Writers note: I had just realized that I had been using defiantly in a lot of my writing, well it is supposed to be Definitely and now it seems like my entire story is messed up. But I don't want to go through all the story and fix it right now especially since this is only my rough draft. So whenever you see the word defiantly just see it as Definitely. Thank you. :)
Galaxy
Book 3: Halix
Traveling through space is no easy thing to do, but once you have the certain stuff for it, it gets a lot easier. If you read the last two books you have learned how Kristen joined Cody, and then finding out what secret Cody had kept from Kristen for so long. For Kristen now has received something that has changed her life forever. But she is not the only one that will have a changed life in this third series of this book. As for Cody, being a fatherless boy who travels around the world he had a quest he wanted ever since he met Kristen. His quest was to find an unknown galaxy far off into space perfect for him to explore. Though things are happening that is putting his way to the galaxy an uneven path. But his goal is still deep into his thoughts, hoping to finally even his path to find his dream.
Chapter 1- Joshua
Marie laid in her bed wide awake. She couldn't sleep, something was bothering her and she didn't know why. Instead of going to her parents saying she couldn't sleep, Marie went downstairs to have a small midnight snack. Marie was only eight years old, but she seemed smarter than an eight year old. As she came down the stairs she started to hear the storm raging in outside. It wasn't the storm that was bothering her, it was something else.
Marie got into the freezer and pulled out the bucket of Neapolitan ice cream. She grabbed a spoon and started eating out of the bucket. After she ate a few bites of the ice cream she tossed her spoon in the sink and went into the front room.
She liked listening and watching the storm in fact. So she pulled up the blinds and watched the storm, as light struck the air and rain pattered against the roof. She smiled, feeling a little bit better. But she still felt like something was still bothering her. Suddenly, a giant struck of lightning struck her front yard and she fell off the couch in fright.
It wasn't a normal struck of lightning, if it would have been a normal night she would have been amazed. But this scared her, as if this is what was bothering her. She peaked back through the window to find something lying where that struck of lightning hit. She squinted at what was out there to find out what it really was. She nearly screamed, but instead she ran upstairs to grab her mother.
"Mother, mother wake up." Marie said, shaking her mothers arm.
Her mother opened an eye and turned her head towards her daughter.
"What is it sweety?"
"There is a boy out there mother." She said.
"Go to sleep Marie, it's late." Her mother said, not believing her words.
"No mother, you have to see!" She said, tugging on her arm.
Her mother sighed and got out of bed, grabbing her robe. She followed Marie downstairs and outside and her mother nearly fainted. She ran over to the boy laying lifeless in her yard, and shook his arm asking if he was okay. The boy did't answer. Marie's mother was a nurse, and knew a lot of how to handle these situations. She turned to Marie and pointed at the door.
"Go get a blanket!" She ordered.
Marie rushed inside to find a warm blanket and brought it outside in the cold rain. When she came outside she noticed her mother was doing CPR on the little boy. The boy didn't look any older than six years old, but looked unfamiliar to both Marie and her mother. A few minutes later and the boy took a gasp of air. Marie and her mother had saved this boys life and they would never regret it.
seven years later...
Joshua woke up that morning realizing that he was late for his baseball game. He got out of bed and slipped on his baseball clothes, hoping his coach wouldn't get too mad at him. He seemed to be sleeping in a lot lately, his parents kept on thinking it was because he didn't like baseball, but he really does like baseball to be truthful.
Seven years ago Marie and her mother had saved his life in a lightning strike. When he woke up in the hospital he got asked a lot of questions, but he couldn't remember anything but his name. They tried to find Joshua's family, but he was found to be unknown. So Marie's mother adopted him, thinking of no other way. So Joshua just has been living a normal life, with a good family, with a good school, and good hobbies to do.
Joshua ran over to the kitchen to find his mother had already made an egg sandwich for him and she took him to his baseball game. When he got dropped off at the diamond, his coach ran over to him.
"Joshua Carter, you are late again!" He yelled, grabbing his arm.
Joshua got pulled to the diamond, for today he was supposed to be the pitcher. His coach slapped the ball in his hand and Joshua aimed the ball right at the bat. The ball was hit hard and it flew across the field. The boy who hit the home run started for a run for it and made it to the home base right before one of the outfielders got him.
When the game was over Joshua came over to his friend, which was the first battter that had hit that home run.
"Good job buddy, that was a great home run." Joshua said, patting him on the back.
"Josh, you did amazing too. Though we are on opposite teams, I still like how you are a good pitcher." He said.
Josh smiled. Suddenly he heard a beep and he turned back to his buddy.
"Sorry Cole, I have to go. My mother is here." Joshua said, running off.
"Seeya Josh!" Cole said and Josh waved good bye.
Joshua got into the front seat as his mother drove him back home. As she stopped at the light, she turned to Josh.
"Me and dad are wanting to go out on a trip. We are hoping to leave next week to Europe, is this alright with you?" She asked.
"Yah it's fine, me and Marie are old enough." Joshua said, trying to stay cool about it.
"Well, grandma and Grandpa are going to stay at our house for the few weeks we are gone, but you just have to know they both have things they need to do and may not be there most of the time."
Joshua nodded, he knew how busy his grandparents got.
"Sorry I didn't tell you this sooner." She apologized.
"Oh, it's fine Mom."
The car parked in the driveway of the large house, and Josh rushed inside to see Marie. Marie, being fifteen years old now had already gotten her drivers permit and was hoping to get her license soon. Marie had already heard the news so she didn't make much a big deal when Josh told her about it.
For that whole week Josh and Marie just did there normal teenage stuff as there parents packed for there trip. When the day came they left early in the morning and Josh's grandparents came a few hours later.
"How are you my sweetums?" Josh's grandma said as she was the first to enter the house. She first gave Marie and hug and than Josh an awkward one, than there grandpa came in the house.
"Hey you whippersnappers!" Her grandpa said in his raspy voice as he came in with his cane.
Josh's grandpa walked over and with his crooked finger pointed at Josh's necklace around his neck.
"Where did you get that?" he asked.
Josh grabbed his necklace.
"I've had it." Josh said.
Marie and Josh's grandparents didn't know about Josh's story. They just thought of him as there own grandson, only knowing that he was adopted and that was it. For the necklace he had on was a necklace he wore when he was found. Out of all of his worn six year old clothes, the only thing that counted as in good shape was the necklace he had on. The necklace was a blue gem with a sign painted on it that looked like a swirl with the ends connected, and the middle filled in. The interesting thing was that Josh had that same sign in the back of his neck. His parents say it is just a birthmark, but he thinks it is more of how little facts he knows about his life.
Josh's grandpa chuckled and patted him hard on the back.
"Good answer my boy." He said, and walked off.
There grandpa was nearly 90 years old. They all new he would probably be soon leaving them with the health problems he was having. About twenty years ago their grandpa had given up on smoking and drugs and later got lung cancer. He recovered from the cancer and then ended up going blind in one eye a year later, after that his health has not been the same.
As for their grandma, she was still in her late seventies. She had married their grandpa when he was already a father with a dead wife. Her health has been level lately though every once in a while she would catch something that would stress the entire family out for days. But she was okay now, and can take care of two of her grandchildren without scaring there parents.
The next day there grandparents went off to there doctor's appointments that were held all day, and they were left alone. Josh left to baseball for the afternoon and Marie was left alone at home with nothing to do. It was lunch time so Marie went to cook up some lunch in the kitchen. As she put the burrito in the microwave, she started to hear something. She looked around her to find nobody was around. Nobody should be home because it was only but twelve thirty.
Marie ignored the creaking noise and pulled out her burrito. She was going to go to the living room and watch some TV as she ate so she walked out of the room to the living room. As she came towards the opening to the living room, she stopped wondering why she was still hearing things.
"hello, anyone home?" she asked.
Nobody answered. She than shrugged her shoulders and walked through the opening disappearing suddenly, her lunch crashing to the ground.
. . .
Joshua came home to realize Marie wasn't around. He looked everywhere, but still no sign of her. He than came over to the living room to find the broken plate and the burrito scattered across the ground. This started to trouble Josh, he looked around some more but still she was nowhere.
He checked the time, it was almost three. It was Tuesday, Marie doesn't have anything that day. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. He ran over to it, hoping he hadn't locked it and Marie couldn't get in. He looked through the peek hole before opening the door to find a girl, but not Marie. He checked the time to find it had barely turned three O'clock in the afternoon. He opened the door and the girl smiled at him.
The girl had long, wavy, brown hair that went down to her waist, and brown eyes to go with them. She was a cute girl.
"Hi Joshua, so what are you up to today?" The girl asked.
Josh had no idea how she knew his name. He had never met this girl in his life, though he didn't make a big deal about it.
"I-I am j-just looking for m-my sister." he stuttered, unsure what to say to the unfamiliar girl.
The girl walked into the house and made herself at home without Josh offering it. She sat down at the front room couch, rested her feet on the coffee table and sighed.
"You know, when Cody sent me to you, I kept on thinking oh, it is just another boy. Than when I saw your face I thought you were the hottest boy in town." Kristen said, it seemed like the was talking to him, but at the same time not.
"Thank... you." He said awkwardly.
For Josh did have a hot look. He had crazy brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes with a hot look on his face. Though there was dozens of girls at his school that had crushes on him, he didn't make much a deal about it. He didn't want to end up with a girl friend too early in his life, he wanted to wait. His parents predicted that maybe if he was to be that hot, than he would have to have a good looking father.
"W-what are you doing here?" Josh asked, walking up to her.
Kristen took her legs off the table and sat up.
"Well I came to help you!"
"With what?"
"Your sister was taken Josh, in fact she was taken so you can go look for her and fall into their trap."
"What, so you want me not to find my sister."
"No, of course not. We are going to find her, but you can't go alone Josh. I came here to help you." She said.
Joshua sat next to her.
"Okay, so what are you not telling me."
"Let me get to that Josh." Kristen looked down at her feet for a moment than looked back up at Josh, "My name is Kristen, and I have that same sign." Kristen moved her hair away and showed the back of her neck to show that she really did have the same sign. Josh moved over, shocked to find the same exact sign as his.
"Are you my sister?" He asked.
"That is something you need to ask yourself Josh. You have to try to remember."
"But I can't, I have tried."
"Well, we don't have time to do that anyway. But I do need to tell you some important information that may be difficult to digest... For one thing the reason why you have that sign is because you are not human, and I am not either. It seems like we act and do the same as humans, but there is more to it that we can't do without being trained to do it. Not even I know all of the things of our kind, because I am almost as new as you are at this. But we are called the Halix, we come from a planet many galaxies away and most of our kind was wiped out by their enemies. And those enemies are after you Joshua, they have been looking for you as much as they have been hunting me down. In fact they want both of us, but that doesn't matter now. We have to save your sister, it is our only way."
"But if they are after both of us, why are we going together?"
"Because I know what I am doing, I was sent here as a quest. I want to help you Josh, but if you go alone there would be a bigger chance of you not returning."
Josh nodded, understanding a little bit more.
"I can't tell you too much, because I want you to remember. You had a life before you were six, you just don't remember it."
"What about you, if you are as new as this as I am than why do you know who you are?"
"I was sent here as a baby, I met my family one time though they didn't think it was me. I only know what I have told you."
Kristen stood up and started walking towards the living room of which she spotted the mess. She peeked through the living room and than looked back down at the plate.
"I think I know what this is, she must have gone through a door portal." Kristen said, observing the broken plate.
"Now how do you know this?"
"Cody told me about it before I got here. I also thought it was because she dropped the plate at the opening into the living room, so she was taken as soon as she stepped through the doorway." Kristen said, trying to sound clear to Joshua.
"Okay, so how do you know that Marie was taken, and who is Cody?"
Kristen turned to Josh and stood up.
"For the how do I know thing, I can't tell you now. All I can tell you is that someone came from the future and told us, but it is going to cause problems if I tell you who it is. Cody and I are traveler's who go around the universe exploring worlds and accidentally getting caught by trials on some of them. I met him when he ended up in my backyard accidentally though he actually did it on purpose, because he wanted me to find my family and find out who I am. It is now my turn to help you find out who you are, later on I will introduce you to Cody."
Joshua understood, Kristen smiled got down on her belly. Josh watched carefully as she pulled out a red keychain flashlight. She stuffed the flashlight into a small mouse hole in the wall and than pulled it out. She came up to Josh and stared at the doorway.
"What did you just do?" Josh asked.
"I activated the portal again, since it was so recent it was still connected to where she was taken. So I just reactivated it again. So now we just walk into the doorway and we will be taken to where your sister is." She explained.
Joshua nodded and was about to say something until Kristen suddenly walked through the portal and disappeared.
"Wait!" Josh ran after her and suddenly ended up standing in a dark room.
"Kristen where are you?" Josh whispered, feeling around the pitch darkness. The area around him suddenly lit up in red light, though there was still no ceiling or walls as far as she could see. He shook his head, he didn't want to see what was coming. He knew it wasn't going to be pretty. The air was starting to feel icy cold, he could feel goosebumps form up and down his arms. A ghost like creature was suddenly standing in front of Kristen, which was just inches from Josh. Blood was dripping from his head to his ghost like toes, his eyes showing nothing but black indents on his face. He had no teeth but its mouth opened wide like it was going to suck away your soul. His fingers were long and threatening, as if a single touch would bring you instant death. His body stood taller than nine feet tall, with a body slimmer than even the thinnest man could bear. Thin black strands hung over the bottom of the ghost, making it drag as it came closer and closer to her.
She stood in shock, her body unmovable. As if frozen in place. She couldn't speak or scream. Her mouth was not opening, her fingers were frozen at her side. The nightmare came up to her and raised its dripping hand towards her. Joshua took a few steps back not wanting to see what the creature was going to do. Kristen couldn't move away from it though , the part of her body that was moving was only her heart. That beat so fast she could feel it in her breast. Joshua looked away as the hand of the creature touched her chest and she collapsed on the black ground. Everything turned black once again, a deathly silence overcoming the black abyss.
Chapter 2- trading with a Troblic
Joshua waited a few minutes before looking for Kristen in the pitch darkness. He felt around and felt for her neck to find a pulse. She defiantly had a pulse but she felt icy cold , the creature had at least hadn't killed her. He picked her up in his arms and looked for that flashlight in her pocket. He rummaged through her pocket to find it and held down the button to keep it on. He looked around, hoping to find Marie somewhere. He walked around, being extra careful with Kristen. Than he spotted her.
Josh put Kristen down and ran over to her. Marie was on the floor curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth. It was weird to find an older sister rocking back and forth like a baby, but Josh knew that she was just very frightened. He sat next to her, trying to comfort her.
"I've b-been h-here f-for d-days J-Joshua. P-please g-get m-me o-o-out of h-here." She stuttered, wrapping her shaking arms around here.
"But you have only been missing for a couple of hours."
"C-couple o-of hours h-how?"
"Don't know, we just need to get you and Kristen out of here."
"K-Kristen?" She wondering looking over his shoulder.
Josh came back over to Kristen and picked her up again.
"She helped me find you, but she was touched by those creatures."
Marie looked up at him, as if she was going to start curling up in a ball again.
"T-they k-kill people w-with there t-touches. She is d-dead."
"But she isn't, I felt a pulse." Marie got on her hands and knees and felt for Kristen's pulse.
"H-how can that b-be possible?"
"Don't know."
Joshua sat down, and rested Kristen's head on his lap. He stroked her hair and suddenly something popped up in his head. It was Kristen, it kept showing her face each stroke he did. He than put his hand on her head and saw Kristen stable in his head.
"Blink the light five times at the devil." Kristen said in his head.
Joshua moved his hand from her head and noticed Marie's face.
"It was nothing." He lied answering Marie's question that she was ready to ask.
Suddenly the red light switched on the Marie went back into curling up in a ball, rocking back and forth. The creature was but only a few feet away coming towards Josh now. Josh stood up and held the light threateningly at the devil. The Devil backed away.
"We got the jack pot today don't we? Two Halix's in one sitting, I like it." the voice said in a surprisingly clear voice.
"Don't get close to them!" Josh said, holding out the flashlight as far as he could holding it with both hands.
"Your going to threaten me with a key chain." The devil teased, getting closer.
"I'm warning you." Josh said, his arms shaking.
The devil kept on getting closer to him. Than he did it, he clicked the flashlight five times at the devil. The devil shrieked, backing away. Covering it's black eye sockets.
"I've warned you. Now if you get close to us, I will do something much, much worse. So I guess you better let us out."
The devil glared at him.
"Never!"
Joshua flashed the light at him again. The devil shrieked again, than before he could do anymore the devil pointed a finger behind him. Josh turned around to find that it had opened a doorway about ten feet away. Josh picked up Kristen, but still pointed the light at him. The creature made another glare and went away, the room turning black once again besides the open doorway.
The three of them entered the door to find that it wasn't the house. It was in fact a different planet. The area looked like Scotland with the green. The dark green forest had one small hut just a few feet from where they stood. Josh turned around to find that the door had disappeared suddenly. The only choice they had was to come to the person living in the hut.
Before they got to the door an odd goblin looking creature came out of it. He was like a mixture of a goblin and Yoda. He had hairy, pointed ears with two little horns between the two. He had very large buck teeth and a pointy nose. The creature wore rags of different clothing cut up into one outfit, and he came out barefoot. The creature was holding a spoon, the few white hairs on his face standing straight out.
"What is it!" he shouted in a high squeaky voice.
"Can you help us?" Josh asked.
The creature waddled over to Josh, and standing on his tip-toes peeked over at Kristen.
"She is defiantly not dead, just dying. Come inside, I now a good cure for that." he said as he walked back to his door. But before he entered his house he turned around, raising a finger up.
"But you have to know that if I save the girls life you have to give me something in return." He said.
Both Marie and Josh agreed and they followed him through the tiny door of the hut. It felt cozy and warm inside the house and it seemed like the creature was making dinner in a large pot over the fire. The creature waddled over to his big pot, standing on top of a stool to stir it.
"There is a bed you can put the girl on." The creature said, struggling to stir the soup.
Josh and Marie offered themselves a seat and they sat close to the door. A few minutes later and the creature pulled the pot off of the fire and placed it on the table. He than got into a cupboard and pulled out a small pot and placed it over the fire in the same spot the last pot was in.
He started going around the kitchen grabbing food and herbs and dumping them into the tiny pot. A few minutes later and he took the steaming pot over to the bed and placed it on the night stand. He than ran back over to the kitchen and grabbed a wash cloth from the sink. He then put the cloth in the small pot and soaked it all up. Than he squeezed it out and came over to Kristen. Before he was going to do what he was going to do he stopped and turned to Marie and Josh.
"You guys are welcome to have some soup." He said pointing at the pot on the table.
Josh and Marie smiled and came over to the table. Serving themselves the soup in the bowls that were already on the table. While in the bedroom the creature swirled the cloth around Kristen's nose and she suddenly woke up. She sat up, taking a deep breath.
"Hello Halix, it looks like you have survived something some of us can't bare. I am Ferris the Troblic." Ferris introduced to Kristen.
Ferris led Kristen into the kitchen and let her sit down to have some dinner. As she ate, Ferris left the kitchen and returned with a giant book. He sat down at the table and started skimming through it. Than he pointed at a page and read through it for a while. Ferris put the book down on the floor and weaved his fingers together.
"Well it looks like according to my book of trades, it says that if you do the cortrash trade to another person, you trade for someone they know to me." He said, smiling.
"You mean one of us have to live with you?" Kristen asked.
"yep." The three of them looked at each other, unsure what to do. They didn't think it would go this bad.
"Can we trade them back somehow?" Marie asked.
"Why yes, let me see." Ferris put his book back on the table and started skimming through it again.
"It says that if your trader ever wants to trade something back they need to trade something that you want the most." He looked up at them, "Well, there is something that I do want the most."
Ferris got off of his chair and came up to them. He pulled out a necklace that he had on his neck and showed it to them. It had a large red ruby on it of the shape of a raindrop.
"I want a necklace similar to this. It is in fact a green emerald that I want."
"Why do you want it so bad?" Kristen asked, though she had seen it before not very long ago.
"Because it is a lot more than just a necklace and I need it."
The three of them clumped together.
"We have no other choice guys, someone has to take the chance." Kristen said.
They all split up and looked down at Ferris.
"So have you decided yet?" He asked.
They waited a few minutes, each one of them thinking if they should volunteer or not.
"I'll stay." Marie said.
Josh looked at Marie shaking his head.
"Josh you just have to promise me that you will come back for me." Marie said.
There was another long silence. Josh looked around, not sure how to answer this.
"I promise."
Chapter 3- Going on an Emerald Hunt
"I don't know how I can repay her. She has saved my life, chose to adopt me, and saved someone else life and chooses to sacrifice herself to another person. I just don't know how, she has done too many things for me." Josh said to himself, sitting on a stump.
Kristen had gone out to get more firewood and Josh just sat on the stump muttering to himself. Cody told Kristen to meet him at this place called the cutters wood. All the place was, was an open area in the middle of the woods that all it has is just stumps that woodcutters chopped down a long time ago.
Kristen returned a few minutes later with an armful of firewood. She tossed the wood in the blazing fire and sat next to Josh. Cody was going to come tomorrow morning, so they decided it was best to get there the night before. Kristen handed him a t-shirt she had packed in her backpack and he used that as his cushion over a small stump. Kristen just pulled her backpack off and used it as a pillow.
The next day came and Kristen woke up with Cody looking down at her. She quickly sat up and Cody backed away. The sun felt too hot against her face to feel like morning, she didn't understand.
"How long was I asleep?" Kristen asked, looking at how wide awake they both looked.
"It's two o'clock in the afternoon." Cody mentioned.
Kristen quickly stood up, not wanting to sleep in any more. She now felt embarrassed, she couldn't believe what she just did.
"Um... this is Cody by the way." Kristen told Josh awkwardly.
"Yah, I know him. We talked for a while, in fact the six hours I was awake and you weren't." Josh teased.
Kristen rolled her eyes.
"We better get going." Cody mentioned.
"Wait, what are we looking for again?" Kristen asked, wanting a review again.
"We are going to go look for that green emerald necklace to save Josh's sister. But since those aren't found until many galaxies away from here we are going to have to go planet hopping to it." Cody mentioned.
