The Golden Symbol by Andrea Pearson Read Free Book Online Page A

figured out what happened. The key had worked and he would have seen these seams earlier if it hadn’t been for the thick layer of bark that had grown over the whole thing.
    The rest was easy. Jacob only had to tap the container—the key had already undone the combination—and the box unfolded itself. A moss-covered shelf was inside, and laying on the shelf was a scroll tied with a black ribbon. Jacob grabbed it, then carefully closed the tree again.
    The moment the bark, minus the chunk on the ground, had folded away, the sun returned, nearly blinding Jacob.
    It took him a second to realize he wasn’t alone anymore.
    In fact, there were many people wandering the forest.
    They were calling his name.
    Gallus, Dad, Mom, Aldo—pretty much everyone he knew from Eklaron, and a bunch of Earth people as well. How long had he been gone?
    “I’m right here,” he said, making Aldo, who was only four feet away, jump.
    Recovering from his shock, Aldo turned to the others. “He’s back! He’s here! And he looks okay.”
    Everyone rushed toward him, but they stepped aside so Mom could get to him first.
    “We were so worried!” she said, throwing her arms around him.
    “You disappeared,” Akeno said. “Completely. And I couldn’t even find the tree anymore.”
    “How long was I gone?”
    “Three hours.”
    “Three . . . three hours? No way. Totally not possible. It was barely thirty minutes.”
    “What happened?” Dad asked.
    Jacob explained the two tests he’d encountered. While he was talking, Aldo noticed the scroll in his hands and jumped forward, grabbing it.
    “You found it! We’ve got the antidote!”
    “Yeah, but open it to make sure it’s all there. I don’t ever want to go through that again.”
    Aldo pulled the ribbon off and unrolled the scroll. “This is it!” He danced around, yelping with excitement. “We’ve got it! We’ve got it!”
    When he’d finally calmed down, everyone tried to crowd around him to read it. But Aldo shook his head. “The whole thing isn’t written in the same language.” He turned to Jacob. “Key me to Azuriah’s fortress. Perhaps he, the Fat Lady, and I can get this figured out.”
    Jacob did so. Dad asked everyone to return to their chores so Aldo and the other two could concentrate, but he, Kenji, and Jacob stayed in the fortress.
    Jacob only had a couple of hours left until he, Gallus, and Onaly were to go get Aloren and Myler. While he and Dad waited, Hazel came and gave them an update on the situation. Aloren was fine, and they’d finally found her a bed. She said it was really hard to distract them from the fact that she wasn’t injured.
    After what felt like forever, but was only probably forty-five minutes, Azuriah, the Fat Lady, and Aldo leaned back in their chairs.
    “It’s complicated,” Azuriah said, rubbing his eyes. “Very complicated. And it’s going to require a lot from Jacob.”
    The three of them turned and looked at him. His ears started burning as they turned red from the attention. “Why me?” It was always him—he should be used to that by now.
    “Let’s first go over the ingredients,” Aldo said.
    He pushed the scroll aside, got to his feet, and held up the list they’d put together.
    “‘Blood of the royal Fire Pulser. Blood of the royal Shiengol.’” He furrowed his brow. “And this one is interesting, because they weren’t even supposed to exist anymore. The Lorkon know that and must feel very safe. ‘Blood of a pure Makalo.’”
    Everyone looked at Kenji.
    He looked surprised. “I . . . Wow. Brojan was right. We would need a full-blood Makalo again. How could he have known?”
    The Fat Lady grunted. “Don’t give him too much credit. He was acting purely out of selfishness.”
    It was her turn for everyone to stare at her. Jacob couldn’t believe she would say that.
    Kenji took a moment to respond. “Please, don’t be too harsh. We’ve lived through some very trying times.”
    She held the Makalo’s gaze for