Read Online The Never War by D.J. MacHale - Free Book Online Page B

Gunny cautioned. “This is special because you just arrived. After this you eat in the kitchen with the rest of the staff.”
    â€œGunny,” I said. “You have no idea how perfect this is.”
    â€œOh, I got a pretty good idea,” he said with a smile.
    â€œBut it’s better than you think,” I added. “Tomorrow’s my birthday and this is the best present ever.”
    â€œThen happy birthday, shorty,” Gunny said, beaming. “Many happy returns.”
    â€œHappy birthday, mate,” said Spader. “Wish I could raise a pint of sniggers.”
    â€œYeah, but this’ll do me just fine,” I said, holding up a bottle of Coke.
    Gunny took the now empty cart and put it by the door. He then came back into the living room and sat down with us. As much as I wanted to kick back, burp, and pretend life was good, that wasn’t meant to be. We were here for a reason, and it wasn’t to gork out stuffed on burgers.
    â€œThis is all new to me,” Gunny said. “Chasing Saint Dane, I mean. What do we do?”
    It was time to get down to some real business. The party was over.
    â€œAll the territories are reaching a turning point,” I said, holding back a burp. “We’ve got to figure out what that turning point is here on First Earth, and what Saint Dane is doing to push it the wrong way.”
    â€œThis should be snappy-do, Pendragon,” Spader announced. “You’re from this territory. I mean, you’re from the future of this territory. Think of something big that happened in 1937 that Saint Dane might be messing around with.”
    The pressure was on. I wasn’t very good at history. It all seemed so boring, memorizing dates and places and speeches made by guys I didn’t care about. But even though I was historically challenged, it didn’t take me very long to come up with an idea. To be honest, it was a no-brainer.
    â€œYou’ve got something, don’t you, mate?” Spader asked with a sly smile.
    I did, but I wished I didn’t. The more I thought about it, the more freaked I got. This was bad. This was really bad. My heart started to pump faster and my palms got sweaty.
    â€œWhat is it?” asked Gunny.
    â€œThere is something,” I began. “I don’t remember all the dates. But there is definitely something big about to go down.”
    â€œSo tell us, mate!” exclaimed Spader.
    â€œThe war you were in, Gunny,” I said. “The Great War? That became known as World War One.”
    Gunny’s eyes grew very wide. “Are you saying there’s going to be a World War Two?” he asked in shock.
    I nodded.
    Gunny looked down and shook his head sadly. “And they said it was the war to end all wars.”
    â€œThey were wrong,” I said.
    â€œWhen did it happen?” asked Spader. “Who was fighting?”
    I suddenly wished I hadn’t slept through Mr. Varady’s world history class.
    â€œI don’t know all the facts,” I said. “There was this Hitler dude from Germany who tried to take over Europe. And Japan tried to take over Asia.”
    â€œThat’s two wars,” Spader said.
    â€œI think that’s why they call it a world war,” I shot back. “They fought against Russia and the United States and England and China and France and oh, man ! This is huge! Millions of people died. Millions. It changed the world!”
    Spader said, “So maybe we should go over to Germany and talk to this Hitler fella.”
    I laughed at that. “You don’t get it,” I said. “We can’t just go over to Berlin, knock on Adolf Hitler’s door and say, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Hitler, you don’t know us, but we’d really like you to reconsider this Holocaust thing. Okey dokey?’”
    â€œWhy not?” asked Spader innocently.
    â€œTrust me. We’re talking about leaders of huge nations ruling