"Okay got that." Kristen said, rubbing her eyes. She still felt tired, than she started to think she was over tired. For according to the two boys, she had slept a very long time. Cody had already a bowl of which he traded from Ferris and the drive was already charged inside it. Cody made the cue and the three of them touched the bowl together.
They suddenly ended up in a forest, but a different one than the one they were in before. There was a large hedge up ahead and it started to look familiar to Kristen. Cody had chosen this place, so he knew exactly where he was. He ran up to the hedge, and crawled inside it without telling the others. Kristen and Joshua ran up to him, trying to catch up. They looked around wondering where he went.
"Guys, I'm on the other side of the hedge, come on!" Cody hollered across the giant bush.
Kristen and Josh crawled into the hedge and stumbled on the other side. Kristen looked at Cody like why are we back here again.
"Well Josh, I just wanted you to have a good first stop. So I chose a spot that was even Kristen's first stop when I met her, this place is called Frigartsa." Cody said patting him on the back.
Than Cody started running further into the village.
"Come on guys, Joshua has to meet Rini first." He said turning a corner.
Josh and Kristen followed behind and Cody stopped at a cozy house in the corner of the village. Cody made a short knock at the door and the door swung open just seconds after. A short boy about twelve years old had opened it.
"Back so soon Coditsa?" Rini asked.
Kristen could still remember that Rini called Cody, Coditsa. But I guess it had also been only about a couple months since they last saw each other.
"Yah, we just got a new traveling buddy and we thought we could introduce him to you." Cody told him.
Rini smiled as he saw Josh making a wry smile and waving his hand embarrassingly. Rini waved back.
"Would you like to come inside?" Rini asked.
"Sure." Cody said and Rini let them inside his comfy house.
Cody just made himself at home as soon as he came inside. He sat down at one of the naturally made couches, grabbed an apricot, and put his feet up on the coffee table. Kristen than thought about last time how Cody made himself at home at Rini's house, it seemed like Cody just was comfortable around him. Rini walked into the kitchen and returned with more fruit and placed them in the basket. For the basket was looking pretty empty.
Josh and Kristen took a seat across from Cody, but didn't do exactly what he did. As Rini went back into the kitchen, another boy who looked about in his early twenties came into the room reading a book. When he noticed the three of them in the living room he quickly shut his book and walked off. Rini returned back into the kitchen with a pitcher of lemonade and cups. He place it on the table and sat down on a wicker rocking chair.
"Who was that man that just came in?" Cody asked, unfamiliar with the other visitor.
"Oh, he's my brother. Brotsa has been living at my house for a while because he heard that there are a lot of girls his age he could marry. So far, he has not found the girl he is fond enough to marry still." Rini said.
"So he wants to get married?" Kristen asked.
"Yah. He wants a girl that is passionate, kind, doesn't care too much about her beauty," Kristen resisted to laugh, she knew if he wanted a girl that doesn't care about beauty than he is going to have a harder time finding a girl than he thought, "caring to everybody, and is actually a person who will leave her house to live with him." Rini explained.
"what, so all of the girls he has met don't want to leave there homes?" Josh asked.
"Nope, they all want to still live with there family in there homes."
Than they changed the subject to something else. Rini told Josh about the story about the Ganganguan and how he met Cody. After a good conversation Rini invited them to dinner and they ate a veggie dish with fruit salad and homemade rolls.
While in the middle of dinner Brotsa came inside the kitchen, snatched a few rolls, and left the room.
"It looks like his girlfriend that he had been dating for three days now just broke up with him." Rini said, peeking over to his brother which was sitting in the living room depressingly.
"I feel so sorry for him." Kristen pitied.
The four of them finished there dinner and than heard a knock at the door. Rini put one finger up and opened the whicker door to find a hot looking girl standing in front of him. Rini whistled, leaning against the door love struck.
"Your hot girl, are you here for me?" He asked, his arm slowly slipping from the door.
"Um no, I need to talk to Brotsa." She said, her hands behind her back.
The girl was a total blonde, she had sparkling blue eyes, and a perfect face. She glowed in the candlelight.
"Okay sweetheart, I'll go fetch him for you." He said, still love struck.
Rini walked into the front room and told his brother about the girl at the door and he ran up to her.
"Hey Cheeksta, w-what are y-you doing here?" He asked.
"I came to appologize, I knew this would be hard for you." She said, refusing his offer to come inside.
"Cheeksta, you don't need to. It's alright, I will just find another one."
"That is what I needed to talk to you about, I know you have been looking for a girl for years now and none of them seemed your type. Well and this time it was your girlfriend that thought you weren't the type, but I was starting to think about it and..." Suddenly, Cheeksta went all that and started kissing him.
Rini looked away and walked back to the kitchen were the others were.
"I think he got his girl friend back." Rini said cheerfully.
Josh stood up and peeked in the hallway to find that the girl Brotsa was kissing was super hot. He smiled, waving his body back in forth even more love struck than Rini. Suddenly a hand slapped him in the face and he looked around to find Kristen staring at him.
"Snap out of it, your too young to date anyway." Kristen said, folding her arms.
"But she's so beautiful." Josh adored.
Kristen didn't let Cody come and see after what had weirdly happened with Josh. Going back to the doorway, a man that was hot as well stood next to her. They stopped kissing and Brotsa stared at him in disgust.
"This is my girl Brotsa, she broke up with you because she already found somebody else." The man said pushing Brotsa out of the way.
As Kristen led Josh back in the front room she hadn't realized what had just happened, but she checked on them real quick. When she spotted the other boy she suddenly started doing the same things Josh was doing. In fact she was swaying back and forth, her eyes glazed as she stared at the other boy. Cody moved Kristen from the hallway and Kristen snapped out it as quickly as Josh did.
"What is up with you two, while we went across from the kitchen to here I have seen that girl twice and nothing has happened yet!" Cody said.
Kristen and Josh looked at each other and just shrugged there shoulders. Than Cody turned to Rini.
"Hey Rinitsa, do you know if Brontsa's girlfriend and her boyfriend are part of your kind or not?" Cody asked.
"No I don't think so. I know this because there last three letters are with a S-T-A, not with a T-S-A. I think they come from the Burgonsta's on the other side of the planet. They are born with a hot complexion but with dramatic life styles so they can easily break up with you with no fight. I heard that they work most to attract people if you are a Halix." Rini explained.
"Well that makes sense." Cody said grateful to find that out.
"You guys make sure don't get close to those two." Cody said.
He turned to where Kristen and Josh were supposed to be to find they were both gone. Rini and Cody both stood up in alarm and checked the hallway to find the door closed. They ran up to the window to find the five of them walking together down the street in the moonlight. Cody sighed and they darted out the door, catching up to the mixed tribes.
Cody tried to get Kristen and Josh out of there but they refused. Cody sighed and looked around, thinking what was the best thing to do. The group than started walking downtown, with Cody and Rini standing there unsure what to do.
"It's never been this bad before, Burgonsta's never steal others and take them away."Rini said as they started down the hill.
Cody and Rini followed them to the hill and Cody started to realize that he knew where they were taking them... to the Ganganguan.
Of course the Ganganguan was supposed to be dead, but Ganganguan's don't die. The only way they die is with age. Cody didn't want to tell Kristen or anybody else about the Ganganguan's secret because he knew it would her whenever they returned. Cody ran down the hill and followed them down the hole and he spotted them getting into the tunnel. Rini was following behind.
"Coditsa, why are they going this way. This used to be the Ganganguantsa's secret lair." Rini said.
"The Ganganguan is still alive Rini." Cody said walking into the doorway which led to the tunnel.
Rini stopped in his spot, he now had a frightened look on his face. He didn't want to continue with the Ganganguan still alive.
"Rini," Cody said impatiently.
"Coditsa, what if it hurts the village?"
"Kristen was captured because she disturbed his slumber underground as she fell over his head. As long as we leave it alone, it will leave us alone as well." Cody explained.
"Okay good, but I don't think they are leaving them alone now." Rini whined.
"Well, they are trying to lead them towards the Ganganguan. We just need to stop them. That means, get Kristen and Josh out of the way."
Rini nodded, confidence coming back to him. Cody turned on his flashlight and noticed they weren't too far ahead. He and Rini ran ahead towards them. They were getting closer to the pit where the ganganguan had fallen into. Cody noticed in fact that they were calling the ganganguan to come to them. Rini ran ahead of the group of mixed kinds of people and tried ordering them to stop. Than Cody had a brilliant idea that was going to have to take some courage.
Cody looked around him and found a lost sandal that was either eaten by the ganganguan or was lost while exploring this tunnel. Cody picked it up, pulled out his drive and stared programming it. He than put the drive in the shoe, and took the shoe over to where they were chanting. He placed it at the edge of the tunnel, waiting for the ganganguan to come up.
Suddenly, they started hearing thumping noises as the ganganguan started coming up towards the tunnel. Before they knew it, the blue ganganguan was standing in front of all of them angry for waking him up again. Cody turned to Kristen who was not looking at the ganganguan, but adoring the boy. Cody sighed and had to do this right. He ran in between the ganganguan, The group, and the shoe. He then grabbed Kristen's hand, and grabbed Josh's with his other hand, than looked over to Rini.
"Sorry Rini, but I have to go." Cody said.
Rini understood, but before he could say anything Cody, at the same time stepped on the ganganguan's giant foot and put his other foot down on the shoe. Suddenly, the ganganguan, Cody, Kristen, and Josh disappeared from the tunnel, Brontsa out of his trance. The two Brogonsta's both snapped in dissapointment and than ran out of the large hole up above.
"Well brother, you should be glad that she is not your girl friend no more." Rini teased.
Brontsa grinned at his little brothers joking.
"And maybe I don't need a girlfriend Rinitsa. Come, lets get back home." Brontsa said, walking back towards the doorway. Rini followed behind and they went home, going to bed in peace and quiet.
Meanwhile, Cody, Kristen, Joshua, and the Ganganguan landed on a jungle planet. Though the ganganguan was the last of his kind, there was dozens of related creatures like it around the jungle. The Ganganguan seemed like the happiest Cody had ever seen it. It darted from the spot they were and it was automatically playing with other creatures. Kristen blinked multiple times, trying to figure out what had just happened. Joshua had already gone out of his trance and was shaking his head.
"What had just happened?" Kristen asked.
"It's sort of a long story, but this is the wrong place to explain it. We better get going on on finding that emerald necklace." Cody explained.
Cody quickly found a half of a coconut and placed his already programmed drive inside it. He had a place to go, he placed it on the ground and let it charge. Lately, Cody's drive had been having major glitches. Like it had accidentally sent them to this planet, though he wanted to go to another planet. Though this still worked out for the Ganganguan, Cody didn't understand how it had happened.Then when he got the signal from Kristen, he had accidentally ended up on this planet clear across the galaxy. Next thing he knew, he was standing over a river of hot lava with dark clouds up above. Than he did it again and ended up on a planet with hardly any oxygen around, making it hard for him to program his drive. Than after all night of going to planets besides the one he was after, he finally was able to fix it enough to reach him to Kristen and Josh. Than to find out that they had to go on more planets to find the emerald necklace.
Cody had a hard time trying to get them to this planet, but he managed. Now he has to take them towards the necklace, not away. They all got a hold of the half of coconut and they teleported hopefully to where Cody wanted it to go.
Chapter 4- 'Some Day My Prince Will Come'
Crystal sat on her bed looking like she was listening to her mother, but really wasn't. Instead, she was thinking of how her story will end. Her mother, the queen, didn't love her daughter as much as a mother should. Instead, she despised her daughter and kept her locked up in her bedroom until she takes her place as queen and she doesn't need to worry about her daughter any more. Though Crystal had been living like this most of her life and has wanted to escape ever since.
A couple of years ago a traveling man had given her a book. This book wasn't just an ordinary book, it was a book about fairy tale princess's. The man told her to keep this book hidden from anybody but those she trusts. So every night, when he mother is off to bed, she reads a little bit of the book. She has now finished the book multiple times and nearly has the entire thing memorized. She always wondered where this book came from exactly, what planet it came from. She wanted to know so badly so she could go there one day to meet those princess's.
But there was more than just wanting to see the planet it was on. She wanted something else inside that book that was nearly impossible on this type of planet. It was in fact a quote that many of the princess's would say inside and what Princess Crystal has been saying ever since she read that quote.
"Some day my prince will come." Crystal said dreamily as her mother left her bedroom.
"Crystal, you say that every night. You know it won't happen." Her mother said, her hands on her hips.
"No mother, in fact I believe my prince will come tomorrow. On your birthday." She said.
"At the ball, please. I am only inviting other people besides princes, they are too difficult to find. And anyway, the ball is going to be the last place you going to be before you end up a queen. Which, will probably won't be for another... twenty years maybe." her mother said and walked off.
The handmaiden, Mrs. Barrow, peeked into her bedroom, waiting for her to let her in. Crystal nodded and she entered the room. She sat next to her and sighed.
"You get to go to a ball after so many years, isn't it exciting?" She asked.
"Yah, but it is also for my mother." Crystal turned to Mrs. Barrow, "Why doesn't she do a ball for me, I am turning twenty in three days. " Crystal cried.
"You know, maybe you will find your prince before that." Mrs. Barrow responded.
Crystal smiled and than sighed. Mrs. Barrow patted her on the shoulder and than left the room to do her night chores. When Mrs. barrow left the room, Crystal bent down under her bed and pulled out her story tale book. She was on the Little Mermaid, in fact she was to the point when she was just becoming human. Crystal cheered when she read about her being found by the prince and she suddenly fell asleep.
Crystal woke up the next day and went straight to setting up the ball. She quickly ate breakfast in the kitchen and then helped the maids with the food. A boy about fourteen years old,with blond blond hair, and bright blue eyes, volunteered to help with cooking and serving the food, though he seemed a bit young for it.
When nighttime fell, Mrs. Barrow got her dressed and she went to the party. Everybody was all dressed up in there best gowns and suits, and nearly everybody was dancing. But Crystal just sat on a red velvet chair close to the food, knowing that the queen only brought friends that don't want to dance with her.
After a while, she decided she was going to fetch some food. She got off her seat and came up to the table where the fourteen year old boy was. He served her the dinner and sat back down at her seat. As she ate, she noticed something. The boy had left a message in her meat, it said:
Meet at
And that was all. She shrugged her shoulders and stuffed it in the seam of her dress that got ripped open. Suddenly the song changed and everybody shifted to a different partner. A boy, about fourteen years old with chocolate brown eyes, and a sweet smile. His face was good looking and fit her type very well. He came up to her, putting his left hand behind his back and his other out in front of her.
"Care to dance Madam Moselle." He said to her.
Of course if this was just a normal guy from the dance that asked her out, she would refuse. But she had two reason's why she stood up and accepted. One, he was hot, two, she had a very good feeling about him and took her chances.
"You seem a bit young sir." She said as he led her towards the middle of the dance floor.
"Well, from my world we start dancing around this age." He said.
The young man twirled her and her skirts opened wide. Than he quickly caught her and they continued the dance.
"How are you so good at this young sir?" She asked.
"I took a ballroom dancing class at school... I mean, I-"
"No I understand, you have more education at your world and you go to school for learning such things like this." She said, brushing some of the fluff off his jacket.
"Why you seem very smart to know such a thing." he commented.
"Why thank you young sir." Suddenly, an old man tapped the boy on the shoulder and he started dancing with crystal. As the young man left, he quickly slipped something between her ribbon of her bow. As she danced with the elder, she quickly reached into her bow and pulled out the peice of paper.
"What is that Madame?" He asked, as she stopped dancing.
"It's nothing sir." She said and walked off the ballroom floor.
She sat back down at her velvet seat and unfolded the piece of paper:
"The Gazebo at midnight." She seemed confused, why did he give this to her? She stuffed the piece of paper with the other and continued sitting on the chair for the rest of the party.
Crystal came to her room and shared all that happened of meeting the boy and how he gave her the paper to Mrs. Barrow. Mrs. Barrow sat next to her at the bed and read the two peice of papers.
"Mam, have you ever thought about putting these two together. Because together they say 'Meet at the Gazebo at midnight.'" She mentioned.
Crystal snatched the pieces of paper and stared at them. She looked at the clock at the wall and dropped the papers. She was already in her nightgown, so she snatched her cape and slipped it on.
"I have to go, thank you." She said.
Mrs. Barrow curtsied and unlocked the door for her.
"Keep that hood on Mam, you don't want the queen knowing about this." She said shooing her on.
Crystal puled the maroon hood over her head and nodded to her hand maiden. Than she ran off out of the castle. She swiftly walked towards the gazebo, knowing running would bring too many suspicions. She took the shortcut through the gardens and reached the gazebo. The young man stood inside the gazebo, still in his suit, with his gloved hands behind his back. He came up to her and put his hand out to her.
"Remember me?" he asked.
Crystal took his hand.
"How could I not young sir."
They sat down at the stone bench inside the gazebo and he handed her a sunflower, from the patch close by. She thanked him and placed the flower on her lap.
"I never got your name sir." She said adoring her flower.
"Sir Joshua the first." He said smoothly.
"Princess Crystal." Crystal suddenly started scooting a little closer to Sir Joshua, "I think your more than just a young man sir-" She tapped him on the nose, "Joshua."
Sir Joshua scooted back a little, feeling a bit awkward.
"I think your more like a... prince." She stood up and started walking around in circles around the inside the gazebo, "I have been looking for you day after day, night after night. I knew he would come today for sure though, and it is midnight. So it must be you." She said sitting back down next to him.
"I think you have made a mistake, princess. I do not come from a royal family, nor do I have any royal blood in me whatsoever." he said leaning back as she started getting a little close.
"Oh so your a page boy, how could you possibly be? You have clothes that look nothing like a servant." She laughed.
"I didn't say I was, I am a free boy out of a kingdom." He said.
Crystal stopped laughing and looked at him in surprise.
"Your free?" She asked.
"Yes, my country is called America, the land of the free."
Crystal looked around her, feeling desperate.
"Can I... may I go with you to your world and be with you?" She asked.
"Well, don't you have this place to live?" He asked.
"I can't live here any longer, I just want to be free from my mother."
Josh looked down at the ground, thinking of what the best idea was. Than it clicked, this girl was old enough to get married, she was lonely, passionate, kind, and she seemed like she would fit a good man almost like a prince.
"Well princess, I am afraid I cannot do that," Crystal frowned, "But I believe I can do something else for you that may be even better than your request."
Crystal scooted up closer to him.
"Can you tell me please?" She asked.
"How about if I show you instead. Do you have anything that you would like to bring with you?" Josh asked her.
"No sir, my mother will never return anything of mine ever again. I believe the only thing I can bring is my heart." She said.
Josh nodded and looked over the railing behind the bushes. He nodded. Suddenly the boy that helped in the kitchen and an unfamiliar girl appeared from behind the bushes. Crystal looked around confused.
"What is going on?" She asked as they came up to her. The blond haired boy was holding some small, blue object. He leaned down and picked up a flower pot and dumped the dirt out into the garden. He than dropped it inside and placed it on the ground. Crystal was wanting to walk away now, feeling award with how this was working out.
"Princess, please don't be frightened. This is how we go to places, please." Josh put his hand out towards Crystal.
She looked around her and grabbed his hand. Josh than smiled, bent down and he touched the pot with the other two. Suddenly Crystal was standing in the streets of a peaceful village. Josh showed her towards Rini's house. He politely knocked at the doorway and the first person who opened the door was his brother. Whom they were all hoping to first see.
Chapter 5- tricks and teases
It was odd to find after a while, going from place to place doesn't get as bad as it was in the beginning. At first the impact would get so bad while traveling through space that it would knock you out. But it was now, that if you landed wrong, yes you would pass out. Cody believed that it was his drive that was having the problems. In fact it fixed that problem a couple of weeks ago, but now his drive is having another problem. And that is taking him to the wrong place.
Kristen had landed hard on a tile floor and she resisted to say alert. After she could see clearly she noticed the checkerboard flooring was pretty big tiles. In fact she was only sitting on one of them. The flooring went on forever, she couldn't see a wall for as far as she could see or a ceiling. It was a white sky, as if she was sitting in a cloud. Kristen rubbed her back which landed first on the floor. She finally decided she was going to start looking for Cody, for looking around her it looked like he was nowhere in sight. She got up and took a step at another tile, than suddenly the tile started crumbling and it fell into a deep dark hole under the ground.
Kristen looked down at the hole, unsure how that could be possible. She tapped her foot on another tile and that one collapsed into the ground. Next thing she knew, the entire floor was collapsing but her own. She was now trapped, she had nowhere to go. She got back down on her hands and knees and peeked underneath her black tile. It was being held by a long, sturdy pole. But it didn't seem like the other tiles didn't have a sturdy pole like hers. She just ended up on it by a matter of luck.
Kristen took deep breathes, trying to stay calm in this trap. She couldn't move anywhere, the only choice she had was to just sit there until she was rescued.
Meanwhile, Cody sat in the grass of a vast meadow, surrounded by the devils he most despises. He wasn't sure if they were real or not, none of them moved, they just stood there like statues. He didn't want to be tricked, nor did he want to be teased about it in the future. He closed his eyes, muttering something to himself. He knew he got to the wrong place, and he wasn't sure how the others weren't with him.
Than he took his chances. He stood up and noticed the devils did not react. He smiled and slowly slipped through them. The meadow went on for miles without end, he wasn't sure where to go. He than pulled out his drive and got ready to leave the place. He placed it on a large leaf and tried to touch it but nothing happened. He kicked his foot against the ground, not understanding why it hadn't teleported him.
"You stupid drive, your broken too much!" He yelled at his drive.
He picked it up and stuffed it back in his pocket. He turned back to the spot he had landed to find the devil statues were suddenly gone. He turned back around to find himself surrounded once again.
Josh woke up with Marie looking down at him. He sat up and realized he was at the park, he blushed, feeling embarrassed.
"What happened?" He asked.
"You passed out." Marie said, rubbing his back.
"How?"
"Don't know, just happened." She shrugged her shoulders.
"I had this crazy dream about you being traded with this Yoda slash goblin dude and I ended up trying to trade you back by traveling through space with two random teenagers my age." Josh said, summarizing it as much as he could.
"Interesting."
"I don't remember being here before, I don't even remembering falling asleep."
"That's because you hit your head." She explained.
"But you said you didn't know what happened."
Marie stopped rubbing his back. She frowned, unsure how to answer this.
