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| L.Q. Brooks |
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Author has written 22 stories for Wayside School series, Hunger Games, Ice Age, Harry Potter, Series Of Unfortunate Events, and Friends. FUNNY ANAGRAMS Dormitory Dirty Room Evangelist Evil's Agent Desperation A Rope Ends It The Morse Code Here Come Dots Slot Machines Cash Lost in 'em Animosity Is No Amity Mother-in-law Woman Hitler :) Snooze Alarms Alas! No More Zs Alec Guinness Genuine Class Semolina Is No Meal The Public Art Galleries Large Picture Halls, I Bet A Decimal Point I'm a Dot in Place The Earthquakes That Queer Shake Eleven plus two Twelve plus one Contradiction Accord not in it HARRY POTTER JOKES I will not use the Memory Charm on Professor Snape. and of course, QUOTES FROM MY BEST FRIEND MADDIE
QUOTES FROM MY BEST FRIEND MASON
THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES FAVORITE QUOTES
"A letter can be itself!" Ripred. "My ball! You eated my ball!" Boots. "I told you, it takes a lot to kill me. More than a few bugs anyway." Ripred. "Yes, I’m a mouse. Squeak, squeak. Now shoo-shoo back to your little bug friends." Ripred. SOME SONGS I WROTE
I wrote this one to tell about how I left a crush at my old school that I will most likely never see again and how I got over it with someone new. I’m gone now Are you happy now? Is this all you ever wanted, well Here you go I’m lonely now Are you crying now? This isn’t what I wanted, ‘cause It was just too short To last Every time I look in the mirror I swear I see your brown gleaming eyes Always staring back at me But I know that all I really see is lies Now I’m long gone Too very far from your reach Can’t find me anymore ‘Cause I’m long gone Guess who? That’s right, I’m still here But away from you I die a little each day Just so you know I’ve found a pair of green eyes That look inside my mirror replacing you Guess who, brown? It’s her (yeah) Though every time I look in the mirror I swear I see your brown gleaming eyes Always staring back at me But I know that all I really see is lies Now I’m long gone Too very far from your reach Can’t find me anymore ‘Cause I’m long gone Your name still swirls around in my head Off into my book off of the high ledge But our distance has gone far over the hedge So just so you know Again Every time I look in the mirror I swear I see your brown gleaming eyes Always staring back at me But I know that all I really see is lies Now I’m long gone Too very far from your reach Can’t find me anymore ‘Cause I’m long gone And when your eyes disappear And your name seems to clear All that’ll show up in my mirror Will be Those green gleaming eyes CHASE OF LUCK!!! Chase of Luck: The Follower Chapter 1: A Train Ride to Nowhere No, it wasn’t my idea, and if it was, I would have immediately said no to it, and so, here I am. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but I suppose I can make a quick guess. I was playing Monopoly with my dad when he rolled a six, and he landed on my property. He paid the money for being on my property; I rolled, and moved my piece 12 spaces onto a Community Chest. I picked a card, and I read, “Second Place in a Beauty Contest: Collect $200.” I smiled, and took my money out of the bank, adding it to my collection of money. I bought a few more houses, and I put them on my avenue, just waiting for dad to land on it again. Dad rolled again, and landed on a piece of property that none of us owned, but it would add to his avenue, so he bought it. I should point out that my dad is really good at this game. He could beat The Parker Brothers at Monopoly, and believe me, that’s tough. Oh, sorry, I guess I was so caught up in Monopoly that I forgot about introducing myself. [Oh, be quiet, Emma, you forget things too… seriously, sis, stop that…STOP THAT LAUGHING!] Again, I’m sorry, my name is Cameron, my sister’s name is Emma, and I enjoy playing board games. I guess I caught the trait from my dad because…you know why. Anyway, I pointed my finger to the window, which made my dad glance. I did the classic earthquake routine and the board fell off the table, with a couple of 20s on top. Oh, a ten dollar bill was still on the table, so I flicked it off, and that was the end of it. I must do it quite a lot because my dad rolled his eyes and kneeled down to clean up the mess. That’s when Emma came in and scoffed, because it was normal for her to see this scene. Or maybe it was because I was still wearing my pajamas, wait…no…she would only laugh if she saw that. Dad was carrying a couple of property deeds when he stopped cleaning and looked at the deeds. I could see the look on his face, and I knew I wouldn’t like it: another train ride. But by what it looked like, that wasn’t what he was thinking, considering we never see eye to eye. “I don’t know what it is that I’m seeing, but I can tell Cameron is not going to like it, so I’m all in,” Emma said with a laugh. No one else laughed, so she just kept going. That’s another thing about my sister; if no one laughs at her jokes, she keeps making them until people do. But, rarely people do, and one time, she kept going for an hour and a half. I put the idea of a train ride out of my mind, and kept thinking of happy thoughts. Oh, if you think “Cameron, one train ride can’t be THAT bad!”, then you’re clearly mistaken. We go on a train ride every time we play Monopoly, and I do the earthquake thing. I swear, that’s what happens every time, like another part of the routine, the part of the routine that I don’t like. Let’s go down memory lane, and you better not yawn and leave this book on the first page. Oh, I guess I just broke the third wall, and that was probably a bad thing. Anyway, June 13th, 2002; train ride around the city, and March 3rd, 2007; train ride around two cities. Today, I didn’t know exactly where we were going to go. I didn’t even know if we were going or not, and I was definitely hoping not, but of course, no see eye to eye. So, next thing I knew me, Emma, and dad were in dad’s Honda. He turned the radio onto some station [Emma, you couldn’t remember it if you tried] and was humming along to the tune. I wished I would have thought about my iPod Shuffle, because when I saw Emma with hers, I sighed. This was going to be a long car ride, and an even longer train ride. Pretty soon dad started singing, and I was fighting Emma for her iPod Shuffle, but she couldn’t hear me. She put her iPod Shuffle in her pocket and punched me in the gut, which doesn’t feel good. I opened the window for some fresh air, and quickly got it, when dad closed the window from up in his seat. I was still thinking about my poor gut when the song stopped. That’s pretty much the only song that dad likes, so he turned down the radio when it ended. At least I had peace and quiet for about thirty seconds when we started hitting a bumpy road. Unfortunately, when half the car was in the air, the gas tank emptied itself, even though we stopped for gas before anything else. Dad kicked the car, and then went outside to check the gas tank. He saw some gas dripping out of the tank so he opened the tank. He heard some gurgling, and it must have been loud, because we could hear it from inside the car. And then the tank squirted gas at dad, and quickly as he could, he jumped into the car and put his hand on the gas. Well, I guess I forgot that we were in the middle of the road with no gas. I guess I got my wish, because we weren’t going on a train ride, but does wish granting have to be so literal? Pretty soon we were completely out of gas, mindless of what to do next. This happens almost every time; that whole morning was like a lot of mornings. What I mean is, we never get to train rides, so by train I meant Honda rides, so we don’t need any tickets. I got out of the car, and realized we were parked by a large hill leading to a river. I looked over the hill, just about far enough to fall, and that probably wasn’t the brightest idea. I would’ve fell, but when I was three feet down, I grabbed on to two rocks, but it wouldn’t hold me for long. I yelped for help, and dad came back out to grab my hand. I don’t know what was with that day, because, I mean, everything bad was happening to us. When I got back up to the car, I nearly fainted; I felt like I had been gone for weeks. Pathetic, I know, but hey, could you have felt and done anything better, I ask you? We walked as far as we could when we found a quick first aid place that had just opened up. Convenient, if I do say so myself; dad got a band-aid, and I guess he was satisfied, because he got up and left. I didn’t have a choice, so I followed him to the car, and he hopped in, followed by me. Emma was still listening to her iPod Shuffle after all that, and I was so mad at her I could rip out her earplugs. But I didn’t, because I probably would have another fist in my gut. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere, and we didn’t know what to do, so we put in a CD and started listening to it. Not surprisingly, it didn’t make me feel a whole lot better. I tried to sleep, but it was pretty much impossible at this point; there was too much going on. I noticed a few drops of rain, and I realized we were going to be stuck here a while. Not too long later, it started to thunder, and the rain was so hard it could’ve broken glass if it were any harder. Too bad there were no umbrellas in the car, because this would be a good time to have some. After the first lightning and thunder combined, a strange man appeared at the side of my window. Chapter 2: Strange Presents From Strange People Hey there, I’m sorry that my brother is such a lousy storyteller [Don’t try to ignore it, it’s true]. I’ll introduce myself way faster than Cameron did during that silly Monopoly game. I’m Emma, and let me make it clear right away that yes, I may be addicted to my iPod Shuffle. But hey, if you were listening to such addicting songs like that, you would be, too. Anyway, it was raining, thundering, and lightening, and it figures I was listening to a lightning type song right there and then. Oh, and yeah, a crazy guy appeared on the other side of Cameron’s window with a beard. He was carrying a regular school backpack that looked like it could carry quite a lot of things. When I saw him, if I were any more scared I probably would have fainted, but I was paralyzed. Even though I was paralyzed, I could still see and hear, so I saw Cameron pull down his window. He looked even more scared than I was, and that was probably hard. “Hi, weird-person-who-just-appeared-at-my-window-and-is-scary-man,” Cameron, or should I say, Captain Obvious, said. The man looked like he wanted to punch him in the gut (and who doesn’t?). But he quickly changed his face tone back to a smile and said, “Hello.” He had a really weird smile, and I’m saying that because it grew as big as a giant banana. Okay, I’m not good with similes, and that’s another thing I want to clear up right away. “Oh, I’m sorry my dear boy, if I’ve disturbed you, but my name is Eric Green,” the strange man said. “That sounds very familiar, where have I heard that name from, I just don’t know. Eric Green…Eric, Eric Green, South…Eric Green, I just can’t put my finger on it.” I thought to myself, but by the look on Cameron’s face, he already figured it out. He was about to ask if he were correct, but I can’t tell you what he said until later in the story. I obviously know what happened, and how it ends, since I’m the smartest out of Cameron and I. Okay, Cameron may disagree, but he can’t hide it, because inside he knows it’s true. When Eric saw me staring at him, he said, “What’s with…uh…your sister, I believe?” Now I wasn’t just staring at him uncontrollably, I was staring at him because I thought he was weird. Cameron finally looked over to me to see why I wasn’t talking. I can’t believe how idiotic my brother can be sometimes; I mean, not looking over to me before? [Yeah, ok Cameron, I get it] oh, sorry, that was my idiotic brother calling me a drama queen. And when I said that I get it, I kind of meant that I didn’t care, but why would I say that in front of my brother dear? Okay, Cameron is telling me to stop kissing up to him. Like I said, I can’t believe how idiotic my brother Cameron can be sometimes. When I finally got out of my shock, I punched Cameron in the gut like I did before. “Excuse me, er…Eric, I wouldn’t suppose you could get us out of this, uh, situation,” I asked. Eric’s smile grew smaller than the second, and quickly grabbed for his belt buckle. I gasped, and then he realized he was being silly I guess, because he put whatever he was holding back to on the belt buckle. I tried to look out Cameron’s window, but for once in his life he stood up to me. “I don’t know, you’d have to do something for me if you want me to help you,” Eric replied, with a growing smile on his face. “Well, anything,” I told him, with a small version of his smile on my face. “I need you to drive me to my house,” he told us with a hopeful smile on his face. I frowned and said, “Well that’s just it, sir; we can’t help you because you need to help us first.” He looked at me like he was going to say something like, “I know,” when dad looked towards the back seat. “Emma, don’t trust this guy, I don’t think he looks like he’s the safest guy to trust, especially now. And Cameron, I want you to follow my lead and get out of this,” Dad demanded. But before I could say anything, Eric looked at Cameron with gleaming eyes, and then at me. I just couldn’t help feeling sorry for the guy, and you couldn’t either if you were in that situation. I got a little teary eyed, until I punched Cameron in the gut once again because that always makes me feel better. Okay, so I admit, I probably won’t be the nicest girl you’ll meet on the streets, unless you meet…a…meaner, girl. “Hey, Cameron, let’s switch seats now,” I demanded, so he did as I asked. I could finally take a look at this Eric guy’s belt buckle, but there wasn’t really anything important in there. Well, at least that I could see, which were some tools. I figured he was probably a builder, but I don’t think I know a builder named Eric Green. He stared down at me with a frown, and probably wanted to flick me in the head if I didn’t move it. Now I felt sorry that I felt sorry for the guy, because I started to hate him. I know that I shouldn’t talk to strangers anyway, but something about this guy just didn’t seem right. Okay, yes, feel free to call me Captain Obvious, but if you trust me, you won’t. I would like to be Captain Many Things, but please, please don’t call me Captain Obvious. “I am sorry, my dear little Emma, for being as rude as I have been currently, but I can explain. It all started not too many months ago, after a long day of working with kids like you two. But, if I do say so myself, you Emma, and you Cameron, aren’t half as bad as the kids I work with. It was terrifying, kids running and screaming all over the place like it was Halloween or Christmas. Well, yeah, I guess no one should scream on Christmas, except for adults with last day shopping.” “It was a terrible day for me; it had to be the worst day ever in the history of me in the job. Oh sure, it started out all good and stuff, I…no wait, it didn’t even START out very good. My radio alarm clock woke me up at 8:47, which was also the day that starts the summer solstice,” Eric told us, until Cameron interrupted. “Wait, tomorrow is the summer solstice, sir,” My Walking Wikipedia Brother corrected. “DO NOT CORRECT ME YOU BLUBBERING TWIT!!!!!” Eric screamed. Cameron and I were trembling at the sound of Eric yelling when he realized that he had again been rude. He grew his idiotic smile again, and said, “I am so sorry,” which was obviously a lie. “Sometimes my, uh, madness, no…anger, get’s, um, too deep in the abyss, I suppose,” he continued. I was about to punch HIM in the gut when I realized that he would do something much, much worse to me. So I decided to stay down until he left the car, but instead he handed me a paper. When the darkest things are grim Go to the place for a swim You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know -Jack Robertson I reread the part that said, “Go to the place for a swim, you’ll know which way to go,” and the name, “Jack Robertson.” Before I could ask who the heck Jack Robertson was, Eric returned to searching in his buckle. He lowered the smile and brought up a tank that read, “GAS.” “This is for your car, and don’t worry about repaying me,” Eric said with a bigger smile. His smile went straight back down to a frown, and with one twitch, the gas was there but not the man. Chapter 3: Camping Without a Good Inventory Sure, Emma, let me have to tell the pointless part of the story while you get to tell about the weird man. And stop calling me Sir Geek-a-lot; I don’t want anyone else to know other than dad. If you call me that one more time I swear I will…uh…no, no, please don’t punch me in the (Yeowch) gut. Okay, yes Emma, I know that I’m wasting time. But it’s not that easy not to when you’re such an annoying sister, and please, GET THAT FIST AWAY FROM ME. