Curse of the Spider King Read Online Free PDF Page A

Wallace’s eyes on her. She had to put something down. She took a deep breath and then put her pencil to the paper and started writing.
    Done.
    One down, nine to go.
    She read the second question again and drew a blank as before. But a moment later another voice, this time clearly male, spoke in her head:
    The transcontinental railroad provided new jobs for immigrant workers, specifically Irish and Chinese foreigners seeking to create a new life. It also provided a fast means of transporting raw materials from one part of the country to the other, which perpetuated capitalism by starting new small businesses.
    Kat stared at her desk. What was going on here? She put her pencil down and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. I’m going crazy , was all she could think. She glanced to her left and her right to see if anyone else had heard what she did. But no one seemed the least bit distracted. She could hear the tip-tap of their pencils.
    â€œThis is madness,” she whispered to herself. Then Kat picked up her pencil and wrote down the answer she’d heard.
    Kat again doodled as she glanced at the third question. No sooner had she finished reading it when another voice spoke an answer into her head. Only this time she could have sworn it was the voice of Erin Freeburg. Kat looked forward and to the left where Erin was busy scribbling away on her test. Then she looked up at Mr. Wallace. There was no way Erin could have spoken to Kat that loud without Mr. Wallace noticing.
    Kat chewed lightly on her pencil. Maybe it was some kind of subconscious recall. Maybe Mr. Wallace had spoken about these things, and maybe Erin had said that answer aloud in class. That would explain the familiar voices. It was just some bizarre recall of what her classmates had said in class. That was it. That had to be it.
    Kat had a troubling thought: What if she wasn’t listening to her own mind? But just as fast she shot down the idea, citing it as something you’d see on the SyFy Channel, not something that happens in real life.
    She filled in question three. In fact, Kat wrote down the answers that she heard for the next seven questions until the test was done. She flipped through the booklet and checked her work. She stood up to hand in her book but stopped, staring at the design she’d doodled on the front page. She flipped to the second page. She’d scribbled the same thing on that page, too. In fact, Kat had drawn the same image on every page of the test. It was a peculiar thing: curvy, shaded . . . kind of like a circle with tiny lines branching out from the inside and spiraling around decoratively. An even smaller circle adorned the top.
    Kat shrugged. It was strange, but not as strange as the other events of the morning. She looked at the class, most of whom were still working, and realized she’d finished as fast as Molly McMillan, easily the smartest girl in the seventh grade. When Kat met Molly at Mr. Wallace’s desk to deliver her test at the same time, Molly seemed indignant.
    â€œJust because we finished at the same time doesn’t mean you aced it,” Molly said with a sneer and then turned abruptly away.
    Mr. Wallace looked up, surprise spreading across his face. “Why, Miss Simonson, finished already?”
    â€œYes, Mr. Wallace,” she said, avoiding eye contact. “I think I did pretty well on this one.”
    â€œReally?” He stretched the pronunciation. “I must admit, I had concerns. You looked ill.”
    Kat blushed. “Just a little bit of test anxiety, but I calmed down.”
    â€œYou sure you don’t want to review your answers? Just to double-check?”
    â€œYeah, I’m sure. Thanks though.”
    Mr. Wallace smiled and took the test from her. Kat walked back to her desk and sat down, playing with her hair. She looked at the clock on the wall and watched the second hand click by. More and more students turned in their papers until the last