"I-I was just teasing you silly. In fact this was just a trick, I pulled out of bed and lied you in the grass at the park." She said, her smile coming back.
This wasn't Marie, she would never do such a thing. Not even his parents would, in fact this didn't feel right. He stood up and looked around him, all the kids looked nearly the same. As if they were repeated over and over and over. He backed away shaking his head.
"This is all wrong, this is the real dream." He said running into a tree.
"Well, what happens if I slap you in the face. Will you wake up back in your bed?"
"Yes, because this seems so unreal." Josh said as she approached him.
"Okay Joshua, lets give this a try." Marie suddenly slapped Josh on the cheek and he shook his head again. He looked around him to find himself in his bedroom just standing there. He blinked multiple times and was suddenly back at the park. He was still against the tree with Marie still in front of him.
"Well I guess it didn't work." She said picking her nails.
"This is a whole trick. I am still traveling with Cody and Kristen and we landed on this planet that all they do is trick and tease you until you figure it out on your own."
Marie smirked and walked closer to him.
"You know, you are smarter than I thought Joshua. Because your other friends haven't figured it out yet." Marie than looked around her and looked back up at her brother, "Though I guess you are a Halix, in fact a very smart Halix. I guess it makes sense that you know more than Kristen about being a Halix, but you just do it out of habit without realizing it. As for that other Halix, she has no experience of being one, though you had that practice for six years-"
"Stop it, I don't remember being one, and I don't know how you know. You are not my sister, and this is all a trick. Now stop talking you program!" He cried.
Suddenly it looked like Marie was glitching. And the sky looked like it was turning darker. Suddenly Josh was standing in a white room. A woman was standing in front of him, trying to get his attention.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I am Lucinda Drew, though I am only but a program. I see that you have figured out our scheme, though you cannot save your friend. Therefor, your friends are going to have to figure it out on there own." She said, with a large smile.
"I can't help them?" Josh asked.
"No."
The program suddenly glitched and disappeared. He sat down, knowing all he could do now was just to wait for them to figure it out. He than noticed in the white room Kristen lying close by. He ran over to her, trying to wake her up. Suddenly, Lucinda Drew popped up again.
"She cannot be awoken until she figures out our scheme." She said and disappeared again.
Josh sighed. He than noticed Cody, but knew it would be useless to come up to him and try to wake him up. He lied down and looked into Kristen's closed eyes. Waiting for them to open and they can leave this place forever.
Kristen still sat on her block, having nothing to do. There was nobody in sight, and she wasn't sure how to escape still. The cement post underneath this block was probably going to be her last resort to escape. But she knew doing that would bring her 99% chance of dying and 1% chance of getting lucky. She folded her arms and waited, her mind filling with questions.
After a while, she lied down and looked out into the white abyss. Suddenly, she heard a tiny voice in her head call to her. She sat up and it disappeared again. She hit her head, wanting the voice to come back to her. She lied back down and she heard the voice again. Kristen, if your hear me. I need to tell you that this is all a trick. The voice said. It almost sounded like Josh's voice, just more faded. She sat up and looked around her, this did seem like a trick.
"This is all a trick!" She shouted, hopeful.
Nothing happened.
"I am telling you, this is all a silly old trick. Now let me out of this mess." She screamed.
Still nothing.
"A trick, let me spell it out. A T-R-I-C-K!!!"
Nothing still.
Kristen sighed, and lied back down. Hoping the voice would come back to her, but she couldn't hear it any more. She looked up at the white sky and shouted once again,
"The teasing over guys, I have figured out now!"
The sky remained white, the bottom remained empty, and Kristen remained still on the large tile. Then she thought about how maybe it wasn't what she says, it is what she does. She stood up and took a deep breath.
"This is all just a trick, this is all just a trick..." She repeated this in her head as she took tiny steps towards the edge.
Her feet were half off of the edge, but the other half kept her still on. She expanded her arms out, still repeating the words over and over in her head. Suddenly she was falling, falling, falling into the deep dark hole. Her stomach lurching as she increased the speed. She let herself freely fall into the hole, her hands hanging out, and her eyes still closed. But minutes later and she was still falling, the hole seeming like it never ended. But she still held on to her courage, keeping calm and refraining from moving any part of her body.
Kristen suddenly opened her eyes and sat up. Josh was lying next to her looking up at her. He sat up and smiled.
"You figured it out." He said giving her a hug.
Seconds later and Cody woke up. He came up to them and was looking around for something to place his drive in. Lucinda popped up again and she looked down at the three of them.
"You have all achieved our scheme. You may all now go home." She said.
Cody was going to stop her from taking them home, but before they knew it they all vanished from the room.
Kristen stood in her yard, sad that they hadn't done anything. They actually sent them back home, and she was standing alone in her yard, her real yard.
Chapter 6- starting from the beginning
Kristen sighed and walked into her house. Her family was still gone, they were supposed to be back over a week ago. She looked around for any signs they were home but it seemed like just how she last left it. She walked into the kitchen and noticed the garbage hadn't been emptied yet. She remembered it being empty before she left. Then she knew for sure they came back, but why was this only sign of them being here. She opened the lid to find garbage that she remembered eating before going with Cody again.
She picked it up and took it out to the garbage can outside. She went back inside to find her cell phone left on the counter. She didn't remember it being there before she went outside, but she took it anyway. Before she left she had forgotten her cell phone and left it one the counter, she now has it back.
Kristen suddenly heard a knock at the door. She came up to it to find Cody standing there with his hands in his pockets.
"Coming? Or do you want a little more vacation?" He asked.
Kristen looked around her, she doesn't remember telling him that she was vacationing. In fact they were dropped off here by accident.
"No, I am coming." She said and closed the door behind her.
Cody led her down the stairs and he had already had his drive set up in the grass, the drive inside a small birthday bag.
"Now what about Josh?" She asked.
"Josh?" He asked, as if he didn't know him.
"Yah, Joshua the Halix." Cody stared at Kristen confused at what she was talking about.
"Do you even know what a Halix even is?" He asked.
"Of course I do, I am a Halix aren't I?" Cody backed away.
"How did you find out?" He asked.
"Don't you know Cody? You took me to my family and I got to find out."
Cody shook his head.
"Lets just drop the subject, I must be hearing things." Cody said.
They both got a hold of the handles of the bag and they popped up inside a tight spaced bedroom. A small circular window was close by and Kristen peeked out.
"Cody, we are in a space ship." She said with excitement.
But Cody wasn't thinking about how cool they were on the spaceship. He was thinking about other things, he was in fact in his own world.
"Cody, oh look. It's a shooting star!" She pointed out the window.
Cody sat down at the bed and stared at the wall in thought. Kristen shook his shoulders, trying to shake him from his trance.
"Cody, come on." She said, impatient.
Cody still stared and Kristen looked back out the window.
"Tell me the entire story of how you found out you were a Halix." Cody said, now glancing back over to her.
Kristen turned her head towards him.
"Don't you already know?" She asked.
"I just want a reveiw, I like the story."
Kristen sat next to him and told him about how they landed on the white dome, and how she met one of her brothers without knowing it, she told him about going to the adult city, and how there was no girls. She told him about getting a job, how she met the governor, how everything worked out on meeting her mother, and how they left without her finding out about it.
"So your looking for them right now?" He asked.
"How do you not know this Cody, have you lost all of your memory over the last five weeks?" She asked.
"No, I have only met you for not even three weeks." he said.
Everything was now getting confused for the both of them.
"What day is today?" She asked.
"May first."
Than it clicked.
"Right now for me it is July 25."
"That means you came to the past and I met the future Kristen. "
"That's not good, because today in my past I am supposed to meet you that night."
"It's already nighttime, so that would mean you have been traveling with the future Cody the whole time."
This was getting all confusing. This entire time she had been discovering who Josh was and who her family was, she was with the future Cody. Cody rubbed his temples, thinking of the best way to think this through.
"Where am I now do you think?" He asked.
"Trapped in a ship deep in space." Kristen explained.
"Tell me more about what happened."
Kristen told him about the ship and how she had to go save him. She explained how she knew this by a shape- shifter. Cody than stood up with a brilliant idea.
"Why don't you and me go to this ship and meet future Cody before the other Kristen finds him, and we can switch places. That way I have less experience of what is to come and the past and present us will be united again." Cody said, proud of his theory.
"That is brilliant Cody, and it doesn't seem that hard either." Kristen said, jumping up.
Past Cody and future Kristen gave each other a high five and he started programming again. Him and Kristen smiled as he counted down to touch the tin mug. They grabbed the cup and they landed in the hallways of the cells.
"Which cell Kristen?" He asked.
Kristen pointed down the hallway to a door at the end. They ran down it to find it obviously locked. They sat against the door, thinking of the best way to get in. They both had forgotten that a cell door would be locked shut.
"You know it is burning hot in here." Kristen said as a drip of sweat came down her cheek.
"Don't know what to say about that." Cody said.
Kristen pulled her hair up in a high bun, having the back of her neck at least feeling cooler. As Kristen put her hair up, Cody noticed a guard coming down the hallway. Not noticing them. He stood up and was about to come up to him and try to pick pocket the keys until he noticed the future Kristen had already beaten him to it.
She had smoothly slipped behind him without neither Cody or the guard seeing them and she easily pulled out the keys out of the jacket. Before he knew it Kristen was back with him and unlocking the large door. The guard had turned the corner into another hallway and Kristen opened the door. Cody smiled as he spotted Kristen, but than frowned again as he saw himself too.
"Wait, who is he?" Cody wondered, confused of seeing himself.
"Cody." Kristen said smoothly.
"How, I am not wearing the same clothing and I have a bit of a bead hair going on."
"Hey, I am you Future Cody. We just got a little warped with time. You were about to go explore with the Kristen in the past, who doesn't know she is Halix and doesn't know who this Joshua guy is. And I was about to explore with future Kristen, with me not knowing that she knows she is not human, and me having not even met this other kid that goes with you guys."
Future Cody stood up, everything was making sense now.
"So what's you plan Cody from the past?" He asked.
"We switch places. You go with your Kristen and I go with mine." Past Cody said.
"Alright, well I think this is going to work out then. Just remember whatever Kristen has told you, you need to do the exact thing to this Kristen." Future Cody said and walked up to Kristen.
Cody checked his watch.
"Well, Kristen will be up here in about fifteen minutes. You have to know as little as you can, so it would be best if we go now." Future Cody told him.
Cody nodded.
"Seeya guys." he said and they left the cell. Kristen and Cody walked down the hallway and Kristen spotted the guard close by. She swiftly returned the keys back in his pocket and they left back to Earth.
"So what do we do now?" Kristen asked, wondering what is going to happen now.
Suddenly, they felt each other teleport from her yard. They were suddenly back inside the white room with Joshua and the program.
"Was that a test, because I actually remember that happening a couple of weeks ago." Cody said.
"It was in fact another thing out people do for a living. In fact we either do it from hallucinations or real life. I teleported you to the past to meet yourselves and figure out how to coordinate it all together. It looks like you have made it successful, I shall now let you free." Lucinda said.
Lucinda suddenly disappeared again and the three of them stood there in the room. The program had left a bag to put the drive in. Cody placed it inside the bag and waited for it to charge.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier Cody, you knew how it was all to happen?" Kristen asked him
"I had to do as you told me in the past." Cody answered.
"But time can change, I could have suddenly get a different memory. It is alright." She argued.
"I didn't want to change it."
Kristen stormed up to him and pointed at him.
"Oh wrong wording, I didn't like how you had to wait so long before I could find out. You freaked out when I told you that I knew I was a Halix, WHY?"
Josh stayed back as they argued, making sure not to get in there bubbles. He stood behind Kristen and was staring at the Halix sign in the back of her neck that was showing with her hair up in a bun. When she showed it to him earlier, it was only for half a second. But he was now staring at it for a long time, observing the shape and watching how it swirled and connected.
Suddenly, he got a flashback of seeing the sign in a different spot. He blinked multiple times as more flashbacks came to him. It was like seeing a slide show ten times fast of your past. He saw the devils faces, and a woman's crying face, he saw houses being burned down, and a man going out to battle, he saw the woman placing him inside something, and he saw millions of other things coming one by one in his head. Josh tried to keep his balance, but there was nothing to hold on.
"Guys." he said faintly, his hands on his knees.
"Guys." He said a little louder.
They stopped argueing and they looked at Josh.
"I am starting to remember." And he passed out on the ground.
Chapter 6- remembering
The city of Haliboo, 2006
The war was within the city of Haliboo, nearly every man was out to war saving the city. Though there were too many of them, millions of devils would suck away the lives of men and slowly get closer and closer on winning there battle. Though they weren't there to conquer, they were there for a young boy. Many years ago they had heard of a fortune teller telling them about a young man who will wipe out the entire population of the devils.
After hearing that, the devils had no choice but to return for this child. They didn't want to die because of a young Halix coming to conquer there population. The fortune teller told them that this boy right now is only but in his childhood of about six years old. His name would be called Joshua and he would have two parents of the names Elizabeth and James.
The head captain of the devils called to the others and ordered half of them to break in each door of the homes and find the boy. Half of them continued battling, and the other half started breaking through doors and looking for the young boy. Though Elizabeth and James lived up the hill on the far end, overlooking the city. And the devils had begun looking at the beginning of town.
James had gone out to battle, and ever since Elizabeth had heard nothing from him. Elizabeth was one of the few that knew exactly what the devils were looking for and she knew it was her boy. She watched out the window, holding Josh's small six year old hand tightly inside her own. Though he complained of her squeezing his hand too much, she couldn't release his hand. She was indeed very frightened and wasn't sure what to do, but to stay in the house. She knew this house wouldn't be a safe house for long, especially with how quickly they were hunting down each house.
Elizabeth spotted the devils getting closer and closer to the end of town and picked Josh up in her arms. His mother was holding him tightly in her arms, tension building up as they continued getting closer and closer. She had one option but it was an option she didn't like. It would be risky, and it would take a lot of sacrifice.
The choice was to take him to the lightning portal, of which has never been used before. The creators have said that the portal brings one person through the universe by lightning. They also mentioned that with how it travels through electricity it has a big chance of the person perishing. They offered the portal to her, but she couldn't except it. She kept it on the other side of the hill, hidden in a cave, but hoping to keep it there for the rest of her life.
But as the devils started coming up the hill, she backed away from the window. Josh held on tightly, young enough not to understand exactly what is going on. She started running towards the back door, Joshua wanting off. His mother put him down, but kept her hand tightly around his. She led him further up the hill.
Elizabeth looked behind her to find the devil breaking into her house. A tear fell down her cheek, trying not to show this to her boy. She led him towards the top of the hill and looked down to find the rock blocking the cave. She bent down to match eyes with Josh. She kissed him on the forehead.
"I love you." She cried, her eyes filling with more tears.
"Mommy, what is going on?" He asked
"Mommy is just sad because I have to go for a while." She said.
"How long are you going to be gone?"
"I don't know, but you just have to promise to me that you will always remember me at all times."
"Of course mommy, I will always." He said.
Elizabeth hugged her boy and gave him another kiss on the cheek.
"Oh my son." She cried.
On the corner of her eyes she spotted the devils coming out of her house. She was in clear sight of them if they turn around. She quickly grabbed his hand again and she led him down the hill. She was going so fast down the hill Joshua tripped and fell face on the ground. He started crying, and his mother began trying to shush him.
"Shhhh, we have to be quiet."
"Why mommy?" He asked.
"Because we are hiding."
Joshua smiled and put his fingers to his lips. She made a wry smile and came over to the rock. She moved it with all of her strength out of the way and there the portal still remained. It was nearly the size of the cave itself, and it seemed to only fit one person.
She came back up to Joshua and took his hand again. She led him towards the cave and placed him in the portal. She kissed him on the forehead again.
"I love you!" She whispered.
As she closed the door of the portal, Joshua noticed her face filling with tears. Than the door closed and everything blacked out.
Ganadoo, present time
Josh's eyes snapped open and he quickly sat up, the blood rushing to his head. He was expecting Kristen and Cody to be in the room he was in, but nobody was there. The room was small, about the size of a large dinner table. It only had enough room to fit a mat for a bed and a small dresser to put clothes in. The ground was just matted dirt, with pieces of straw to soften it up a bit. The room had solid walls of stone, but had no windows. And the door was no taller than five feet tall, having most people to bend down to get inside.
Bugs were flying around the room, all in a large mass close to the ceiling. Joshua stood up and the flies buzzed off to a corner. He wanted to see what was outside, but he didn't want to peek through the door. Josh decided he was going to peak through the door anyway, he opened it a crack to find hay fields. He opened the door wider and stepped out into the blazing sun in his bare feet. The room he was in was in fact a small stone hut. He looked around the area to find no other huts nor buildings around the area. He looked behind the hut to find more farmland. He didn't understand how he ended up alone in a hay field that reached for miles that seemed like it had no end.
Miles away was mountains that reached higher than the height of the Rocky Mountains. The farm land seemed to even reach all the way to those mountains. He sighed, unsure what to do. He walked back inside his hut and sat on his mat, asking himself whether he should wait or go look for them.
Suddenly, Josh felt his mat sinking into the ground. Losing him off guard. He grabbed into the stone that stuck out of the wall, not wanting to sink into the floor. He held on even tighter as the mat reached down to at least four and a half feet. Than the moving stopped, he was about to stand up and quickly climb out until he noticed something. It was a passage way and the mat was a trap door.
Out of curiosity, he slipped inside the crawl space and landed on damp soil underground. There were candles lit down the corridor, lighting his way towards wherever it lead to. He followed it down until it suddenly stopped at a solid, stone wall. He looked around him, hoping he hadn't missed a hidden hallway or anything. He hit his head against the wall, confused of what puzzle he was going against.
Than he noticed that there were imprints on some of the stones. He observed the stones to find there was only ten on the entire wall. One stone was a circle with separate lines around it, it looked like a child's drawing of earth's sun. Another stone showed a circle with a ring around it. The third one was a large circle, nearly covering the entire stone with an eye on the corner. One looked nearly like Earth, another was tiny, maybe the size of a golf ball, and the rest of the circles on the stones were all pretty close to the same size just with different patterns.
Josh observed it a little more closely to find they all were planets, except for the first one. In fact it nearly looked like the Solar System. Maybe it's a code, I need to put all the planets in order. Joshua thought. He looked up at the ceiling trying to remember his fifth grade teachers song to help them memorize the planets.
He touched the sun imprint to find it pushed in. He started getting jittery as he pushed the next planet, Mercury. He continued pressing down the stones in order, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and what looked like Pluto as last. It was odd to try to put Pluto back into the Solar System after scientists got rid of it a few years back, but it seemed to fit as the ninth planet.
As he pressed the tenth stone, the wall suddenly parted and he was suddenly standing in front of a large first class foyer. It was like a underground mansion, spiral staircases were further down the foyer, there was a white marble floor, elegant velvet curtains covered where the windows were supposed to be, and gold engravings on the floorboards. Josh walked into the house and he heard the stones get back together behind him. It seemed impossible that walls could do such a thing, though he was so enthralled with the house that he didn't take his time looking at how it does that. He walked around the house, admiring everything around him.
While he walked towards the elegant spiral staircases he spotted a girl with wavy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes come down the staircase. Joshua ran up the stairs towards her.
"Hey Josh, it seems like you figured out the code." Kristen said, grinning.
"I guess so, how is this possible?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Lots of enhancements in a different world in a different galaxy. They try connecting with earth by having stuff that relates with it, but they just added with there own technologies. The hay field you just saw was just a hologram, this planet is in fact the smallest planet in the tri-galaxy area. They try making it seem bigger to bring new people here but it never works. Though we decided to try it on you just for the fun of it."
Josh gave Kristen a look that said Seriously Kristen?
"But why don't I see the light streaming through the curtains?" Josh asked cooly.
"Because it's nighttime, and plus this planet is so small it doesn't even have a moon. "
"Well if this planet is so small how long is there nights?" Josh asked, curiosity building up.
"Ganadoo rotates slow and it takes about five hours before the next day, they normally sleep through an entire day for it to count as night. So they seal up the curtains at night to keep the light from waking them. A day is every other day, while the other days are counted as night." Kristen said, feeling all smart.
"Interesting-"
"It also takes the planet seven hundred and thirty real days for it to rotate completely around the sun, which means the sun should be nearly the same size of our own. Since this planet is so small, the people who live here have to go to other planets close by to buy the food and provisions, so life here is a lot different than our own." Kristen interrupted.
Josh slapped his forehead.
"Okay, how did you find out about all of this and how do you remember everything?" Josh asked.
Kristen blinked multiple times trying to figure it out herself.
"I don't know, it just came out as if I was a human computer." She said, her hands on her hips.
Both Josh and Kristen dropped the subject and Kristen gave him a tour around the large house. As she led him upstairs and brought him in a large living room where about a half a dozen men and woman sat, Cody being there also. Josh and Kristen took a seat and they were ready to introduce each other to them.
"Hey guys, this is Josh, Josh these are the people who live here." Kristen introduced.
"I'm Doctor Maine by the way Josh." A man with grey hair and circular spectacles, started.
"Professor Pint." A man in a wool jacket and a blue bow tie said next.
It was almost like they were being introduced to a town meeting in the eighteen hundreds. The third was a woman named Madame Marice, the fourth, Mr. Lime, Lady Karen, Mr. Blyde (Butler), and Mrs. Amber (Hand Maiden). They all seemed kind and lovely people, able to live on a planet on there own, and able to welcome any visitors anytime. The group of them talked for a while, getting to know each other and becoming good friends with most.
Before Josh knew it the sun was already shining showing it was mid afternoon (to Ganadoo's clock anyway).
Mrs. Amber stood up in the middle of the conversation, brushing fluff off of her apron.
"Pardon me please, I have to go make some lunch." She said and walked out of the room.
A few minutes later and Mrs. Amber returned with a tray full of miniature sandwiches.
"Nothin' too much, just a light lunch this afternoon." She said, placing the tray on the coffee table.
Josh hadn't realized how hungry he was, he in fact didn't even know how long he was asleep. He ate about eight sandwiches before losing count of how many he was eating. After they all ate a merry and light lunch, Professor Pint (Who seemed like the owner of the home) introduced Josh to his room.