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we were starting a new part of the story, I thought we were just…never mind. Okay, let me take a minute to catch up with what I’m telling, so let me see my notes. Yes, yes, giving gas to our out-of-gas car, him disappearing with a twitch, got it. Let me start right where Emma left off, and trust me, it is extremely hard to keep up with her. His smile went straight back down to a frown, and with one twitch, the gas was there but not the man. I looked at Emma, she looked at me, and we both looked at the window until Emma got out of the car. I decided to do the same, and as if on cue, dad came out as well and we all stared down at the little gas tank. Dad picked it up scared, and I could see why, considering what recently happened. He opened where we put it in, and he put it in, screwed the cap, and closed the lid. Keep in note that Emma still had the small paper that Eric gave her, because that’s an important detail. At that moment, a lot of things happened at once; I took the paper from Emma and Emma said, “Didn’t it weird you out that he knew our names?” I had to admit it was kind of weird, and I don’t agree with a lot of things Emma says. “Yeah,” was all I could say. Let me point out that Emma gets mad really easy, which is why I get punched in the gut seven or more times a day. I looked down at the note, and I studied it, so I read in my mind. When the darkest things are grim Go to the place for a swim You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know -Jack Robertson When the darkest things are grim When the darkest things are grim, he said; things are already going grim, and I don’t see anywhere to swim. Why would I want to swim anyway, with all the things going on right now? Well, maybe he meant not now, but later we would go to the place for a swim. I frowned at the note, and then walked back into the car when I realized that it was what all the others were doing. After I got in, I tried to see if I could make out what I meant, and I came up with this. As things go horribly wrong A good thing will light the way The way to safety will show And good will surely stay -Cameron Yeah, I admit that I’m not the first guy you want to see if you want to make a poem, but I’m good enough if I do say so myself. I looked through the review mirror to dad, and I saw him frown. He turned his head to our seats, and he said, “Guys, I think we’re going to have to camp.” Now, I don’t know the first thing about camping, but I’m pretty sure the junk in the trunk wouldn’t help. “You have to be kidding, dad,” I said, “we don’t even have a tent.” “I know, Cameron, but just try to be upbeat about this; we can make a tent with a blanket and some sticks in the woods. We can make a fire with some logs and…oh, I think we have matches.” “Dad, can you just try to turn the car on before we make any dumb decisions?” Emma questioned. “I did, but I think that weird man ripped us off; he didn’t give us gas,” Dad replied. I frowned and got back out of the car straight to the trunk. “I don’t see our emergency blanket anywhere, and I don’t see any matches either, but I guess we’ll have to make do,” I said. At this time Emma was already outside, and she said, “Make do, Cameron? You don’t even realize how stupid you and dad sound, do you? I hate Monopoly, I hate this road trip and I hate you!” she said rudely. [Don’t try to hide it, you did so say it.] “What am I supposed to do with it; I wasn’t the one that wanted to go on this road trip!” “I don’t have anything to do with this, and if you didn’t want to go on this stupid road trip then you could have stayed! But don’t try to turn this around on me, because it wasn’t my fault! You know that every time dad plays Monopoly he wants to go on a road trip!” “Then why do you keep playing Monopoly if you don’t want to keep going on these dumb road trips? You can’t turn that around on me now, now can you?” Emma said even more rudely. But, I had to admit, she was right; I couldn’t turn this around on her and I couldn’t defend myself. I sighed, when dad came out and said, “Okay, if we can’t camp, we should at least find some shelter.” A split second later, I found the emergency blanket finally. Dad must have noticed, because he started walking with Emma and I still glaring at each other behind him. I was carrying the blanket, but I still wasn’t sure where we would set up our fake tent. You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know Not the things to know Not the things to know Those words kept spinning inside my head, because whoever Jack Robertson was, he must be psychic. It almost seemed like they were meant to come to us, on this day, on this trip. Somehow I knew this wouldn’t be the last of the worst road trip ever (yeah, I get it, Emma). Sorry about that, Emma was just saying that I am the new Captain Obvious, which she likes to say. Oh well, I guess that’s what I have to live with, captain living terror…uh…obviously. Once I mostly cleared my mind out of it, I didn’t even realize what was going on now. For one thing, I had forgotten that I was still walking and carrying a blanket so I fell backwards. For another thing, I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of our car at this point, and I felt like I was lost. We were passing trees, logs, and the river was still whooshing past us. When we finally stopped, I nearly fell again, because what I saw was flashing lights not too far up ahead. Chapter 4: Checking in to Motel 6 Geez, Cameron, I am not that rude to you, and if you don’t believe me, even ask whoever is reading. I’m more than sure that they will totally agree with me, boys or girls, I don’t care. Don’t mock me, Cameron; you would be as greedy as I am if you were treated as royalty. Wait, if I just said that I’m greedy, I…I actually take that back, but I know you’ll know anyway. Wait, oh sorry, I didn’t realize we were starting again, sorry, I’ll start out where Cameron left off like he did. When we finally stopped, Cameron nearly fell again, because what we saw was flashing lights not too far up ahead. I dropped my jaw when I saw the lights, because there wasn’t any shelter for miles back. Dad was so shocked that he couldn’t speak, so Cameron asked, “What’s wrong, Dad?” I would’ve asked the same question, but I don’t like agreeing with Cameron. Dad nearly did exactly what Cameron did, you know, falling on his backside and everything. I looked down at Dad’s burnt knee, and immediately felt sorrier than I had ever felt for someone. After all he has been through, and he’s still going for it, to get home. And then I thought about home, how we may never see it again, and how we would probably be orphans. Then I thought about this Eric Green guy, who was the weirdest person that I had ever met. Mostly I thought of what could be up there, with the flashing lights. When I finally got Dad to snap out of it, he started walking towards the lights with wonder in his eyes. We didn’t know what else to do, so we decided to walk with him. Cameron was now holding the emergency blanket around him to stay warm until we got to wherever we were going. It kind of looked like he was wearing a super hero cape, and I don’t think he was trying. Now, if you know me, you know that I don’t take his side very much. We finally walked all the way to the lights to find out what they were about, and they were not what we thought. In the middle of nowhere, and I mean practically nowhere, we found shelter, and I don’t mean home. I wish I did, I mean, everyone would, but sadly no. What we saw was something completely different than home, and not a gas station either. Oh, wait, before I go any farther in the story, I want to tell you a few things to help you catch up. Try to remember what the note had said, you know, the note that Eric Green gave to us? Also try to remember when Eric said he worked with a bunch of kids when he went to work. And, more than anything, remember the weird man’s name, because when it comes to the time, we’ll tell more about that. Keep the name Eric Green in mind, and remember how I was trying to remember where I knew that name from. And now, I go back to the story. Now, where was I; oh yes, I was about to tell you what the flashing lights we saw were. Well, it’s actually really simple, because what we saw was a big building which at the top read Motel 6. And believe me, it sure didn’t look any motel, it just looked like a regular hotel. Before you ask me why, it’s because there was a big pool and a hot tub in the back. The motel looked like it had only two or three floors, but it was still odd for a motel in these parts. Wonder left Dad’s eyes, because now the only thing in his eyes was excitement, same as our eyes. Dad ran inside the motel first floor, and it was really hard to catch up with him. Oh, I’m sorry my idiot brother didn’t say this before, but the rain stopped soon after the man left. Sorry for the late notice, but hey, you can’t blame me because…I won’t allow you. It was actually a pretty nice put up place, inside the lobby of the motel; all carpeted gold. The person who checks people in had his eyes wide open when he saw how fast we came in. It was probably because we cut in the line of at least seven people with a lot of “hey” s and “no” s. I guess Dad felt bad about it because he went back to the back of the line. Cameron looked at the prices so I decided to look as well, and I was pretty surprised. It had: ROOMS $5 POOL FREE: on the board, so I looked through my pockets. Luckily I found one five dollar bill and five one dollar bills (ironic, I know, right?). By the time I was done searching, there was only one more person in front of us, and I was glad because it was in the nick of time. I overheard the checker (or whatever the name is) talking to the woman in front of us. “Okay, here is your room key,” he said, and I read 4F on it. The elevator was the first thing I saw when I walked in, and it said level 1. When I think about it, when I was outside it looked like there was at least seven floors. I looked over to the keys and I saw that there was only 5, so if the keys went in order, we would almost be on the top. When the lady went up into the elevator, dad moved forward. I handed him my five dollar bill and he handed it to the man on the counter. He gave us the room key entitled 4G when we wondered over to the paintings of beaches. Cameron had an Earth globe back home that I have plenty of schemes to get it out of his room. I tell Cameron that dad told me that dinner is ready so that he will leave his room, okay? Oh, and I should mention that our rooms are connected through a door in the wall. So I lock his door, and then I lock my door, and then I take the globe from his room and put it in my room. After it is in my room, I unlock his bedroom door and lock the door that separates our rooms. [Brother dear, don’t try to hide the fact that I am the smartest one out of us two, because it is true. Don’t punch me, oh, hey, wait, you see my fist, right here in my hand; well let me put this right here in your gut and PUNCH IT!] Sorry about that, and I have a perfectly good reason to start talking about the globe. Well, it’s only because we were looking at Hawaii. It was the most beautiful painting I had ever seen, considering I haven’t seen a lot. Seriously, it was more poorly drawn than…oh yeah, I should mention that there was a huge light bulb on the ceiling. I don’t know why Cameron didn’t notice before, but I did. Yeah, I actually do know why Cameron didn’t realize it; because I said I’m the smartest one in the family as a fact. Anyway, back to the painting that looked like someone barfed on it. Oh, wait, Cameron is telling me his redo of the no…oh how hard I’m trying not to laugh; but I agree now. As things go horribly wrong A good thing will light the way The way to safety will show And good will surely stay A good thing will light the way Light…like light bulb Light Chapter 5: Heaven in a Box And that is my sister’s idea of a dramatic ending, and yeah, not the best, I know, right? But, it isn’t all bad, you know, if you live with it or her ever since you were born and you’ve lived with it forever. It’s like a never ending ride of pain that is impossible to get off of. Oh wait, yeah, I think I probably just proved myself wrong so, I guess I better get on with the story. Now, I guess I can’t start off where she stopped so I’ll probably go off right here…. I had just barely realized that it had only been…like, three hours since we left to the road trip when I found my wallet in my pocket. Mine had a five dollar bill, a couple dollar bills, about 400 tickets from Fat Cats, and a library card. I realize that you may think that it is strange for us to continuously talk about cash. But, I promise you will figure out why a little later. Anyway, I also had a couple of loose change in my other pocket. I’m pretty sure I have about 8 dollars, and uh, 47 cents total in cash and coins, not counting the money I used for Fat Cats. I can’t remember the last time that dad and I were out together unless it was a road trip. I think the last time I went somewhere with my dad was five or six years ago. I think Emma feels the same way as I, because dad is usually either on a road trip or working. It feels so bad because I think that dads should be more…oh, what’s the word, careful, maybe? Dad looked down at me with grief, shook his head, and continued to walk to our room. When we got there, I realized that we weren’t really concerned that we would be staying the night on the road trip. Now I felt grief, because that meant we didn’t have any food; just a few beds, a TV, and a bathroom. Well, I mean, at least we have a bathroom, and a decent place to stay for a few nights, or however long we would stay. That continued to worry me, especially I thought about that stupid note that Eric gave us. When the darkest things are grim Go to the place for a swim You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know Go to the place for a swim As soon as I stopped thinking about swimming, I realized that I was still looking inside our hotel with the others. I must’ve looked worried, because even Emma questioned, “Cam-Cameron; is everything okay?” I was stiff with fear, and I had to check something; without another word, I ran. I didn’t run for any particular reason, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I could hear Emma calling me from behind, calling me stupid, but I didn’t stop. I got busted when I was hiding in the community laundry room; I tried to fit in, by jumping into the dryer. I mean, good thing someone didn’t put a quarter in the slot of the one I was in, right? No, seriously, I was kidding when I said that; I held (and threw up a little) on the nice clean clothes. And who should come walking in after the heat cycle but Dad and Emma. Emma ran over to me looking angry and about to punch me in the gut, probably mad because I ran. But, confusingly, instead of fisting me, she was trying to show me some kind of foil. Then I realized that what I saw wasn’t foil; she was holding a bronze colored Twix bar, and a Milky Way. “Wait,” I realized, “am I actually seeing food, what I’ve been craving since I didn’t eat breakfast?” Well, now I guess it’s safe to say that I was and I didn’t. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a George Washington; I immediately got out of the laundry room. Now, if you saw the hotel, you would ask me this: Cameron, have you ever noticed how long the hallways are? Trust me, that is what you would ask, and what I would answer would be yes. I bet a few of the other residents wondered what I was doing, and I wouldn’t blame them. Now, I wouldn’t expect you to, but do you remember that imitation of the note that I thought of? Well, while I was running, the words jumbled through my head. As things go horribly wrong A good thing will light the way The way to safety will show And good will surely stay A good thing will light the way The way to safety will show As things go horribly wrong And good will surely stay Surely stay, light the way A good thing will light the way Good things, pools, swimming Swim, pool, good Swim in pool to get good thing Good things come from swim in pool A swim in the pool will light the way Light the way Light the way Light Water Aqua If that got a little annoying to you, I’m sorry for that; I couldn’t pay attention to what was going on when I noticed the vending machine. I looked up at the title, and it read “Café Snack-e Heaven”. A good thing will light the way it says; the box lit the way, well, it’s a good thing. So isn’t it, like, SUPPOSED to light the way, because that was what I thought? [Okay, yes Emma, I know that’s not much to go on, so can we stop using it to…oh, right.] I pulled out my dollar again, placed it into the slot, and got my favorite candy bar, White Reeses. It was just about to fall when the machine stopped, in which I got angry at; it was supposed to be a decent machine! I kicked it, banged my fists on it, and finally the candy bar fell. I was so relieved that I didn’t even wait to hear the clank; I grabbed it right out and chomped it down. I believe this is what Jack Robertson, or Eric Green, or whoever wrote the letter meant. A good thing will light the way It did, indeed Chapter 6: No Metal Detectors Can Hold Him Well, I suppose that was all good and fancy in your world, but in my world, we call that ugh. Oh, wait, are we starting already; okay, well, I was just eating my Twix bar when I thought of something and worried. What did that note that Jack Robertson or, Eric Green or, whoever wrote it say? A dip in the pool or something; well, we’ll get to that later. The person in 4J opened up his door and waddled through the hall, looking as though he was cautiously waiting for something to suddenly happen. All of a sudden, I got a text on my phone; when I felt it vibrate, I pulled it out of my pocket and slid the keyboard. It was from my friend, Kate; our conversation looked something like this (I’m not going to misspell any of the words, I promise) KATE Hi Emma EMMA :-P Yeah? KATE Have you heard of what happened at our school a few weeks ago? EMMA No, what? KATE Apparently, someone messed something up with the office. EMMA What do you mean? KATE I mean, some person must’ve came and…did something. No one says what. EMMA Is this a rumor or is it true? KATE It’s true. I found my way into the school and I’m searching for clues. EMMA OMG, you and your “detective working”. KATE Hey, I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. Where are you? EMMA On a road trip. I hate it. KATE Huh. Wow; that took up a lot of space, and I’m sorry, so I’ll make my part a little bit longer than it needs to be. I’ll put more details in, which is what Cameron seems to lack the power of. [Don’t you dare say anything back to me about that, since you know it’s true] Sorry, that was my idiot of a brother trying to say that he does put details in, but inside he knows he doesn’t. Eh, but the point of that extra space was to tell you an important piece of information, so I don’t need to add more. Now, let’s look over what we have so that maybe you can figure out what’s going on before we tell you. Now, the answer to this paradox has something to do with the note, and what Kate was talking about on the phone. Also remember Eric Green, and how I thought he looked familiar when I first met him. Hmm, it must be something to do with the office and Eric Green, and they somehow mix together. You will find out the truth later, but for now be thinking. Anyway, I realize I’ve drifted off from the story, and that happens sometimes, but I just wanted to go through the “clues”. It saves time, and frankly I think it’s just good for the mind. But more on that later; after I read the text, I wondered what could be going on at our school. Cameron saw me drifting off (and yes he did, but he just didn’t want to do anything about it). Well that made me especially mad, well, it does now, but I couldn’t do anything about it then. Fortunately, to whack myself out of my dream stage, I heard a loud scream coming from the bottom floor. Cameron was the first to notice it, and before I could make a double take, he was gone. I hate when he leaves like that; that was the second time today in the hospital. No, wait, third; there was that time that he left with