Read Online Project X-Calibur by Greg Pace - Free Book Online

about this end-of-the-world stuff,” he moaned. “I have a little sister. What if they can go someplace to hide, or—”
    Malcolm stopped doing push-ups, either because he had reached a hundred or because Tyler had annoyed him. Probably both.
    â€œWe’d
all
like to tell our families about this,” he said, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. “But unless you were told something different than I was, we have to keep it a secret for now.”
    â€œWhy?”
Tyler pressed, his brow creased with worry. Kwan had stopped listening to the wall and flopped on his bed.
    Malcolm shook his head and shrugged. “Pellinore has his reasons, that’s why.”
    â€œBut what if we fail?” Tyler continued. “I don’t want my family to die because they didn’t even
know
they were in danger.”
    After a moment of heavy silence, Malcolm stood up and stretched. “We’re not
going
to fail. I don’t know about you three, but I intend to kick serious alien butt.” He turned and headed toward the bathroom. “I’m taking a shower.”
    After he was gone and we heard the water running, Kwan whispered, “What crawled up
his
butt?”
    â€œHe’s definitely intense,” I muttered, then tilted my neck from side to side, trying to get rid of a cramp. “Man, that g-force test turned my spine into spaghetti.”
    â€œYou don’t think there’s going to be any
real
tests here, do you?” Tyler grimaced. “Like in school. Questions and answers?”
    â€œObviously we’re going to be in fighter jets or something,” Kwan theorized. “Or maybe inside missiles that’ll get fired at the aliens. Why else would we have to take a g-force test? Only pilots do that kind of stuff.”
    He had a point. “But what good would it do to have us inside missiles? Wouldn’t we just die when they exploded?” I made a little “poof” with my hands.
    He deflated a bit. “Yeah. That would be bad. Unless . . . they need us inside the missiles to turn ’em on in the air?” His eyes grew wide as he sat bolt upright. “That would explain why they need kids! ’Cause we’re small! No wonder Mr. P. said it was a need-to-know basis. If we knew we were going to die, we’d all get the heck outta here!” He snapped his fingers, convinced.
    Tyler gulped. “Do I
have
to blow up inside a missile?”
    I rolled my eyes. “We’re not going to be inside missiles. Besides, if they had kids here just because of size, why would Tyler be here?” I held a hand out in front of Tyler as if I was showcasing a new car on a game show. “He’s
not
small.”
    Tyler’s face brightened as if I had just saved him from certain death. “You’re right!”
    Kwan threw up his hands. “Whatever.”
    We heard the shower water stop. Kwan glanced over his shoulder. “I bet hotshot in there knows something. Pellinore seems to really dig him,” he whispered.
    I considered telling them what I had heard about Pellinore “grooming” Malcolm for X-Calibur, but decided against it. I didn’t want them to think I was privy to any more information than they were.
    â€œBut Merlin picked
Ben,
” Tyler countered. “Isn’t that just as important?”
    I wasn’t in the mood to get on the discussion of Merlin championing me again. “What we do know is that this whole project is called
X-Calibur,
right?” I said quickly.
    â€œSo?” Kwan asked.
    â€œSo, the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table was all about a super-powerful
sword
called Excalibur,” I explained, leaning closer like I was telling a story around a campfire. “At first, nobody could even use the sword because it was stuck inside a big stone. A bunch of people tried to pull it out, but nobody could.” I paused for dramatic effect, just like