The day turned out just playing games and talking with all of the other people for five hours until it was time for bed. Josh came into his bedroom, laid on his bed and sighed. The memory now was clear in his head, repeating over and over trying to tell him something that he just wasn't catching. It now seemed like a curse to find your painful memories you never knew about until seven years later inside your head. He couldn't sleep, he feared of the devil's, those dreadful devils and couldn't bare to see there covered faces inside his head.
Closing his eyes just made the image of his worst enemy show up better. He knew getting up and wandering the house wouldn't help much, being in the dark where the devils like it most. And staying in bed would just frustrate him more. Josh got out of bed and turned on the lamp. He took it down stairs and entered the library quietly, as if the books were sleeping too. He sat down on a comfy, velvet seat and grabbed the first book he saw from the shelf. It seemed like a coincidence, because for some reason this library many galaxies away had a classic that most people have heard about before: Sherlock Holmes. It was interesting to find that the house itself somehow fit at the same time Sherlock Holmes was set in.
Josh flipped to the first page and started to read. As he read he suddenly heard footsteps in the distance, he quietly but quickly shut the book, and he suddenly felt a piercing pain in the palm of his hand. He waited quietly, hoping it would be Mrs. Amber or Madame Marice. Ignoring the pain in his hand. From the other side of the bookshelf in front of him he heard two hushed voices. He listened carefully, hoping to hear every word but they were so quiet it was difficult to hear.
"I don't want to hear it again, I am not going to go through this." One voice said harshly.
There was a long pause, as if the other person was trying to talk in his smallest voice that not even Josh could hear.
"I don't care what you say, good bye."
Josh heard footsteps go towards the other double doors, but he didn't get to see there faces or whether they were male of female. Josh placed the book exactly where he found it and quietly rushed upstairs, as he came up the stairs he brushed against a long vase on a small table next to the stairs, knocking it over. He heard it hit the ground and froze, praying that it hadn't woken anybody else. The vase seemed strong being glass, and it only chipped a small part on the top of the vase. He placed it back on the table and turned it so the chip faced the wall. He than took steadier steps toward his room.
As he walked into his room he looked at his hand, which had a bloody, long thin cut clear across the palm. He walked over to a small dresser and pulled out a long, black sock and wrapped it snugly around his hand. He than shut the light off the tucked into his warm covers for the night.
The next day Lady Karen (Being only in her early twenties) rushed into Josh's room. Josh sat up, wondering what all the rush was about.
"It's urgent..." She said, trying to catch her breath.
"Okay, what is it?" He asked.
"Mr. Lime was killed last night, and two people are missing." She said, her body leaned against the wall.
"Who is missing?"
"Mrs. Amber"
"And..." Josh said, wanting to know the other person.
She shook her head, as if she really didn't want to tell him. There was along pause.
"And Cody."
Chapter seven- The Game of Clue
"One dead, two missing. How can this be possible?"
Kristen couldn't believe what she just heard, Cody missing? She has known him for nearly an entire summer, and than he vanishes before her eyes. She knew Josh could be sad that Cody was one of the two that went missing, but he wouldn't be as bad as she was. They couldn't be able to get that necklace without him, and if they don't get that necklace than they can't save Marie, and if they can't save Marie Josh is going to be miserable for the rest of his life, and if he is like that then the whole universe will feel like it is falling apart.
Kristen rubbed her temples, a terrible headache she was getting. She paced around her bedroom, trying to discuss things with Lady Karen. She trusted her, for she was as young and naive as she was. It was in fact that Lady Karen is human and visits America with her warp speed space ship and knows a lot about the culture. It almost seemed like Lady Karen would be the only person she could trust in this situation, not counting Joshua.
"So how are we going to find out who the suspect was?" Kristen asked, wondering if her theory will relate to a familiar game she played called, Clue.
"I am thinking up something, but it might require you since Mr. Cody is most known to you."
Kristen nodded, wondering if she should tell Lady Karen about the game.
"Do you have any clues from any objects?" She asked.
"Well, earlier this morning I saw a book left in the library with a blood stain on the side. I observed it to find the blood stain was just recent, like in the last seven to eight hours."
"Do you have any other evidence?" She asked.
"Yes, while I was attempting to walk back upstairs to warn the others I noticed the vase near the stairs had a chip on it. This chip was never there until this morning, which means somebody was definitely wandering the halls last night. So there is our second clue." Lady Karen said.
"That helps a lot, okay, so what if this person left this planet?" She asked
"They couldn't have, because ships that come and go always have there loud, vibrating noise and it would be for sure that one of us would notice it. So that means this person is still withing the building so I think I already have a list of suspects to talk to."
. . .
Everybody was ordered to the meeting room. The seven of them looked gloomily at the three empty seats in the room. Lady Karen, somehow being in charge of this case (Though you would expect Professor Pint since he is the owner of the home), stood up from her seat holding a notebook to show and write down clues.
"The suspect for this case is unknown so far, though he couldn't have escaped as far as this house. That means it has to be one of us, so one of you must have that poker face in this room." Lady Karen said, the people inside the room looked around the room trying to look for that poker face.
Lady Karen took a deep breath.
"I am going to speak to each of you individually, and I am going to start with Madame Marice." Lady Karen said, turning towards Madame Marice.
Madame Marice looked around the room, and than stood up. She nodded and followed her out of the room. Lady Karen took her to Professor Pint's office. Madame Marice sat down at the velvet chair inside the office. Lady Karen sat down in Professor Maine's chair and placed her elegant hands on the redwood.
"Madame Marice, born on August twenty ninth of nineteen-sixty three, born in the Liginston hospital on the planet of Tostraica, in the city called New Marion's. You having three brothers and divorced parents-" She read, Madame Marice stopped and placed the notebook on the desk, "According to the records I got from professor Maine it seems like you had a hard life. Can you tell me anything that you noticed this morning or what you did last night?"
Madame Marice weaved her fingers together and looked down at the floor in thought. Her fur scarf motionless on her shoulders.
"I hadn't slept well last night, especially finding the letter my father had sent me. As I cried in my bed I could hear hushed voices in the library next door. I came to the library door and tried to listen but I couldn't tell whom the voices belonged to. A few minutes later and I heard a man's struggling breath inside the foyer. I attempted to quietly walk over to the foyer to find Mr. Lime on the ground with his shirt soaked with blood. I tried to help him, but before I could do anything else he took his last breathe and he was gone." Madame Marice choked. She wiped her pale grey eyes with her scarf and looked back up at Lady Karen, her mascara leaving streaks down her face.
"Well I'm sorry if this is too hard for you." Lady Karen said.
Lady Karen put her long, flowing, blond hair into a bun and excused Madame Marice. Lady Karen, being young and naive sat down in the owners desk starting to think that this job was already getting too hard for her. She had never done such a thing and not very many people could see her doing it until now. She just volunteered because she was the next witness to find evidence.
She decided it was done for today. Lady Karen was used to Mrs. Amber coming up to tell them about supper, but she was one of the missing. She sighed and came back into the meeting room to find all of them gone. At first she freaked out, and then realized they must all be downstairs eating there supper. She came down the stairs to find that her theory was correct, they were all at the dinner table eating a simple dinner of leftovers and tap water. Lady Karen took her place next to Madame Marice who had quickly dressed into her dinner outfit.
Kristen and Josh sat next to each other, speaking to each other in hushed whispers in there ears. Lady Karen paid no attention to what hints the table was making as she ate. Mr. Blyde came walking in the dining area with a white towel draped over his right arm. He leaned between Madame Marice and lady Karen.
"Are you done with your dinna' ladies." He asked as Lady Karen took her last bite of her meat.
"Yes, thank you sir." Madame Marice said, placing her fork facing up on the plate.
Mr. Blyde made a short nod and picked up her plate, taking it back to the kitchen. He returned shortly after rushing over to a small water spill on the Persian Rug and cleaning it up.
"Please excuse me." Mr. Blyde said as he slipped through Doctor Maine and Professor Pint to clean up the spill.
Later that night Everybody stayed in there bedrooms locking there doors for safety. As Kristen sat on her bed, playing with her hair she heard a knock at her door.
"It's me Ms Kristen." The voice of Lady Karin said.
Kristen hopped off her bed and opened the door. Lady Karen was in her white nightgown with her blond hair in a long braid down to her hips. She curtsied and entered her room.
"I have a plan, but like what I said earlier today it is a large possibility that you will be really involved in this case." Lady Karin shut the door, and sat down next to Kristen, "I have a sudden feeling that this suspect is going to be out again tonight, in fact for some odd reason I feel like Mr. Blyde might be the next victim.... I know this is a hard thing to ask for you, but I think the best thing to find the suspect is to find him doing the act. Which means we need a spy tonight, do you accept the offer?" She asked.
Kristen stared down at the floor in deep thought, agreeing on how hard this question was to ask for. She than looked Lady Karin in the eyes.
"Though I am no expert and have never done this before, I... I accept you offer."
Lady Karin made a grateful smile. She stood up and curtsied again.
"Thank you, I don't know how I can repay you." She said and quietly left the room.
Kristen waited for the door to close and she grabbed her backpack that she had placed on the edge of the bed. She opened up the biggest zipper and rummaged through the stuff she had. Than finally she found what she needed, the mini red flashlight.
She had put the tracker inside her backpack for safety since it can easily fall out of her pocket. She knew to be a spy she had to show as little of her as she could, so she is not going to take her backpack. She placed the tracker inside her sock (Since her night gown Lady Karin had given her didn't have pockets), and crept out of her room.
The entire hallway and so on was dark and hard to see, but Kristen didn't think about turning on lights. She crept downstairs, and hid behind a small table on a wall in the foyer. And she waited, she waited for the right time.
Kristen sighed and was about to sigh again until suddenly she heard a slight creak and she held her breath. She saw a dark figure walk quietly down the staircase. She watched carefully, but didn't want to have him hear her breathing. The dark figure suddenly came to view and she put her hand on her mouth in shock. The figure looked around, as if he was trying to meet someone. Suddenly a plump dark figure came from the Library. It wobbled over to the other figure.
"Why have you summoned me here?" The plump figure asked, it sounded like Mrs. Amber.
"Because you are the only one I trust Adelaide."
"Did you find the suspect?"
"That is why you are here, now before I tell you. How was your trip to your sisters, did you get there safely?"
"yes, I very much did sir."
"Oh good, now come here."
Kristen saw his hand waving her towards him. She came up close and he whispered it in her ear. When he finished, she nodded.
"I will look forward on telling them, good night." She said and walked off.
The dark figure looked around and then rushed up the stairs silently. Once Kristen couldn't see him anymore she pulled out of her hiding spot and began towards the stairs. As she came up the stairs and turned he corner towards the hallway, she suddenly felt a hand cover her mouth and pull her in the closest room. The other hand of the figure shut the door and she was pulled down so hard she had to sit down. A lamp flickered on and she squinted her eyes at the figure.
"What did you hear from that conversation?" he asked.
"All I know is that whatever you told her is a lie and you are the suspect."
"That was a brilliant guess I should say, and I believe you are the only one through out the entire household that has figured it out."
"What are you going to do to me now?"
"Cody is safe ms. Kristen, in fact he had an urgent meeting and he had to go as soon as possible. He didn't have time to tell you."
"And you set up that meeting." Kristen spat.
"But of course, so neither of them were kidnapped. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to kidnap anyone, in fact I just claimed that just now."
Kristen felt her hands being roped together.
"You will regret this, oh you will regret this Mr. Blyde." She said right before she was gagged and pulled out of the room.
Chapter 8- Mr. Blyde
Kristen squinted her eyes in the bright light, trying to get used to it after being blindfolded for several hours. She couldn't rub her eyes, especially since her wrists were cuffed together, and she couldn't yawn with tape over her mouth. She was in fact tied to a chair in a room that looked like a hotel room. Even though it was hard to turn her head in the awkward position she was in, she was just able to turn her head to glance out of the window. The window was about ten feet away, too far to try to escape.
She glanced over to find that it was dark outside. She was definitely not on Ganadoo anymore for it being with loads of building's and hovering cars. She tried stretching her neck to see further to find that the room she was in was many stories high. Before she could look any further Mr. Blyde came over and she turned to glare at him.
"No Ms Kristen, you are no longer on Ganadoo. In fact you are on Dashario in the city Damlon, which is the largest city in the Qwest Galaxy." Mr. Blyde answered her question she didn't even ask yet.
Kristen just glared, not able to speak with the duct tape over her mouth. Mr. Blyde ripped the duct tape off her mouth (And to find that it really hurt to rip off) , Kristen still didn't say anything. Mr. blyde started pacing around her, his gloved hands behind his back.
"I didn't just kidnap you because I didn't want you witnessing to everybody else that it was me, in fact I did it for another... tomorrow night there is to be a young adult activity which is placed inside the Damlon museum. There was a small rumor about they are going to display some of the artifacts into one room on a table, so the young adults can remain in one room. One artifact is something that I need, but I can't do it myself-"
"You want me to steal something for you?" she asked.
"Why yes, and if you get this artifact for me I will let you go."
There was a long pause, the desicion hard to decide, she had never stolen something before also to add she was going to do it for a bad person. Kristen straightened up.
"Tell me what to get and I'll do it for you." She said, it being too late to turn back now.
. . .
"One man killed, two people found, and three missing. I just don't understand this." Doctor Maine said, he turned to Professor Pint who was rubbing his tentacles and slouched down on his favorite chair, " Professor, do you know what the meaning of this is?" he asked him.
Professor Pint sat up and rested his arms on the arms of the chair.
"We first need to ask if we have any witnesses in this room. Can all the witnesses raise there hand." Proffeosr Pint said.
Cody (Being found just this morning), Mrs. Amber, and Madame Marice all rose there hands. Professor nodded to Madame Marice for her to start.
"A clue I should say, A clue that I had found in Ms. Kristen's bedroom." Madame Marice pulled a backpack out from the side of her chair, "A Knapsack that was left unnatended."
Cody sat up as Professor Pint chose him.
"I over heard Mr. Blyde whispering to Madame Marice-"
"He was giving me a warning for last night!" Madame Marice interrupted.
Cody nodded, saying that he was finished. Mrs. Amber smiled, when he chose her next.
"I know who the person was who killed Mr. Lime." She said, they all sat up in there seats when they heard that.
"I think it is Ms. Kristen." The entire room filled with gasps.
"How could this be?"
"The first thing is, a couple of nights ago I over heard her arguing with him. Next thing I new, a couple of days later he is dead in the Foyer. Than just yesterday during dinner Kristen was giving Mr. Blyde a mysterious glance. It almost looked like she was making a plan with him in it. Which probably meant she kidnapped him and they escaped."
"But Kristen doesn't even know how to drive a car, and definitely not a space ship." Cody argued.
"She could have either forced him to drive, or she had another drive. And that must be Mr. Josh, for not even you Cody know much about Josh yet. "
"He is the same age as her!" He barked.
"But from a different family with different things to learn from them. She probably left her backpack here so nobody would recognize her as easily being a normal girl without an unusual backpack."
"But she always has her backpack, even if she is trying to camouflage." Cody said.
"Well maybe you don't know her enough." She said, Cody shut his mouth speechless. Could this really be true?
. . .
The young teenagers all waited in front of the doors of the museum. The Museum is supposed to be closed to the public, so the teenagers would have it to themselves. An employee came to the door and opened it and welcomed all of the kids in. He led them to a large room with multiple long tables along the walls. One table was for food, another was for activities they are going to be doing, and the rest of the tables were artifacts from other rooms with there names on a card in front of them.
With the tracker in Kristen's sock, she could hear everybody in English. Mr. Blyde had not found out she had it, and she knew she had to signal Cody when it gets to the right time. She casually walked over to the table with food and got served a plate of some purple, jello like food and tiny little blue balls of what looked like blueberries/ kidney beans. She thanked the servers and sat down at one of the wooden chairs that sat closest to the table of artifacts.
She glanced over at the table, while at the same time scooping up the purple mush with some spoon like silverware. She was about to put in her mouth until she saw what she was looking for. She placed the plate on the chair and walked over to the doorway to an employee standing at the doorway. She walked up to him and whispered the code to the man. He nodded and left the room.
She turned around and was about to observe it until a girl about sixteen years old comes up to her.
"Hello,what's your name?" She asked
The girl seemed immature for her age, she had two pigtails with a pink sparkly tutu on, and she had tight ballerina shoes on. It felt awkward to talk to a teenager who looked like a two year old.
"Kristen." She said awkwardly.
The girl held her hand out to her for a handshake. Kristen shook her hand and quickly let go.
"I'm Shelby Barnes." She than looked down at her dress, "I know this looks silly to you. I am an only child and my parents don't want me to grow up literally. So they force me to wear stuff for little girls in public just so they can feel young, I mean they don't even let me get the stuff I want for my age." She said more maturely this time.
"I'm so sorry, don't you have any other clothes other than this?" she asked.
Shelby started getting a little jumpy.
"That is why I came for, I wanted to make a friend so I can tell you my plan," She came to Kristen's ear and whispered, "I was able to steal a dress from my mom's wardrobe, and I brought it here to wear. Do you want to come with me so you can have a look at my outfit?"She asked.
Kristen looked around her, the man had not returned yet. She looked up at the ceiling which had decorations across it.
"Sure, why not." Kristen said and followed her out of the party room. They went to the bathroom and Shelby went into one of the lockers to get her dress on. Kristen tapped her foot, feeling impatient.
"Hey I am going to wait outside okay?" Kristen asked.
"Okay." She said cheerfully.
Kristen got out of the bathroom to find that the employee was just about to enter the party room. She stopped him and he handed a finely carved, wooden box. She opened it up to find it empty. The employee nodded and he entered the party room. Shelby returned in a large princess dress that expanded for almost two yards in diameter. She spun around, feeling as happy as could be.
"What do you think?" She squealed.
"It's great." She said with sarcasm, but Shelby didn't notice.
Shelby rushed over and grabbed her wrist, pulling Kristen back into the room. Than the plan clicked, Kristen was able to switch places with Shelby by grabbing her wrist and bringing her along the edge of the artifact tables. As she led her down she quickly snatched the little blue ball food things and continued down the row of artifacts. As Shelby was busy adoring the artifacts Kristen rolled the balls across the floor behind her.
Suddenly a boy in about his fourteen's slipped and fell on his back. It caught everybody's attention including Shelby's. She turned around, her wide dress hitting the table and knocking a couple of artifacts off, including the identical artifact box. The other artifacts were all just plastic artwork, as for the wooden box it being fragile Kristen quickly caught it before it fell to the ground.
Shelby turned around to find that Kristen caught the special artifact.
"Good job Kristen, your a saver." She said, clapping her hands together.
"Yep." Kristen said without thought as she smoothly switched the box with the fake one. She carefully placed the artifacts and the fake artifact back on the table and stood back up next to Shelby hiding the bulky artifact under behind her back. She hadn't realized that Shelby was talking to her the entire time about something of Ponies and prince charming' s.
"Well," Kristen checked the clock on the wall (Which made no sense to her), "I have to leave early for another thing going after this, it is nice meeting you Shelby." Kristen said.
"Your leaving?" She asked, her arms flailing out.
"Sorry, I have to go, good bye." Kristen said, rushing towards the door.
"Nice meeting you... too." Shelby sobbed as Kristen walked out the door.
Kristen didn't know what was in the box, all Mr. Blyde's instructions was to get the box with lots of fancy designs on it and hand it to him who will be waiting outside. She hopped into the hover car and Mr. Blyde took his hand out for her to put the box. He grabbed the box and place it in the passenger seat and he drove back to the hotel.
Once Kristen was lead back to the room Mr. Blyde placed the artifact on the night stand and came up to her holding the duct tape and the handcuffs.
"But I thought you were going to let me go." Kristen said.
"I will, just not right now. First, I am going to show you what I really wanted." He said, tying her cuffing her hands back behind the chair.
He put the duct tape back on her mouth and walked back over the dresser. He pulled up a chair in front of Kristen and sat down, holding the box in his hand. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny key to open the box. He grinned and open the box, having the box facing her. Kristen watched as he pulled out another box.
"Well looks like there another box." He said, opening the second one.
Than he pulled out another box, than another, and another, and another until it was a box the size of the ring case. He slowly opened the box, making Kristen desperate to find what isinside. At first all she saw what he was pulling out was a thin, silver chain, until she found was was hooked to it...A green emerald the shape of a raindrop.
. . .
Josh's breath suddenly stopped short as he noticed the green emerald in Mr. Blyde's hand. He couldn't beleive what he just saw, the exact emerald to free his sister. He was so anxious to get it back, he just had to signal to Kristen now. He got a little closer, but still in hiding and made three faint taps on the floor with his finger. Kristen answered with three faint taps with her foot.
"I will be back shortly Ms. Kristen." He said and left the room.
Josh quickly crawled over to her and ripped the duct tape off her mouth.
"Ouch," She whispered harshly, "I need you to get the tracker in my sock and signal Cody." She ordered, nodding towards her left sock. Josh crouched down and pulled the red tracker from her sock. He than placed the duct tape back on and slipped back in his little corner. Mr. Blyde returned shortly after.
"I have a little surprise for you Ms. Kristen." He said as he snapped for the person to come in.
Josh was about to signal until he saw who came into the room. He stopped and stared. Kristen jerked back and forth, trying to escape from the tight rope around her. Josh didn't need to signal to Cody any more, because Cody was already here.
Chapter 9- Decision's, decisions
"Let Kristen go!" Cody said.
Mr. Blyde made a sly grin and pulled the duct tape off of her mouth.
"Cody he has the emerald necklace!" Kristen shouted.
Cody looked at the necklace Mr. Blyde was holding in his hand. Mr. Blyde swung the necklace back and forth in front of Cody's face.
"Oh so you have been looking for this too haven't you?"
"We need it."
Mr. Blyde started pacing again, walking in front of Kristen and circling Cody.
"Ok, so how about if I did this. I will give you a choice Cody. It is either letting Kristen go, or I giving you the emerald and you can leave freely." He said, still swinging the emerald.
Josh got out of his hiding spot and Mr. Blyde stopped abruptly and stared at Josh.
"Well it looks like we have two guests this evening, it's your lucky day Ms Kristen."
"We need the emerald and Kristen." Josh said confidently.
"But of course, but sadly you can only choose one. Either the girl or the pretty necklace." He said with a smile.
Josh glanced at Cody and Cody looked back at him desperately. Josh than noticed Kristen's foot was tapping again. He carefully watched her foot tapping Morse code, while trying not to let Mr. Blyde notice. After she finished her sentence in Morse code, he stuffed something in his pocket and confidently came up to Mr. Blyde.
