The Demon Conspiracy Read Online Free PDF Page A

McCormicks. He’d really missed us
and I knew he felt responsible for taking care of us. “Hey, you’ve
gotten really good with those knife thingys. We were watching
you.”
    “Thanks.” Jon blushed. His
eyes became intense. “They’re Elvish fighting knives, like Legolas
carried in the Lord of the Rings movies.”
    “You have amazing skill with them, Jon.”
Angie passed him a plate of apple slices, neatly cut and
skinned.
    “I’ve got a long way to go with the knives,
but at least I’m not bleeding this time.” He grinned at me. “The
Claymore, that’s my best weapon. But if I’m gonna be a stunt man in
movies I’ve got to be good with lots of weapons.”
    “A stunt man?” Angie nodded like she thought
it was a good idea. “That’d be really cool. Are you working
tonight?”
    Jon glanced at the clock on the kitchen
stove. “Gotta be there in an hour. I better get cleaned up. Can I
eat this upstairs?”
    “Bring the plate back down before you
leave.”
    “Thanks!” Jon hurried out of the kitchen
with his sword case and the fruit. On the way up the stairs he
yelled, “Trav’s home!”
    As soon as he said it I heard a school bus
drive away. It’s funny how I never noticed that bus unless it was
leaving. A moment later Travis came in the front door. As usual he
stopped in the foyer and switched on the crystal chandelier. Travis
had a thing about chandeliers and even the small ones amazed him no
matter how many times he looked them over. He switched the light
off, dropped his new backpack by the stairs and ran into the
kitchen.
    “Fruit!” he cried. “That’s what I’m talkin’
about!” He dug into the apple slices like he hadn’t eaten all week.
One thing about Travis, he could eat and eat and never get fat.
    Why do you eat so
much? I asked inside his head.
    Cuz I’m hungry! thought Travis back to me. I smiled. Travis
almost always kept it simple.
    Travis’ white-blond hair stuck up wilder
than usual. That kid had some crazy hair, for sure. He was pale,
too. Except for his deep blue eyes he almost looked albino. Travis
smiled while he ate, which made me feel pretty good inside. When he
was younger he rarely smiled around us because he was too worried
about the next time we’d be separated. But since we’d moved in with
Angie and Chris, he smiled more and worried less. He had a great
smile, too. He usually won people over the first time they met him.
Everybody liked Travis.
    “Your turn to mark the calendar,” I
said.
    Travis’ eyes got big as he munched on an
apple slice. “Yeah!” He turned to the fridge and grabbed the black
Sharpie that hung by a string on the door. He found today’s date
and drew a big X through it. He must have scanned the rest of the
month because he pointed to Halloween and looked back at me.
    “You’re in a chess tournament? For
real?”
    I shrugged like it was no big deal. Chess
was cool, of course. But right now for me, it was all about the
cave.
    “You guys aren’t too excited about the
cave trip, are you?” asked Angie.
    “I can’t wait,” I said. “Jon’s excited, too,
but he doesn’t show it. How many caves has Chris been in?”
    “Chris doesn’t do caves. He’s more of a
putt-putt golf kinda guy.” Angie paused to think. “I mean, the only
cave he’s ever been in that I know of was Luray Caverns, but that’s
got walkways and lights. This will be his first real cave
exploration.”
    “Is he gonna lead us?” asked Travis.
    “Lord, no. A good friend of ours at the high
school, Anton Edwards, will be leading. He knows all about caves,
especially this one. Anton is Jon’s English teacher.”
    “Cool,” said Travis. “Does the cave have a
name?”
    “Yes, Pandora’s Cave.”
    “Pandora’s Cave,” I repeated. “I like
it.”
    Somebody had
written Crystal Creek Park caving
trip on the calendar for this coming
Saturday. Travis made his usual count down.
    “Two more days ‘til we crawl through cave
slime. Yeah! That’s what I’m