dad back in the middle of nowhere. Wow, that seems like so long ago, but we’ve only been gone for, like, four hours now? But it didn’t seem to matter now; something was going on downstairs, and we were determined to find out what. At least Cameron and I where, dad only wanted to stay at the vending machine. I followed Cameron, running, as best I could, because man could he run fast when he tries. He could probably beat the track team if he wanted to; he’s too much of a chicken. Then again, he was the first to run to probably sudden death, so I’ll give him some points; when dad realized we left, he ran too. I heard another scream coming from downstairs (at this time I caught up with Cameron). Cameron went down the stairs, but I decided to go down the elevator (don’t laugh at that; not funny). When I got to the bottom floor, Cameron looked annoyed when he was waiting for me. I would be too, but I didn’t want to admit it in front of him, and he didn’t know until now. Anyway, when I was caught up with running, I got a head start, which got Cameron steaming (ha-ha). “What’s going on?” I asked, to which that Cameron didn’t hear, so I repeated, “What’s going on?” He looked at me with grief and said, “I don’t know, but I have a feeling it’s not something good.” Honestly, sometimes Cameron is so thick I can’t believe we’re related. Of course it wouldn’t be something bad, someone momentarily screamed. At the moment that I was thinking, something proved my point because I heard another scream. “Well, of course it’s not something good, did you not hear the three screams?” I questioned, to which Cameron rolled his eyes. “Thanks for that, Captain Obvious, now can we please get to the problem before it causes more problems?” he replied. I agreed, and that was the first time that we noticed Dad was right behind us. He stopped us, and because he was worried about the screams, said, “If we don’t make it out of here, I just want you to know that I’m sorry for getting us into this predicament.” It brought tears to our eyes, but we didn’t have time; when we got to the check out counter, Eric Green, holding a gun, was breaking in to Motel 6. Chapter 7: A Swim in the Pool of Tears The only thing that I could think of to say was, nice knowing you, sis; seriously, how were we supposed to get out of that? Oh yeah, and that was I nice twist to our bad luck life. The man that we met that was so helpful to us, who had no help at all, was actually a criminal, or a madman, or whatever you want to call it. And, to add on to that happy note, he was stalking us and by the sight of it, kill us. Now, I try to stay out of trouble as best I can, but he wasn’t making it easy. When Eric spotted us, he smiled an evil smile and said with a sneer, “Finally, we meet face to…where is your father?” I looked around, and I couldn’t spot our dad either, which didn’t surprise me. He’s not easy in the face of danger, so I kind of figured he wouldn’t follow. I love our dad, but it’s time for me to admit that he isn’t number one on the war list. “ANSWER ME OR I SHALL NOT LET YOU LEAVE MOTEL 6 TO RUN AWAY!” Eric screamed. I all of a sudden found a brave inside me, and said, “Don’t you dare talk like us like that! We are humans, not…mutant monkey oddballs in a boring zoo!” which was stupider than anything else I’ve ever said. But Eric thought it was pretty funny; he laughed and said, “You think you can stand up to me? Well, if you’re up to the challenge, try me!” I ran over to the checking-in counter as my hideout, but soon I noticed why it was so empty. The, checker inner or whatever you call him was lying on the carpeted floor, cold as snow, stiff as a board. As if it isn’t clear, the description that I was describing was, he was killed by Eric. I would’ve jumped up and screamed, but I was searching for things to battle Eric with. Let’s see, there were a couple of pencils, a pen, and about forty keys; all pointy, but I didn’t see any luck. And then I remembered, “I don’t want to fight him, I just want us all get out of here alive.” I did what I had to do to survive; I broke off a drawer lid (a big one, mind you), two erasers, gorilla tape, and a ruler, and made it into a shield. I jumped up and ran to get Emma, and the two of us went searching for dad. As we went, I honestly told her, “You know, if we don’t make it out of here alive, I never could’ve asked for a better sister.” Emma didn’t want to sound all worried like and care-full like, so she breathed out hard and said, “Ditto.” We passed the vending machine heaven while we were running, which meant we were already on the fourth floor. I didn’t even realize we went up levels I was so determined. We went to our room, where we knocked on the door, hoping that dad would answer, but he didn’t. Emma looked through the peephole, and assured me, “Yep; dad’s in there.” I started to get annoyed, so I yelled, “DAD, OPEN THE DOOR!” when I realized I sounded a bit like Eric there, so I knew why he wouldn’t open the door. He must’ve locked the chain lock, because when he opened the door it only opened slightly. “Oh, guys, it is you; don’t scare me like that!” he sighed with a smile, as if I didn’t know that information. Well, I’m sorry for being sarcastic but I have to tell the truth in this story and so does Emma. But I decided to be as nice as I could and said, “Sorry, dad.” I don’t suppose you can pose as a madman when not trying to and just say sorry, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say. That was what was going through my mind when I thought of something odd; that note that Eric Green gave us. Why had Eric tried to help us if he also wanted to kill us just the same way? [Wow, thanks for agreeing with me for once, Emma (she said ditto, once again)] I reached in my pocket, and found the note that Eric gave Emma when we first met. When the darkest things are grim Go to the place for a swim You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know -Jack Robertson It all seemed so clear now: the pool in the back off the hotel was where we could go to think. I told Emma what I was thinking, and when I convinced her to go to the pool, we convinced dad. This time we all started running at the same time; I was the first one to get to the pool. I took a really deep breath, looked around at my family members and, with no swimsuit on, jumped. I felt a chill down my back when I reached the water; it was so freezing cold. When the darkest things are grim Go to the place for a swim Then I started doing what I had gone into the pool to do; I started thinking about what was going on. “When the darkest things are grim, go to the place for a swim,” I thought. I started to think of the note as a prophecy; the darkest things were grim, and we went to the place for a swim. The last two lines had to do with the pool; it was a place to think. Emma once told me of the texting between her and Kate, so I started to think; did it have to do with Eric, maybe the principal? I mean, if you don’t get it, that is, she said the problem had to do with the office, so maybe the two puzzle pieces fit. But I wasn’t sure yet, and so I’m going to stop dropping hints because I’m making it more obvious than it needs to be. Anyway, let’s stop breaking the fourth wall and get back to business. I was running out of breath anyway, so I jumped out and in again of the water. One puzzle piece was still missing, and it was a confusing one. If Eric Green had been so nice before, then why did he want to be a crazy man making people decease? Something was up; no one understood, but I just had to, somehow, in some way. I mean, you can’t have double personalities or, you know what I mean? Like, how can you be such a happy little camper one minute and then the ultimate killing machine the next? It’s miraculous, unbelievable, and to me it’s very well frankly wrong. I went up for another breath, and by this time I realized that Emma was also in the pool. Well, you can’t expect me to notice when my eyes are closed and I’m not very likely to open them soon, can you? I turned around, and asked my dad, “Do you see Eric anywhere?” He shook his head and said, “Luckily, no; not for now, at least,” which gave me some hope. By the time that dad said the word “now”, Emma was out of the water and looking up at dad like I was. At this time, I felt consciously awkward because I was in the pool without a swimsuit for the first time. I’ll bet you Emma would laugh at me if she weren’t also in the pool fully clothed. “I think I’ve figured out everything I need to get out of here,” I approved, and when I looked at Emma, she shook her head as a yes. So, when we got out of the pool, we ran back in. Chapter 8: A Sugary Sweet Escape When we got to the main hall, Eric Green looked like he wasn’t armed with anything, and that’s because he wasn’t. Instead of a gun, he was holding the key to 1A that he stole from the counter. He put the key into the lock, and he ran in without another word. Cameron looked alarmed, and I was too, but it wasn’t just that I was dripping water across the floor. I ran to the counter, and for the first time saw the dead body; it was like I was in a horror movie, almost, but it was real. Anyway, I wasn’t at the counter to go to a graveyard, I was there to get the key to 1A. Once I found it, and it was probably an incredibly stupid idea, I put the key in the lock, and before I could say anything else, in the room it was just me and Eric. I wanted to say “and then there were two” and make a joke, but it wasn’t the time. “Well, well, we meet again, Emma.” If you want to know what I thought of that remark, I’ll tell you; it wasn’t the time either. Finally, something popped into my head, and I said without fear, “That note that you gave me wasn’t written by you, was it?” Eric seemed calm then and there, so he said, “Don’t be so sure about that, Emma.” Now, that really shocked me, because that was what we were talking about: split personalities. “But, it doesn’t make sense; one minute you were this, jolly, at the same time, creepy, helpful person. Now, you’re a…a…monster, I guess you could say.” I could tell I made Eric mad, and I really didn’t try, because he said, “Monster isn’t the word for this situation. I was never a monster, nor a superhero, but, I am one to fight.” “Yeah,” I thought, “fight to the death, and by death I mean other people’s death, not yours.” I started breathing fast, and all of a sudden all of my anger was flowing out of me. “You were the one that put us all in danger, and that note that you left us made us think you were a good guy!” “I can’t believe you; I know now you’re a bad dude, but I never knew that a good person could turn into…that?!” “Well, I won’t change, and you can put that in your little diary, whittle girlie!” Eric yelled with confidence. But, he wouldn’t be confident for long because of when I really lost it; I’ll try to say it, a bit nicer. “Don’t call me a little girlie, you big jerk! I’m captain of the girls wrestling team, and I’m not afraid to face you, you know it all!” And THAT was what made Eric blow (as if he hasn’t already); he did a back flip on the bed, crouched down on the other side, and when he came back up he was carrying his gun. I gasped, and I would’ve ran out of the hotel room if I wasn’t as scared as I was then; I was stiff as a board. He pointed it straight at me, shot it, and right before the bullet was about to hit me I crouched down. Next thing I knew, there was a big gaping hole in the door. My mouth fell wide open as I looked at the hole, and then I looked at Eric, and said, “Whoa,” oddly. With that, in a split second, I was out of the room with Eric Green chasing me down. I didn’t stop running until I was at the elevator, but all I said was, “Come on!” to Dad and Cameron. When Cameron, Dad and I got into the elevator, Eric went up the stairs, and it was pretty obvious what floor we were headed to. When we got to the fourth floor, Eric was right in front of the elevator, ready to attack. But luckily, I wasn’t lying when I said I was captain of the girls wrestling team; I was the one who attacked. “Go, Cameron, Dad!” I demanded, “I can hold him off until we get out of here, just go!” So, just like I told them to, they ran; if you want to know where they ran to, well, I can’t tell you until I stop fighting him. It didn’t last long though; all I did was throw him into the elevator, press the button, and run. Man, you can sure find good ideas while in a motel. I ran for a while, and I finally found my dad and brother in the food court. I was so steaming mad; in the face of danger, where there’s a chance we may not make it out alive, they search for snacks. But, soon I realized that they weren’t eating the pastries, they were acting like they were ammo! Wow, that was such a stupid idea that it just might work; I joined them. I took some jelly donuts and put them in my pocket; Cameron took a bunch of sodas and shook them up. Dad poured some steaming hot chocolate and coffee. Once we had enough pastry ammo, we went out into the hall; Eric laughed at our ammunition, and I can understand that. “Oh no, they’re going to kill me with jelly donuts and soda!” he screamed sarcastically. But, the thing with him was, he didn’t know our plan, and we were confident it would work. Cameron pointed the soda can at Eric, opened the top, and Eric was stunned with red juice. He continued doing that until Dad poured his coffee in Eric’s face, and continued doing that. While he was doing that, Cameron and I were able to get more pastry ammo, and this time I got coffee and Cameron got jelly donuts and soda. [Cameron just admitted that it wasn’t the best ammo.] When we got back out, Dad was out of his hot drinks, so he left the fighting to us while he got more. Cameron and I both squirted the jelly out of the jelly donuts into Eric’s face, which was totally awesome. Juice, jelly, coffee, and hot chocolate were flying all around the hallway. After the coffee and hot chocolate from Dad, Eric was stunned for a few minutes, but we didn’t give him time to rest. It was, and I hate to say this because I never wanted this to happen, a fight to the finish. When I was out of pastries, I went back into the food court to get more. Sadly, we had taken mostly all the jelly donuts, so I looked around for different things. I went over to the fruit counter to get some lemons for the juice the burns the eyes. I came out with seven lemons, four cups of coffee, and three cans of soda; fourteen pastries not for eating, but for fighting with. Fortunately, I had a needle in my pocket, so I could poke the lemons to make a hole for the juice. The first lemon squirted, and half the juice stained the rug. The next three lemons hit him squarely in the right eye, and the other three got the other eye. Cameron squirted the last four jelly donuts in his face, and Dad was getting more pastries. I squirted the soda, mixing with Cameron’s jelly, made Eric’s eyes really burn, but he decided to join the fight. He picked up his gun, and shot six times, just to make three people get shot. I ducked, Cameron leaped out of the way, and Dad had nothing to worry about. Dad threw an apple at Eric’s nose (that didn’t really help but I’m glad he thought of it), passed me an apple, and I did the same. Eric was able to shoot one more bullet from the box, and it hit Cameron’s last jelly donut. I went to look for more snacks to attack Eric with, but we had used them all; we had to get out of there fast. We were out of luck; if we were to run Eric would shoot us, so we really couldn’t do anything. Then, amazingly, I had an idea that might either save the three of us, or kill us. I grabbed Cameron by the neck and, because of a fifty year old piece of soap never used, I was able to break the window. By this time Dad was inside, and we all knew what we were doing; we jumped out the window, into the deep-end of the pool. Chapter 9: The Cops Take Us to an Art Show It was like jumping off the high dive; you’re in the air for three or four seconds, and then you hit the water. Luckily enough, it was an incredibly huge pool, so we landed in the 10 foot lane. As soon as we got into the pool, Emma and I started swimming up so that we didn’t drown. I figured Dad would meet us up there, but Emma was the first person to notice that he didn’t. I started worrying; did Dad twist his ankle, drown or something? Well, I decided there was only one thing to do; I took a deep breath and dunked my head into the deep water. I didn’t have goggles, so I had to try to search for Dad with my hands. Mostly I was just touching walls, and one time a water lamp, but finally I touched Dad’s fingertips. I wrapped my fist around his index finger, and started pulling him up. When I got to the surface, I lied Dad on the bench built across the whole pool wall. I gave Emma a look of worry, but I had a feeling I knew what to do; Dad’s eyes were almost completely closed when I decided to pull on Dad’s stomach from his back. He started coughing up little drops of water at a time, so I knew it was working for sure what I was trying to do. Emma started patting Dad hard on the back, hoping for the same output. When he stopped coughing out water, he muttered, “Monkey…zebras…monkey zebras.” I wanted to laugh, but I knew something was wrong, considering he was the smartest person I knew. “Monkey…zebras…monkeys zebras,” he said again, this time for a fact. I was so worried, that I ran over to the check in counter’s phone, and called 991 on Eric Green so that he wouldn’t worry us or kill us. It took about 4 minutes for them to get here, and that’s a new record in my book. This was the first time that I noticed the black gate that separates the pool from the mountains. When the police came to Motel 6, we told them our story, and then we showed them our dad, who was not well. As soon as he saw the policemen, he questioned with a smile, “Dada?” Under the policeman’s mustache, I could see a worried smile, and he had his right eyebrow raised. “We escaped from Eric by jumping out of a window into a pool; he drowned and sort of became…that,” I explained. Now the policeman looked even more worried than before. [Well thank you, I’m glad you’re starting to show me some good solid respect now, Emma.] She just told me that I was sort of like a geeky superhero when I called the police. Anyway, when we decided we wanted to get out of this motel, I passed Dad to the policeman over the gate, and then Emma and I climbed it. When we got in the police car, I told the police our whole story. Even though he was looking at the road, I could tell his eyebrow was in a confused fashion; he asked, “Can you read that note to me?” to which I agreed. When the darkest things are grim Go to the place for a swim