Read Online The Lost City of Faar by D.J. MacHale - Free Book Online Page B

for him when he saw that his skimmer was anchored in quig waters, then risked himself to save my life. But he shrugged the whole thing off like it was no bigdeal. That was pretty cool. And the guy always looked like he was having fun. Whether it was flying underwater with his sled, or getting his skimmer ready to run, the little smile on his face made it look as if he always enjoyed whatever he was doing. You gotta like a guy like that. Bottom line, from what I had seen so far, I thought Spader was pretty cool.
    â€œC’mon, Bobby,” said Uncle Press.
    I kicked my fins and slid over toward the skimmer. Uncle Press had to pull me out of the water because I had no strength left in my arms. I laid down on the deck of the skimmer, happy to be on something solid again, even if it was just a small high-powered boat.
    â€œYou okay, Pendragon?” called Spader from his skimmer.
    I struggled to sit up and pretend that I wasn’t totally out of my league here, which I was.
    â€œI’m good,” I shouted, not convincingly. Then added, “Real good!” as if that would make me sound better off than I was. I’m sure I didn’t fool anybody.
    Spader let out a big, warm laugh. For a second I thought he was laughing at me, but he wasn’t.
    â€œDon’t you worry, mate, been there myself. Many times,” he said. “We’ll fix you up spiff soon as we get back, don’t you worry.”
    â€œGet back where?” I asked.
    Spader now stood at the controls of his skimmer, as did Uncle Press. I saw that they each began flipping toggle switches. As they did, the skimmers came to life. I heard a slight whine of engines, then in turn, each of the outriggers that had been sticking up in the air began their descent into the water.
    I also saw that Spader and Uncle Press had both grown tense. They each stood stiffly at their control columns whilethrowing quick, furtive glances at each other. Something was up. I didn’t like this.
    â€œIt’s a wonderful place,” continued Spader. “You’re going to love it.”
    â€œI’ll second that,” added Uncle Press. “Spader lives on the most beautiful habitat on Cloral.”
    The two were speaking calmly, but their body language said they were anything but calm. What was going on? Was there another quig zeroing in on us? Each of the four outriggers was now underwater and I could hear the low hum of the skimmer’s engines waiting to be told what to do.
    â€œNice of you to say, Press,” replied Spader. “Last one to Grallion buys the sniggers?”
    â€œSnickers?” I said. “They have candy bars here?”
    â€œSniggers, Bobby. It’s a drink,” answered Uncle Press. Then to Spader, “But I don’t know the way.”
    â€œNo worries,” laughed Spader. “Follow me!”
    With that Spader gunned his skimmer and shot forward.
    â€œHang on!” shouted Uncle Press and hit the throttle.
    Our skimmer took off and I got rocked back on my butt. I wished he had given me a little more warning. Now it all made sense. These guys were playing with each other. They wanted to race. Okay, I could deal with that. I scrambled to my knees and got into the seat behind Uncle Press. Our two air globes were rolling around on the deck so before I could look to see where we were going, I grabbed them to make sure they wouldn’t go flying overboard.
    We were moving fast—faster than I’ve ever traveled over the water. I looked down at the pontoons and saw that they weren’t just for balance. They were below the water and I saw a jet of water coming out of each one. They were the skimmer’s engines. The skimmer didn’t have a rudder or anything, so when UnclePress turned the control bars, it would send more or less power to either pontoon. That’s how the thing was directed. Very cool.
    I looked up ahead and saw that Spader had a pretty decent head start. Uncle