"We will claim the ember." Josh said, his hand out for him to put the necklace.
Cody's look on his face showed that this was maybe not the best choice, but Josh made a short nod to show he got it all planned out. Cody made an uneasy glance and looked away. Mr. Blyde looked like he was expecting them to choose Kristen instead of the emerald but when he said that even he was surprised.
"Than you have made your decision." He said placing the emerald in his hand. Josh nodded and he went with Cody out of the room. Josh didn't say anything to him until they were at least three blocks from the hotel.
"My plan will be challenging, but I am going to risk it." Josh said finally.
"What is your plan?" Cody asked.
"It's complicated, I'm going to have to do it on my own."
"You can't go on your own, I won't let you."
"This plan would work best alone, what you need to do is..." Josh whispered something in his ear and he smiled. Josh looked around him and than ran back to the hotel, Cody waiting on the sidewalk.
Mr. Blyde just so happened to move Kristen to a different spot, Kristen had explained in the Morse code that she is going to meet him on the roof. Josh rushed up the stairs of the hotel, trying to be as quick as he could towards the top. Than he spotted the doorway to the roof and opened it just slightly to find Kristen and Mr. Blyde standing nearby.
"Don't please don't" Kristen cried.
"Your all mine Ms Kristen they gave you up for a silly emerald."
"They did the right thing, that emerald was more than just a pretty gem." Kristen said.
"I know that, that is why I wanted it so bad. But they wanted it more than you, what a silly thing."
"It is to save another person imprisoned."
"That makes it hard doesn't it?"
Josh then closed the door again and pulled the green emerald out of his pocket. It was making a faint vibrating in his hand, ready to be activated. He sighed, grabbed the chain and started spinning the necklace. Suddenly a circle created and he snatched the necklace and entered the time portal.
Taking Josh just hours before this time. He blinked several times to find that he was still on the staircase. He darted down the stairs, being as quick as his long legs could carry. He than ran across the street towards the museum. People wandered the streets though none of them noticed him as he was running, not even the cars stopped to let him cross. Josh slammed open the door and looked around the front room of the museum, the guards were lined up leading towards a hallway. He went down the hallway to find double doors wide open with dozens of teenagers going in and out. He walked over and slipped through them, ending up standing next to the table of artifacts.
He noticed Kristen just about ready to do her little trick with the table with her new friend. He stood behind the table, waiting for her to do the trick. As the girl in the obnoxiously large dress knocked the table over, he saw as Kristen grabbed the box and quickly replaced with the fake. As she hid the box behind her back, Josh (Remembering that he is invisible) opened the fake box and pulled out the fake emerald, placing it in his pocket.
Than a thought came to mind that he didn't think of before. It was of how he was to go back to the present without the emerald. He sighed, knowing taking the real one would mess this entire thing up. He also didn't realize that each color of emerald can do different things as long as it coordinates with time. As for the green, it is used for going back in time by six hours, though it also timed of how long you are there. It would be approximately 60 minutes before the time being in the past would pass and he would end up back where he was in the present. Now many of the other gems have there timings, some don't even have a limit, but some might even just have a few seconds before running out.
It had been a quarter after seven before Josh suddenly appeared on the staircase once again. He was about to jump for joy, but he knew he didn't want to cause a racket. He climbed up the ladder again and this time opened the door all of the way. Mr. Blyde started storming up to him, expecting him. Kristen had her back faced away from him, but he payed more attention on the old butler who was standing in front of him. He held up the fake emerald that was in his hand.
"I am starting to regret about being so selfish. I want to trade this back for Kristen." He said.
Mr. Blyde just stared, not sure how to respond to this kind of situation.
"I know you don't want to keep her forever, it can be a fair deal if I return it back to you."
Mr. Blyde straightened up giving long inhales.
"You have already decided Mr Josh, this cannot work again."
Josh rubbed it in front of his face. He inhaled through his nose, keeping his head away from the swinging necklace.
"I know you want it." He persuaded.
He looked up at the sky, and not responding.
"I understand your bargain, but I cannot accept. For you have already made your decision just a couple of hours ago."
"Come on, your being stubborn. The the gem is worth more than the girl is to you, I could guess that as soon as me and Cody leave you would try to attempt to getting rid of her correct?"
Mr. Blyde took another intake.
"I am afraid your persuasion is not working on me Mr Josh."
"Oh but it is, your just trying to get rid of me."
"This bargain will never work."
Josh closed his eyes, remembering some training he had in the past. He than came closer up to him, having Mr. Blyde looking directly down at him.
"It will not work, for you have little training and are just relearning it."
"Oh but I am a fast learner."
Mr. Blyde sighed. Though what Josh was trying to do was not working Mr. Blyde took his hand out for him to put it on. He placed the emerald in his hand. Josh then quickly ran over to Kristen and started untying her and setting her free. As he helped her out Mr. Blyde observed the emerald to realize something. He tossed it across the ground, the green emerald shattering like glass.
"You have fooled me Mr Josh, clever." He said storming towards the two of them.
Josh grabbed Kristen's wrist and began to run towards the edge. He was gaining on them. He than stood on the very edge, grabbing tightly around Kristen's wrist, and his other hand holding the real one.
"Want it?" He asked
"It won't shatter, I can get it on the bottom."
"How do you know I am just dropping the emerald, he said one of his feet barely against the roof.
Mr. Blyde sped up towards them.
"Wait... don't"
But Josh had jumped, bringing Kristen with him. He looked over the roof to find they both had vanished, as if nothing had happened at all.
Chapter 10- addicted
Kristen and Josh landed into a large hay stack. Josh sat up, snagging his shirt against the random light post that stood inside the hay stack. Kristen rubbed her head after bumping her head against the grass as she rolled off. They both stared up at the lamp post. Suddenly, they both heard a muffled voice under the hay. They dug through the straw to find Cody buried alive. They pulled him out and the three of them got off of the large hay stack.
Josh, before going to get Kristen had whispered something in his ear. He had told him to program the light post east of the building and wait for him and Kristen there. Cody had done so and as Josh and Kristen fell off the roof Josh took the risk of quickly touching the post and vanishing. It was indeed risky, having a chance of missing it and killing himself if possible.
Cody grinned, glad that both of them had made it with no injuries or even being dead. They leaned against the hay stack getting a little time of talking and discussing without any things getting in there way. They talked for quite a while, laughing at there jokes, talking about there last trips, planning ahead, and just enjoying there little free time. This lasted for in fact about thirty minutes until Cody started to noticed something hovering over them. He nudged the person closest to him, which was Kristen and pointed at the strange thing.
Josh joined in looking up.
"Is that a cloud?" Kristen asked.
"More like a green storm cloud." Josh added.
Cody had already began programming to a new spot.
"Well, whatever that thing is I have a bad feeling about it. I am going to program to the other side of this planet so it will be done quickly." Cody said, typing quickly.
He plucked a dandelion from the green grass and placed the drive on it. Seconds later and they were on the other side of the planet. standing in an empty street. Kristen and Josh smiled at each other, but it faded as they noticed the abandoned streets. It felt too quiet, newspapers, cans, and other garbage flew across the alleyways and the main street they were on unattended. Nobody was inside either for they couldn't see any signs of life so far.
Cody looked up at the sky to find the green clouds had returned.
"Guys they are back." Cody said with a frightened tone in his voice.
Kristen and Josh looked up at the clouds and then looked back over at Cody.
"Cody, we should probably take cover." Kristen suggested as the clouds began to form around the city like a giant blanket.
Though Cody just stared, as if the clouds put him in a trance. He just stood there, looking up at the clouds as if they were nothing but fascinating stars. Josh grabbed his arm but Cody jerked it away, still looking up at the clouds. Suddenly a drop of rain fell beside Kristen with a big plop! Kristen looked down at the drop to find it had dissolved through the road. Kristen took a step back.
"Guys, we better get inside." Kristen cried.
"Planning on it." Josh said, still trying to pull Cody towards him.
"No really, this is a life or death situation, we should really get going." She said as a few more drops fell near her.
Suddenly a drop fell on Josh's shoe, dissolving through it. Josh cried in pain, as it burned off a couple of layers of skin. He looked around to find the rain was increasing. Josh had to do better at bringing Cody to shelter, he grabbed both of his arms as tightly as he could and he darted towards the closest building. Kristen closed the door of the pawn shop and locked it. Josh let go of Cody and sat down, pulling off his shoe and observing the red mark on the top of his foot. Kristen came over to noticed it too and looked around the shop for anything useful.
Luckily, the shop had a little hidden fridge behind the desk and she gathered up a bag of ice from the freezer. She came over and carefully put the bag of ice on his foot. Josh thanked her and she came over to Cody, who wandered around the shop, his eyes glazed. Cody was attempting to unlock the door by the time Kristen got to him. She quickly blocked his way, hearing the pattering of the rain outside. PLOP! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! PLOP! PLOP! SIZZLE!
"So what exactly happened Josh?" Kristen hollered across the room, still blocking the doorway from what is supposed to be Cody.
"It kind of felt like a drop of oil when it spits at you, though a lot worse. It burned through my shoes, and even a couple of layers of skin." Josh answered.
"Ouch." Kristen responded.
"What do you think it is, acid rain?"
"Donno"
Cody suddenly started pushing and shoving Kristen, as if he really needed to be out there. He grabbed a guitar from the corner and started hitting her like a child throwing a fit. He than tossed the guitar off to the side, causing it to shatter. Than he grabbed a vase from the table and hit her on the head hard. Josh rushed over to find Kristen knocked out and Cody unlocking the door. He grabbed his shirt to try to stop him but before he knew it Cody was standing outside. But it seemed so unusual, to find that as soon as he stepped foot outside the rain stopped almost instantly.
Josh looked up at the hangover of the roof to find dozens of little holes where the rain hit. Some rooftops on the streets had collapsed completely, and there was no longer any garbage flying around any more. Cody stood out in the street, his hands out as if he was waiting for somebody. Josh got a little closer to Cody and Cody turned around, with a smug grin.
"Josh, Josh, Josh," He said, shaking his head and coming closer up to him "How selfless you can get sometimes, but sometimes you end up on the opposite end of the line. I have always wondered what side you are on."
Cody looked Josh in the eyes, having to look up at Josh's tall structure.
"The good side." he took a step back with a glare on his face, "Or the bad side."
"Your the boy with many talents you know, but some of those talents you haven't quite learned yet. I am the only one who knows your future, that is because I was told by a trustworthy person called a fortune teller. But of course it would spoil everything if I mention you grow up to be an enemy. A person who will have many who will hate you, spit upon you, and even want to kill you. But I can't say too much, or things might get a little messed up. Though I do have some things you do have to know, you have to know that there are people and things that hate you now, who think you are selfless, special, kind, popular, and courageous. Though is this really you Joshua, is this really who you are?"
Josh's face had turned red in anger, his fists clenched so tightly that he could feel his short and stubby nails digging in his skin.
"You aren't special Josh, you are just wanted. By those who hate you, spit upon you, and even want to kill you, like what I said before. We came to help you because your so oblivious of what was really going on, not because of how special you are."
Josh was tempted to punch him in the face, his lips were so tight together it only showed thin lines. Cody then turned slightly off to the right.
"As for you," Cody walked behind Josh. He hadn't realized that Kristen had been standing there for a while now.
"I brought you because you needed to meet your true family. Well to tell you the truth, I wanted to get rid of you right after I made my dad's promise of letting you with your family. Until they all run away from you, and I had no other choice but to help you find them. Families" Cody spat.
"Families, why my father never left me like what happened to your fathers. In fact, he is dead. And my mother doesn't care wherever I am, because she doesn't care about me. But your parents, why you never even met them, and Josh you hardly remember them to begin with. Why look for them, if you never got to know them that well. It's useless to go and find them when they are trying not to look for you. Kristen, your parents don't care about you any more, that is why they got rid of you. They thought you as a girl, which would make you helpless, too naive, weak, and not even vulnerable to do what they ask as well as a boy would do. That is why they left, they gave up because they had second thoughts of 'why have her anyway', 'what would she do', 'what would a girl even be for anyway?'. They don't care about you Kristen, and they never will."
Kristen was looking down at the rutted ground, a feeling of shame and sadness inside her. A tear fell on the ground, and her lips quivered.
"I want to go home." She cried.
Josh came over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she rested her head on his.
"Yah, why don't both of you do it. I don't care, home is probably better for you anyway."
Kristen wiped away a tear, but they still kept on coming out. Josh glared at Cody, ashamed at him for speaking to them like that. Josh then stood up in front of Cody, his hands loose on his sides.
"Cody, or whoever is inside you? You need to leave him, he is as innocent as the rest of us. Your trick to make us miserable is dying off, you are losing! I am not going to be fooled by this trick of yours, I know Cody enough that he couldn't have said such things to us. I know that our families don't know us as much as they should, but that is why we are after them to get to know them better. Now let Cody now, get rid of these stupid green, acid-like clouds and leave us forever!" Josh shouted firmly.
Josh than noticed Kristen had stopped crying and was now standing next to him confidently.
"Leave us Cody, you have lost!" Kristen barked.
Cody took a step back.
"But we are having so much fun here-"
"NO we are not." Kristen cut him off.
"Well, then lets make it fun then." He said.
suddenly, the rain started again. Though the rain was like a curtain around them, they were all untouched.
"You can't leave me unless we take a ride with my tele drive, but I won't even let you do that." Cody said.
Josh was building up in anger and shoved Cody, causing him to fall over. Cody quickly got back to his feet and a strike of lightning struck just inches from Josh. Josh jumped as to find the lightning so close to him. Suddenly, a single drop of the rain angled unnaturally and hit his arm. Josh cried in pain once again as it burned through his skin. Another drop swooped by, barely missing him. Josh moved out of the way, glaring at Cody who smiled evilly.
"Cody, you have lost." though no matter how many times Josh said that, nothing still happened to Cody.
Josh than noticed Kristen approaching Josh. She stood in front of Josh her body calm and graceful.
"I'm going to regret this." She said under her breath.
Kristen put her hands on his shoulders and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Cody seemed awestruck as if that was how to get rid of the bad guy. The clouds parted, the rain stopped, and Cody collapsed on the ground. It seemed all but a nightmare, but once you find out that that kiss on the cheek was real you know that definitely was not a dream.
Chapter 11- A knock at the door
Ferris sat at his table, writing a small letter on a scrap of paper. He squinted at the words he was writing as the candlelight started to fade beside him, he just couldn't concentrate any more. It was nearly midnight and the letter was still not finished, and it was getting harder to stay awake to finish it. He promised himself to finish the letter tonight with no exceptions, but his promise to self was seizing to be broken.
Finally, Ferris put away his quill, folded up his piece of paper, and sat in front of the hearth. He warmed his soar fingers against the heat of the fire, keeping his tired eyes open for as long as possible. The fire felt so relaxing, making it tempting to just fall asleep right on the spot. But Ferris just stared at the orange, flickering, light, with many thoughts jumbled up in his head. But just minutes later Ferris felt his body slowly lowering itself to the ground, his eyes closing. For closing his eyes felt good after a long days of worry and grief getting out of his way.
What seemed like a long time, Ferris sat up again yawning. The room felt darker, the fire had faded down to just a red, faint glow between the wood. As he stared at the fireplace wondering whether to stay awake or not, he suddenly began to hear a faint knock at the door. The first thought was he must be just hearing things, but then he heard it again. This time a little louder. The knock continued three more times, each one a little louder than the other. Ferris yawned and approached the door with dragging feet. He opened it just a sliver to peek his eye through to find a cloaked man standing there. The cloaked man spoke in a voice so quite even Ferris could hardly hear it.
"What do you mean?" Ferris asked the strange visitor.
There was a moment for the stranger to explain.
"She's not here any more, now leave me alone." He said coldly.
Another moment of silence.
"No, I won't let you do that." Ferris backed away, forgetting to slam the door in the strangers face.
The stranger entered his house, it's white fists clenching under the dark sleeves.
"You will answer me!" It growled.
Ferris shook his head, backing into one of his house plants.
"Than you will pay." The voice said.
The hooded man's fists released and he pointed at him. Blue sparks shot from them and hit Ferris, having him flying across the room. He hit hard against the brick wall of his fire place. Ferris quickly crawled under his table,clutching tightly on the legs. Sweat was trickling down his forehead, the long hairs on his arms standing on it's end. He couldn't see the figure's face being down that low, but he could see it's hands. The sparks were flying from it's fingers, ready to strike when it gets the chance.
Ferris closed his eyes, pleading under his breath for mercy. He opened them again to find the figure had bent down and was glaring him in the eyes. Ferris nearly made a shriek of horror as he saw the red eyes, he backed further under the table, hitting the wall on the other side. The strangers hands were ready to strike at him, and Ferris was corned. Ferris woke up, his breathing heavy as he just missed his death sentence.
The fire was still flickering in the hearth and there was no knock at the door. Ferris took a deep breath, wiping the sweat off of his brow. He got up to his feet and came back to the table which his letter still was. He was tempted to rest on his straw bed, ignoring his letter. As he approached his bed he froze as he heard a small knock at the door. There were four more knocks. Ferris didn't dare get the door, he stood there by his bed unsure what to do. The knock continued more than five times, each one getting louder and louder.
His heart was beating faster and faster, and he could feel it pump inside his chest. He slowly came up to the door, ready to open it. He placed his foot against the door, prepared to slam it as fast as possible. Than he grabbed the cold, metal handle and opened the door ever so slightly.
"H-hello?"
"Hello Ferris, we came to trade back Marie." One of the three teenagers said at the door.
Suddenly Ferris burst into tears, opening the door wider. The children entered the house, seeing Ferris sitting on the ground bawling.
"What is wrong?" The girl asked, crouching down to comfort him.
"It's too much to explain!" He cried.
"We would like to know so we can help you." The boy with white-blond hair said.
Ferris stopped crying, stood up and walked over to his table. He picked up the folded piece of parchment and handed it to the boy with a trembling hand. The boy took it and read it carefully, the other two reading over his shoulder. He read aloud:
Deer Chilldrin of the werld of watter. i amm sory to say that marie had been traded withs no choice. Me had no choice but to do so, beecas the trader had sold her by matters of force. Me hads no choice but to, beecas the trader was selfeesh and greedy. Me knew could not say it out lowd fore its wood bee too hard for i. Soe i wrote it down me will doo anything to help yoo gets herr baack. thee toun where shee is keeped are up in the hill tops. shee is kepet as ay slave beecas therr sun is needing a wife. Butt those are hoping to wait a litle longer for marie to get older. me will help yoo as soon as posibbl.
FErrIs
By the time the short letter was over, Josh was sitting on the floor in worry. He didn't want to see this coming, and it just so happened to do so.
"N-now that you a-are here's, us will leave first tomorrow morning to find M-Marie." Ferris said.
"Promise?" Josh asked him.
"Yes Josh, that a promise. A absolute promise and if is broken you mays spare I." Ferris said, his eyes looking into his in promise.
"First thing tomorrow morning." Josh said definitely.
The three kids were woken up by Ferris. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning and all three of them were still tired and exhausted from there short rest they had.
"It's long ride, me am hoping to get there by nightfall. Come, we go." Ferris said, helping Kristen up to her feet. They set outside where a small covered wagon was, on the reins were two mini Ganganguan's who looked like hairy, baby elephants were. Ferris got into the driver's seat and the rest sat inside the wagon. It was still dark outside, so the inside of the covered wagon was dark being blocked from the stars and three moon's.
It was definitely a long and bumpy ride as Ferris led them towards the camp in the hilltops. Around five o'clock in the morning Ferris had stopped the wagon for a quick breakfast of porridge. They hardly stopped after that, even when they had the lunch and dinner break. Ferris would just throw back a bag full of bread and cheese for there dinner and lunch. Ferris only had one stop for a potty break and that was that. Most of the trip was just meadows and little trees. The forest where Ferris lived was large but they hadn't realized that Ferris lived towards the edge of the forest.
When seven o'clock passed and they had already had there fill of cheese and bread, all three of the teenagers were asleep inside the wagon. Josh had put his arm around Kristen's shoulder and she slept on his shoulder, and Cody had leaned his head against the wagon, understanding that Kristen and Josh both were scarred from the little incident on there last trip. A couple of hours later and there was a bump as Ferris started up the hill.
The three of them jolted awake and peeked out the canvas. There was a yellow and orange sunset outside, with pink clouds. The hill was getting steep and Ferris started to suggest they tighten the canvas so they won't fall out. They did as he asked and held on to the sides as the hill increased.
"Is this even a road?" Josh asked.
"No road to Tare's camp." Ferris responded.
The sunset had now long gone past and the sky was filling with the starry night. Cody, Kristen, and Josh peeked out the tiny hole that was left in the wagon, looking out at the stars that sparkled in the polluted-less night. Soon tree's began to get so thick it covered the sky. It was then when all three of them realized this was not a hill at all, but a mountain.
It wasn't until nearly midnight when Ferris spotted sign for smoke at the peak of the mountain. The rest of the way to the camp was like driving on an angry bull. Rock's stuck out so far the wheel got so very easily, and many were sharp creating knots on the wooden wheels.
The wagon finally came to a halt as they made it by the camp. Ferris parked it behind the tree's, not sure if the people in the camp were friendly or not. He climbed into the wagon.
"We sleep in here tonight, we look for Marie tomorrow." He said, pulling out blankets out of a wooden crate nearby.
Dusk filled the sky and Ferris woke up the three tired teens. Early birds sung in echo's throughout the forest and the air was very humid. They all climbed out to find themselves surrounded by about a dozen men. Ferris rose his hands in the air and the others followed him. All of the men held rifles and were ready to shoot if they move.
The next thing they knew they were roped and brought to the camp. The men were leading them towards the square where a good looking man sat on a rotten stump. He stood up as they approached, his arms out in welcome.
"Ferris how pleased I am to meet you!" He said, hugging him awkwardly with his roped hands. The man then pointed to one of the men.
"Release him." He snapped.
The man followed the orders but didn't release Cody, Kristen, and Josh. The man let Ferris into his hut and the others were left there waiting for him for half an hour later. When the man had come back out with Ferris, the man did not have much of a smile any more.
"Sorry for my misunderstanding." The man said angrily, tossing a crumpled piece of paper in the fire pit.