You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know -Jack Robertson After I read the name, Jack Robertson, that was when the policeman looked the most worried. “Jack Robertson; I know that name, and it isn’t good,” he said, which we were already aware of. By the time he ended that sentence, we were already at the police station. “Let’s see, you said you were mugged by a person named Jack Robertson, so, you want to go into…this room,” he said, pointing to a glass door. “Doors, doors, Dory…doors,” our Dad muttered. Luckily enough, when we went into the room, I found a velvet sitting bench that I laid Dad on. On the other side of the room, a bunch of pictures that showed hand drawn pictures of loose criminals that escaped from jail. “Do any of these pictures look like the person who…you know?” the policeman questioned. “Pretty pictures, I want to draw a pretty picture,” Dad said, a-matter-of-a-factly. A policewoman handed our Dad a blank piece of paper and a box of crayons. There were a lot of pictures and names on the wall: Robert Rae, Jim Lee, and finally we found Jack Robertson. There was a list of his victims on the bottom of the pictures: Patrick Temp, Shop-Co manager, Dan Goode, Motel 6 owner. But, there was one name on the list that I personally knew: Eric Green, school principal. That’s where I knew the name from! That was it; Jack Robertson was posing as Eric Green to get close to us! I glanced over at Emma, and I could tell that she was just as amazed as I was when we saw that. Jack Robertson, the person who was recently after us, killed our principal! That was so weird; Jack Robertson, a dangerous criminal, posing as Eric Green, a helpless principal. Everything seemed so clear now that we went with the policemen. “Principal: you better go to school, kids, Derek and…Elizabeth, ducks, zebras, blah,” Dad announced. I couldn’t help laughing at that; it was sad that, for some reason, he got amnesia when he hit, but with all the weird things he was saying, he should be in the circus. Emma looked me in the eye to make me feel bad about what I did; the police didn’t sound too impressed at that either. My mind went back to Jack Robertson, and then back to the note; I read it with the words swirling in my mind again. When the darkest things are grim Go to the place for a swim You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know -Jack Robertson When the darkest things are grim You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know Not the things to know Not the things to know Things to know -Jack Robertson -Eric Green -Jack Robertson I knew what I had to do, and I was probably thinking exactly what the police and Emma were thinking. I knew that because when I looked over at Emma she nodded in approval, which I wasn’t surprised about. “Silent, silent, silent snipes, silent children snipes,” Dad muttered with approval. I smiled, and then with a serious look on my face, I demanded, “Put Jack back in jail.” Chapter 10: We Ask For One Last Favor Looks like I’m going to have the last word; I’m glad that’s what Cameron decided. So, if I’m going to finish this story right, I guess I better start with our next favor of the policemen. But first, let’s go back a little ways; Cameron just asked for his favor of jail. The policeman (who, by the way, has the name “John”) answered, “Yes, I fully agree with that, and we will try to find him as soon as we can.” That answer seemed pretty good to me. “There’s one thing I still don’t understand, officer; how can Jack turn from this incredibly nice guy to this…monster machine?” I asked him. “Jack, can have many disadvantages, and being a doppelganger is one of them. He poses as other people to try to get close to his next victims. Just like he did with your principal; after he killed him, he started posing as him to get close to the three of you,” he answered. “One, two, three, four, five, seven, ten,” Dad said, showing how smart he was. “Yes Dad, we all know how good you can count to ten, but that isn’t the point right now,” Cameron said with a slight rude twist. At that moment, I noticed that Cameron had a jelly stain on his shirt from the “war”. And Dad must have noticed too, because he crawled over to him, licked his finger, and tried to taste it. “No, the feast was earlier,” I told him, pulling him away from Cameron. Yet, then, like a little baby, tears came out of his eyes. It was odd, considering we were treating Dad like our own; I felt bad for him, but I didn’t think there was anything to do. I mean, I was sure I would think of something later, anyway. I looked up at the picture of Eric, sorry, Jack, and felt amazed because it had every single detail. The little pieces of hair half a centimeter on top of his lip, and everything else. Now, just like Cameron did, I created a new note in my mind, and it was about what everything meant afterwards. The pool has saved us from sudden death When the darkest things seemed grim When we jumped from the top It saved Cameron and I So everything that he said were true We knew the way to go, but not the things to know We suddenly appeared at Motel 6 But doppelgangers we weren’t informed Jack had somewhat helped us When he was actually evil He was actually evil Actually, really, really evil The pool saved us from sudden death Yes, that was so true But Eric/Jack knew the truth Before we could figure it out -Emma Note: The last favor, well, was a phone call to another helper. It’s now three days later, and we had just got to the hospital where they kept our Dad until his amnesia went away. Gee, I didn’t know that amnesia could get so affective sometimes. It was me, Cameron, and Kate who came; Kate had found out what happened before we did, so it was good to have her by my side. Cameron knew her, and they were, close, I suppose, considering they know each other because of me. “…and that’s what happened at our school,” Kate said as she finished her story. We both had different stories, although they both had the same output; our principal was dead. But, Kate approved that our story was much for fascinating, but we agreed to tell Dad both our stories. Kate’s story wasn’t long anyway, but we had lots to tell. Really, Cameron was the one who told the story, and he started when Dad and he played Monopoly that one morning. When we told about when we heard gun shots from downstairs, she looked so amazed. In fact, so amazed that she said for the second time that our story was much more interesting than hers. And that’s amazing coming from her, because she usually says that she tells much more interesting stories than us. She laughed at all the funny jokes, and then cooled when we told her about the pastry war. She looked like she was going to faint when Cameron told her that Jack was about to shoot her. When we got into the hospital, the first place we traveled to was the food court, and I looked like I was about to faint when I saw the jelly donuts. I got the cheeseburger with ketchup fries. Cameron and Kate both got the same thing, and that was a Veggie Burger with everything on it. I had just barely bit into the meat when I noticed how deserted the place was. In fact, we were almost the only people in the food court, if you don’t count the chef. I’m going to cut the time short here and tell you what happened next quickly; when we got into our Dad’s room, he was still talking nonsense. He wasn’t hooked up to any machines, but he was drinking some orange juice. Cameron, Kate and I sat on all of the little chairs in that room. Cameron looked happy to see our Dad again, and so was I, considering. Dad stopped drinking fast enough to say, “Sit”. Cameron smiled, and just like we are doing now, he told the entire story. End of Book 1 Chase of Luck: The Doppelganger Chapter 1: Evil Comes For A Sleepover Last summer, Dad, Emma and I went on a road trip and got attacked by a crazy man named Jack Robertson. But that was all a year ago, and the summer of this year I was determined to make better. Oh, sorry, I’ll try to introduce myself faster this time; my name is Cameron, and I hate road trips. I live with my Dad, who used to like road trips, and Emma, who also hates road trips. So basically, we’re a family without liking of road trips. We recently got rid of Monopoly, considering that was what started the whole evil thing last time. I mean, I love that board game and all, but I just couldn’t play it anymore, for a big reason. Anyway, I guess I should go back to the day that our second adventure started. The paperboy had just came fifteen minutes ago, and I was skidding through it while Dad was making breakfast. I’m glad that Dad snapped out of his amnesia, because I was tired of treating him like my child. Well, sure, it was kind of fun the first few days, but all the days after that it was just creepy. I mean, with him calling Emma and I “silent children snipes”, I just couldn’t take it. Oh, and if you don’t know what I mean by “silent children snipes”, refer to our first story. Anyway, I was skidding through today’s newspaper when I got to a page about our old friend, Jack Robertson. Apparently, three days before that one, he broke out of prison. I nearly fell off the stool that I was sitting on in the kitchen when I read the title of the three paragraphs about it. Dad must’ve seen my face, so, with a worried face, he questioned, “Is everything alright?” Yes Dad, I just found an article about our worst enemy; no, nothing’s wrong. After I sarcastically answered, Emma and her best friend Kate came in from the front door. Oh yeah, did I mention that Kate was having a sleepover with us tonight? If you don’t remember Kate from our first story, she’s the story loving detective from our school. She didn’t bring a lot of things, just a pillow, her sleeping bag, and her handbag with who knows what inside. Kate knew what happened to Emma, Dad, and I last summer, and she knows exactly what happened. So when I showed her the newspaper, she looked just as shocked as I was. I figure Dad would’ve wanted to read the article, but he was still baking breakfast. And then there was Emma, who was stuffing everything under her bed so Kate would have space to sleep. [Emma, you should know by now; good thing Dad didn’t hear that, right?] When Dad finished baking breakfast, he sliced it in fourths, for Emma, Kate, Dad, and I. He also put out a bottle of ketchup, and I spread some of the red goop on my omelet. I passed it to Kate, but she passed it over to Dad, because I guess she doesn’t like ketchup. Emma must’ve smelt the eggs and cheese, because she stopped “cleaning” and rushed into the kitchen. As soon as she sat on the empty seat, she reached for the ketchup like a maniac. Okay, I probably shouldn’t say the word maniac for Emma, considering what we’ve been through. But, considering I can’t think of a good idea, I’ll just stick with maniac. Anyway, back to the story: I had just barely noticed that Kate was wearing sunglasses, but I wasn’t surprised. No, I don’t think she’s a vampire, isn’t it just that most detectives wear, like, hoods or sunglasses? Okay, no; I guess it’s just another thing I was wrong at (Emma forced me to say that). So, after we gobbled down breakfast, it was about 11:00 in the morning. It was at that time that we got a knock at our house’s door that would ruin yet another summer. I tried to stop her, but Kate stood up, and without looking out the window, opened the door. And who should be on the other side but Jack Robertson; Kate must’ve recognized him, so she tried to close the door. Sadly, and not surprisingly, Jack wouldn’t let her. With a cackle, Jack said, “Well, it’s about time we met each other again, and uh, who is this pretty little lady?” He said that last part about Kate, to which both Emma and Kate looked offended to. Kate was the first one to speak up; “I am not a pretty little lady, and I will smack that goatee right off your face.” No offense to Kate, but that seriously had to be the worst battle cry I have ever heard yet. Well, I don’t know if “battle cry” is the best thing to use, but you get what I mean. Anyway, after that, Emma yelled, “And for one thing, how did you even get out of prison for the second time?” With another cackle, Jack cried, “You know me, Emma; don’t be surprised. You’ve seen me in action, so please, don’t be a big actor, Ms. Shakespeare!” “I’ve never seen you in person, but I’ve heard how bad you are, and how you caused Emma’s dad’s amnesia!” Kate screamed. In fact, it was so loud that it would’ve woken up the neighborhood if they weren’t awake already. “I DIDN’T cause the amnesia; they were the ones who jumped!” Jack screamed back. Once again, refer to our first story. “It’s true,” Emma and I said softly and simultaneously to Kate, to which she looked even more surprised than before. When Kate looked at Emma in shock, she shrugged, and with a sigh, she turned back to Jack. Dad, on the other hand, was holding an incredibly sharp kitchen knife as a threat to Jack. When it was only feet away from Jack’s chest, Dad exclaimed, “You’ve hurt my family once, and I won’t let you do it again.” That really surprised me, considering it was Dad who was hurt the most. I wanted to say, “Dad, don’t do this,” but instead I said, “I really don’t think it’s the smartest idea to…” when Jack interrupted. “Ah, yes, isn’t that sweet; look at that, your own child is trying to join my side,” which was an obvious lie. That made me blow my top, so I too grabbed a sharp knife as another threat. With two knifes pointing towards him, Jack tried to change the subject: “Is this a sleepover party? I’ve been waiting for this day forever!” (that was the moment I realized he carried a pillow). My jaw dropped, so I laughed and added, “Sure, this is a slumber party, but you’re not invited!” “Aw, but I’ve never been to a slumber party once in my life, and I really wanted to do it here! I even came here prepared, and I didn’t know that there was a slumber party; I care!” Jack protested. Yeah, at that I couldn’t complain, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I put down the knife, and Dad put his down too; I could tell that Kate wanted to call 991, but we learned our lessons. We wouldn’t want to go anywhere close to that now. Anyway, I’m just making the point right now that our second story will be much more…uh, spoiler alert! Okay, I guess you’ll just have to read to find out…than the first installment. If that confused you, the way I said that, I don’t blame you, I’m pretty confusing. Once again, Emma is making me say things I don’t mean, and I don’t think that that’s cool. But apparently, Dad is all okay with it, and same with Kate, so I try to play along. Do you know what it feels like to be stuck between a rock and a sharp place, or whatever the saying is? That’s exactly how I feel when I’m stuck in a room with Jack Robertson. It doesn’t even matter if I’m with other people in that room; it still feels weird. But the point was that we had to get out of Jack’s grasp, and by grasp I mean our kitchen. We all ran for the door, with Jack, sadly, at our heels, waiting to catch us for the second time. Chapter 2: We Become Owners of a Sheep Farm Hey guys, it’s me, Emma; you probably remember me narrating from our first story, but I’m not the last. We have a special guest narrator, but you’ll have to wait to find out who it is. Anyway, it was hard, but we finally were able to escape from the house with Jack, and I guess we should start there. For the first time ever, Kate picked up a bottle of ketchup. And, referring to the big fight part in our former story, she sprayed it into the face of Jack Robertson. I suppose she knew to do that, considering Cameron told the story to Kate at the hospital, and it worked the first time. But, this time, Cameron, Dad, and I didn’t join in on the action because Kate said she had it. Now, she was making a huge reference, and I was very proud of where our story went. Anyway, it didn’t burn Jack’s eyes, because he obviously knew our plans from last time. If that doesn’t make sense to you, he had his eyes closed, so it wouldn’t burn. When Kate realized that it wasn’t working, she put the ketchup back on the counter, ran beside me, and got in a fighting position. At this time, with ketchup running down his eyelids, Jack laughed. “Oh, it just happens to be that we have two little girls trying to fight me? And what about you, Cameron, the one who got rid of me in the first place?” I could tell that Cameron wanted to defend himself, but there was one thing that stopped him; Jack was right. I decided to speak up and say, “Cameron is awesome, and Kate and I bet we can smash you into a pulp!” After I finished, Kate gave me a worried look, like, “We can?” which I nodded to. “Uh, guys, you know how that finished last time, we don’t want to go over that again,” Cameron muttered to us. [I agree, Cameron, you were the one that saved us at that small point.] No one spoke at that time, probably because everyone was thinking about “the last time”. Well, since I’ve been wasting my time talking about the boring part of the story, I’ll skip to where we got out. Long story short, it was hard; you know enough about us that you know nothing good ever happens on summer break. Eh, but if you haven’t heard our first story, you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about. I just hope you know what currently happened. Okay, so maybe I’m pushing you too far, but do you know me for anything else? Yeah, Cameron’s getting his revenge because he made me say the second half of that sentence. Man, I hate when Cameron and I break the fourth wall when we tell these stories. Oh well, I guess as long as it doesn’t bother you, it’s probably alright to keep on doing it. Anyway, when we got out the door, we ran straight for the Honda; Dad always carries his keys in his pocket at all times, so no one had to grab it. Jack, like Cameron said before, was on our tails, but we didn’t let him in. Kate sat between Cameron and I, in the middle seat; Jack was such a fast runner, he was literally right behind Kate’s part of the window. In a panic, Kate questioned, “Where are we going, sir?” It took Dad a few minutes to answer, probably because he was in a panic as well. But, when he calmed down, he said, “Cameron, Emma, your uncle left us a certain place that he left to us. I don’t know what it is, or what it’s called, but I have the address.” I figured that Jack was listening, because I could hear him saying something from the other side, but I couldn’t hear. It was either, “Stop this car immediately,” or “Remember, I’m at your feet!” Either way it sounded the same; you can’t hear well from two sides of the window, right? Cameron, who had much better ears than me, agreed that Jack said, “Stop this car immediately,” to which I wasn’t surprised. Dad, who