Read Omega City for Free Online Page A

was she looking for? Paper Clip leaped up beside me and scratched her cheek against the edge of the page. “But then what is it?”
    â€œWell,” prompted Eric, plucking the page out of my hand. “What does the magical page say?”
    I tried to grab it back, but he held it out of my reach, vaulting over the back of the couch.
    â€œA whole lot of gibberish,” he said with a shrug. “Typical Underberg stuff.”
    I lunged for the page and snatched it back. And, though I hated to admit it, Eric was right. Because this is what it said:
    I find I cannot be so cruel as to destroy my greatest creation, despite the cruelty of those I trusted. Very well. For those who trust me it shall not be difficult to reach safety, for you know my heart:
    You know who I am, and the heavenly body that heralded my arrival. IX marks the spot .
    You know where I’m from, and the gifts I have left there. And even if the sun sets on this Earth, you can use it to start your journey .
    Follow the path I’ve laid for you, in the direction marked by the birth of ice .
    When you find my twin, you will find my treasure .
    Underneath that, in a different shade of pen, like it was written later, was what looked like a phone number:
    x=5906376272
    And then a line, with more numbers underneath:
    0.05=1391000
    â€œAre either of you planning on telling me what it says?” Savannah asked. She was still holding the dictionary open to O for omega.
    â€œEric’s right.” I sighed. “More gibberish.”
    Savannah leaned over my shoulder to read. “What’s all that stuff about heavenly bodies? Hey, you said Dr. Underberg was a NASA scientist, right?”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œWell, that other sheet said something about the stars, and this one is all about ‘heavenly bodies’ and the sun and the Earth. Maybe Omega is some sort of space thing. A . . . moon or an asteroid or something.”
    â€œYou know who might be able to tell us?” Eric said. “That kid at school. The one who’s obsessed with NASA?”
    â€œEww,” said Savannah. “Howard Noland? He’s such a dweeb. Nobody talks to him on purpose.”
    Eric nodded. “But he knows everything there is to know about space. We have PE together and it’s the only thing he’ll talk about.”
    â€œExactly,” said Savannah. “ Literally the only thing. He’s our age, but he’s only in fifth. They held him back in first grade, you know, because he was such a freak.” She twirled her finger around her ears.
    Like people didn’t say that every day about my dad.
    â€œAnd we’re just as crazy if we actually encourage him on his whole space obsession. He’ll talk your ear off.”
    â€œIf he can help me figure out what Fiona is up to, I’ll risk both my ears. I don’t know what’s going on, but someone was willing to ruin Dad’s life over this Underberg thing last year, and Fiona is definitely involved now. I can’t let anyone hurt Dad like that again.”
    Eric was staring at me. “So you don’t think we should tell Dad what we found?”
    â€œWe can try,” I said, “but if he gets paranoid, you know what that means.”
    Eric shuddered.
    â€œWhat does it mean?” Savannah asked.
    â€œBest-case scenario?” my brother said. “We’re all eating packaged foods and drinking bottled water for a week. Worst-case? He takes us off the grid until things calm down.”
    â€œOff the grid?”
    â€œCamping,” I explained. “No phone, no TV, no internet, no footprints if he’s feeling especially cautious.”
    I’d never forget what Mom told Dad the morning she left the campsite. We’d done a full month of it when the scandal had first hit, and lost our mom in the deal. What would we lose if Dad started down that road again? Paper Clip? The house?
    â€œOkay. Let’s keep it a secret