Underworlds #1: The Battle Begins Read Online Free Page B

Orpheus’s lyre. Let’s finish eating and go to the library.”
    I nodded. “The farther we get away from the kitchen, the better I’ll feel.”
    We cleared our trays and ran upstairs. Plunking down at the first open computer, we logged in and started searching.
    “Orpheus. Lyre. Red doors. Ancient things,” said Sydney, clacking away on the keys.
    I paced back and forth, but it was less than a minute before she and Jon were cupping their hands over their mouths.
    “Whoa!” Sydney said. “The art museum in town has an exhibit that’s closing … today. It’s called ‘Ancient Treasures.’ And the picture of the museum here shows that it has — ta-da! — double red doors!”
    As Sydney scrolled down and I paced, Jon read over her shoulder. “It’s got swords. Shields. Scrolls. Jeweled stuff. And stop … stop …”
    “Owen!” said Sydney, staring from the screen to me. “You’ll never believe —”
    I stopped pacing. “The lyre of Orpheus?”
    “Yes!” Sydney said. “The lyre is part of the exhibit leaving the museum today. Its next stop is another museum in …”
    I held my breath as she scrolled to the bottom of the page. She raised her face to me, her eyes wide.
    “Iceland!” she said.
    I felt as cold as if I were in Iceland.
    “The lunch ladies want us to steal the lyre of Orpheus? Seriously?” asked Jon.
    “Orpheus’s lyre is one of the most powerful objects of the ancient world,” Sydney said. “Maybe it’ll help us get Dana back.”
    That was it, wasn’t it? We had to help Dana.
    “The museum is five blocks from here,” I said. “We can walk, but we’ll need to get out of school for the afternoon.”
    Jon groaned. “Never gonna happen.”
    But Sydney jumped up from the computer and grinned. “My dad’s the shop teacher, don’t forget. He can give us a pass.”
    We looked at one another. I didn’t like lying, but this was different. If there was something mythological and magical and weird going on, no one was going to believe us. Dana would still be gone. Maybe gone for good. We had to do something.
    “Next stop, shop class!” I said, marching out of the library.

    I T TURNED OUT THAT M R . L AMBERTI WAS A NICE guy. A nice guy who didn’t ask a lot of questions.
    Ten minutes later, we were staring up at a small, white granite building with a set of large red doors. Marble columns at least twenty feet tall stood across the front of the museum like warriors at attention. It was an imitation of a Greek temple, which seemed completely right.
    And scary.
    We raced up the steps and through the doors, paid admission, and walked as fast as we could to the exhibit. It was curtained off, but we peeked in. Several guards and a couple of curators in suits were moving around from display to display with clipboards, checking things off, pointing.
    “They’re getting ready to ship it out,” Sydney whispered.
    We slipped behind one heavy curtain and peeked out to scan the long room.
    After talking to the Valkyries, some things were beginning to make sense in my mind: Get the lyre. Go to the Underworld. (Well, one of the Underworlds.) Save Dana.
    Yeah, right. The whole thing was nuts. Completely. But despite all that, things were starting to click in my head.
    No, not click.
    Hum.
    “There are a dozen display cases with instruments in them,” Sydney whispered. “How do we know which one has the —”
    “Second one from the end,” I said, pointing.
    My friends stared at me. Maybe it was all those years at my grandma’s house, learning how to play guitar, feeling music in my fingers. Maybe it wasn’t me at all, but the lyre. Miss Marge told us it was magical. And powerful. Whatever the reason, I heard the lyre. And apparently no one else could.
    Thrummm …
    “Owen, are you receiving signals from the beyond?” whispered Sydney.
    “No, from that case at the end of the room,” I said. “The lyre’s in there. We need to get closer.”
    “And get ourselves arrested!” Jon