was really smart (even though you didn’t need to be now) didn’t stop the car. I thanked my lucky stars for that, because if he would’ve stopped it, we would’ve been in serious trouble. Pretty soon, Jack got tired of running with the car, so he stopped for a break. In the short time that he had been taking a break, Dad and the rest of us were able to lose his tracks. Now, most people I know periodically say, “Never run away from your fears”. But, in this situation, I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to run from this great fear. And yes, if you were in this situation, I’m pretty sure you would feel the same way. While I was thinking about that, Dad was looking at the directions that our uncle gave us. “Now let’s see, 290 West, 400…okay, I think I know where that is,” he thought aloud. Immediately, we changed directions, and drove on a really old road, or at least that’s what it looked like. There were trees, but they were either dead or chopped down; there was grass also (grey grass). Ah, wait, I suppose we shall get back to Jack and what he did after he stopped for a break. Now, I can’t tell you directly what happened, since I wasn’t there to see what happened, but by what was shown to us later, I’ll guess. Jack was huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf, catching his breath. When he realized that we were gone, he knew he had to do something. So, like he does all the time, he thought quickly and came up with a plan. Next thing everyone knew, there was one less motorcycle on the road, the one that Jack stole from some muscular motorcycle rider whom he wasn’t scared of. And, I wouldn’t expect him to be, by the type of person he is. It was striped red and striped black. So, basically like the American Flag without the stars or blue, and with the white stripes black. Cameron, if we weren’t okay with each other by now, would probably say that’s nothing like the flag, and I wouldn’t blame him. Anyway, the road that we were traveling on got greyer and greyer until there wasn’t any blue in sight. The grass turned a light shade of black, and I thought I saw a rattlesnake somewhere. It was the only green that I saw for miles, and probably Kate and Cameron as well. Dad, on the other hand, was so determined to get us to whatever our uncle left us he didn’t even care. Soon, I realized that we would probably be driving for a while, so I decided to play rock, paper, scissors with Kate. It began as 2 out of 3, but Kate is such a good gamer that it took a while until I forfeited. A lot of times we got ties, about 1/3 of the time I won, and the other 2/3 of the time Kate won. After 21 out of 37, I realized that Cameron looked bored, so I decided to play him while Kate waited. Now, when I play Cameron, I always win, and this time the same. Cameron isn’t good at that game, but he always beats me (and mostly everyone) at arm wrestling, so we played that next. It seemed like the way to--wherever took forever; why would our uncle make the place he left us so far away? Aside from the car and us, the only moving things that I could see were rattlesnakes. Yes, there were some mice, but you barely even notice those tiny things, right? The road was really bumpy, so bumpy in fact that I could barely stay in my seat with bouncing off. It bums me out whenever we meet Jack Robertson, because something bad always happens, like this. Finally, Kate and Dad pointed out an odd shaped house at the end of the road that we were on. Cameron and I both opened our doors, and all of us came out, completely relieved. The sky even seemed to get a little bluer, but not a lot, so don’t get your hopes up. When we got to the end of the street, my hopes dropped by 50%, probably just like Cameron, Dad, and Kate’s did. With a sad voice, I said, “The thing our uncle left us…was a sheep farm?” Chapter 3: Dirty Laundry Saves the Day Hey guys, readers everywhere, my name is Kate, Emma’s best friend from the story. I’m so glad to be one of the amazing narrators of this story, as Emma told you I’m a special guest narrator. Before I start, let me tell you a little bit about myself, as I hope it’ll be important. Well, I guess there’s not much to tell, but I’ll do my best to be interesting. I’m a zit-less preteen who shares a birthday with Emma, and is about two months older than Cameron. We all presently are in the same school, same grade, and same class; we all recently lost our principal, Eric Green, to Jack Robertson. And yet we haven’t found a new principal, but we’re doing fine without one for now. I was about the sixth to find out the truth, after Cameron, Emma, their dad, and the two policemen. Now, I don’t know if I’m the best adder, but I manage. I’m certainly not the best at arm wrestling, but I’m awesome at rock paper scissors. Okay, that’s enough talking about myself for a while, and I guess I better get back to the story. With a sad voice, Emma said, “The thing our uncle left us…was a sheep farm?” I was in awe too; I don’t have the same uncle, but if my uncle left me this, I would be emotionally scarred. I mean, I love my uncle, but it just seems odd at that moment. I mean, to be left something that won’t help us at all ever, it pretty much ruins my joy. Now, I’m not an easy person to make mad, in fact, I’m known as Smiley Kate to my family, but a few things just make me tick. Like the time that Jack Robertson murdered Eric Green? Ah, but I’m making you get too emotional too fast, and it’s not even the right time yet. Not that I want you to get emotional ever, I was just saying, you know. OK, I’m getting way too ahead of myself, so let me just go back to the story, like I was supposed to. I could tell that Cameron felt the same way about the sheep farm, as did their dad and I. I saw Emma’s foot battling a mouse that was sniffing it, and finally her foot won, with the mouse running into the grey meadow of grass. “So, this isn’t quite what I expected when I came for a sleepover,” I said softly. I would’ve said more, but I was interrupted by the onomatopoeia, “BAA”. Everyone fell silent; about five seconds later, we heard it again. All of a sudden, from behind the farmhouse came a little snow white sheep, chewing on the old grass. When I saw it, I was both surprised and yet hypnotized at the sight. Surprised because I’ve never seen an actual sheep in my life, and hypnotized because of its cuteness. But I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it, for when it came out, I heard a motorcycle behind my back. After the motorcycle sound, I heard a loud cackle and I suddenly knew who it was. I placed my hands in my pocket, and searched for something that I could use to hold off Jack from, but there wasn’t anything good. I had a pack of gum and my cell phone. I saw Emma rummaging through her pockets, and by the way she frowned, I could tell there was nothing good in her pockets either. After she took her hands out of her pocket, I heard the little sheep again. It must’ve thought that we were ignoring it, so it said BAA twice. After that, everything seemed to happen at once; Cameron rummaged through his pockets, their dad ran to the car, the sheep baaed again, and Jack came into sight. I held my breath, for I was the victim of a new mystery. Oh, sorry, little tip, I don’t talk to the others while I tell the story, because it’s a sign of disrespect. The sheep pranced over to me, unconcerned about what was happening. And I wouldn’t blame her, because she didn’t know what was happening. What I didn’t know was what to do, until Emma’s dad ran into the barn, to which Cameron and Emma followed. As soon as I got out of the stage of shock with Jack, I ran after them. Finally, with grass pouring down her fleece, the little sheep ran as fast as she could after us. Jack, on the other hand, I guess had been there before, so he knew that there was a back door. When the sheep and I caught up to the rest, we were all looking around for a way to escape from the barn. Our escape plan wasn’t looking too good; we could plainly see a trapdoor, but who knows where that lead to. Stupidly, but with a hopeful look, I turned my head towards the sheep. It was sniffing the wood on the floor, and cautiously sniffing the trapdoor. Suddenly, her nose pointed to the ceiling, and then the little sheep eyed me, which scared me a little, from her look. Soon, though, her eyes became all cute like, as in movies there would be a little sparkle. After I stared at it for about five seconds, I heard the back door open, and Jack Robertson walked in. The sheep must’ve sensed our fear, so she immediately let out a sound that I could make out into words. The little fur coat of a sheep’s mouth opened and said, “BAAR”. At first, I didn’t understand what she was saying, but soon I noticed Cameron taking off his shoes. I looked towards the ceiling, and I realized what Cameron was doing and what the sheep was saying. Leading down to the now open large trapdoor was an old, out of the blue, long and thick bar. I started taking off my shoes, as did Emma’s dad, but Emma looked concerned because she obviously didn’t notice the exit. I whispered into her ear what we were doing, and immediately she was on it. After all our shoes were taken off, we started taking off our socks. If what we were doing is still confusing you, you’ll just have to listen on to find out. Once our shoes and socks were off, we gave our shoes to their dad, who happened to have really long pockets. Don’t ask me why, I guess it was just a stroke of luck, or pants. We grabbed our socks, and put each side in a different hand; we each slid our socks on the bar, and we started sliding down. Sure, it wasn’t the cleanest thing I’ve ever done, but it worked. We slid into a dark hole, and it kept getting darker and darker, and finally it was pitch black. I brought out my cell phone to make a light, to see where we landed, and if everyone was there. Luckily my arms were out a certain way, so when the sheep fell to the bottom, I was able to catch her. When she landed, she made a sound that went “BAA, BAA, BAAR.” I knew I couldn’t convince her that we went down the bar if she didn’t know from before, so I decided to let her be. Cameron had dirt stains on his shirt from when he landed, and Emma the same. I looked everywhere for their dad, and finally I found him lying on the dirt on the bottom. Cameron and I pulled him up like we were carrying a very heavy piece of paper with handles. Thank goodness he was fine, or else we’d have to go back to the hospital for the second time in two years for the same guy. “Hey kids, what is this place?” is the first thing Emma’s dad said when we found him. I made where he was looking at light with my phone, and he soon realized we were in a hole. I put down the sheep and let it waddle around the dirty hole, sniffing every nook and cranny. The next thing I realized is that the hole led to a tunnel that seemed to have light on the other side. Cameron must’ve noticed too, because he crawled through, with Emma and their dad followed him. I let the sheep go before I did, and I followed them soon after. When we got to a part big enough that we could stand, I told everyone, “I think we should call it Snow White,” talking about the sheep. Chapter 4: We Buy Another Piece of Property OK, so I can sort of see why Kate named the little sheep Snow White, for it’s a name of a princess. Oh, sorry, hey, it’s me again, Cameron; how did you like our little surprise guest? I just hope you get used to her, because she’s going to be telling part of the story for a while, like Emma and I. So, as we were walking out of the hole, Kate let the sheep go on her own. Snow White and the rest of us were glad that we were all out of the darkness, and that’s exactly what I expected. When we got out, I started to notice how gleaming Snow White’s fleece was, and how cottony it looked. She looked like she was groomed everyday, but the sheep farm was obviously deserted. I still don’t understand why our uncle left us a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere. I guess it was kind of nice, considering we owned some property and all, but still it was odd. And our uncle was always full of surprises, so maybe he was just kidding around with us. Anyway, Kate, still carrying her purse from before, was rummaging through it, looking for something. Her purse, by the way, is pink with the name, “KATE” sewn on with a green color. Her face brightened up with joy, and she pulled a dog treat that she was probably saving for her own dog, but she didn’t take it out. I don’t know if you’re supposed to do it, but she fed it to the sheep, and she gobbled it all up. She left some crumbs on the rocky road, but none of us minded. When we got into the Honda, there was no Jack Robertson in sight, so I figured we were safe for now. Snow White stayed on Kate’s lap, with jeans for a pillow and bed in the car. The little sheep was so comfortable that, calmly, she formed the sound, “baa”, which was comforting to us. In twenty short seconds, with Kate’s soft lullaby, Snow White was out cold. Dad put the key into the ignition, and slowly drove out of the dark and depressing street. [Yes, and cold too, Emma, because I didn’t forget cold; it was a cold, dark, and depressing street.] I stared out my window, the gleaming sun becoming lighter and lighter, until it looked like a normal summer day. There was finally blue in the grey sky, and by where the sun was in the sky, I guessed it was approximately 12:30. That usually meant lunchtime, but I had a late breakfast, so I wasn’t hungry. But we stopped at Hamburger Heaven anyway. I told Dad I was fine; Kate felt the same way, but Dad got a number 2, and Emma got a Double Deluxe Cheeseburger. When I saw her munching on it, I thought, “How can she eat that?” Her burger came with fries, and she started feeding them to Snow White, resulting in crumbs everywhere. Some even landed in my lap, but I didn’t mind the fact, so I let it slide. I mean, it’s not like I’d harm a soft, fluffy, cottony little sheep like herself; I’m not THAT mean. Okay, so some people would doubt that, but those people are usually the dumber ones, who have no idea what they’re talking about. Sorry, if you’re one of those people, but don’t judge me. Let me just say that it’s not easy being me, and if you’ve heard our previous stories, you would know what I’m talking about. Well, the whole thing with Jack Robertson, yeah. Look, point is, I’m not a rude person, especially to animals, and I’m having a tough list of summers. Anyway, the little French fry lover was gobbling down all the salty ones, which I, for one, love. Dad drove us over to a secret park (not a backyard, but it’s actually a park that we created, behind the most unexpecting place. It was a deserted store, right smack in the middle of town, with only one way to get to the park. You had to get out through the backdoor of the store. Now, the police station is right by the store, so you have to be careful when you go in, so you aren’t caught. Now that I think about it, the store is deserted, and no one ever comes inside, so I don’t know why I’m so scared. It’s like they’re going to sew us for going in and out of an old store. I don’t think Kate was very worried, because she asked for the keys when we got there, and she walked straight in. Most people would think it would be harder to get in, but once you’ve seen this place, you don’t think that. Now, let me tell you more about this old store. It isn’t called Shop-Mart, or Wall-Co, it’s actually called Old Town of Old Junk; I’m not surprised it went out of business. But, at the same time, it sold pretty exotic stuff, like canned bread, a loaf of soup, stuff like that. That’s enough chit-chat about the boring part, so let’s go on to the best part: the extra space. When you get to the other end of the building, you’re in the STAFF ONLY part. You could open a door, which led to at least 20 yards squared of grass. No one was allowed back there until the shop closed down; the manager was good friends with Dad, so he gave him the keys. The first time we went into the backyard, so-to-speak, it looked dry and grey, like the sheep farm. I mean, the sky looked blue, and the grass looked green; okay, not grey, but dry. Now that we gave it a makeover, it looks like a real park that only we know about. We sat down on the grass, and Emma and Dad continued eating. Finally, we were completely alone, and there was no Jack Robertson there at all, just us and the peaceful birdies chirping the day away. I let Snow White frolic through the flowers that we planted while we settled down. We talked, but we tried to keep our voices low so that no one outside of the park could hear us. We were mostly hiding from Jack and the police, oddly. I tag the police as “oddly” because they were the ones who helped us before. After I had been thinking, Snow White hopped to me with pedals dropping from the flower in her mouth. She tried to make her sound, but it came out as something like, “MPHAAAA”. I tried to take the flower out of her mouth, but it turned into a big game of tug-a-war. And believe me, this sheep is stronger than any animal I’ve ever met, so it was hard to beat. I finally managed to get the ruined flower out of the little white mouth, but I threw it as soon as it fell into my hand. Have you ever tried to pull a dog treat out of a dog’s mouth with your bare hands, with the sticky, gooeyness? Well, basically, that’s how it felt, and it was really gross when I pulled it. Emma laughed, but not because she wanted to make me feel bad, it was probably because it was a funny scene. I would’ve agreed with her, if I wasn’t the victim of the predicament. I used to try to talk things through with Emma about things like that, but she sure isn’t an impressive conversationalist. Wow, those are probably the biggest words I’ve said all day: impressive and conversationalist? Anyway, don’t try talking things out with the younger Emma, because she wouldn’t let you. She was a real chatterbox back then, let me tell you that, but when we spent more time together, we got a lot closer to each other. We trust each other more, and she’s not (as) annoying. “BAA,” the sheep interrupted my thoughts with an angry tone of…sheep voice. I shook my head at it to assure it that she couldn’t eat flowers, and that I wouldn’t give it back to her. All of a sudden I saw Snow White’s ears perk up, so I figured she was listening to something. I suppose she was listening to the same thing that I was, which was a slow creak. Next I heard slow footsteps becoming louder and louder, until it came straight to the other side of the wall. Dad, Emma, and Kate ran to our sides, and I’m glad they did, for what happened I would need some help with. The next thing I heard