Curse of the Ancients Read Free Page A

Dak flinched. The rain started falling harder, too, and at an odd angle.
    Dak knew he should hurry back to the others, get out of the brewing storm, but just then he spotted a narrow opening in the observatory wall, like a small glassless window. He moved toward it and peered inside, the rain raking down his back. It was dark inside, except for a few candles that burned near the far wall of the large room. Next to this wall, which had a large painting of a tree, were three older men kneeling on the floor, writing on a massive sheet of a paper-like material. The thing was longer than they were tall.
    Then, on the floor beside them, Dak spotted something else. A colorful mask. The kind a clown might wear. Dak immediately thought of the riddle. Maybe there was some kind of connection. And then Dak considered something else. Something potentially incredible. What if these men were working on the Great Mayan Codex? He knew there were probably many codices, a type of book, produced during this era. But his heart sped up anyway. Because everything around him made him think he was in the seventh century. And that meant it was possible that he was witnessing the composition of one of the most revered texts in all of history.
    Dak pounded on the wall, so excited he was having trouble breathing. As soon as the men looked up, though, he thought better of it and ducked out of sight. Because if the authors of the Great Mayan Codex had prophesized that the SQ would one day come along and save all mankind, it was possible that the authors themselves were SQ. Or even a group of Time Wardens, whom the SQ had positioned throughout history to protect their agenda from meddling time travelers . . . like Dak.
    He crouched there for several long minutes, trying to think.
    Rain pummeled his entire body, puddling around his knees and elbows.
    He finally pushed away from the observatory and sprinted back across the road. He had to go tell Riq and Sera about the clown mask. And the codex. Even if they didn’t deserve to know.

    When Dak finally rounded the stone wall and spotted his friends, he stopped in his tracks. “
No,
” he said under his breath.
    Riq and Sera were surrounded by three thuggish-looking Mayas, one of whom was holding the Infinity Ring in his grimy hands.

T HE RAIN was pounding down so hard against the thin, metallic overhang, Riq was having trouble hearing the man standing directly in front of him. “I’m sorry, Itchik,” he interrupted. “How far did you say your home is from here?”
    As the man was answering, Riq caught a small blur racing toward them out of the corner of his eye. He turned to get a better look, and mumbled under his breath, “Dak?”
    “Nobody messes with my friends!” Dak shouted just before launching himself at the man holding the Infinity Ring. They both fell to the ground, and the Ring went flying through the air. Riq instinctively dove out into the rain to try to catch it, but the Ring landed just beyond his reach with a thud.
    “The Ring!” Sera screamed.
    Riq quickly scooped it up and looked it over. It was slightly dented on one side and muddy. The screen was blank. He watched Sera position herself between Dak and the man he’d just attacked. “What in the name of mincemeat do you think you’re doing?” she asked.
    “Protecting you guys,” Dak said.
    “
Protecting
us? From what?”
    “These Mayan Time Wardens!” Dak pointed at the three men.
    Sera slapped a hand against her forehead.
    Riq ducked back under the overhang, dripping wet. “They came out here to help us, not hurt us!” he shouted at Dak over the storm. “Itchik here was just offering to lead us to shelter.”
    “And how do you know it’s not a trap?” Dak shouted back.
    Itchik turned to Riq with a look of confusion. “What does the small boy mean ‘a trap’?”
    Riq sighed. “Honestly, it’s best if you just ignore the small boy,” he said.
    Violent thunder echoed through the entire village.
    “The storm!”