Empire of Bones by N. D. Wilson Read Free Book Online

was probably what had woken him. Or maybe it had been the woodpecker doing major construction right outside the cabin’s open window.
    Cyrus sniffed, wiped his damp chin, and eyed a little window across the room. The sun was up, but big trees hid most of the light. He was pretty sure that Antigone had been on the bunk above him, but he wasn’t evensure why he thought that. He could remember the plane landing in the meadow and sinking in the mud almost to its belly, and the crooked cabins, and the old man in the wheelchair pointing a rifle at him.
    Llewellyn Douglas . The old free-diving kook who’d trained bull sharks in Lake Michigan. He’d forced Cyrus to drink something black and nasty. Then Cyrus had staggered into the closest cabin and picked a bed.
    “Tigs?”
    Nothing. He rolled slowly onto his side and lowered his bare feet to the floor. His right calf screamed with the increased blood pressure, and muscle fibers began to twitch and quiver beneath his skin. His bandage was new, but a dozen little bloody dots had soaked through.
    Cyrus carefully slid his finger beneath the gauze and pulled it away from his leg. The top two puckers had been stitched shut.
    The cabin door banged open and Rupert Greeves stepped inside. Cyrus squinted up at him.
    “How’s it feel?” Rupert asked.
    “Like a shark bite,” Cyrus said. “When did you get here?”
    “An hour ago,” Rupert said. “We got Jeb to a safe hospital and then stayed with him through most of the night. It’s almost noon now.” Rupert leaned his back against the wall by the door. “You’ve had a lot of shark bites, then?”
    “Oh, yeah. Tons. Somebody stitched it up last night.” He straightened his leg out slowly. “How’s Jeb?” He wasn’t sure he wanted an answer.
    “Sorted,” Rupert said. “For now. It was bad. If not for Arachne, he wouldn’t even have made it to hospital.”
    Cyrus exhaled relief. “And my mom?”
    “Tired. Resting now.” Rupert rubbed his jaw and smiled. “Three years asleep, two months awake with nurses all around to keep things calm and easy, and then yesterday … her first day back with you lot.”
    “You mean us lot,” Cyrus said. He flexed his toes and groaned. “I guess I shouldn’t be feeling sorry for myself. Jeb almost died getting my mom out of Ashtown. I got shot for those stupid paper globes, and they were ruined anyway. I think I should make Antigone do my laundry for life or something. Where is she?”
    “Up and useful, unlike you.” Rupert crossed the room and lifted Cyrus easily to his feet. Cyrus sucked in his breath through his teeth and hopped on his left foot. He leaned against the bunk bed and exhaled, trying to keep his breathing slow and steady. Rupert watched him.
    “Can we at least stay here awhile?” Cyrus asked. “Or are we running off again?”
    Rupert smiled slightly. “You should see the whole place before you ask that.”
    “I’m serious,” Cyrus said. “For two months we’ve been running. When do we just park somewhere?”
    Rupert raised his eyebrows. “Not long ago, Cyrus Smith was begging to come along wherever I went. Now he just wants to park? You want me to drop you someplace comfortable and go on with this alone?”
    “Come on, Rupe.” Cyrus shut his eyes. “You know that’s not what I mean. I’m just tired, and I hurt.”
    “Cyrus Lawrence Smith.” Rupert’s voice was a low growl. “You have witnessed the rebirth of an old war, the rekindling of a fire that once consumed nations like parched grass. The blame may not be yours, but you held the spark that set the flame. It is young and growing. Maybe, maybe it may still be quenched, so long as the Almighty bathes us in courage and luck and we do not rest and we do not tire and we do not listen to our own pain.”
    Rupert’s chest heaved. His dark eyes did not leave Cyrus’s. “Phoenix sets out to remake men according to his own demented imagination, but that twisted creature needs time. And so he