was soft breathing coming from the other side of the white painted wall. The footstep sounds seemed to travel to the wooden backdoor, and we all stepped back a step. The knob turned, and slowly another creak appeared in the sound that was moving all around. When the door opened all the way, we yet again saw the face of Jack Robertson, carrying a pack on one shoulder. Chapter 5: Jack the Doppelganger It’s Emma again; anyway, I was stunned by the sight of Jack, because I didn’t think he could get in here. I only had one suspicion, and it was so stupid I can’t believe any of us would have the brain to do it. One of us must’ve forgotten to lock the door behind us when we entered the deserted store. Jack probably heard us talking from the other side, and he came in. When Dad saw him, he choked on his lunch because what Jack made him do caused his amnesia, and a hospital stay for days. You know, come to think of it, I didn’t even know that hospitals treated amnesia, so we must be lucky. But on the more important hand, I didn’t even want to know what was in Jack’s pack. I could tell by the look on Cameron’s face, though, that he was completely interested in what was in it, so Jack smiled and opened it. I thought, “Well, I guess it’s sort of interesting.” But I didn’t mean it when Jack started pulling out alternate clothes. It sort of disturbed me that I could see my own reflection in the black sunglasses that he pulled out of the pack. Next he pulled out a police uniform with the badge “SHERRIF” on the front. I held my breath, not wishing to show my bad emotions about what I was watching. He put on the sunglasses, and slid on the uniform; then I realized what else he pulled out. In his hands were four pairs of metal handcuffs, one for each of us. You wouldn’t believe how bad I wanted to run away, and how much the others did as well. But I was too stunned that I couldn’t even put together what was going on then. Oh, sure, criticize me all you want, I know there was a lot of space in the backyard of the deserted store, but heck, I didn’t even know what I was doing! [Ugh, seriously, can you believe them, Cameron?] Jack walked forward with that stupid grin he had the first time I saw him, last year. He held out two pairs of handcuffs, and one pair went on me, and the other pair went on Cameron. Then he walked out to Dad and Kate, and with two more handcuffs, they were trapped just like us. Soon we were being dragged across the lawn, and he was pulling so hard, I could barely let out a squeal, but I managed. Jack frowned, and then smiled, apparently mixed between emotions. “Oh, I’m very sorry for locking you in these handcuffs,” he started. “But soon I will put you in a nice shelter; I don’t know if I have time to get to your house, but you’ll go somewhere close. In fact, I might just take you somewhere on this street.” I couldn’t think of any type of shelter on this street that people could live in except for the police station. And finally I figured out his new plan, and it didn’t take two brains to figure it out. In fact, I felt stupid even not figuring it out in half of a minute; maybe even half that. Jack was dragging us through the deserted store, muttering about how he was sure he’d get his revenge. What made it even scarier was thinking about him in the police suit; what did he do to get it? Did he…you-know-what… one of the men and women in blue, or what? It’s not like they would just hand over a police suit from their own criminal-catching bodies? Actually, come to think of it, that would be pretty hilarious to see happen. But now we were outside, and he was still dragging us against the cold, hard cement that was scraping most of our bodies. Oh and where was Snow White, you might wonder? Don’t worry, she got away, and at least she was safe…well, at least, for that moment. Listen, that’s not the thing to be worried about right now; just listen to what’s happening back at the ranch. We’re being dragged by a person who is posing as a cop and we’re going to be arrested for no apparent reason. While we were being dragged, Jack was telling us some story that I wasn’t really listening to, but Cameron told me it later. “You might wonder how the pieces of my plan fall into place. Well, I will tell you, because where I’m taking you you’ll never get out, and I’ll be out of jail forever as long as I keep this on. Well, last year, as you remember, you defeated me with…pastries. And then you were taken to the police station to find my picture and turn me in.” “However, you didn’t know all there was to me, and I planned what is happening now to you three. Although, I guessed that you would have two new sidekicks; I knew one of them because I knew your uncle.” Cameron’s jaw dropped, and he said as loud as he could, “How did you know our uncle?” Jack smiled, and with a grunt, said, “We knew each other as kids. In elementary school, I always did bad things, and he was the goody-goody.” “I told him to be my sidekick, and he was for a little bit, but then it made him lose his girlfriend. I felt bad for him a little, so I decided to get him a new girlfriend, and she was the one he married. And then something clicked inside his noggin, and he turned on me for who I got for him. We ended up meeting up with each other years later, and I saw one of his belongings. It was a deed to a sheep farm, which was something that saved you.” “When we were sidekicks he told me that the sheep farm he got from his father would be given to me when he was of age. He never gave it to me, and he gave it to you; I went mad, I suppose you could say, and I went after you guys.” That proved he was evil, and it was what we believed the whole time. It just added to my assumption, his back-story. It made me feel even worse about him than I did before. When his story ended, we were in the police station. Jack went up to the counter, where the police decide whether they go to jail or not. It really bummed me out that we didn’t have a lawyer on our side, so we couldn’t do anything about what Jack was doing. He brought us up to the brick under the counter and said, “I place these four under arrest for illegal shopping developments.” Cameron gave the police an innocent face. He then said, “Listen to me, guys; you know us, we never did anything.” I would’ve spoken up too, but I could see why Jack was doing this; I had figured out another piece of the puzzle. He was placing us under arrest for illegal shopping development because of the deserted store. I should have figured that out earlier, and I’m not glad with myself. Jack assured my feeling by continuing, “Because of the property they stole from a very successful store. I must say that there was a lot of manager blood in the process.” Wow, I really never realized how intelligent Jack was; sure he can duplicate, but his explanations were really detailed. But I didn’t have a lot of time to think, because soon we were being dragged by an old friend. I felt bad for him, because Jack had tricked him bad. Soon, though, he tossed us into a jail cell, locked the door, and hung the key across the hall on the other wall. Chapter 6: Trapped In a Jail Cell Kate here, telling of the time that we were where we never intended to go in the first place: jail. Cameron was humming to the saddest song he could think of, and mine too. He was humming to “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie”, and I was singing to it, sounding as sad as he was. Emma and their dad were just sitting around moping, but I don’t blame them. Cameron, Emma and I learned it in music class, and we were trying to make the most of being there. Oh bury me not on the lone prairie These words came low and mournfully From the pallid lips of the youth who lay On his dying bed at the close of day He had wasted and pined until over his brow Death’s shades were slowly gathering now He thought of home and loved ones nigh As the cowboys gathered to see him die Suddenly Cameron stopped humming, and it was because their dad had sat up, and it looked like he was about to tell us something. And it, of course, was he who spoke up next. “Do you remember when Jack was talking about how he and my brother were friends as kids? Well, in 6th grade, we were all in the same class, and I saw how friendly they were with each other, so I regret to say, we were all friends. At that time I had no idea Jack was a terrible person, and I liked him.” “Now, I never wanted to be bad, and that’s not why I started being friends with Jack. I was friends with him because I wanted to fit in with my brother, so I decided to be cool in school. I was there a lot of the time in Jack’s back-story; when my brother got his girl, when he made that big promise. But I must say, in those deep words from Jack, there was a big lie that he didn’t say. He forced my brother’s wife to marry him, and he did the same with your mother.” “Jack stopped his story when he gave the sheep farm deed to me, but that’s not where my story ends. We met again years after that, and that was after he went mad; I never told you what happened about your mother. Well, I’m sorry to say that she was one of the many people Jack murdered. She died protecting her babies and me, and I never forgot that moment.” That story brought tears to my eyes, and it isn’t even my family’s story. Everyone was silent for a moment, and Cameron started humming the sad song once again. I didn’t catch on at first, so it was more like background music in the distance. And he was fine with that, because no one was really in the mood to sing then and there. Their dad added to his story, “I never really got over that she was gone, and sometimes I still talk to her.” When he said that, it gave me enough grief to add singing to Cameron’s humming. Oh bury me not on the lone prairie Where coyotes howl and the wind blows free In a narrow grave just six by three Oh bury me not on the lone prairie It matters not, I’ve been told Where the body lies when the heart grows cold Yet grant, oh grant, this wish to me Oh bury me not on the lone prairie I stopped singing, and I let Cameron have a little humming solo, so he didn’t stop humming. I started thinking about all that had been going on for a moment, and I thought of something else to sing. I matched it with the tune of the old song, and it ended out something like: Oh we are trapped, we were betrayed When they were tricked, here we were laid And time went by, but nothing changed So we are trapped, in this lonely range Oh bury me not on the lone prairie These words came low and mournfully From the pallid lips of the youth who lay On his dying bed at the close of day He had wasted and pined until over his brow Death’s shades were slowly gathering now He thought of home and loved ones nigh As the cowboys gathered to see him die Oh we are trapped, we were betrayed When they were tricked, here we were laid And time went by, but nothing changed So we are trapped, in this lonely range Oh bury me not on the lone prairie Where coyotes howl and the wind blows free In a narrow grave just six by three Oh bury me not on the lone prairie It matters not, I’ve been told Where the body lies when the heart grows cold Yet grant, oh grant, this wish to me Oh bury me not on the lone prairie Oh we are trapped, we were betrayed When they were tricked, here we were laid And time went by, but nothing changed So we are trapped, in this lonely range Suddenly we heard snoring; it was the snoring from the police who had sent them to jail. But it wasn’t the only sound that we heard; no, the sound that we heard other than that would save our lives. The sound that we heard was a very faint sound, and it was “Baa.” That tiny baa would save our lives, and we all suddenly knew why; we saw the pearl white pelt of Snow White. Chapter 7: Snow White, the Code breaker All the way back to Cameron; ah, the feeling of breaking through probably one of the most suspenseful parts of the story to give a monologue. No better way, if you ask me, to make a part so boring that you’ll stop reading right now. Seriously, the rest of the story I suggest not reading. But that’s just me. If you want to be crying into your pillow and punching the wall, go right ahead and read the rest of the story. Don’t mind me, the person who is warning you. Ok, fine. Suddenly we heard snoring; it was the snoring from the police who had sent them to jail. But it wasn’t the only sound that we heard; no, the sound that we heard other than that would save our lives. The sound that we heard was a very faint sound, and it was “Baa.” That tiny baa would save our lives, and we all suddenly knew why; we saw the pearl white pelt of Snow White. She must have been excited, because she was baaing so much that I didn’t have time to count. “Shh,” I tried soothing her, hoping she would calm down. It wasn’t helping, so I kept going. “Shh, shh, shh.” When I got to the 14th Shh she finally calmed down. Something was wrong, though. The policeman wasn’t snoring; in fact, he wasn’t making a sound. I tried to see what was going on but couldn’t. “Here girl, fetch the keys. Fetch the keys,” Kate hoped. Snow White just cocked her head and baaed again. The sound was threatening our lives, and that’s saying something. A lot of things had been threatening our lives lately but this is the first sound that has. Someone started walking down the hallway of cells when finally she came to ours. I held my breath, hoping she wouldn’t see Snow White. “Sir, it’s time to shift,” the policewoman said, waking the policeman up. Luckily she didn’t see Snow White for a while. Kate tried to grab her, but Snow White wouldn’t let her. I knew why. It was pretty obvious that she had a plan; a very good plan, it looked like, but I couldn’t figure out what. Suddenly I knew and pulled Kate back. Snow White was somehow going to get us out of there. But how would she do it? “Hey, what are you doing here, little critter?” the policewoman asked Snow White. She picked the sheep up and took her out. It was such a great plan, but of course, adults ruin everything. [No offense, Dad. I didn’t mean you.] When the policewoman came back, we started singing again. Apparently she didn’t like the song, so we changed it to a more happy beat (but made it sad). I told the witch doctor my problem with you How we are trapped in this cell when we didn’t do nothing to you And then the witch doctor, he told me what to do He said to Oh eeh oh wah wah To the cling clang Wah wah wah wah bing bang Oh eeh of wah wah To the cling clang Wah wah bing bang “Wonderful! Sing it again!” the policewoman cheered. I looked at Kate and Kate looked at Emma. Emma looked at Dad and Dad looked at me. We all had the same idea. It was brilliant. I told the witch doctor what I didn’t do to you I told the witch doctor you weren’t being nice And then the witch doctor he gave me this advice He said to Oh eeh oh baa baa To the cling clang Baa baa baa baa bing bang Oh eeh of baa baa To the cling clang Baa baa bing bang My friend the witch doctor he told me what to say My friend the witch doctor he told me what to do I know you’ll let me go when I say this to you ma’am. Yeah, yeah Ooh baby Oh eeh oh baa baa To the cling clang Baa baa baa baa bing bang Oh eeh of baa baa To the cling clang Baa baa bing bang Oh eeh oh baa baa To the cling clang Baa baa baa baa bing bang Oh eeh of baa baa To the cling clang Baa baa bing bang “Baa, baa, baa, baa,” the policewoman was saying, falling into sleep. “Score!” I said while I slapped hands with Kate. “Baa!” Snow White said, coming back in. Our plan had worked. Now she just had to get the keys and we could get free. Thing was, we didn’t think they taught her that in obedience school. Oh well, I guess we had to do it on our own. “Go get the food. The girl has your food,” we tried. Snow White cocked her head and started opening her mouth. We had to think fast. Then we remembered. Oh eeh oh baa baa To the cling clang Baa baa baa baa bing bang Oh eeh of baa baa To the cling clang Baa baa bing bang “Go get the keys, Snowy. Go get ‘em,” I said as softly as I could to the sheep. Snow White finally understood and slid the keys through her teeth. Ever so carefully she took them from the policewoman and handed them to us. Emma slid them through the bars and unlocked it from the outside. We were finally free and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Well, except maybe…oh no. Chapter 8: Story Time with the Police It felt good to be free. I was a genius to come up with the music trick and the unlocking of the cell. Cameron and Kate just don’t have the wits to do it. Ok, Cameron is telling me to get on with the story. [I would, Cameron, but I gave you enough time to talk about boring stuff and now it’s my turn.] Like Cameron was saying earlier, we really don’t want you to read the rest of the story (or any of the stories after that, for the matter). Let’s just say it’s your choice, but let’s see if I can force you. Cameron’s not mean enough to come up with that. Ha, ha! Oh, that felt good. I’ll be excellent at world domination. Anyway, let’s see if I can force you to stop reading. BOYS: The rest of this story is going to be about fairies and lollypops and your little sister’s ballerina outfit. GIRLS: The rest of this story is going to be about your older brother (frightening, right?). Ok, I guess I can’t convince you. Well, let’s get on with it. I was holding on tight to Snow White; really, I was surprised she didn’t squeal about it. No doubt it hurt her as much as things hurt us all the time. I smoothed back her hair and started talking with the rest. “Can you believe it?” I started. “Of course I can believe it, Emma. Snow White always comes through for us in the end,” Kate snorted. “I’m just happy we got out. Nice job with all the tricks, Emma. And thank you so much for unlocking the door,” Cameron sighed. “It’s Snow White. If it wasn’t for her we would have stayed in there for a long time,” I said reluctantly. “Hey! How did you escape?” I heard the policewoman’s voice behind us. I was frozen until Dad screamed, “RUN!” He didn’t have to tell me twice. Before he finished the word I was halfway down the hall next to Cameron and Kate. Dad had to pant to catch up to us, but we didn’t dare slow down. “Come here now!” the policewoman screamed. “I don’t want to have to kill you!” Those words made me stop in my tracks. Her voice reminded me of someone. Someone very familiar. I turned around and nodded my head. I was right. There were a few locks of black hair dangling from the woman’s blonde hair. She had a fake voice, and I would know that face anywhere. It was none other than Jack Robertson himself. “Jack! Why another police officer? Why…why a girl?” I asked him. “What are you talking about? I am clearly,” here he looked down at his