Kingdom Keepers V (9781423153429) by Ridley Pearson Read Free Book Online

Thanks for the chill pill, Charlie. Just what the doctor ordered.”
    â€œI’m just being pragmatic.”
    â€œDon’t do that. Don’t use words like that. Don’t be like Philby and start showing off how smart you are.”
    â€œPhilby doesn’t do that. Philby is just Philby.”
    â€œWell, you’re not Philby. Am I right? You’re Charlie. So don’t go doing that.”
    â€œOkay,” she said. “I’m just being…realistic. How’s that?”
    â€œDon’t patronize me,” Maybeck said.
    â€œDon’t use words like that,” she complained, imitating his voice.
    They both laughed.
    The movement came from their right. A pair of blurs, definitely coming toward the building.
    â€œI counted two,” Maybeck said.
    â€œYes,” Charlene said.
    â€œCould be decoys,” he said.
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    â€œI’ll take this way. You take that.”
    â€œWay ahead of you.” Charlene rotated to her left, ready to circle the building counterclockwise.
    â€œWatch for a counterattack.”
    â€œYou think?” she asked sarcastically. “Meet you on the other side. I’ll be the girl in all black.”
    â€œEyes open,” he cautioned.
    â€œOn three,” she said, and began counting.
    * * *
    Charlene appreciated that DHI 2.0 had significantly reduced the glow of her hologram. There had been a time when walking around in the dark was like wearing Day-Glo. But with the upgrade, she could sneak along the building’s exterior wall like a shadow.
    As she came around the opposite side, she saw them: two brooms-and-buckets climbing a drainpipe. There had been a time—years ago now—when such a sight would have stopped her cold. But she did not question what she saw for even a millisecond. Brooms, pirates, witches, fairies—there was nothing unexpected anymore. The Overtakers had recruited from nearly every group of Disney characters. All presented an equal threat, though each with specific skills.
    The brooms could swing their handles like baseball bats. They were agile and quick. Their buckets were known to contain toxic fluids that could chemically burn. They could sweep up a hurricane-force wind in seconds.
    None of which could harm her as long as she maintained her hologram state, as long as she kept fear at bay. But despite her courage under fire, Charlene considered herself the biggest chicken of all the Keepers. True or not, she didn’t look forward to testing her resolve. Not now. Not ever.
    But the two brooms were climbing—their limbs stuck through the buckets’ wire handles—toward the Base’s second-story windows.
    Maybeck rounded the far corner and spotted the brooms. He and Charlene met at the drainpipe.
    â€œWe’ve got to warn them!” Charlene said.
    â€œWe got to get up there and stop them!” Maybeck countered. He bent down and found a pebble and hurled it at the glass. He missed. “You’re the climber!” he said.
    She’d sensed that coming. The problem was…well, there were several problems. First, in nearly any battle the person with the high ground won, and she’d be coming at them from below; second, she wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to do. Pull them off the drainpipe? Third, there was the matter of fear and testing the full capabilities of 2.0: she would be climbing, therefore not fully a hologram—would that leave her vulnerable to injury and attack?
    â€œGo!” Maybeck said.
    Charlene took hold of the pipe and climbed, amazed at how easy 2.0 made everything.
    â€œI’m going to sound the alarm!” Maybeck called to her—for she was climbing quickly. He took off around to the other side, where a warning device had been installed.
    Charlene was instantly in her element: doing something physical. She wasn’t going to worry about upgrades or fear or strategy. She was going to climb up to