One of the other men had gone to another tent and returned with someone else following him. The girl behind him was in tan rags and her hair was matted and filthy. Her feet were bare and covered in dirt and muck, and her hands were raw from hard work. When she saw Josh, she ran towards him giving him a grateful hug.
They all went back to the wagon and they set off back to Ferris's house. This time it took a lot less time to get and they got to his house by sunset. When they got to his house, Ferris made all of them a relaxing soup from there long trip back.
Josh pulled out the emerald necklace in his pocket and put his hand out so Ferris could grab it. But Ferris shook his head.
"Me has done bad things, I don't deserve that." He said.
"We made a deal Ferris, we get Marie back and we give you the necklace."
Ferris still refused.
"You deserve it." Josh said, placing it in his hand and curling his fingers around it.
Ferris made a wry smile and put the necklace to his chest.
"Thank you. But I did this as a test Josh, I wanted to see if you had the love enough to find this emerald and save your sister from me. You have won my test, you shall now all go home and enjoy a time with your family." Ferris said.
Josh was about to say something after hearing that, but Ferris put his hand up, snapped and they all vanished from the dining room.
Traveling through space is no easy thing to do, but once you have the certain stuff for it, it gets a lot easier. If you read the last two books you have learned how Kristen joined Cody, and then finding out what secret Cody had kept from Kristen for so long. For Kristen now has received something that has changed her life forever. But she is not the only one that will have a changed life in this third series of this book. As for Cody, being a fatherless boy who travels around the world he had a quest he wanted ever since he met Kristen. His quest was to find an unknown galaxy far off into space perfect for him to explore. Though things are happening that is putting his way to the galaxy an uneven path. But his goal is still deep into his thoughts, hoping to finally even his path to find his dream.
Chapter 1- Joshua
Marie laid in her bed wide awake. She couldn't sleep, something was bothering her and she didn't know why. Instead of going to her parents saying she couldn't sleep, Marie went downstairs to have a small midnight snack. Marie was only eight years old, but she seemed smarter than an eight year old. As she came down the stairs she started to hear the storm raging in outside. It wasn't the storm that was bothering her, it was something else.
Marie got into the freezer and pulled out the bucket of Neapolitan ice cream. She grabbed a spoon and started eating out of the bucket. After she ate a few bites of the ice cream she tossed her spoon in the sink and went into the front room.
She liked listening and watching the storm in fact. So she pulled up the blinds and watched the storm, as light struck the air and rain pattered against the roof. She smiled, feeling a little bit better. But she still felt like something was still bothering her. Suddenly, a giant struck of lightning struck her front yard and she fell off the couch in fright.
It wasn't a normal struck of lightning, if it would have been a normal night she would have been amazed. But this scared her, as if this is what was bothering her. She peaked back through the window to find something lying where that struck of lightning hit. She squinted at what was out there to find out what it really was. She nearly screamed, but instead she ran upstairs to grab her mother.
"Mother, mother wake up." Marie said, shaking her mothers arm.
Her mother opened an eye and turned her head towards her daughter.
"What is it sweety?"
"There is a boy out there mother." She said.
"Go to sleep Marie, it's late." Her mother said, not believing her words.
"No mother, you have to see!" She said, tugging on her arm.
Her mother sighed and got out of bed, grabbing her robe. She followed Marie downstairs and outside and her mother nearly fainted. She ran over to the boy laying lifeless in her yard, and shook his arm asking if he was okay. The boy did't answer. Marie's mother was a nurse, and knew a lot of how to handle these situations. She turned to Marie and pointed at the door.
"Go get a blanket!" She ordered.
Marie rushed inside to find a warm blanket and brought it outside in the cold rain. When she came outside she noticed her mother was doing CPR on the little boy. The boy didn't look any older than six years old, but looked unfamiliar to both Marie and her mother. A few minutes later and the boy took a gasp of air. Marie and her mother had saved this boys life and they would never regret it.
seven years later...
Joshua woke up that morning realizing that he was late for his baseball game. He got out of bed and slipped on his baseball clothes, hoping his coach wouldn't get too mad at him. He seemed to be sleeping in a lot lately, his parents kept on thinking it was because he didn't like baseball, but he really does like baseball to be truthful.
Seven years ago Marie and her mother had saved his life in a lightning strike. When he woke up in the hospital he got asked a lot of questions, but he couldn't remember anything but his name. They tried to find Joshua's family, but he was found to be unknown. So Marie's mother adopted him, thinking of no other way. So Joshua just has been living a normal life, with a good family, with a good school, and good hobbies to do.
Joshua ran over to the kitchen to find his mother had already made an egg sandwich for him and she took him to his baseball game. When he got dropped off at the diamond, his coach ran over to him.
"Joshua Carter, you are late again!" He yelled, grabbing his arm.
Joshua got pulled to the diamond, for today he was supposed to be the pitcher. His coach slapped the ball in his hand and Joshua aimed the ball right at the bat. The ball was hit hard and it flew across the field. The boy who hit the home run started for a run for it and made it to the home base right before one of the outfielders got him.
When the game was over Joshua came over to his friend, which was the first battter that had hit that home run.
"Good job buddy, that was a great home run." Joshua said, patting him on the back.
"Josh, you did amazing too. Though we are on opposite teams, I still like how you are a good pitcher." He said.
Josh smiled. Suddenly he heard a beep and he turned back to his buddy.
"Sorry Cole, I have to go. My mother is here." Joshua said, running off.
"Seeya Josh!" Cole said and Josh waved good bye.
Joshua got into the front seat as his mother drove him back home. As she stopped at the light, she turned to Josh.
"Me and dad are wanting to go out on a trip. We are hoping to leave next week to Europe, is this alright with you?" She asked.
"Yah it's fine, me and Marie are old enough." Joshua said, trying to stay cool about it.
"Well, grandma and Grandpa are going to stay at our house for the few weeks we are gone, but you just have to know they both have things they need to do and may not be there most of the time."
Joshua nodded, he knew how busy his grandparents got.
"Sorry I didn't tell you this sooner." She apologized.
"Oh, it's fine Mom."
The car parked in the driveway of the large house, and Josh rushed inside to see Marie. Marie, being fifteen years old now had already gotten her drivers permit and was hoping to get her license soon. Marie had already heard the news so she didn't make much a big deal when Josh told her about it.
For that whole week Josh and Marie just did there normal teenage stuff as there parents packed for there trip. When the day came they left early in the morning and Josh's grandparents came a few hours later.
"How are you my sweetums?" Josh's grandma said as she was the first to enter the house. She first gave Marie and hug and than Josh an awkward one, than there grandpa came in the house.
"Hey you whippersnappers!" Her grandpa said in his raspy voice as he came in with his cane.
Josh's grandpa walked over and with his crooked finger pointed at Josh's necklace around his neck.
"Where did you get that?" he asked.
Josh grabbed his necklace.
"I've had it." Josh said.
Marie and Josh's grandparents didn't know about Josh's story. They just thought of him as there own grandson, only knowing that he was adopted and that was it. For the necklace he had on was a necklace he wore when he was found. Out of all of his worn six year old clothes, the only thing that counted as in good shape was the necklace he had on. The necklace was a blue gem with a sign painted on it that looked like a swirl with the ends connected, and the middle filled in. The interesting thing was that Josh had that same sign in the back of his neck. His parents say it is just a birthmark, but he thinks it is more of how little facts he knows about his life.
Josh's grandpa chuckled and patted him hard on the back.
"Good answer my boy." He said, and walked off.
There grandpa was nearly 90 years old. They all new he would probably be soon leaving them with the health problems he was having. About twenty years ago their grandpa had given up on smoking and drugs and later got lung cancer. He recovered from the cancer and then ended up going blind in one eye a year later, after that his health has not been the same.
As for their grandma, she was still in her late seventies. She had married their grandpa when he was already a father with a dead wife. Her health has been level lately though every once in a while she would catch something that would stress the entire family out for days. But she was okay now, and can take care of two of her grandchildren without scaring there parents.
The next day there grandparents went off to there doctor's appointments that were held all day, and they were left alone. Josh left to baseball for the afternoon and Marie was left alone at home with nothing to do. It was lunch time so Marie went to cook up some lunch in the kitchen. As she put the burrito in the microwave, she started to hear something. She looked around her to find nobody was around. Nobody should be home because it was only but twelve thirty.
Marie ignored the creaking noise and pulled out her burrito. She was going to go to the living room and watch some TV as she ate so she walked out of the room to the living room. As she came towards the opening to the living room, she stopped wondering why she was still hearing things.
"hello, anyone home?" she asked.
Nobody answered. She than shrugged her shoulders and walked through the opening disappearing suddenly, her lunch crashing to the ground.
. . .
Joshua came home to realize Marie wasn't around. He looked everywhere, but still no sign of her. He than came over to the living room to find the broken plate and the burrito scattered across the ground. This started to trouble Josh, he looked around some more but still she was nowhere.
He checked the time, it was almost three. It was Tuesday, Marie doesn't have anything that day. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. He ran over to it, hoping he hadn't locked it and Marie couldn't get in. He looked through the peek hole before opening the door to find a girl, but not Marie. He checked the time to find it had barely turned three O'clock in the afternoon. He opened the door and the girl smiled at him.
The girl had long, wavy, brown hair that went down to her waist, and brown eyes to go with them. She was a cute girl.
"Hi Joshua, so what are you up to today?" The girl asked.
Josh had no idea how she knew his name. He had never met this girl in his life, though he didn't make a big deal about it.
"I-I am j-just looking for m-my sister." he stuttered, unsure what to say to the unfamiliar girl.
The girl walked into the house and made herself at home without Josh offering it. She sat down at the front room couch, rested her feet on the coffee table and sighed.
"You know, when Cody sent me to you, I kept on thinking oh, it is just another boy. Than when I saw your face I thought you were the hottest boy in town." Kristen said, it seemed like the was talking to him, but at the same time not.
"Thank... you." He said awkwardly.
For Josh did have a hot look. He had crazy brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes with a hot look on his face. Though there was dozens of girls at his school that had crushes on him, he didn't make much a deal about it. He didn't want to end up with a girl friend too early in his life, he wanted to wait. His parents predicted that maybe if he was to be that hot, than he would have to have a good looking father.
"W-what are you doing here?" Josh asked, walking up to her.
Kristen took her legs off the table and sat up.
"Well I came to help you!"
"With what?"
"Your sister was taken Josh, in fact she was taken so you can go look for her and fall into their trap."
"What, so you want me not to find my sister."
"No, of course not. We are going to find her, but you can't go alone Josh. I came here to help you." She said.
Joshua sat next to her.
"Okay, so what are you not telling me."
"Let me get to that Josh." Kristen looked down at her feet for a moment than looked back up at Josh, "My name is Kristen, and I have that same sign." Kristen moved her hair away and showed the back of her neck to show that she really did have the same sign. Josh moved over, shocked to find the same exact sign as his.
"Are you my sister?" He asked.
"That is something you need to ask yourself Josh. You have to try to remember."
"But I can't, I have tried."
"Well, we don't have time to do that anyway. But I do need to tell you some important information that may be difficult to digest... For one thing the reason why you have that sign is because you are not human, and I am not either. It seems like we act and do the same as humans, but there is more to it that we can't do without being trained to do it. Not even I know all of the things of our kind, because I am almost as new as you are at this. But we are called the Halix, we come from a planet many galaxies away and most of our kind was wiped out by their enemies. And those enemies are after you Joshua, they have been looking for you as much as they have been hunting me down. In fact they want both of us, but that doesn't matter now. We have to save your sister, it is our only way."
"But if they are after both of us, why are we going together?"
"Because I know what I am doing, I was sent here as a quest. I want to help you Josh, but if you go alone there would be a bigger chance of you not returning."
Josh nodded, understanding a little bit more.
"I can't tell you too much, because I want you to remember. You had a life before you were six, you just don't remember it."
"What about you, if you are as new as this as I am than why do you know who you are?"
"I was sent here as a baby, I met my family one time though they didn't think it was me. I only know what I have told you."
Kristen stood up and started walking towards the living room of which she spotted the mess. She peeked through the living room and than looked back down at the plate.
"I think I know what this is, she must have gone through a door portal." Kristen said, observing the broken plate.
"Now how do you know this?"
"Cody told me about it before I got here. I also thought it was because she dropped the plate at the opening into the living room, so she was taken as soon as she stepped through the doorway." Kristen said, trying to sound clear to Joshua.
"Okay, so how do you know that Marie was taken, and who is Cody?"
Kristen turned to Josh and stood up.
"For the how do I know thing, I can't tell you now. All I can tell you is that someone came from the future and told us, but it is going to cause problems if I tell you who it is. Cody and I are traveler's who go around the universe exploring worlds and accidentally getting caught by trials on some of them. I met him when he ended up in my backyard accidentally though he actually did it on purpose, because he wanted me to find my family and find out who I am. It is now my turn to help you find out who you are, later on I will introduce you to Cody."
Joshua understood, Kristen smiled got down on her belly. Josh watched carefully as she pulled out a red keychain flashlight. She stuffed the flashlight into a small mouse hole in the wall and than pulled it out. She came up to Josh and stared at the doorway.
"What did you just do?" Josh asked.
"I activated the portal again, since it was so recent it was still connected to where she was taken. So I just reactivated it again. So now we just walk into the doorway and we will be taken to where your sister is." She explained.
Joshua nodded and was about to say something until Kristen suddenly walked through the portal and disappeared.
"Wait!" Josh ran after her and suddenly ended up standing in a dark room.
"Kristen where are you?" Josh whispered, feeling around the pitch darkness. The area around him suddenly lit up in red light, though there was still no ceiling or walls as far as she could see. He shook his head, he didn't want to see what was coming. He knew it wasn't going to be pretty. The air was starting to feel icy cold, he could feel goosebumps form up and down his arms. A ghost like creature was suddenly standing in front of Kristen, which was just inches from Josh. Blood was dripping from his head to his ghost like toes, his eyes showing nothing but black indents on his face. He had no teeth but its mouth opened wide like it was going to suck away your soul. His fingers were long and threatening, as if a single touch would bring you instant death. His body stood taller than nine feet tall, with a body slimmer than even the thinnest man could bear. Thin black strands hung over the bottom of the ghost, making it drag as it came closer and closer to her.
She stood in shock, her body unmovable. As if frozen in place. She couldn't speak or scream. Her mouth was not opening, her fingers were frozen at her side. The nightmare came up to her and raised its dripping hand towards her. Joshua took a few steps back not wanting to see what the creature was going to do. Kristen couldn't move away from it though , the part of her body that was moving was only her heart. That beat so fast she could feel it in her breast. Joshua looked away as the hand of the creature touched her chest and she collapsed on the black ground. Everything turned black once again, a deathly silence overcoming the black abyss.
Chapter 2- trading with a Troblic
Joshua waited a few minutes before looking for Kristen in the pitch darkness. He felt around and felt for her neck to find a pulse. She defiantly had a pulse but she felt icy cold , the creature had at least hadn't killed her. He picked her up in his arms and looked for that flashlight in her pocket. He rummaged through her pocket to find it and held down the button to keep it on. He looked around, hoping to find Marie somewhere. He walked around, being extra careful with Kristen. Than he spotted her.
Josh put Kristen down and ran over to her. Marie was on the floor curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth. It was weird to find an older sister rocking back and forth like a baby, but Josh knew that she was just very frightened. He sat next to her, trying to comfort her.
"I've b-been h-here f-for d-days J-Joshua. P-please g-get m-me o-o-out of h-here." She stuttered, wrapping her shaking arms around here.
"But you have only been missing for a couple of hours."
"C-couple o-of hours h-how?"
"Don't know, we just need to get you and Kristen out of here."
"K-Kristen?" She wondering looking over his shoulder.
Josh came back over to Kristen and picked her up again.
"She helped me find you, but she was touched by those creatures."
Marie looked up at him, as if she was going to start curling up in a ball again.
"T-they k-kill people w-with there t-touches. She is d-dead."
"But she isn't, I felt a pulse." Marie got on her hands and knees and felt for Kristen's pulse.
"H-how can that b-be possible?"
"Don't know."
Joshua sat down, and rested Kristen's head on his lap. He stroked her hair and suddenly something popped up in his head. It was Kristen, it kept showing her face each stroke he did. He than put his hand on her head and saw Kristen stable in his head.
"Blink the light five times at the devil." Kristen said in his head.
Joshua moved his hand from her head and noticed Marie's face.
"It was nothing." He lied answering Marie's question that she was ready to ask.
Suddenly the red light switched on the Marie went back into curling up in a ball, rocking back and forth. The creature was but only a few feet away coming towards Josh now. Josh stood up and held the light threateningly at the devil. The Devil backed away.
"We got the jack pot today don't we? Two Halix's in one sitting, I like it." the voice said in a surprisingly clear voice.
"Don't get close to them!" Josh said, holding out the flashlight as far as he could holding it with both hands.
"Your going to threaten me with a key chain." The devil teased, getting closer.
"I'm warning you." Josh said, his arms shaking.
The devil kept on getting closer to him. Than he did it, he clicked the flashlight five times at the devil. The devil shrieked, backing away. Covering it's black eye sockets.
"I've warned you. Now if you get close to us, I will do something much, much worse. So I guess you better let us out."
The devil glared at him.
"Never!"
Joshua flashed the light at him again. The devil shrieked again, than before he could do anymore the devil pointed a finger behind him. Josh turned around to find that it had opened a doorway about ten feet away. Josh picked up Kristen, but still pointed the light at him. The creature made another glare and went away, the room turning black once again besides the open doorway.
The three of them entered the door to find that it wasn't the house. It was in fact a different planet. The area looked like Scotland with the green. The dark green forest had one small hut just a few feet from where they stood. Josh turned around to find that the door had disappeared suddenly. The only choice they had was to come to the person living in the hut.
Before they got to the door an odd goblin looking creature came out of it. He was like a mixture of a goblin and Yoda. He had hairy, pointed ears with two little horns between the two. He had very large buck teeth and a pointy nose. The creature wore rags of different clothing cut up into one outfit, and he came out barefoot. The creature was holding a spoon, the few white hairs on his face standing straight out.
"What is it!" he shouted in a high squeaky voice.
"Can you help us?" Josh asked.
The creature waddled over to Josh, and standing on his tip-toes peeked over at Kristen.
"She is defiantly not dead, just dying. Come inside, I now a good cure for that." he said as he walked back to his door. But before he entered his house he turned around, raising a finger up.
"But you have to know that if I save the girls life you have to give me something in return." He said.
Both Marie and Josh agreed and they followed him through the tiny door of the hut. It felt cozy and warm inside the house and it seemed like the creature was making dinner in a large pot over the fire. The creature waddled over to his big pot, standing on top of a stool to stir it.
"There is a bed you can put the girl on." The creature said, struggling to stir the soup.
Josh and Marie offered themselves a seat and they sat close to the door. A few minutes later and the creature pulled the pot off of the fire and placed it on the table. He than got into a cupboard and pulled out a small pot and placed it over the fire in the same spot the last pot was in.
He started going around the kitchen grabbing food and herbs and dumping them into the tiny pot. A few minutes later and he took the steaming pot over to the bed and placed it on the night stand. He than ran back over to the kitchen and grabbed a wash cloth from the sink. He then put the cloth in the small pot and soaked it all up. Than he squeezed it out and came over to Kristen. Before he was going to do what he was going to do he stopped and turned to Marie and Josh.
"You guys are welcome to have some soup." He said pointing at the pot on the table.
Josh and Marie smiled and came over to the table. Serving themselves the soup in the bowls that were already on the table. While in the bedroom the creature swirled the cloth around Kristen's nose and she suddenly woke up. She sat up, taking a deep breath.
"Hello Halix, it looks like you have survived something some of us can't bare. I am Ferris the Troblic." Ferris introduced to Kristen.
Ferris led Kristen into the kitchen and let her sit down to have some dinner. As she ate, Ferris left the kitchen and returned with a giant book. He sat down at the table and started skimming through it. Than he pointed at a page and read through it for a while. Ferris put the book down on the floor and weaved his fingers together.
"Well it looks like according to my book of trades, it says that if you do the cortrash trade to another person, you trade for someone they know to me." He said, smiling.
"You mean one of us have to live with you?" Kristen asked.
"yep." The three of them looked at each other, unsure what to do. They didn't think it would go this bad.
"Can we trade them back somehow?" Marie asked.
"Why yes, let me see." Ferris put his book back on the table and started skimming through it again.
"It says that if your trader ever wants to trade something back they need to trade something that you want the most." He looked up at them, "Well, there is something that I do want the most."
Ferris got off of his chair and came up to them. He pulled out a necklace that he had on his neck and showed it to them. It had a large red ruby on it of the shape of a raindrop.
"I want a necklace similar to this. It is in fact a green emerald that I want."
"Why do you want it so bad?" Kristen asked, though she had seen it before not very long ago.
"Because it is a lot more than just a necklace and I need it."
The three of them clumped together.
"We have no other choice guys, someone has to take the chance." Kristen said.
They all split up and looked down at Ferris.
"So have you decided yet?" He asked.
They waited a few minutes, each one of them thinking if they should volunteer or not.
"I'll stay." Marie said.
Josh looked at Marie shaking his head.
"Josh you just have to promise me that you will come back for me." Marie said.
There was another long silence. Josh looked around, not sure how to answer this.
"I promise."
Chapter 3- Going on an Emerald Hunt
"I don't know how I can repay her. She has saved my life, chose to adopt me, and saved someone else life and chooses to sacrifice herself to another person. I just don't know how, she has done too many things for me." Josh said to himself, sitting on a stump.
Kristen had gone out to get more firewood and Josh just sat on the stump muttering to himself. Cody told Kristen to meet him at this place called the cutters wood. All the place was, was an open area in the middle of the woods that all it has is just stumps that woodcutters chopped down a long time ago.
Kristen returned a few minutes later with an armful of firewood. She tossed the wood in the blazing fire and sat next to Josh. Cody was going to come tomorrow morning, so they decided it was best to get there the night before. Kristen handed him a t-shirt she had packed in her backpack and he used that as his cushion over a small stump. Kristen just pulled her backpack off and used it as a pillow.
The next day came and Kristen woke up with Cody looking down at her. She quickly sat up and Cody backed away. The sun felt too hot against her face to feel like morning, she didn't understand.
"How long was I asleep?" Kristen asked, looking at how wide awake they both looked.
