Curse of the Forbidden Book by Amy Lynn Green Read Free Book Online

accept your generous offer.”
    Ira nodded. “It’s not much, but it’s a safe place to spend the night. I only have one spare room, so the little lady can have our room.”
    Rae bristled at that. “I don’t need…”
    â€œJust do what he says,” Parvel whispered to her. “He means well.”
    Even though Willa gave him a warm, soft quilt that she promised was “sewn up with sweet dreams,” Jesse couldn’t fall asleep right away. He could tell by the uneven breathing that Silas and Parvel couldn’t either.
    â€œWhat are we going to do?” he finally whispered.
    A long pause. “Rae won’t—can’t stay here,” Silas said. “And we know what Parvel wants to do. After all, it’s his brother. I’d do the same if it were my sister.”
    So Silas had a sister. Jesse tried to picture what she was like. Probably as quiet and stubborn as he was.
    â€œI don’t want to lead you into danger,” Parvel finally said, propping his head up on his elbow. “I’ll go alone if I have to.”
    â€œYou don’t have to,” Silas said. “Tomorrow, we leave here. And I know a place where we can go, inside the city. If you’re willing to risk it.”
    â€œAt this point, what’s a little more risk?” Jesse said, shrugging. “We should have been dead by now anyway.”
    â€œIt’s settled, then,” Parvel said, and Jesse thought he heard a note of relief in his voice. “We’re going to find that book.”

Chapter 5
    It had taken them some time to get started for Davior. Willa had insisted on wrapping them a bundle of provisions. She had tried to wash their clothes, too, but Parvel had graciously declined the offer.
    Then Ira had gone on about the various theories about what the Forbidden Book would do to anyone who touched it. The curse seemed to involve everything from madness to a plague of swelling black spots on the ankles.
    And, finally, Telemachus had tried one last time to convince them to stay, or at least find some kind of disguise. Silas seemed tempted by that thought, but Rae would not wait another moment. Ira, realizing there was no hope for them to change their minds, escorted them from the barracks and left them on the road to Davior.
    Soon, the walls of the capital city came into view. They were tall and imposing, built of the dark rock that had lined the tunnels Jesse had tramped through in the Deep Mines.
    They’re so thick , Jesse marveled. Imagine the amount of stone it took to make them.
    Then he realized something. So that was what created the tunnels! As they had journeyed through the mountains, Jesse had often wondered what had caused the large, seemingly random tunnels and caverns cut jaggedly out of the mountains. Now he realized that the stonemasons of District Two had made them, quarrying stone for Davior.
    Once inside the walls, Jesse allowed himself to stare at the bustling city around him. Never in all his fifteen years had he seen so many people. They practically swarmed around him, running, cursing, buying, selling, shouting, shoving.
    The pace had slowed to a crawl, but Jesse didn’t mind. He wanted to take in every detail.
    â€œYou can tell you were born in a small village,” Silas said, keeping his eyes not on Jesse, but on the people around him. “This is different from Mir, isn’t it?”
    Jesse just nodded, unable to describe in words what he was seeing and feeling.
    â€œIt is a good thing you don’t have anything worth stealing,” Silas continued. “You’d be an easy target for pickpockets.”
    Now, Jesse looked around in alarm, suddenly noticing other things about the city: beggars slumped in the streets, sinister figures lurking in doorways, rats darting into alleyways.
    But Silas is right. I have nothing to steal. And that must be easy to see, since I look like a beggar. Still, Jesse clutched his