Ari covered his mouth to hide his smile.
62
“Max?”
I looked up to see Nudge standing in the doorway of my room, shifting from foot to foot with excitement.
“Yeah?”
“I think I know the secret of the code.”
“Do tell,” I said, once we’d all gathered in her room.
“I think it’s from a book,” she said. “I mean, okay, it could be some computerized code, in which case we’ll never break it. But I think they want us to break it—want you to break it, as part of your testing.”
“Yeah, I guess I’m failing this particular test.”
“Not yet,” Nudge said. “There’re still a couple of things we haven’t tried. Like if the numbers all relate back to a book.”
“Which book?” asked Iggy.
“A big book, with lots of words. A book that wouldn’t be hard for you to find,” said Nudge. “Something all over the place, that a lot of people have.”
“The Da Vinci Code?” the Gasman suggested.
Iggy made a pained expression. “No. Like the Bible, nimrod. It’s everywhere. In hotels, people’s houses, schools. It’s something Max could find easily. Right, Nudge?”
“Yeah,” Nudge said.
“I don’t understand,” said Angel.
“Like, there’s strings of numbers, right?” said Nudge. “It would be like what Fang saw with the maps. But now one number is a book, another one is a chapter, another is a verse, and another would be one word from that verse. Then you take all the words and see what they add up to.”
“Huh,” I said, thinking. “Do we have a Bible here?”
Nudge reached down and pulled out a thick volume. “Anne had one downstairs. I’m borrowing it. Trying to strengthen my relationship with the Lord.”
Four hours later my brain was fried. Anne had made the younger kids go to bed. Iggy, Fang, and I were still trying to make the freaking numbers work with the Bible. But no matter how we played it, nothing was panning out.
“Maybe it’s the wrong version of the Bible,” Fang said tiredly. “There are different versions.”
“This is the King James,” said Iggy, rubbing his forehead. “The most common one in America.”
“And what do we have?” I rolled my shoulders and rotated my head from side to side.
Fang looked at his notes. “Thou. Upon. Fasting. Round. Always. Saul. Dwell. Fruit. Affliction. Didst. Delight. Dwell again.”
I frowned, shaking my head in frustration. “Nothing. No pattern, no meaning. The Bible was a great idea, but maybe we’re doing it wrong.”
“So I guess we just kiss the world good-bye,” Fang said after a pause.
I gave him a look. “So funny. You’re quite the wit.”
He gave the barest hint of a smug smile. “The ladies like it.”
Iggy burst out laughing, but I just stared at Fang, appalled. How could he joke about something like that? Sometimes I felt as if I didn’t even know him anymore.
I stood up, letting my pages fall to the ground. “I’m beat. See you in the morning.” I stood up and left without another look at either of them.