nametag, “Amelia…Lu…Lulac? I think? I don’t know. Yeah, I’m Jack.” “Prove it,” Cameron said. And then there was Cameron. Good old Cameron. Jack thought for a moment, and then said something I hoped not to hear again. When the darkest things are grim Go to the place for a swim You’ll know which way to go But not the things to know Finally everyone agreed, believed, and started fighting. After about three minutes Jack said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop, just stop! Can’t we just all be friends?” I couldn’t believe it. If HE wasn’t fighting US none of this would have happened. Unbelievable. What’s even more unbelievable was how he ran away again, with his only track a note that said: I will show you how it’s done See me at the top at one Just you wait, just don’t cry Die if you will ask why -Jack Robertson Great; just what we needed, another riddle. But I guess we had to decipher it; Emma to the rescue again. “Let’s see, I will show you how it’s done. That seems pretty easy. He will show us how it’s done. See me at the top at one. I guess he wants us to meet him high up at one o clock. Just you wait, just don’t cry. Easily read, he’s taunting us. Die if you will ask why,” I deciphered. Everyone was silent. It was pretty easy to figure out what he meant. If we don’t do it, we die anyway. Sounds reasonable to me. “Let’s put it together.” He will show us how it’s done Meet him high up at one He is taunting us about it If we don’t meet him, we die I looked down at Snow White, who I was still holding after all that. “Cameron, what time is it?” “A quarter after eleven,” Cameron replied. “Let’s go tell the policemen,” Dad added, and we all went down to the main office. When we got there, it was rambunctious and wild. There were people all over the place saying “We have escaped criminals! Escaped criminals!” over and over again. The policeman that we were friends with us seemed to recognize us because he pulled us under his desk where he was. “It’s chaos in here. Ever since they learned of your escape they have been saying that. They did the same for Jack, but worse. Don’t worry, I know what he did. To humiliate him, we had him dress up like a girl. Genius, right?” I wanted to slap him in the face, but I didn’t want to go back into the cell. “I know, but I was just joking with you. He was on his own. He never learns his lesson, now does he? What was he up to this time?” I showed the policeman the note Jack gave us. “…die if you ask why.” He gasped. “You don’t really mean….” Kate nodded. “He’d kill us anyway, but now we can defeat him once and for all. We’ll give him a taste of his own medicine, if he hasn’t given us enough already.” “We have escaped criminals! Escaped criminals! We have escaped criminals! Escaped criminals!” the crowd continued, and continued, and continued, until I finally had enough, and jumped up from behind the desk, pulling Cameron up with me. “We are the escaped criminals! But listen to me when I say this. Jack Robertson is at large, and he is a fraud. He was the police officer that put us in jail, and our guard, and our principal! We must stop this wicked man!” The room was silent; I crouched down slowly and pulled Cameron back down again. “Okay, I don’t think that worked,” I said. “At least you stopped the chanting,” the policeman said. “We must stop this wicked man! We must stop this wicked man!” The room chanted. I smiled and chanted along, “We must stop this wicked man! We must stop this wicked man!” Soon Cameron, Kate, Dad, and a reluctant police officer started chanting as well. Everyone was on our side. Everything was perfect. Well, that may be an overstatement. In fact, almost nothing was right. We still had to battle Jack at one. “What time is it?” “Eleven thirty,” Cameron said. I smiled again. “I think we have time for one stop.” Chapter 9: We Stop at a Thrift Store Bad move, Emma. Now, Cameron and I have the rest of the story to tell the people. Still, guys, do you really want to read the end of our little tale, unless you enjoy reading about untimely deaths, because that is what awaits you. Not now, because we have time for one more stop, however. Oh yes, that’s right; sorry. If I were you, I would drop this book in the river where you most likely found it. Alright, though, now where were we? “We must stop this wicked man! We must stop this wicked man! We must stop this wicked man!” the chant continued to echo around the room. Cameron brought down his arm containing his watch and we started walking to the door. We silently raised our arms and smiled when we realized the police officers refused to stop. When we got out of the community jail, we started following Emma down the street. I looked around, but couldn’t get a clue of where we were. I looked over at all of the places we were passing. Food Mart, Athletic Shoe Company, SenecaCounty Library, Blockbuster, and then Thrift Garage. Their dad glanced over at Emma and they shared smiles. Cameron and I looked as confused as anyone. Emma started walking into Thrift Garage, with Dad, me, and Cameron following, in that order. I started thinking of Poe Ettirei, all of ours Language Arts teacher, and I thought of my favorite poem. The night has a thousand eyes And the day but one Yet the light of the bright world Dies with the dying sun The mind has a thousand eyes And the heart but one Yet the light of a whole life Dies when love is done “1000 GREATEST POEMS” was the book we passed when we walked inside the thrift store. There were three of them in stock, so I picked one up, and a found “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes” on the first page. I started flipping and found some of my other favorites, like “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, and “Invictus”. I decided to buy it with the little money I had brought. I continued reading the many poems as we walked towards the check-out. The sun was shining on the sea Shining with all its might He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night! The moon was shining sulkily Because she thought the sun Had got no business to be there After the day was done “It’s very rude of him,” she said, “To come and spoil the fun!” THUD! I ran into someone wearing sunglasses, that I had no way of knowing who it was. “Excuse me, ma’am, you’re not aloud to bring pets into the store,” he muttered softly, and at first I was confused. I looked down, and realized I had brought Snow White in with me. I stumbled outside, beckoning Snow White to come outside, so I could tie her up…somehow. I was almost outside when the same man said, “I’m sorry, you have to pay for your book before leaving.” I started sweating. “Um, right, let’s just see how much this book costs,” I said, as I turned the book over and handed the man four dollars. The sunglasses nodded as he counted how much I had given him, and then he walked away to help another customer. I locked eyes with Snow White and shrugged. I picked her up and ran back to the other three. Right then, the shopkeeper, reluctantly but surely, handed their dad a gun. I widened my eyes as he turned around, twirling on one foot. The night has a thousand eyes And the day but one Yet the light of the bright world Dies with the dying sun The mind has a thousand eyes And the heart but one Yet the light of a whole life Dies when love is done That would be a nice poem to think about to die at. Ha, just kidding! I’m not dead, of course. How would I be able to be telling you this story? Their dad handed the gun to Cameron, and we started walking out. We sat down on the front lawn. “What now?” I asked. Emma was silent for a moment, then she said, “Now? Now…we wait. We’re going to wait until one o’ clock for Jack, so we can battle him. We don’t have any other choice. Cameron, what time is it?” Cameron looked at his watch and said, “It’s about 12:30.” I looked down at Snow White, who was still sitting in my lap, and I realized we were both frowning, but the sheep was asleep. I smiled shortly, but tried to keep a straight face as I saw her shed a bitter tear. Emma shook her head and rustled Snow White’s ears, and the top of her small head. Her older brother smiled as well and sat next to me as I flipped around in 1000 GREATEST POEMS. I watched his lips move as he read “The Irish Peasant Girl”. She lived beside the Anner At the foot of Slievna-man A gentle peasant girl With mild eyes like the dawn Her lips were dewy rosebuds Her teeth of pearls rare And a snow-drift beneath a beechen bough Her neck and nut-brown hair Suddenly a voice from above the page said, “It’s time. Jack Robertson is here.” Chapter 10: There And Back Again The Hobbit references; there’s nothing better. [Oh yes, I’m sure the readers know it’s me, Emma, if they know anything about the story] When I got up, I looked from the poem book, trying to find Jack Robertson, and I felt as though the words “We must kill this wicked man!” were ringing in my ears. Finally I found him, standing on top of the abandoned Food Mart like a nincompoop. I love that word, don’t you? Ah, as we reach the end of the story, we get to the sad part. But that can wait. We reached the top of Food Mart and I stared right into the eyes of my greatest fear, Jack Robertson. He smirked and said, “Ah, Cameron. Long time no see, my little friend.” I tried to bare my teeth in a menacing matter, but I’m not really sure that I succeeded. Jack shook his head and chuckled, “Tisk, tisk. You know you simply cannot be scary, Cameron Anderson.” I was confused for a moment, for how he could possibly know my last name. But that didn’t matter. “You know, your girlfriend, Katherine, is the one I think I shall get rid of first,” he continued. Emma looked like she was about to vomit. Kate stood up and said, “One, it’s Kate; two, we are not a couple, and three, I am going to kill you first.” My stomach churned. The salt-and-pepper haired girl charged at Jack, somewhat like a bull charging for the flag, except less animated. Dad put both his hands to his mouth, and I did a face-palm. A face-palm is something me and my friends created, and you are to do it when you are ashamed of something. You put your palm to your face. Well, Dad, I face-palmed you. Have you ever read the poem, Invictus? It goes something like this: Out of the night that covers me, In the fell clutch of circumstance Beyond this place of wrath and tears It matters not how strait the gate, It’s a good poem to think of when you believe you will die for the action you are doing, not to lighten yourself up, but to, instead, take away the feeling. Kate was muttering this poem to herself as she charged at Jack, still carrying Snow White, when suddenly she halted. She was about two feet away from the wicked villain. Jack smirked again. “I didn’t think so; now, for my first act,” he announced, then he picked up Snow White easily from Kate’s hands. He then set the sheep in such a way that she couldn’t get up. Everyone gasped and started to get teary eyed as Jack kicked Snow White somewhere between the chest and the stomach, and she fell off from ‘the top’. Jack nodded as the sheep made an unearthly sound, and was still. “Secondly,” he continued, and he ran off himself, beginning to think up a new scheme to put us in yet another schism. We were left alone, on top of Food Mart, with the body of Snow White under our feet. Through tears, Emma said, “Well, that’s all we can do.” Kate solemnly nodded, and we all raced to Dad’s car. End of Book 2 RANDOM FACTS YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW There was a rumor that Marilyn Monroe had 6 toes on one foot. A PREVIEW OF A BOOK I AM WRITING Prologue “It’s a beautiful night tonight,” Peter told Mom. It was May 17th, 1989, and they were laying on the sand dunes in Libya. They had taken a vacation, for they lived in Denver, Colorado. They were staring up at the night sky, where the stars created millions of constellations. “This is the constellation Cassiopeia, and right there is Draco the Dragon. See his little tail? And right over there? The Big Dipper.” He continued pointing to almost all the stars in the sky. “Hey, what’s that one?” Alice, my mom, inquired as a small green dot appeared in the black. Peter peered his eyes and stood up. “I’m not sure, but it seems to be growing.” When he was finally tall enough his eyes widened up. “Um, Alice, I don’t think that’s a star.” It looked as big as a large raccoon. Seconds later it grew into the size of a double-decker bus. “ALICE, RUN!” he yelled. My mom immediately got up, and Dad waited for her to get in front of her before he started to go. The world seemed to explode. The sand jumped off the hills and sprayed Alice in the face and the back, and there was a big sonic boom. Once the sonic boom was off, Mom solemnly but quickly turned around, expecting the worst. She was correct. There was a giant glowing meteor on the ground. The only sound, other than Mom’s sobbing, was the mysterious sounds of babies crying. Peter was gone. That strange sound, just so you know, was me. 1. Gym Class Well, to start you off so we can get to my story quick, I’ll do some quick introductions. Hello, my name is Logan Quincey Brooks, my mom’s third child. I am beginning to end my 8th year at school. I don’t want to brag, but I’m the coolest kid in school. I’ve beaten every single world record in 7th grade. My younger sister, Julie Amelia Brooks, is in 6th grade, and she has, like, sixteen friends. That’s, honestly, more than I can say. My older sister, Katrina Monica Brooks, is a little strange. No offense to her, though, she’s in 10th grade, and she’s had more experience with fancy lockers and seven classes each day. And, my older brother, Jason Atticus Brooks, is like a role model to me. I never really knew my dad, so he’s the next best choice. Just saying. His job is paper boy, and he is the first of the four to have a job. That’s one small step for Brooks, one giant leap for Brooks kind! OK, that kind of sucked. Let’s just get on with the story. When we got to the school, I walked down the street to Horizon Sun, where I bought a newspaper. I just looked at the news. “Um, let’s see…wait, what’s this? Sand dunes in Libya turned into museum after twenty-one years under destruction. Man, Peter Brooks, was killed when a meteor hit, and the only living person who was there, Alice Brooks, resides in Denver with her four…children.” I squinted to make sure I was reading right. No way. “Andrew! Andrew!” I yelled, running all the way to school, not looking back at Horizon Sun, not stopping until I got to my best friend. I nearly ran into Andrew, but I stopped at the last second, and toppled over on my head. I stumbled back and talked quickly. “Andrew, look at this!” I screamed, holding out my grey, and slightly torn, newspaper. He grabbed it and read the article with his lips moving all the time. I watched his eyes moving back and forth, and when he read the last line, he dropped it at once. He continued moving his lips but he didn’t speak. I screamed again. “I know, right? I can’t believe it!” Andrew gulped as the doors were opened, and we ran right in. “Give me your phone, dude!” I demanded, to which my best friend immediately gave me it. I put in my mom’s number, and she picked up on the third ring. “Hello, Andrew! How are you today?” “MOM, IT’S ME!” I was super angered. “HOW COME YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT THE METEOR?” The voice on the other end was silent for a moment, and she finally lied, “Logan, what do you mean? What meteor?” But she had lied to me before, and I knew all her tricks. “Mom, seriously! Why didn’t you ever tell me?” She sighed and said, “I’m sorry, honey. I just didn’t want you to feel bad.” I felt a little guilty about yelling right then, so I went quieter. “Sorry. So…that’s how Dad died?” Mom said yes, and said she had to go to work. She hung up, and I gave Andrew back his phone. I went to my locker and got what I needed, then I headed up to Band, where I totally rocked it. My teacher, Mr. O’Kaystra, had a small goatee, which he always curled up, and had brown hair. He also had a thin unibrow, that he always tried to shave, but it would grow back in three hours. I had him for first period, and next I had Gym, then Science, then Language Arts, then Math, then History, and finally Spanish. When I got settled in, I got out my trombone when the loudspeaker went on. “Hello, students!” exclaimed the booming voice of Principal Daley over the loudspeaker. “Welcome to another great day! Now, for the daily weather report by James Johnson!” This thing happened every day. It was something, though, that you never really got used to. Suddenly the girl sitting next to me, who played the clarinet, mumbled something to me. It sounded something like, “Αυτός είναι ο μπαμπάς μου!” I swung back around to her and asked, “Sorry, what was that?” Then I gasped. She was beautiful. She had six or seven freckles on each of her cheeks, and she had red hair. She wore a green jacket and brown pants. She brought me back to reality when she continued talking. “Oh, sorry! I’m a little Greek. I meant to say that’s my dad. James Johnson.” I was instantly interested. “That’s cool! That’s really cool! Um, what’s your name?” The girl chuckled softly, but I could tell it was only a pity laugh. “Hi, my name is Jasper Johnson.” She put out her hand. I stared at it for three seconds, then I put out my hand and we shook. Even her hand had a few freckles on it. “I’m a little bit of a αγοροκόριτσο, if you know what I mean.” I continued staring, but this time blankly. “No. Not really, no,” I finally managed to stutter. “I mean to say I’m a tomboy.” I smiled and nodded softly, then looked over at the loudspeaker. James Johnson’s voice came on a videotaping. “As you can see, we’ve got a little bit of rain heading our way, and I know my daughter will like that.” I glanced over at Jasper, and she shrugged, looking just as confused as I was. “But…oh, as you can see we’ve got some technical difficulties. That green little spot? I’m sure it’s just the camera.” He continued to say oh-no over and over again, until there was a loud roar, and James was silent. Jasper shrieked softly and clamped her hand over her mouth. “Μπαμπά; Τι συνέβη;” she demanded. