Read Online Underworlds #1: The Battle Begins by Tony Abbott - Free Book Online Page B

house? To find the book she talked about?
    Footsteps pounded toward me. I turned.
    It was Jon. “Are you okay? The lights in the whole school blinked out for a second. It was so weird!”
    “No,” I said. My mouth was dry, and my voice sounded funny.
    “It wasn’t weird?”
    “I mean I’m not okay,” I said, pointing to the floor. I wasn’t sure why, but I lowered my voice, so no one else would hear me. “Dana vanished … down there!”
    Jon looked at me, then at my feet, then at me again. “Where?”
    “Through the floor!” I whispered. “She went through the floor! She disappeared! A hole opened up, and she fell into it!”
    Jon’s jaw dropped. “Mr. Kenkins is going to be so mad. He’s too old to fix stuff like that. He even gets tangled in the flagpole ropes —”
    I grabbed Jon by the shoulders and gave him a shake. “Jon. Focus. I just saw Dana vanish through the floor! One second she was here, and the next … poof! ”
    Jon breathed out, was quiet for a minute, then nodded. “I get it. I mean, I don’t get it. But I know you, Owen. When you say something, you mean it. What are we going to do?”
    That was the thing about Jon. It was sometimes hard to get his attention. But if you did, he was with you a hundred percent.
    “Stand right here,” I said, pointing to the floor tiles. “I’m going downstairs. Do not move from this spot.”
    Jon frowned. “This spot? You want me to stand on the spot where Dana vanished? Is that safe?”
    “I’ll be right back!” I ran to the end of the hall and jumped three steps at a time to the lower level. I knew that there was nothing under the hall except the boiler room, which was always locked, but I had to look.
    It didn’t help. “Dead end,” I said to myself, pounding on the iron door.
    My heart thudded as I ran back upstairs. Students and teachers were everywhere now, stepping around Jon, who was on his hands and knees examining the floor tiles. Tapping her foot on the tiles next to him was a really pale girl with short black hair. She was holding a fire extinguisher.
    “Owen, this is Sydney Lamberti,” said Jon. “She’s a transfer. Her dad’s the new shop teacher. She’s a real techie. Plus, she smelled smoke.”
    “You smelled smoke?” I asked the girl. “There was fire. I saw fire coming up from below —”
    “I saw it, too,” she said. “I was coming around the corner and saw the flames. I freaked out and ran for the fire extinguisher.”
    “You saw Dana vanish?” I asked her, relieved that I wasn’t the only one.
    “I saw it, but I don’t believe it. Either way,” she said, shaking her head, “we should tell someone. The principal. Better yet, let’s file a missing person’s report. I can do it right now.” She pulled out her cell phone.
    That’s when I remembered. “No!” I grabbed her arm. “Dana told me not to tell anyone. There’s some big thing happening. Monsters or something. I know, it’s nuts. But she was really scared. And I heard a voice. It said, ‘The battle begins ….’”

    “Uh-oh,” said Jon. “Not good.”
    “There were a whole lot of eyes staring at me from below,” I said, shivering as I remembered them. “And something shiny …”
    Sydney shook her head. “Maybe it was a surge of electricity followed by an earthquake. I mean, people just don’t disappear like that —”
    “Except that we both saw it,” I interrupted.
    “I know,” Sydney said, placing the fire extinguisher next to the wall. “But what can we do about it?”
    I felt Dana’s house key in my hand. “Dana said there’s a book in her house. She gave me her key. She lives near where the concert is this morning. We could slip away ….”
    I looked from Jon to the new girl, hoping they were with me.
    “Hey, I’m totally in,” said Jon. “You know that. Dana’s our friend.”
    Sydney peered at the key in my hand, then at Jon, then at me. She took a breath and said, “I guess I’m in, too. Except that I’m not