Armageddon by James Patterson, Chris Grabenstein Read Free Book Online

Savor this moment, Daniel. Drink it in and, as you say, grok it. For the time is coming when hate will seem to conquer love. And Daniel?
    Yes?
    You must not let the darkness win!

Chapter 18
    “SO, DANIEL,” MEL said after I turned our elephants back into horses. “What’s next?”
    Mel was radiant. Happiness filled her face. To tell the truth, I was feeling pretty giddy, too.
    “I dunno,” I said. “What do you want to do?”
    “I dunno. Hey—there’s this really cool cave up at the base of that hill. We could go in there, and you could turn the bats into flying dinosaurs or something, and the horses could be like brontosauruses….”
    Great
, I thought.
Another bat cave.
    “Or we could eat,” said Joe as he climbed over the white fence behind the horse barn, followed by Emma, Willy, and, of course, Dana.
    Yes, I had conjured up my four friends.
    You know what it’s like when you meet somebody who you think is pretty great: you want to make sure your old friends like your new friend as much as you do. Plus, having the gang around meant I could avoid Mel’s spelunkingidea. What can I say? I’d already fulfilled my subterranean adventure quota for the year.
    “Mel,” I said, “these are my best friends: Joe, Willy, his sister, Emma—”
    “I love your horses, you guys!” Emma gushed as she rushed over to stroke their manes. “Can I feed them an apple?”
    “Sure,” said Mel.
    “Um, Daniel?”
    “Yes, Emma?”
    “Apples?”
    “Coming right up.” I snapped my fingers and materialized Emma a bushel full of Granny Smiths, Macintoshes, Braeburns, and Galas—with a couple of carrot stalks and sugar cubes stuffed in down the sides to make it a gourmet gift basket.
    “So, Daniel,” said Dana, “aren’t you going to introduce me to your new…
friend
?”
    Okay, this was going to be a wee bit awkward.
    How does a guy introduce his dream girl to the girl of his dreams—or vice versa?
    Dr. X?
I mentally checked in with my trusted steed and advisor.
    But all he did was chuckle.
Heh, heh, heh.
    I had to handle this one all by myself.
    Welcome to the joys of being a teenage boy.

Chapter 19
    WHILE MEL AND Emma fed apples to the horses and Joe and Willy brushed them down, Dana and I slipped away to have A Conversation.
    I hate Conversations.
    “Come on, Dana. Go easy on Mel. She’s nice.”
    “Oh, yes. She’s swell.”
    “Wait a second,” I said. “Are you jealous?”
    “Of course.
NOT!
”
    Fortunately, Joe came to my rescue.
    “I’m starving,” he said. “Where’s the nearest Kentucky Fried Chicken?”
    Mel heard that and laughed.
    “What?” said Joe. “This is Kentucky, is it not?”
    “We don’t eat fried chicken every day,” said Mel.
    “No chicken for me,” said Emma. “I don’t eat anything with a face.”
    The six of us swept into the kitchen through the backdoor and I was all set to materialize our finger-lickin’ good feast when Agent Judge stormed into the room.
    “You need to see this, Daniel.
Now.
”
    He snapped on an under-the-counter TV set. A horrific news report from Washington, D.C., filled the screen.
    The time for R and R was officially over.
    As I watched I was sickened by the image of the gleaming marble sides of the Washington Monument appearing to crackle with spidery fissure lines, like a shattering sheet of ice.
    Giant marble slabs slid down the sides of the obelisk, like the walls of a crumbling glacier. The deafening roar of the thunderous rockslide rumbled across Washington, D.C., as Number 2 brought down the world’s tallest stone structure. Five hundred and fifty-five feet of marble, granite, and sandstone crumbled before his glowering red eyes, sending up a billowing cloud of dust and destruction that blotted out the sun and darkened the sky.
    As if this weren’t sickening enough, I heard a voice from the newscast that was all too familiar. And it was talking to me.
    “See this and know who I am, Daniel X!” Number 2 whispered, unfurling his