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help feeling bad for her. I had taken a little bit of Greek, and I only knew a couple words. I was quick to translate. “Daddy? What happened?” I repeated. “I don’t know what happened to your dad but…it’s strange.” Jasper wiped a tear that had just formed and said, “Oh, yeah?” I was quiet for a moment, and then I pulled out the newspaper from earlier. “I’m Logan Brooks, and this exact thing happened to me.” She read the article word per word, sentence per sentence, paragraph per paragraph. When she was finally finished, she flipped over to the Garfield comic. I scooted in closer so I could read it. “Τι θα θέλατε για τα γενέθλιά σας αυτό το έτος,” Jasper whispered as I read it along with her. “What would you like for your birthday this year? A cake? Oh, a big cake.” I couldn’t help chuckling. Dark times, it was. But I still couldn’t help chuckling. “I guess that’s all for today, students. Have a…great day!” I didn’t like the way he paused before saying ‘great day’. “Okay, class. Now we are going to play Ode to Joy. Everyone ready?” We all chanted, “Yes, Mr. O’Kaystra.” He waved his finger and we began. Jasper seemed to be on key every note. How come I had never seen her before? I blew in the tube, but I missed a few notes. When we finished, Mr. O’Kaystra nodded in approval. “Very good. Now, remember, we have a test coming up on each of the songs, so learn the notes well! You all have to do it in front of the class.” Jasper groaned. “His tests are the worst. But you did pretty well last week,” she told me. I shrugged as she had before the bell rang. We both headed into Gym, which was just down the hall. “Seriously? We have both first and second semester together, and I still haven’t noticed you before?” I asked, sheepishly. Jasper coughed and we both walked in. Ms. Werkot greeted us all inside, and I met up with Andrew. Jasper, again, sat to my right. Okay, this was getting really weird. How did we sit together in the same spots and I hadn’t noticed her? I swear it’s like she just moved in. Ms. Werkot walked in front of us as soon as we were all seated. “Class, today we will be playing volleyball, like I promised. Now, I’ll assign you teams.” Marlon and Abigail got to be team captains. I just hoped I wouldn’t get on Marlon’s team. Hey, even the coolest kids in school get bullied, alright? Abigail was pretty nice. In a way. Andrew and I, of course, got onto Marlon’s team. Jasper was put on Abigail’s team. We stared into each other’s eyes, but she had an angry look in hers. Andrew had Abigail, and she looked the same way. Jasper snarled and said, “Memento Mori, Logan.” I looked around to see if I heard her right. “Remember you will die,” I whispered to myself. That made me very confused. A second ago, Jasper Johnson was the nicest girl. Strange. Ms. Werkot blew her whistle to start the game. The ball was first handed to Marlon, who slam dunked it onto Richard Stragus’ head. Lula Jackie grabbed it and threw it back. Abigail stood and watched in disbelief. When it headed for Jasper, she grabbed it in midair, and clutched it. Suddenly she began to turn blue and grey. Suddenly, in the blue spots, yellow lightning bolt tattoos appeared. The lights began to flicker on and off. There was another rumbling sound. “Not another meteor,” I thought. Mysteriously, clouds suddenly appeared out of no where on top of the ceiling. A strike of lightning hit the volleyball and it was thrown at Marlon. When Marlon was hit, he flew backwards in the air, and looked as though he was doing back-flips, slammed onto the wall, and blood came pouring of his cracked open head. “Memento Mori, Marlon,” Jasper let out, and walked forward, kissing me slightly on the cheek. “Later!” she squealed as she walked out the door. 2. After School Well, when Principal Daley heard the news, we were let out of school as quickly as possible. Marlon was taken into intensive care, but Abigail, Andrew, Jasper, and I all knew he wouldn’t survive. No one could survive a crash like that, it’s just a fact of life. We all met up after school at Abigail’s locker. Abigail wasn’t a very big girl, as you might picture her to be. No, she’s like five foot three, about as tall as me. She has blonde hair, and grey eyes, and she is on the cheerleading squad. Andrew was still staring at Abigail in disbelief. “Whoa, that was like, the coolest thing ever!” he finally said. Abigail chuckled and flipped back her hair. “With a talent that you’ll never have,” she returned. Andrew stood lost in thought for a moment, and then smiled. Jasper looked at all three of us and said, “Hey, I heard they sell frozen yogurt down the street. Since our parents won’t be expecting us, who says we go down?” Everyone agreed, and soon we were heading down the street, to FroYo’s. When we got there we began to order. I got the cookies and cream, Andrew got the Chunky Chocolate Chip, Abigail got Banana Sorbet, and Jasper first tried to get φυστικοβούτυρο, but she ended up getting Peanut Butter. Ha, that’s irony for you. When we sat down at a table we began to chitchat. “So,” I said between drinks, “Jasper, I haven’t really seen you around. Did you just move here or...” I was interrupted by her as soon as I finished that word. “Actually, yes. I moved here from…” she was silent for a moment, as if she were thinking. “…Nuedlrnad. Expensive, the trip here was. We had to put in all of our banking account thingies.” I tried to think of if I knew where Neudlrnard was. “Do you mean Nicaragua? That makes more sense,” Andrew asked, to which Jasper nodded immediately. Abigail had already finished her Banana Sorbet, and she was looking at Jasper, smiling. “Ας ελπίσουμε ότι αυτά τα παιδιά δεν γνωρίζουν ελληνικά. Απλά τους λέω ήδη,” she told Jasper. The red headed girl shook her head. “No, if I tell them, Logan will get too much news too fast.” The blonde stared into my eyes, and suddenly I forgot completely what they had said. I blinked my eyes for a moment, then shook my head vigorously, forgetting about what had just happened even more. Jasper was smiling suspiciously at me. Then she faked a cough. “Excuse me, I have to go outside. Be back in a moment.” Jasper grabbed her cup and walked outside. For a moment, there was silence. And then, I heard a big rumbling noise. Then silence again. Jasper walked inside with a strange brown drink inside the cup. She went up to the cashier and asked for a lemon, to which he kindly gave her one. She squirted the lemon juice into her drink and stirred it, making it a sort of light gold color. She took a big drink and it was gone in four seconds. “Delicious!” she squealed. I walked outside as she had and looked around for any sign of a tree. There wasn’t a stick within a mile of the restaurant. Strange, because I could have sworn there was sap in her cup. Something really weird was going on, and I was determined to find it out! I opened my mouth to speak, but Abigail told me to look at her again. I obeyed, and she held up her fingertips, making small sparks fly off of them. “Got it?” she asked. I nodded and slumped back in my chair. When we were finally done talking, it was 2:45, so we started walking home. I didn’t live too far away, and neither did my new friends, apparently. When I got home, Julie and Cat had already gotten there too. Jasper, for some reason, decided to walk home with me. I didn’t complain. For some reason, though, she made dinner as soon as she got home. JASPER’S MASTERPIECE: First, you mix tomato sauce with cup ground beef.Place mixture into pot and put it on the stove at 250 degrees for five minutes.Take it off, and put two tablespoons of mixture onto each tortilla.Roll up and place cheese and four slices of pepperoni on top.Wrap with batter so that there is nothing peeking out.Place knife and spread soup juice and sour cream around creation.Put more of the mixture on top of the wrap and a tablespoon of oregano.Place in plate with lettuce leaves surrounding it.Place tomatoes on top of the lettuce and place an olive on top. Her masterpiece was amazing and, just to show how amazing it was, Julie, Cat, and I all ate it in seven bites. Jasper had barely finished hers when Mom and Jason got home. Mom had picked up Jason from the Perkins’ house, where he delivered his last newspaper. As always, we got the first one, but I didn’t need to read it. I knew all about what it had to say. Mom dropped her things on the couch and sat down at the table. “Hello, who is this?” she asked, beckoning me to Jasper. “Mom, this is Jasper Johnson, the daughter of that meteorologist.” Jason, who was settling in as well, smiled and said, “Look what the Perkins gave me!” and he pulled out four sugar cookies. Julie, Cat, and I all smiled with glee and each grabbed a cookie from his hands. When it was inches from my mouth I looked over at Jasper and I asked, “Do you want some?” She merely shook her head lightly and waved her hand, telling me to eat it. I looked down at it and shrugged. I leaned in once again for a bite. It was the 2nd most delicious thing I had ever tasted, next to Jasper’s concoction. “Mm, this is really good!” Julie entertained. We all nodded, but right as I was about to take my last bite, something made me loose my balance and I toppled over. I looked up and saw that Julie and Cat were hanging onto the table trying not to fall, while Jason had also fallen. Something felt strange, as if I were being tickled, but had no urge to laugh. Julie, Cat, and Jason looked as though they were turning to gold, and I felt like I was floating, but I was still on the ground. The sensation continued for about nine seconds, and then it ended. I felt as though I was about to throw up. I got up and held my head. “Oh my god, I think I’m going to be sick,” I mumbled. I definitely felt throw up coming, there was no doubt about that. It was about to come out, then I closed my eyes and heard a clanging noise and a pain in my hands. When I opened my eyes there was a metal bucket and it had arms holding me up. I threw up, and when I finally stopped, the bucket disappeared. I turned towards Jasper Johnson, only to find that she was no where to be found. This day was getting stranger by the minute. “Where…” I heard Julie say, but she didn’t dare finish. When we all got up, Jason’s stomach started to growl. “Man, I wish I had some dinner quick.” Julie twitched her eye, and all of a sudden a big plate of Jasper’s Masterpiece appeared in front of him on the ground. Cat twitched her eye (my sisters have eye problems in the left, just so you know), and the plate floated in front of him. All of our amazed looks left our faces when we saw how Jason was enjoying the masterpiece. Lucky. But what was going on, and when would I find out the truth? | |||||||
1. The Backup Plan »Book 1 of 10. After the war between the questers and Hatch, things had just gotten back to normal. But living slaves of Hatch might just change that, and send the questers on a new wild adventure. LOOK OUT FOR "ANKH" TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. Rated K for some scary scenes.Crossover - Ice Age & Hunger Games - Rated: K+ - English - Family/Suspense - Chapters: 2 - Words: 1,035 - Updated: 5-7-13 - Published: 2-9-13 - Manny & Beetee - Complete2. Reunited reviewsFar away from each other for almost a year, Fred and George Weasley find out they weren't so far apart as they thought.Harry Potter - Rated: K - English - Chapters: 1 - Words: 671 - Reviews: 1 - Published: 1-26-13 - Fred W. & George W. - Complete3. Try, Try AgainA little N/una dabble. My second Harry Potter one-shot.Harry Potter - Rated: K - English - Chapters: 1 - Words: 416 - Published: 1-25-13 - Neville L. & Luna L.4. Your Mother's Eyes reviewsA one on one chat between Harry and Petunia concerning life, and Lily. My first one-shot.Harry Potter - Rated: K - English - Chapters: 1 - Words: 752 - Reviews: 3 - Published: 1-24-13 - Harry P. & Petunia D. - Complete5. The One With All The Stories » reviewsTen seasons of adventures isn't enough. So why stop there? What happens afterwards, when our six favorite buddies decide to tell their own new stories, five years into the future? Well, this story tells it all. So sit back, and read the lost stories, or The One With All The Stories.Friends - Rated: K+ - English - Humor/Drama - Chapters: 5 - Words: 2,384 - Reviews: 2 - Updated: 1-3-13 - Published: 12-29-12 - Monica G. & Ross G.6. The Miffed Macaw » reviewsThis story contains such unpleasantries as a long letter, tap-dancing, a thief, cinnamon oatmeal, a broken staircase, a noisy bird, and STAR WARS.Series Of Unfortunate Events - Rated: K+ - English - Tragedy/Romance - Chapters: 6 - Words: 3,756 - Reviews: 8 - Updated: 11-26-12 - Published: 11-25-12 - Violet B. & Klaus B.7. The Disastrous Diary » reviewsSurely you cannot stand such unpleasantries as a confusing code, a poofy pink sweater, a pound of salmon, grey makeup, a fedora, an annoying bell, and rope burn. But if you can, this is the story for you. You waiting for the exciting yet disastrous ending to the story? I'm waiting for you to say so...:-)Series Of Unfortunate Events - Rated: T - English - Tragedy/Romance - Chapters: 13 - Words: 7,927 - Reviews: 17 - Updated: 11-23-12 - Published: 10-21-12 - Violet B. & Klaus B. - Complete8. The End » reviewsBook 7 of 7. Havoc is the only thing happening when all the questers are being turned into slaves or, worse, being killed. The Chronicles of Ice concludes in this final volume. Rated T for brief language.Crossover - Ice Age & Hunger Games - Rated: T - English - Family/Suspense - Chapters: 5 - Words: 3,784 - Reviews: 7 - Updated: 9-27-12 - Published: 9-25-12 - Manny & Beetee - Complete9. Serpent's Fang » reviewsBook 6 of 7. So many questions unanswered. When the questers find yet another dark secret, the last battle has begun. Part of it takes place in a darkened organization. And the serpent's fang is the only answer. Rated T for brief language. LOOK OUT FOR "THE END" TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.Crossover - Ice Age & Hunger Games - Rated: T - English - Family/Suspense - Chapters: 5 - Words: 3,647 - Reviews: 5 - Updated: 9-24-12 - Published: 9-20-12 - Manny & Beetee10. Mark of the Wolves » reviewsBook 5 of 7. The trouble of the prophecy has leaped to Canada, and sent down three new questers. The only thing they don't know is that they brought down a thing that can kill them all. Rated T for brief language. LOOK OUT FOR "SERPENT'S FANG" TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.Crossover - Ice Age & Hunger Games - Rated: T - English - Family/Suspense - Chapters: 5 - Words: 4,707 - Reviews: 5 - Updated: 9-17-12 - Published: 9-9-12 - Manny & Beetee - Complete11. The Blue Bolt » reviewsBook 4 of 7. After the underlanders came, and Swordneck died fighting the roarer, nothing has quite gone back to normal. But when a bunch of kids with electrical powers appear, their lives are more in danger than ever. Rated T for brief language. LOOK OUT FOR "MARK OF THE WOLVES" TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.Crossover - Ice Age & Hunger Games - Rated: T - English - Family/Suspense - Chapters: 5 - Words: 3,458 - Reviews: 5 - Updated: 9-7-12 - Published: 9-1-12 - Manny & Beetee - Complete12. Prisoner of the Stone » reviewsBook 3 of 7. Sarah has disappeared from White Chapel thanks to a mysterious gem called "Levarnite", and she falls into the hands of the Ice Age characters. Rated T for brief language. LOOK OUT FOR "THE BLUE BOLT" TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.Crossover - Ice Age & Hunger Games - Rated: T - English - Family/Suspense - Chapters: 5 - Words: 4,219 - Reviews: 5 - Updated: 8-31-12 - Published: 8-28-12 - Manny & Beetee - Complete13. The Cavern's Secret » reviewsBook 2 of 7. With Buck and Beetee gone, the animals must survive on their own, and they soon find out that there is a hidden prophecy written for them. Rated T for brief language. LOOK OUT FOR "PRISONER OF THE STONE" TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.Crossover - Ice Age & Hunger Games - Rated: T - English - Family/Suspense - Chapters: 5 - Words: 3,499 - Reviews: 5 - Updated: 8-27-12 - Published: 8-24-12 - Manny & Beetee14. More Sideways Stories From Wayside School 2 » reviewsLouis is accused of tying Mr. Kidswatter up, and the students must prove that he is innocent, not guilty.Wayside School series - Rated: K - English - Humor - Chapters: 6 - Words: 2,596 - Reviews: 3 - Updated: 8-21-12 - Published: 7-30-12 - Complete15. A Lifetime with Fred and George » reviewsFred and George love a good laugh in their day, do they not? Well, could you believe it was the same when they were babies? Yes, they were their same mischievous selves their entire life, but it wasn't always for fun. Here is a little biography about their lives, from the first day they were born to the day Fred died on that dreadful day in May. But it doesn't stop there...Harry Potter - Rated: K+ - English - Humor/Drama - Chapters: 3 - Words: 4,296 - Reviews: 3 - Updated: 8-11-12 - Published: 8-7-12 - Fred W. & George W. - Complete16. Quarter Quell » reviewsBook 1 of 7. Manny and friends have learned a dark secret: their world has turned into a Hunger Games arena, with bloodthirsty killers around every corner. They must protect a man named Beetee and keep him from dying. It is a big job. Rated T for brief language. LOOK OUT FOR "THE CAVERN'S SECRET" TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.Crossover - Ice Age & Hunger Games - Rated: T - English - Family/Suspense - Chapters: 5 - Words: 3,493 - Reviews: 8 - Updated: 8-6-12 - Published: 7-10-12 - Manny & Beetee17. More Sideways Stories From Wayside School » reviewsAllison tries to form a team to get Todd and Maurecia out of the 19th story, for she couldn't do it herself. Meanwhile, Todd and Maurecia are facing their own problems with Mrs. Zarves.Wayside School series - Rated: K - English - Humor - Chapters: 6 - Words: 3,942 - Reviews: 2 - Updated: 7-27-12 - Published: 7-25-12 - Complete18. 149th Hunger Games reviewsNow the first chapter is written but it is not too late to keep giving me tributes. I am just starting you off. Goodbye!Hunger Games - Rated: T - English - Romance/Suspense - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,165 - Reviews: 3 - Published: 7-11-12 - Other tributes - Complete19. I Want To Be A Game Victor reviewsBillionaire with a Hunger Games kick to it. BOO-YAH!Hunger Games - Rated: K - English - Chapters: 1 - Words: 323 - Reviews: 1 - Published: 7-9-1220. SYOT Hunger Games 149 reviewsThe Capitol was brought down, but it now rises out of the ground again. Panem is in jeopardy. Let The Hunger Games BEGIN! P.S. Only members can join. Thank You.Hunger Games - Rated: K+ - English - Suspense/Family - Chapters: 1 - Words: 242 - Reviews: 5 - Published: 7-4-12 - Other tributes - Complete21. Wayside School Meets Its End »Three wacky stories approximately . Please note these stories are very short. Don't mind that.Wayside School series - Rated: K - English - Humor - Chapters: 3 - Words: 1,353 - Published: 6-30-12 - Complete22. Chapter 2Chapter 2Wayside School series - Rated: K - English - Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,353 - Published: 6-27-12 - Complete
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