Curse of the Ancients by Matt de la Pena Read Free Book Online

figured it was a good idea to put a positive spin on things. “Even if we have to cross the ocean to do it.”
    Sera shook her head, staring at the Ring.
    After a long silence, she picked it back up and resumed her tinkering. Riq watched, knowing he couldn’t tell her the other thing he’d been thinking about all night. How he wouldn’t mind being stuck here for another day or two. There was something genuinely special about this place.
    And while he knew their mission was crucial, Riq wasn’t exactly in a hurry to return home.
    He hadn’t told the others yet. Maybe he never would. But their visit to 1850 had cost Riq a great deal. He had been forced to interfere with his own family tree, and that meant he was pretty sure he had no family left in the present day. It also meant he could cease to exist if he ever returned to the twenty-first century. He wasn’t sure which possibility scared him more.
    He was doing a good job of keeping his emotions in check, but all the uncertainty had hit him the previous afternoon, while he and Kisa were helping clear debris from the site of the observatory. Suddenly, these thoughts had hit Riq so hard he had lowered himself into the mud and covered his face with his hands.
    Kisa had knelt beside him and patted him on the back and asked if he was okay. But that was it. She didn’t press him for details. She understood that there were things about him she would never understand. And she accepted it. And wasn’t that what true friendship was all about?
    Riq realized two things in that moment:
    One: Not counting his fellow time travelers, he’d never had a real friend before — other than his grandma.
    And two: If Kisa was a real friend, then he should be able to trust her with the riddle.
    Sera threw her hands in the air. “I have no idea what else to try, Riq. What if we’re stuck here forever?”
    Riq paused a few seconds, thinking about this. How would he feel if they were stuck here forever? The idea didn’t bother him nearly as much as it should. “Look,” he said, forcing himself to focus, “why don’t we forget about the Ring for now and concentrate on the riddle? If we go down to the village, we can ask Itchik about the ceiba tree. And I have a few questions for Kisa, too.”
    The worried look on Sera’s face made Riq feel guilty. He’d never seen her so distraught.
    “Maybe you’re right,” she said, slipping the Ring back into her satchel. “Let me check on Dak and then we can go.”

    They stumbled into Itchik as soon as they’d made it into the village. He was standing at the foot of the fallen observatory, laughing.
    “Itchik?” Riq said.
    Itchik turned to look at Riq and Sera, his grin falling from his face. “How is your friend? His condition is improving, I hope.”
    “Jasaw claims he’s getting better,” Sera answered. “But he’s still unresponsive.”
    Itchik nodded. “My entire family owes him a debt of gratitude. That was my youngest daughter he pushed out of the way.”
    “What are you doing out here?” Riq asked. It seemed more than a little odd that a king would be laughing at his own fallen observatory. “Everything okay?”
    “Oh, yes.” Itchik turned back to the rubble and said, “I was just thinking about how long it took us to build. Many years. The entire village pitched in. We made many important discoveries about the world from inside these walls.”
    “Why were you laughing, then?” Sera said.
    “My scribes were not harmed,” Itchik said. “And I believe one’s greatest misfortune is also his greatest opportunity. We will build a new observatory now. One that is bigger and better. One that will not fall, no matter how hard the wind blows.”
    Riq wished he could have this kind of attitude about life, too. But it was easier said than done. He looked all around the village, at the series of storm-damaged huts people were already attempting to rebuild, the towering temple, the muddied white road. There had to be a reason