping them.”

A T BREAKFAST , the cafeteria-style food stations in the Cabanas restaurant teemed with hungry passengers. The Keepers’ quest for privacy put them at a corner table, where they spoke in soft voices.
    â€œWe couldn’t risk bringing the actual journal,” Philby said, “but we photocopied the important
pages.”
    He passed them around—the painting of the stone steps, the coin-sized designs, the line of text:
    â€œLIFE IS BECAUSE OF THE GODS; WITH THEIR SACRIFICE THEY GAVE US LIFE…. THEY PRODUCE OUR SUSTENANCE…WHICH NOURISHES LIFE.”
    â€œWe don’t know if the OTs have solved it or not,” he said. “Regardless, we have to figure out if it means anything. Whatever’s going on with Chernabog must be connected to the journal.”
    â€œCan I mention something bizarre?” Charlene said. No one answered, but she continued anyway. “Philby asked me to photograph the hyena Maybeck and Finn found.” She cringed. “Which, I’m happy to say, was gone by the time I got there. But anyway, I’m heading up the jogging path and I’m practically speared by a hummingbird !”
    â€œThat’s not possible,” Philby said. “They can’t survive at sea. They’re land birds.”
    â€œBut I saw it.”
    â€œYou’re sure it was a hummingbird?” Willa asked.
    â€œOne hundred percent.”
    â€œSo we have a monster that doesn’t belong on board,” Finn said. “And a species of bird that has no business being here.”
    â€œCan we talk about this later?” Philby said, pushing back his hair impatiently. “This meeting is about the journal.”
    Charlene shrugged, put off but unwilling to start a fight.
    â€œWhen we work together, we’re good at this kind
of thing. The Stonecutter’s Quill. ‘Under the Sea’
in AK.”
    â€œMaybe Jess’s dream about caves has something to do with these stairs,” Willa said, nudging the drawing. “I mean, they’re stone. They look old. Maybe we should copy the actual journal and e-mail it to her.”
    â€œToo dangerous,” Philby said. “The journal has to be locked up. We can’t risk losing it a second time.”
    Willa passed the sheets to Storey