"It's two o'clock in the afternoon." Cody mentioned.
Kristen quickly stood up, not wanting to sleep in any more. She now felt embarrassed, she couldn't believe what she just did.
"Um... this is Cody by the way." Kristen told Josh awkwardly.
"Yah, I know him. We talked for a while, in fact the six hours I was awake and you weren't." Josh teased.
Kristen rolled her eyes.
"We better get going." Cody mentioned.
"Wait, what are we looking for again?" Kristen asked, wanting a review again.
"We are going to go look for that green emerald necklace to save Josh's sister. But since those aren't found until many galaxies away from here we are going to have to go planet hopping to it." Cody mentioned.
"Okay got that." Kristen said, rubbing her eyes. She still felt tired, than she started to think she was over tired. For according to the two boys, she had slept a very long time. Cody had already a bowl of which he traded from Ferris and the drive was already charged inside it. Cody made the cue and the three of them touched the bowl together.
They suddenly ended up in a forest, but a different one than the one they were in before. There was a large hedge up ahead and it started to look familiar to Kristen. Cody had chosen this place, so he knew exactly where he was. He ran up to the hedge, and crawled inside it without telling the others. Kristen and Joshua ran up to him, trying to catch up. They looked around wondering where he went.
"Guys, I'm on the other side of the hedge, come on!" Cody hollered across the giant bush.
Kristen and Josh crawled into the hedge and stumbled on the other side. Kristen looked at Cody like why are we back here again.
"Well Josh, I just wanted you to have a good first stop. So I chose a spot that was even Kristen's first stop when I met her, this place is called Frigartsa." Cody said patting him on the back.
Than Cody started running further into the village.
"Come on guys, Joshua has to meet Rini first." He said turning a corner.
Josh and Kristen followed behind and Cody stopped at a cozy house in the corner of the village. Cody made a short knock at the door and the door swung open just seconds after. A short boy about twelve years old had opened it.
"Back so soon Coditsa?" Rini asked.
Kristen could still remember that Rini called Cody, Coditsa. But I guess it had also been only about a couple months since they last saw each other.
"Yah, we just got a new traveling buddy and we thought we could introduce him to you." Cody told him.
Rini smiled as he saw Josh making a wry smile and waving his hand embarrassingly. Rini waved back.
"Would you like to come inside?" Rini asked.
"Sure." Cody said and Rini let them inside his comfy house.
Cody just made himself at home as soon as he came inside. He sat down at one of the naturally made couches, grabbed an apricot, and put his feet up on the coffee table. Kristen than thought about last time how Cody made himself at home at Rini's house, it seemed like Cody just was comfortable around him. Rini walked into the kitchen and returned with more fruit and placed them in the basket. For the basket was looking pretty empty.
Josh and Kristen took a seat across from Cody, but didn't do exactly what he did. As Rini went back into the kitchen, another boy who looked about in his early twenties came into the room reading a book. When he noticed the three of them in the living room he quickly shut his book and walked off. Rini returned back into the kitchen with a pitcher of lemonade and cups. He place it on the table and sat down on a wicker rocking chair.
"Who was that man that just came in?" Cody asked, unfamiliar with the other visitor.
"Oh, he's my brother. Brotsa has been living at my house for a while because he heard that there are a lot of girls his age he could marry. So far, he has not found the girl he is fond enough to marry still." Rini said.
"So he wants to get married?" Kristen asked.
"Yah. He wants a girl that is passionate, kind, doesn't care too much about her beauty," Kristen resisted to laugh, she knew if he wanted a girl that doesn't care about beauty than he is going to have a harder time finding a girl than he thought, "caring to everybody, and is actually a person who will leave her house to live with him." Rini explained.
"what, so all of the girls he has met don't want to leave there homes?" Josh asked.
"Nope, they all want to still live with there family in there homes."
Than they changed the subject to something else. Rini told Josh about the story about the Ganganguan and how he met Cody. After a good conversation Rini invited them to dinner and they ate a veggie dish with fruit salad and homemade rolls.
While in the middle of dinner Brotsa came inside the kitchen, snatched a few rolls, and left the room.
"It looks like his girlfriend that he had been dating for three days now just broke up with him." Rini said, peeking over to his brother which was sitting in the living room depressingly.
"I feel so sorry for him." Kristen pitied.
The four of them finished there dinner and than heard a knock at the door. Rini put one finger up and opened the whicker door to find a hot looking girl standing in front of him. Rini whistled, leaning against the door love struck.
"Your hot girl, are you here for me?" He asked, his arm slowly slipping from the door.
"Um no, I need to talk to Brotsa." She said, her hands behind her back.
The girl was a total blonde, she had sparkling blue eyes, and a perfect face. She glowed in the candlelight.
"Okay sweetheart, I'll go fetch him for you." He said, still love struck.
Rini walked into the front room and told his brother about the girl at the door and he ran up to her.
"Hey Cheeksta, w-what are y-you doing here?" He asked.
"I came to appologize, I knew this would be hard for you." She said, refusing his offer to come inside.
"Cheeksta, you don't need to. It's alright, I will just find another one."
"That is what I needed to talk to you about, I know you have been looking for a girl for years now and none of them seemed your type. Well and this time it was your girlfriend that thought you weren't the type, but I was starting to think about it and..." Suddenly, Cheeksta went all that and started kissing him.
Rini looked away and walked back to the kitchen were the others were.
"I think he got his girl friend back." Rini said cheerfully.
Josh stood up and peeked in the hallway to find that the girl Brotsa was kissing was super hot. He smiled, waving his body back in forth even more love struck than Rini. Suddenly a hand slapped him in the face and he looked around to find Kristen staring at him.
"Snap out of it, your too young to date anyway." Kristen said, folding her arms.
"But she's so beautiful." Josh adored.
Kristen didn't let Cody come and see after what had weirdly happened with Josh. Going back to the doorway, a man that was hot as well stood next to her. They stopped kissing and Brotsa stared at him in disgust.
"This is my girl Brotsa, she broke up with you because she already found somebody else." The man said pushing Brotsa out of the way.
As Kristen led Josh back in the front room she hadn't realized what had just happened, but she checked on them real quick. When she spotted the other boy she suddenly started doing the same things Josh was doing. In fact she was swaying back and forth, her eyes glazed as she stared at the other boy. Cody moved Kristen from the hallway and Kristen snapped out it as quickly as Josh did.
"What is up with you two, while we went across from the kitchen to here I have seen that girl twice and nothing has happened yet!" Cody said.
Kristen and Josh looked at each other and just shrugged there shoulders. Than Cody turned to Rini.
"Hey Rinitsa, do you know if Brontsa's girlfriend and her boyfriend are part of your kind or not?" Cody asked.
"No I don't think so. I know this because there last three letters are with a S-T-A, not with a T-S-A. I think they come from the Burgonsta's on the other side of the planet. They are born with a hot complexion but with dramatic life styles so they can easily break up with you with no fight. I heard that they work most to attract people if you are a Halix." Rini explained.
"Well that makes sense." Cody said grateful to find that out.
"You guys make sure don't get close to those two." Cody said.
He turned to where Kristen and Josh were supposed to be to find they were both gone. Rini and Cody both stood up in alarm and checked the hallway to find the door closed. They ran up to the window to find the five of them walking together down the street in the moonlight. Cody sighed and they darted out the door, catching up to the mixed tribes.
Cody tried to get Kristen and Josh out of there but they refused. Cody sighed and looked around, thinking what was the best thing to do. The group than started walking downtown, with Cody and Rini standing there unsure what to do.
"It's never been this bad before, Burgonsta's never steal others and take them away."Rini said as they started down the hill.
Cody and Rini followed them to the hill and Cody started to realize that he knew where they were taking them... to the Ganganguan.
Of course the Ganganguan was supposed to be dead, but Ganganguan's don't die. The only way they die is with age. Cody didn't want to tell Kristen or anybody else about the Ganganguan's secret because he knew it would her whenever they returned. Cody ran down the hill and followed them down the hole and he spotted them getting into the tunnel. Rini was following behind.
"Coditsa, why are they going this way. This used to be the Ganganguantsa's secret lair." Rini said.
"The Ganganguan is still alive Rini." Cody said walking into the doorway which led to the tunnel.
Rini stopped in his spot, he now had a frightened look on his face. He didn't want to continue with the Ganganguan still alive.
"Rini," Cody said impatiently.
"Coditsa, what if it hurts the village?"
"Kristen was captured because she disturbed his slumber underground as she fell over his head. As long as we leave it alone, it will leave us alone as well." Cody explained.
"Okay good, but I don't think they are leaving them alone now." Rini whined.
"Well, they are trying to lead them towards the Ganganguan. We just need to stop them. That means, get Kristen and Josh out of the way."
Rini nodded, confidence coming back to him. Cody turned on his flashlight and noticed they weren't too far ahead. He and Rini ran ahead towards them. They were getting closer to the pit where the ganganguan had fallen into. Cody noticed in fact that they were calling the ganganguan to come to them. Rini ran ahead of the group of mixed kinds of people and tried ordering them to stop. Than Cody had a brilliant idea that was going to have to take some courage.
Cody looked around him and found a lost sandal that was either eaten by the ganganguan or was lost while exploring this tunnel. Cody picked it up, pulled out his drive and stared programming it. He than put the drive in the shoe, and took the shoe over to where they were chanting. He placed it at the edge of the tunnel, waiting for the ganganguan to come up.
Suddenly, they started hearing thumping noises as the ganganguan started coming up towards the tunnel. Before they knew it, the blue ganganguan was standing in front of all of them angry for waking him up again. Cody turned to Kristen who was not looking at the ganganguan, but adoring the boy. Cody sighed and had to do this right. He ran in between the ganganguan, The group, and the shoe. He then grabbed Kristen's hand, and grabbed Josh's with his other hand, than looked over to Rini.
"Sorry Rini, but I have to go." Cody said.
Rini understood, but before he could say anything Cody, at the same time stepped on the ganganguan's giant foot and put his other foot down on the shoe. Suddenly, the ganganguan, Cody, Kristen, and Josh disappeared from the tunnel, Brontsa out of his trance. The two Brogonsta's both snapped in dissapointment and than ran out of the large hole up above.
"Well brother, you should be glad that she is not your girl friend no more." Rini teased.
Brontsa grinned at his little brothers joking.
"And maybe I don't need a girlfriend Rinitsa. Come, lets get back home." Brontsa said, walking back towards the doorway. Rini followed behind and they went home, going to bed in peace and quiet.
Meanwhile, Cody, Kristen, Joshua, and the Ganganguan landed on a jungle planet. Though the ganganguan was the last of his kind, there was dozens of related creatures like it around the jungle. The Ganganguan seemed like the happiest Cody had ever seen it. It darted from the spot they were and it was automatically playing with other creatures. Kristen blinked multiple times, trying to figure out what had just happened. Joshua had already gone out of his trance and was shaking his head.
"What had just happened?" Kristen asked.
"It's sort of a long story, but this is the wrong place to explain it. We better get going on on finding that emerald necklace." Cody explained.
Cody quickly found a half of a coconut and placed his already programmed drive inside it. He had a place to go, he placed it on the ground and let it charge. Lately, Cody's drive had been having major glitches. Like it had accidentally sent them to this planet, though he wanted to go to another planet. Though this still worked out for the Ganganguan, Cody didn't understand how it had happened.Then when he got the signal from Kristen, he had accidentally ended up on this planet clear across the galaxy. Next thing he knew, he was standing over a river of hot lava with dark clouds up above. Than he did it again and ended up on a planet with hardly any oxygen around, making it hard for him to program his drive. Than after all night of going to planets besides the one he was after, he finally was able to fix it enough to reach him to Kristen and Josh. Than to find out that they had to go on more planets to find the emerald necklace.
Cody had a hard time trying to get them to this planet, but he managed. Now he has to take them towards the necklace, not away. They all got a hold of the half of coconut and they teleported hopefully to where Cody wanted it to go.
Chapter 4- 'Some Day My Prince Will Come'
Crystal sat on her bed looking like she was listening to her mother, but really wasn't. Instead, she was thinking of how her story will end. Her mother, the queen, didn't love her daughter as much as a mother should. Instead, she despised her daughter and kept her locked up in her bedroom until she takes her place as queen and she doesn't need to worry about her daughter any more. Though Crystal had been living like this most of her life and has wanted to escape ever since.
A couple of years ago a traveling man had given her a book. This book wasn't just an ordinary book, it was a book about fairy tale princess's. The man told her to keep this book hidden from anybody but those she trusts. So every night, when he mother is off to bed, she reads a little bit of the book. She has now finished the book multiple times and nearly has the entire thing memorized. She always wondered where this book came from exactly, what planet it came from. She wanted to know so badly so she could go there one day to meet those princess's.
But there was more than just wanting to see the planet it was on. She wanted something else inside that book that was nearly impossible on this type of planet. It was in fact a quote that many of the princess's would say inside and what Princess Crystal has been saying ever since she read that quote.
"Some day my prince will come." Crystal said dreamily as her mother left her bedroom.
"Crystal, you say that every night. You know it won't happen." Her mother said, her hands on her hips.
"No mother, in fact I believe my prince will come tomorrow. On your birthday." She said.
"At the ball, please. I am only inviting other people besides princes, they are too difficult to find. And anyway, the ball is going to be the last place you going to be before you end up a queen. Which, will probably won't be for another... twenty years maybe." her mother said and walked off.
The handmaiden, Mrs. Barrow, peeked into her bedroom, waiting for her to let her in. Crystal nodded and she entered the room. She sat next to her and sighed.
"You get to go to a ball after so many years, isn't it exciting?" She asked.
"Yah, but it is also for my mother." Crystal turned to Mrs. Barrow, "Why doesn't she do a ball for me, I am turning twenty in three days. " Crystal cried.
"You know, maybe you will find your prince before that." Mrs. Barrow responded.
Crystal smiled and than sighed. Mrs. Barrow patted her on the shoulder and than left the room to do her night chores. When Mrs. barrow left the room, Crystal bent down under her bed and pulled out her story tale book. She was on the Little Mermaid, in fact she was to the point when she was just becoming human. Crystal cheered when she read about her being found by the prince and she suddenly fell asleep.
Crystal woke up the next day and went straight to setting up the ball. She quickly ate breakfast in the kitchen and then helped the maids with the food. A boy about fourteen years old,with blond blond hair, and bright blue eyes, volunteered to help with cooking and serving the food, though he seemed a bit young for it.
When nighttime fell, Mrs. Barrow got her dressed and she went to the party. Everybody was all dressed up in there best gowns and suits, and nearly everybody was dancing. But Crystal just sat on a red velvet chair close to the food, knowing that the queen only brought friends that don't want to dance with her.
After a while, she decided she was going to fetch some food. She got off her seat and came up to the table where the fourteen year old boy was. He served her the dinner and sat back down at her seat. As she ate, she noticed something. The boy had left a message in her meat, it said:
Meet at
And that was all. She shrugged her shoulders and stuffed it in the seam of her dress that got ripped open. Suddenly the song changed and everybody shifted to a different partner. A boy, about fourteen years old with chocolate brown eyes, and a sweet smile. His face was good looking and fit her type very well. He came up to her, putting his left hand behind his back and his other out in front of her.
"Care to dance Madam Moselle." He said to her.
Of course if this was just a normal guy from the dance that asked her out, she would refuse. But she had two reason's why she stood up and accepted. One, he was hot, two, she had a very good feeling about him and took her chances.
"You seem a bit young sir." She said as he led her towards the middle of the dance floor.
"Well, from my world we start dancing around this age." He said.
The young man twirled her and her skirts opened wide. Than he quickly caught her and they continued the dance.
"How are you so good at this young sir?" She asked.
"I took a ballroom dancing class at school... I mean, I-"
"No I understand, you have more education at your world and you go to school for learning such things like this." She said, brushing some of the fluff off his jacket.
"Why you seem very smart to know such a thing." he commented.
"Why thank you young sir." Suddenly, an old man tapped the boy on the shoulder and he started dancing with crystal. As the young man left, he quickly slipped something between her ribbon of her bow. As she danced with the elder, she quickly reached into her bow and pulled out the peice of paper.
"What is that Madame?" He asked, as she stopped dancing.
"It's nothing sir." She said and walked off the ballroom floor.
She sat back down at her velvet seat and unfolded the piece of paper:
"The Gazebo at midnight." She seemed confused, why did he give this to her? She stuffed the piece of paper with the other and continued sitting on the chair for the rest of the party.
Crystal came to her room and shared all that happened of meeting the boy and how he gave her the paper to Mrs. Barrow. Mrs. Barrow sat next to her at the bed and read the two peice of papers.
"Mam, have you ever thought about putting these two together. Because together they say 'Meet at the Gazebo at midnight.'" She mentioned.
Crystal snatched the pieces of paper and stared at them. She looked at the clock at the wall and dropped the papers. She was already in her nightgown, so she snatched her cape and slipped it on.
"I have to go, thank you." She said.
Mrs. Barrow curtsied and unlocked the door for her.
"Keep that hood on Mam, you don't want the queen knowing about this." She said shooing her on.
Crystal puled the maroon hood over her head and nodded to her hand maiden. Than she ran off out of the castle. She swiftly walked towards the gazebo, knowing running would bring too many suspicions. She took the shortcut through the gardens and reached the gazebo. The young man stood inside the gazebo, still in his suit, with his gloved hands behind his back. He came up to her and put his hand out to her.
"Remember me?" he asked.
Crystal took his hand.
"How could I not young sir."
They sat down at the stone bench inside the gazebo and he handed her a sunflower, from the patch close by. She thanked him and placed the flower on her lap.
"I never got your name sir." She said adoring her flower.
"Sir Joshua the first." He said smoothly.
"Princess Crystal." Crystal suddenly started scooting a little closer to Sir Joshua, "I think your more than just a young man sir-" She tapped him on the nose, "Joshua."
Sir Joshua scooted back a little, feeling a bit awkward.
"I think your more like a... prince." She stood up and started walking around in circles around the inside the gazebo, "I have been looking for you day after day, night after night. I knew he would come today for sure though, and it is midnight. So it must be you." She said sitting back down next to him.
"I think you have made a mistake, princess. I do not come from a royal family, nor do I have any royal blood in me whatsoever." he said leaning back as she started getting a little close.
"Oh so your a page boy, how could you possibly be? You have clothes that look nothing like a servant." She laughed.
"I didn't say I was, I am a free boy out of a kingdom." He said.
Crystal stopped laughing and looked at him in surprise.
"Your free?" She asked.
"Yes, my country is called America, the land of the free."
Crystal looked around her, feeling desperate.
"Can I... may I go with you to your world and be with you?" She asked.
"Well, don't you have this place to live?" He asked.
"I can't live here any longer, I just want to be free from my mother."
Josh looked down at the ground, thinking of what the best idea was. Than it clicked, this girl was old enough to get married, she was lonely, passionate, kind, and she seemed like she would fit a good man almost like a prince.
"Well princess, I am afraid I cannot do that," Crystal frowned, "But I believe I can do something else for you that may be even better than your request."
Crystal scooted up closer to him.
"Can you tell me please?" She asked.
"How about if I show you instead. Do you have anything that you would like to bring with you?" Josh asked her.
"No sir, my mother will never return anything of mine ever again. I believe the only thing I can bring is my heart." She said.
Josh nodded and looked over the railing behind the bushes. He nodded. Suddenly the boy that helped in the kitchen and an unfamiliar girl appeared from behind the bushes. Crystal looked around confused.
"What is going on?" She asked as they came up to her. The blond haired boy was holding some small, blue object. He leaned down and picked up a flower pot and dumped the dirt out into the garden. He than dropped it inside and placed it on the ground. Crystal was wanting to walk away now, feeling award with how this was working out.
"Princess, please don't be frightened. This is how we go to places, please." Josh put his hand out towards Crystal.
She looked around her and grabbed his hand. Josh than smiled, bent down and he touched the pot with the other two. Suddenly Crystal was standing in the streets of a peaceful village. Josh showed her towards Rini's house. He politely knocked at the doorway and the first person who opened the door was his brother. Whom they were all hoping to first see.
Chapter 5- tricks and teases
It was odd to find after a while, going from place to place doesn't get as bad as it was in the beginning. At first the impact would get so bad while traveling through space that it would knock you out. But it was now, that if you landed wrong, yes you would pass out. Cody believed that it was his drive that was having the problems. In fact it fixed that problem a couple of weeks ago, but now his drive is having another problem. And that is taking him to the wrong place.
Kristen had landed hard on a tile floor and she resisted to say alert. After she could see clearly she noticed the checkerboard flooring was pretty big tiles. In fact she was only sitting on one of them. The flooring went on forever, she couldn't see a wall for as far as she could see or a ceiling. It was a white sky, as if she was sitting in a cloud. Kristen rubbed her back which landed first on the floor. She finally decided she was going to start looking for Cody, for looking around her it looked like he was nowhere in sight. She got up and took a step at another tile, than suddenly the tile started crumbling and it fell into a deep dark hole under the ground.
Kristen looked down at the hole, unsure how that could be possible. She tapped her foot on another tile and that one collapsed into the ground. Next thing she knew, the entire floor was collapsing but her own. She was now trapped, she had nowhere to go. She got back down on her hands and knees and peeked underneath her black tile. It was being held by a long, sturdy pole. But it didn't seem like the other tiles didn't have a sturdy pole like hers. She just ended up on it by a matter of luck.
Kristen took deep breathes, trying to stay calm in this trap. She couldn't move anywhere, the only choice she had was to just sit there until she was rescued.
Meanwhile, Cody sat in the grass of a vast meadow, surrounded by the devils he most despises. He wasn't sure if they were real or not, none of them moved, they just stood there like statues. He didn't want to be tricked, nor did he want to be teased about it in the future. He closed his eyes, muttering something to himself. He knew he got to the wrong place, and he wasn't sure how the others weren't with him.
Than he took his chances. He stood up and noticed the devils did not react. He smiled and slowly slipped through them. The meadow went on for miles without end, he wasn't sure where to go. He than pulled out his drive and got ready to leave the place. He placed it on a large leaf and tried to touch it but nothing happened. He kicked his foot against the ground, not understanding why it hadn't teleported him.
"You stupid drive, your broken too much!" He yelled at his drive.
He picked it up and stuffed it back in his pocket. He turned back to the spot he had landed to find the devil statues were suddenly gone. He turned back around to find himself surrounded once again.
