The Knaveheart's Curse Read Online Free Page A

this spell
Restore x from an outer shell.
    And that, Maddy thought, as she slapped shut the book, was why she didn’t read Old World. Too confusing. Luckily, there wasn’t much “Newe World green” in New York City. As long as Maddy kept out of the major parks, she’d be safe from whatever awful fate was encrypted in that poem.

She stuck the book back in her shelf. Then she ran to her bed and buried her head under her pillow, pulling up the covers around her neck.

Knavehearts, yeesh. That brought back some traumatizing memories. Knaves were the most vengeful of all the vampire families. In the Old World, they’d kept an iron claw over land and castles, and they’d fight any hybrid claiming even minimal vampire power. In the end, it was better to be mortal in the New World, her family had decided, than fight pureblood Knaves for all eternity in the Old.

Now one was here, on the search for an heir. Maddy hoped the Knave would just hurry up, find that stupid Tenth, and hightail it back to the Old World, chop chop.

Until then, they were all in danger. Hybrids, rats, humans—everyone.
     

 

5
     

    TUNNEL OF TERROR
    A ll night, Maddy’s nightmares fed her fears, which was why she overslept.

The next morning started badly, when she discovered the shorts and shirt she’d thought were clean-folded in her dresser hadn’t changed position from when she’d dropped them in her hamper. Ew, and they still smelled like the Candlewick Café kitchen, where she’d helped Big Bill peel onions for his famous French onion soup with soy cheese.

In the scramble to get to the lobby of Dakota’s Midtown apartment, Maddy also forgot to brush her teeth and hair.

“Why, Madison, you’re looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!” Nora announced merrily. “We’re happy you’ll be spending the day with us!” Dakota, wedged behind her mother, agreed with a tiny nod. “Ready for some golf?”

Though Maddy meant to answer, “You bet!” when she opened her mouth, all that came out was a loud burp that smelled like the Granny Smith apple she’d gnawed on the way over.

Club Lullaby, where they’d be playing, was outside Manhattan, in Queens. Dakota’s mom was driving them, and they launched the drive with a lively game of I Packed My Grandmother’s Trunk. It wasn’t until they’d got all the way to P (Maddy had just packed Grandmother a putrid, puréed prune) and had turned into the Midtown Tunnel that Maddy realized she was breaking a golden rule: vampires should never cross underneath running water. Uh-oh. When Maddy got really, really scared—as she was right now this minute—she started to dry up.

“Water! Water!” Maddy gasped.

“Sorry, Maddy. You’ll have to hydrate later,” said Nora. “But Club Lullaby makes a lovely limeade.”

“Aaaaaggghhh,” Maddy wheezed. Her throat was already dusty. Her lips were cracked.

“What’s wrong?” Dakota twisted around in the front seat. “Swallow your gum?”

“Release me from this most foul tunnel.” Maddy twitched as Old World words confused her thoughts. She whipped out her asthma inhaler, which did no good, because this was a completely different issue.

Calm down, she told herself.

But she could feel her eyes starting to sink back into her skull. Oh, no—fear was sucking out her internal liquid supply. She was starting to petrify. The Argos had warned her about this. Hudson said that once he almost dried up at the dentist, when Dr. Wen found a cavity on his baby fang. He’d been so scared he’d run outside with the clip-on bib still hooked around his neck.

It had taken a lot of coaxing to get him back. Hudson didn’t like the dentist. Too many centuries of bad memories, when dentists used wrenches, leeches, and lancets.

But there was no way to run out of a tunnel. Maddy was trapped. And if she got too dehydrated, just one thing would save her. The only available beverage in this car. Blood. Maddy began to unbuckle her seat belt.

“Madison, rules!