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

Riq, Dak, and Sera had come here. It couldn’t be a random mistake. What if they’d come here specifically for Riq? So he could meet these people and see how they live and hear what they believe?
    Riq looked up when he heard voices. He spotted a group of children hurrying down the path toward them.
    “King Itchik!” they called in unison. “King Itchik!”
    Itchik and Sera looked up, too. Riq saw that there was a smaller group trailing behind the children. Older kids. Teens like him. One of them was Kisa.
    “King Itchik!”
    “Yes, children, what is it?” Itchik asked.
    A boy at the head of the pack spoke. “The men have arrived from the jungle!” he said, out of breath as they reached the foot of the fallen observatory. “King Yuknoom’s men. From Calakmul!”
    “They’ve come days earlier than expected,” Itchik said. “Where are they now, children?”
    “The north ball court,” the biggest Mayan boy said.
    Itchik turned to Riq and Sera. “I must go greet the great king’s men,” he said. “They have come to appraise our learning. You are welcome to meet them, too.” He started following the children back the other way.
    Riq and Sera looked at each other. “I’m going with him,” Sera said. “Maybe I can find out more about the codex.”
    “I’ll meet you there later,” Riq said.
    Sera nodded and hurried to catch up with the group heading toward the ball court. Riq moved toward Kisa. Before he could even open his mouth to ask to speak with her, she took his arm and told him, “Come with me.”

    Kisa pulled him into an empty hut that no longer had a roof. This hut was much smaller than the one Riq had visited during the great storm. “I don’t trust these men,” Kisa told him as soon as they were alone.
    “The king’s people?” Riq asked. “Why not?”
    “Itchik believes they want to study our codex so they can learn from it. But he’s too trusting. I believe they want to steal our work and claim it as their own. Everyone knows Pacal is the best scribe in any village.”
    Riq looked out the open door. Several older Mayan women were in an organized line sweeping the road. Men were moving in and out of other huts with ancient-looking tools. “Shouldn’t we warn Itchik?” he said, turning back to Kisa.
    “He won’t listen. All he cares about is proving our progress to others.” Kisa took Riq’s arm. “You need to be careful, too,” she said. “And the smaller boy who was hurt. They have been known to capture people who look different. I heard they take them back to Calakmul and shove them in cages. People pay to view them.”
    “Trust me,” Riq said, remembering his experiences in 1850, “nobody’s putting me in a cage.”
    Kisa nodded and picked up one of the ceiling boards lying by her feet. She stared at it for a few seconds and then turned to Riq with glassy eyes. “I guess I’m just worried for the people I care about. This storm has ruined so many of our homes. And our observatory. Everyone is working hard to recover. And here come these men from the richest village in the lowlands, demanding to see the fruit of our learning. It doesn’t seem right.”
    “I wish I could be more help,” Riq said.
    Kisa shook her head. “You have your own worries.”
    Riq focused on the ground, thinking. No matter what happened to him, he needed to make sure Dak and Sera were okay. He needed to make sure the Hystorians’ mission didn’t end here. He pulled the SQuare out of his satchel and looked up at Kisa.
    He waited for her to ask what it was, but she just stared at it, watching him push the power button. “I was wondering if you’d look at something for me,” he said.
    “Of course,” she told him. “But I’ve never seen anything like that. I may not be any help.”
    He typed in the password and pulled up the riddle, then held the screen up for Kisa to see. When she gave him a blank look, he blushed. Of course she couldn’t read it. It was written in English. He