Read Online The Bar Code Prophecy by Suzanne Weyn - Free Book Online

in this as any of us.”
    “Not the prophecy. Not yet,” Katie spoke in a low tense tone that was almost a growl.
    Mfumbe turned his back to her and began walking away. “We’re never going to see eye to eye on this, Katie. It’s just that simple.”
    Grace longed to ask what this was about, but the atmosphere was so tense she couldn’t find the nerve. Not anymore.
    True to his word, Eric was still at her side. She didn’t know how to interpret his silence. Did he know what they were talking about? If so, was he going to tell her later?
    “Mfumbe has a good point,” Kayla said to Katie.
    “Don’t defend him just because the two of you are together,” Katie snapped.
    Kayla drew back, offended by the comment. “That’s not true and you know it! How can she help us with The Bar Code Prophecy if we don’t tell her about it?
    “Not yet!” Katie insisted. “ Not yet .”
    “All right.” Kayla turned to Grace. “We’re going to tell you about the prophecy. I promise. But there are equally important things you need to know first.”
    “Like what?” Grace asked. At this point she felt so far over her head that more complex questions seemed beside the point.
    “Global-1 has found out you’re adopted. They’re after your biological father and that’s why they’re looking for you.”

 
    Grace felt as though she were in a dream as she listened to Kayla speak. A bad dream. “Adopted? What are you talking about?”
    “You didn’t know?” Kayla asked.
    “I don’t believe you,” Grace murmured. She could feel Eric getting closer behind her, backing her with his presence, the rope now invisible between them. He put his hand gently but firmly on her arm, and she was grateful for the support. She hadn’t seen this coming and she felt almost faint from the impact.
    “I know this is messing with your head,” Kayla said to Grace. “You must be feeling the way I did when I discovered I was one of six clones and that I share genes with an actual bird.”
    Grace acknowledged the comparison with a nod, but she didn’t really feel this was the same. And just because Kayla had been through something similar didn’t mean this wasn’t weird. No, not weird. Earth-shattering.
    “So you’re saying that my family isn’t my family?” Grace asked in an unsteady voice.
    “Of course they’re your family,” Allyson spoke kindly. “But you don’t share their genetics. That’s all.”
    “Lots of people are adopted,” Eric added softly.
    “Yes, but they grow up knowing it. They don’t learn it abruptly from strangers at seventeen,” Grace objected, fighting the tears that were welling up. And then a sudden memory hit her, changing everything. “Wait a minute! Why are you lying to me?”
    “We’re not,” Kayla insisted. “You were adopted by your parents at birth.”
    “My parents have a DVD of my birth. I’ve seen it!”
    “I can’t explain that, Grace,” Kayla admitted.
    “All we know is what Decode headquarters has told us,” Mfumbe added.
    “I’m sorry to have dumped that on you so clumsily,” Kayla apologized. Mfumbe returned to the group and stood beside Kayla, resting his hand on her shoulder. “It didn’t occur to me that you might not know about your adoption,” she added. “I’m sorry.”
    Grace didn’t believe it. They had to be mistaken. “So, basically, you want me to take it on faith that I’m adopted, just because Decode headquarters — wherever and whoever that is — tells you so? Can you understand that I might need a little more proof than that?”
    “We have our sources and spies and computer hackers just like Global-1 does. We have to, in order to fight them,” Jack said. “The moment you got the bar code tattoo, your DNA flooded into the Global-1 data banks. Apparently they were just waiting for it. You’re the child of someone very important to them. They’ve been watching you and so have we, because we’re hacked into their newsfeed and we can follow