The Curse of the King Read Online Free

Barry said.
    â€œMy dad runs a genetics lab there,” I replied. Barry’s face went blank, so I added, “That’s the study of genes, and not the kind you wear.”
    Barry grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. He cradled the back of my head in his right hand. “Where’s the white hair, Jack?”
    â€œWhat?” I squeaked.
    He let go of my head and spun me back around. “Thatday you fell into the street—I saw this, like, upside-down V shape on the back of your head. Now it’s gone. It means something, doesn’t it? A secret symbol from some hidden organization?”
    Cass’s eyes were huge. Leave it to Barry, the dumbest person I knew, to come the closest to the truth.
    â€œUh . . .” Cass said.
    â€œI’m right, huh?” Barry barked. “Go ahead, tell the Barry he’s right!”
    Let your enemy give you the lead.
    Dad had recited that one to me at least a thousand times. And now, in this moment, I finally understood it.
    I stepped right up to Barry and refused to blink. Then I took a deep breath and spoke fast. “You want the truth? Okay. My hair and Cass’s? Yup, it did go white in the back, in the shape of a Greek lambda, which is their letter L . Now our hair is dyed. The lambda means we inherited a gene from a prince who escaped the sinking of Atlantis. See, the gene unlocks part of our DNA that turns our best ability into a superpower. But it also overwhelms the body, and no one who’s ever had it has lived past the age of fourteen. In the last year of life, the body begins to break down. You get sick every few weeks. You can stay alive for a while if you get certain treatments, but eventually you die. We learned this from a group called the Karai Institute on this island that can’t be detected. They told us we canbe cured if we find seven magical Loculi that contain the power of Atlantis, which were hidden centuries ago in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. As you know—well, maybe you don’t—six of the Wonders don’t exist anymore. The thing in your hand is a piece of a destroyed Loculus.”
    â€œJack?” Cass mouthed, as if I’d just lost my mind.
    Barry’s mouth was sagging. His eyes narrowed, as if he were still stuck on the second sentence. Which he probably was.
    Would he try to repeat his own mangled version of what I’d just said to his dad? I hoped so, because any sane human being would send him straight to a psychologist. And he knew it.
    â€œWell, that’s everything,” I said, reaching to grab the Loculus from Barry’s hand.
    He pulled it back.
    â€œOkay, so if you’re supposed to get sick every few weeks . . .” he said quietly, “how come you’re not sick?”
    â€œThe fresh, rejuvenating Belleville air?” Cass said.
    Barry’s face curled. “You guys are playing me. That was the obvious-est lie! I’m going to get to the bottom of this. You watch, I’ll find out the truth.”
    â€œGreat,” I said. “Meanwhile, will you give me that back?”
    â€œWhy should I give you a piece of a destroyed Oculus?” Barry asked. “It might be worth something.”
    â€œLoculus,” Cass said. “With an L .”
    â€œTrust me,” I said, “it’s worth absolutely nothing to you.”
    â€œAwwww, really?” Barry said. “Nothing?”
    With an exasperated sigh, Barry held out the shard to Cass. Both of us reached for it at the same time.
    Before our fingers could touch it, Barry spun away. With a grunt, he tossed it far into the scrubby, trash-strewn woods.
    â€œFetch,” he said. “With an F .”

CHAPTER FIVE
S HARD L UCK
    â€œW HAT HAPPENED TO your face?” Dad stared at me oddly, standing in the front door.
    I peeked past him to the sofa, where a strange man dressed in black was rising to his feet. “Thorns,” I said, touching my cheek,