Josh woke up with Marie looking down at him. He sat up and realized he was at the park, he blushed, feeling embarrassed.
"What happened?" He asked.
"You passed out." Marie said, rubbing his back.
"How?"
"Don't know, just happened." She shrugged her shoulders.
"I had this crazy dream about you being traded with this Yoda slash goblin dude and I ended up trying to trade you back by traveling through space with two random teenagers my age." Josh said, summarizing it as much as he could.
"Interesting."
"I don't remember being here before, I don't even remembering falling asleep."
"That's because you hit your head." She explained.
"But you said you didn't know what happened."
Marie stopped rubbing his back. She frowned, unsure how to answer this.
"I-I was just teasing you silly. In fact this was just a trick, I pulled out of bed and lied you in the grass at the park." She said, her smile coming back.
This wasn't Marie, she would never do such a thing. Not even his parents would, in fact this didn't feel right. He stood up and looked around him, all the kids looked nearly the same. As if they were repeated over and over and over. He backed away shaking his head.
"This is all wrong, this is the real dream." He said running into a tree.
"Well, what happens if I slap you in the face. Will you wake up back in your bed?"
"Yes, because this seems so unreal." Josh said as she approached him.
"Okay Joshua, lets give this a try." Marie suddenly slapped Josh on the cheek and he shook his head again. He looked around him to find himself in his bedroom just standing there. He blinked multiple times and was suddenly back at the park. He was still against the tree with Marie still in front of him.
"Well I guess it didn't work." She said picking her nails.
"This is a whole trick. I am still traveling with Cody and Kristen and we landed on this planet that all they do is trick and tease you until you figure it out on your own."
Marie smirked and walked closer to him.
"You know, you are smarter than I thought Joshua. Because your other friends haven't figured it out yet." Marie than looked around her and looked back up at her brother, "Though I guess you are a Halix, in fact a very smart Halix. I guess it makes sense that you know more than Kristen about being a Halix, but you just do it out of habit without realizing it. As for that other Halix, she has no experience of being one, though you had that practice for six years-"
"Stop it, I don't remember being one, and I don't know how you know. You are not my sister, and this is all a trick. Now stop talking you program!" He cried.
Suddenly it looked like Marie was glitching. And the sky looked like it was turning darker. Suddenly Josh was standing in a white room. A woman was standing in front of him, trying to get his attention.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I am Lucinda Drew, though I am only but a program. I see that you have figured out our scheme, though you cannot save your friend. Therefor, your friends are going to have to figure it out on there own." She said, with a large smile.
"I can't help them?" Josh asked.
"No."
The program suddenly glitched and disappeared. He sat down, knowing all he could do now was just to wait for them to figure it out. He than noticed in the white room Kristen lying close by. He ran over to her, trying to wake her up. Suddenly, Lucinda Drew popped up again.
"She cannot be awoken until she figures out our scheme." She said and disappeared again.
Josh sighed. He than noticed Cody, but knew it would be useless to come up to him and try to wake him up. He lied down and looked into Kristen's closed eyes. Waiting for them to open and they can leave this place forever.
Kristen still sat on her block, having nothing to do. There was nobody in sight, and she wasn't sure how to escape still. The cement post underneath this block was probably going to be her last resort to escape. But she knew doing that would bring her 99% chance of dying and 1% chance of getting lucky. She folded her arms and waited, her mind filling with questions.
After a while, she lied down and looked out into the white abyss. Suddenly, she heard a tiny voice in her head call to her. She sat up and it disappeared again. She hit her head, wanting the voice to come back to her. She lied back down and she heard the voice again. Kristen, if your hear me. I need to tell you that this is all a trick. The voice said. It almost sounded like Josh's voice, just more faded. She sat up and looked around her, this did seem like a trick.
"This is all a trick!" She shouted, hopeful.
Nothing happened.
"I am telling you, this is all a silly old trick. Now let me out of this mess." She screamed.
Still nothing.
"A trick, let me spell it out. A T-R-I-C-K!!!"
Nothing still.
Kristen sighed, and lied back down. Hoping the voice would come back to her, but she couldn't hear it any more. She looked up at the white sky and shouted once again,
"The teasing over guys, I have figured out now!"
The sky remained white, the bottom remained empty, and Kristen remained still on the large tile. Then she thought about how maybe it wasn't what she says, it is what she does. She stood up and took a deep breath.
"This is all just a trick, this is all just a trick..." She repeated this in her head as she took tiny steps towards the edge.
Her feet were half off of the edge, but the other half kept her still on. She expanded her arms out, still repeating the words over and over in her head. Suddenly she was falling, falling, falling into the deep dark hole. Her stomach lurching as she increased the speed. She let herself freely fall into the hole, her hands hanging out, and her eyes still closed. But minutes later and she was still falling, the hole seeming like it never ended. But she still held on to her courage, keeping calm and refraining from moving any part of her body.
Kristen suddenly opened her eyes and sat up. Josh was lying next to her looking up at her. He sat up and smiled.
"You figured it out." He said giving her a hug.
Seconds later and Cody woke up. He came up to them and was looking around for something to place his drive in. Lucinda popped up again and she looked down at the three of them.
"You have all achieved our scheme. You may all now go home." She said.
Cody was going to stop her from taking them home, but before they knew it they all vanished from the room.
Kristen stood in her yard, sad that they hadn't done anything. They actually sent them back home, and she was standing alone in her yard, her real yard.
Chapter 6- starting from the beginning
Kristen sighed and walked into her house. Her family was still gone, they were supposed to be back over a week ago. She looked around for any signs they were home but it seemed like just how she last left it. She walked into the kitchen and noticed the garbage hadn't been emptied yet. She remembered it being empty before she left. Then she knew for sure they came back, but why was this only sign of them being here. She opened the lid to find garbage that she remembered eating before going with Cody again.
She picked it up and took it out to the garbage can outside. She went back inside to find her cell phone left on the counter. She didn't remember it being there before she went outside, but she took it anyway. Before she left she had forgotten her cell phone and left it one the counter, she now has it back.
Kristen suddenly heard a knock at the door. She came up to it to find Cody standing there with his hands in his pockets.
"Coming? Or do you want a little more vacation?" He asked.
Kristen looked around her, she doesn't remember telling him that she was vacationing. In fact they were dropped off here by accident.
"No, I am coming." She said and closed the door behind her.
Cody led her down the stairs and he had already had his drive set up in the grass, the drive inside a small birthday bag.
"Now what about Josh?" She asked.
"Josh?" He asked, as if he didn't know him.
"Yah, Joshua the Halix." Cody stared at Kristen confused at what she was talking about.
"Do you even know what a Halix even is?" He asked.
"Of course I do, I am a Halix aren't I?" Cody backed away.
"How did you find out?" He asked.
"Don't you know Cody? You took me to my family and I got to find out."
Cody shook his head.
"Lets just drop the subject, I must be hearing things." Cody said.
They both got a hold of the handles of the bag and they popped up inside a tight spaced bedroom. A small circular window was close by and Kristen peeked out.
"Cody, we are in a space ship." She said with excitement.
But Cody wasn't thinking about how cool they were on the spaceship. He was thinking about other things, he was in fact in his own world.
"Cody, oh look. It's a shooting star!" She pointed out the window.
Cody sat down at the bed and stared at the wall in thought. Kristen shook his shoulders, trying to shake him from his trance.
"Cody, come on." She said, impatient.
Cody still stared and Kristen looked back out the window.
"Tell me the entire story of how you found out you were a Halix." Cody said, now glancing back over to her.
Kristen turned her head towards him.
"Don't you already know?" She asked.
"I just want a reveiw, I like the story."
Kristen sat next to him and told him about how they landed on the white dome, and how she met one of her brothers without knowing it, she told him about going to the adult city, and how there was no girls. She told him about getting a job, how she met the governor, how everything worked out on meeting her mother, and how they left without her finding out about it.
"So your looking for them right now?" He asked.
"How do you not know this Cody, have you lost all of your memory over the last five weeks?" She asked.
"No, I have only met you for not even three weeks." he said.
Everything was now getting confused for the both of them.
"What day is today?" She asked.
"May first."
Than it clicked.
"Right now for me it is July 25."
"That means you came to the past and I met the future Kristen. "
"That's not good, because today in my past I am supposed to meet you that night."
"It's already nighttime, so that would mean you have been traveling with the future Cody the whole time."
This was getting all confusing. This entire time she had been discovering who Josh was and who her family was, she was with the future Cody. Cody rubbed his temples, thinking of the best way to think this through.
"Where am I now do you think?" He asked.
"Trapped in a ship deep in space." Kristen explained.
"Tell me more about what happened."
Kristen told him about the ship and how she had to go save him. She explained how she knew this by a shape- shifter. Cody than stood up with a brilliant idea.
"Why don't you and me go to this ship and meet future Cody before the other Kristen finds him, and we can switch places. That way I have less experience of what is to come and the past and present us will be united again." Cody said, proud of his theory.
"That is brilliant Cody, and it doesn't seem that hard either." Kristen said, jumping up.
Past Cody and future Kristen gave each other a high five and he started programming again. Him and Kristen smiled as he counted down to touch the tin mug. They grabbed the cup and they landed in the hallways of the cells.
"Which cell Kristen?" He asked.
Kristen pointed down the hallway to a door at the end. They ran down it to find it obviously locked. They sat against the door, thinking of the best way to get in. They both had forgotten that a cell door would be locked shut.
"You know it is burning hot in here." Kristen said as a drip of sweat came down her cheek.
"Don't know what to say about that." Cody said.
Kristen pulled her hair up in a high bun, having the back of her neck at least feeling cooler. As Kristen put her hair up, Cody noticed a guard coming down the hallway. Not noticing them. He stood up and was about to come up to him and try to pick pocket the keys until he noticed the future Kristen had already beaten him to it.
She had smoothly slipped behind him without neither Cody or the guard seeing them and she easily pulled out the keys out of the jacket. Before he knew it Kristen was back with him and unlocking the large door. The guard had turned the corner into another hallway and Kristen opened the door. Cody smiled as he spotted Kristen, but than frowned again as he saw himself too.
"Wait, who is he?" Cody wondered, confused of seeing himself.
"Cody." Kristen said smoothly.
"How, I am not wearing the same clothing and I have a bit of a bead hair going on."
"Hey, I am you Future Cody. We just got a little warped with time. You were about to go explore with the Kristen in the past, who doesn't know she is Halix and doesn't know who this Joshua guy is. And I was about to explore with future Kristen, with me not knowing that she knows she is not human, and me having not even met this other kid that goes with you guys."
Future Cody stood up, everything was making sense now.
"So what's you plan Cody from the past?" He asked.
"We switch places. You go with your Kristen and I go with mine." Past Cody said.
"Alright, well I think this is going to work out then. Just remember whatever Kristen has told you, you need to do the exact thing to this Kristen." Future Cody said and walked up to Kristen.
Cody checked his watch.
"Well, Kristen will be up here in about fifteen minutes. You have to know as little as you can, so it would be best if we go now." Future Cody told him.
Cody nodded.
"Seeya guys." he said and they left the cell. Kristen and Cody walked down the hallway and Kristen spotted the guard close by. She swiftly returned the keys back in his pocket and they left back to Earth.
"So what do we do now?" Kristen asked, wondering what is going to happen now.
Suddenly, they felt each other teleport from her yard. They were suddenly back inside the white room with Joshua and the program.
"Was that a test, because I actually remember that happening a couple of weeks ago." Cody said.
"It was in fact another thing out people do for a living. In fact we either do it from hallucinations or real life. I teleported you to the past to meet yourselves and figure out how to coordinate it all together. It looks like you have made it successful, I shall now let you free." Lucinda said.
Lucinda suddenly disappeared again and the three of them stood there in the room. The program had left a bag to put the drive in. Cody placed it inside the bag and waited for it to charge.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier Cody, you knew how it was all to happen?" Kristen asked him
"I had to do as you told me in the past." Cody answered.
"But time can change, I could have suddenly get a different memory. It is alright." She argued.
"I didn't want to change it."
Kristen stormed up to him and pointed at him.
"Oh wrong wording, I didn't like how you had to wait so long before I could find out. You freaked out when I told you that I knew I was a Halix, WHY?"
Josh stayed back as they argued, making sure not to get in there bubbles. He stood behind Kristen and was staring at the Halix sign in the back of her neck that was showing with her hair up in a bun. When she showed it to him earlier, it was only for half a second. But he was now staring at it for a long time, observing the shape and watching how it swirled and connected.
Suddenly, he got a flashback of seeing the sign in a different spot. He blinked multiple times as more flashbacks came to him. It was like seeing a slide show ten times fast of your past. He saw the devils faces, and a woman's crying face, he saw houses being burned down, and a man going out to battle, he saw the woman placing him inside something, and he saw millions of other things coming one by one in his head. Josh tried to keep his balance, but there was nothing to hold on.
"Guys." he said faintly, his hands on his knees.
"Guys." He said a little louder.
They stopped argueing and they looked at Josh.
"I am starting to remember." And he passed out on the ground.
Chapter 6- remembering
The city of Haliboo, 2006
The war was within the city of Haliboo, nearly every man was out to war saving the city. Though there were too many of them, millions of devils would suck away the lives of men and slowly get closer and closer on winning there battle. Though they weren't there to conquer, they were there for a young boy. Many years ago they had heard of a fortune teller telling them about a young man who will wipe out the entire population of the devils.
After hearing that, the devils had no choice but to return for this child. They didn't want to die because of a young Halix coming to conquer there population. The fortune teller told them that this boy right now is only but in his childhood of about six years old. His name would be called Joshua and he would have two parents of the names Elizabeth and James.
The head captain of the devils called to the others and ordered half of them to break in each door of the homes and find the boy. Half of them continued battling, and the other half started breaking through doors and looking for the young boy. Though Elizabeth and James lived up the hill on the far end, overlooking the city. And the devils had begun looking at the beginning of town.
James had gone out to battle, and ever since Elizabeth had heard nothing from him. Elizabeth was one of the few that knew exactly what the devils were looking for and she knew it was her boy. She watched out the window, holding Josh's small six year old hand tightly inside her own. Though he complained of her squeezing his hand too much, she couldn't release his hand. She was indeed very frightened and wasn't sure what to do, but to stay in the house. She knew this house wouldn't be a safe house for long, especially with how quickly they were hunting down each house.
Elizabeth spotted the devils getting closer and closer to the end of town and picked Josh up in her arms. His mother was holding him tightly in her arms, tension building up as they continued getting closer and closer. She had one option but it was an option she didn't like. It would be risky, and it would take a lot of sacrifice.
The choice was to take him to the lightning portal, of which has never been used before. The creators have said that the portal brings one person through the universe by lightning. They also mentioned that with how it travels through electricity it has a big chance of the person perishing. They offered the portal to her, but she couldn't except it. She kept it on the other side of the hill, hidden in a cave, but hoping to keep it there for the rest of her life.
But as the devils started coming up the hill, she backed away from the window. Josh held on tightly, young enough not to understand exactly what is going on. She started running towards the back door, Joshua wanting off. His mother put him down, but kept her hand tightly around his. She led him further up the hill.
Elizabeth looked behind her to find the devil breaking into her house. A tear fell down her cheek, trying not to show this to her boy. She led him towards the top of the hill and looked down to find the rock blocking the cave. She bent down to match eyes with Josh. She kissed him on the forehead.
"I love you." She cried, her eyes filling with more tears.
"Mommy, what is going on?" He asked
"Mommy is just sad because I have to go for a while." She said.
"How long are you going to be gone?"
"I don't know, but you just have to promise to me that you will always remember me at all times."
"Of course mommy, I will always." He said.
Elizabeth hugged her boy and gave him another kiss on the cheek.
"Oh my son." She cried.
On the corner of her eyes she spotted the devils coming out of her house. She was in clear sight of them if they turn around. She quickly grabbed his hand again and she led him down the hill. She was going so fast down the hill Joshua tripped and fell face on the ground. He started crying, and his mother began trying to shush him.
"Shhhh, we have to be quiet."
"Why mommy?" He asked.
"Because we are hiding."
Joshua smiled and put his fingers to his lips. She made a wry smile and came over to the rock. She moved it with all of her strength out of the way and there the portal still remained. It was nearly the size of the cave itself, and it seemed to only fit one person.
She came back up to Joshua and took his hand again. She led him towards the cave and placed him in the portal. She kissed him on the forehead again.
"I love you!" She whispered.
As she closed the door of the portal, Joshua noticed her face filling with tears. Than the door closed and everything blacked out.
Ganadoo, present time
Josh's eyes snapped open and he quickly sat up, the blood rushing to his head. He was expecting Kristen and Cody to be in the room he was in, but nobody was there. The room was small, about the size of a large dinner table. It only had enough room to fit a mat for a bed and a small dresser to put clothes in. The ground was just matted dirt, with pieces of straw to soften it up a bit. The room had solid walls of stone, but had no windows. And the door was no taller than five feet tall, having most people to bend down to get inside.
Bugs were flying around the room, all in a large mass close to the ceiling. Joshua stood up and the flies buzzed off to a corner. He wanted to see what was outside, but he didn't want to peek through the door. Josh decided he was going to peak through the door anyway, he opened it a crack to find hay fields. He opened the door wider and stepped out into the blazing sun in his bare feet. The room he was in was in fact a small stone hut. He looked around the area to find no other huts nor buildings around the area. He looked behind the hut to find more farmland. He didn't understand how he ended up alone in a hay field that reached for miles that seemed like it had no end.
Miles away was mountains that reached higher than the height of the Rocky Mountains. The farm land seemed to even reach all the way to those mountains. He sighed, unsure what to do. He walked back inside his hut and sat on his mat, asking himself whether he should wait or go look for them.
Suddenly, Josh felt his mat sinking into the ground. Losing him off guard. He grabbed into the stone that stuck out of the wall, not wanting to sink into the floor. He held on even tighter as the mat reached down to at least four and a half feet. Than the moving stopped, he was about to stand up and quickly climb out until he noticed something. It was a passage way and the mat was a trap door.
Out of curiosity, he slipped inside the crawl space and landed on damp soil underground. There were candles lit down the corridor, lighting his way towards wherever it lead to. He followed it down until it suddenly stopped at a solid, stone wall. He looked around him, hoping he hadn't missed a hidden hallway or anything. He hit his head against the wall, confused of what puzzle he was going against.
Than he noticed that there were imprints on some of the stones. He observed the stones to find there was only ten on the entire wall. One stone was a circle with separate lines around it, it looked like a child's drawing of earth's sun. Another stone showed a circle with a ring around it. The third one was a large circle, nearly covering the entire stone with an eye on the corner. One looked nearly like Earth, another was tiny, maybe the size of a golf ball, and the rest of the circles on the stones were all pretty close to the same size just with different patterns.
Josh observed it a little more closely to find they all were planets, except for the first one. In fact it nearly looked like the Solar System. Maybe it's a code, I need to put all the planets in order. Joshua thought. He looked up at the ceiling trying to remember his fifth grade teachers song to help them memorize the planets.
He touched the sun imprint to find it pushed in. He started getting jittery as he pushed the next planet, Mercury. He continued pressing down the stones in order, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and what looked like Pluto as last. It was odd to try to put Pluto back into the Solar System after scientists got rid of it a few years back, but it seemed to fit as the ninth planet.
As he pressed the tenth stone, the wall suddenly parted and he was suddenly standing in front of a large first class foyer. It was like a underground mansion, spiral staircases were further down the foyer, there was a white marble floor, elegant velvet curtains covered where the windows were supposed to be, and gold engravings on the floorboards. Josh walked into the house and he heard the stones get back together behind him. It seemed impossible that walls could do such a thing, though he was so enthralled with the house that he didn't take his time looking at how it does that. He walked around the house, admiring everything around him.
While he walked towards the elegant spiral staircases he spotted a girl with wavy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes come down the staircase. Joshua ran up the stairs towards her.
"Hey Josh, it seems like you figured out the code." Kristen said, grinning.
"I guess so, how is this possible?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Lots of enhancements in a different world in a different galaxy. They try connecting with earth by having stuff that relates with it, but they just added with there own technologies. The hay field you just saw was just a hologram, this planet is in fact the smallest planet in the tri-galaxy area. They try making it seem bigger to bring new people here but it never works. Though we decided to try it on you just for the fun of it."
Josh gave Kristen a look that said Seriously Kristen?
"But why don't I see the light streaming through the curtains?" Josh asked cooly.
"Because it's nighttime, and plus this planet is so small it doesn't even have a moon. "
"Well if this planet is so small how long is there nights?" Josh asked, curiosity building up.
"Ganadoo rotates slow and it takes about five hours before the next day, they normally sleep through an entire day for it to count as night. So they seal up the curtains at night to keep the light from waking them. A day is every other day, while the other days are counted as night." Kristen said, feeling all smart.
"Interesting-"
"It also takes the planet seven hundred and thirty real days for it to rotate completely around the sun, which means the sun should be nearly the same size of our own. Since this planet is so small, the people who live here have to go to other planets close by to buy the food and provisions, so life here is a lot different than our own." Kristen interrupted.
Josh slapped his forehead.
"Okay, how did you find out about all of this and how do you remember everything?" Josh asked.
Kristen blinked multiple times trying to figure it out herself.
"I don't know, it just came out as if I was a human computer." She said, her hands on her hips.
Both Josh and Kristen dropped the subject and Kristen gave him a tour around the large house. As she led him upstairs and brought him in a large living room where about a half a dozen men and woman sat, Cody being there also. Josh and Kristen took a seat and they were ready to introduce each other to them.
"Hey guys, this is Josh, Josh these are the people who live here." Kristen introduced.
"I'm Doctor Maine by the way Josh." A man with grey hair and circular spectacles, started.
"Professor Pint." A man in a wool jacket and a blue bow tie said next.
It was almost like they were being introduced to a town meeting in the eighteen hundreds. The third was a woman named Madame Marice, the fourth, Mr. Lime, Lady Karen, Mr. Blyde (Butler), and Mrs. Amber (Hand Maiden). They all seemed kind and lovely people, able to live on a planet on there own, and able to welcome any visitors anytime. The group of them talked for a while, getting to know each other and becoming good friends with most.
Before Josh knew it the sun was already shining showing it was mid afternoon (to Ganadoo's clock anyway).
Mrs. Amber stood up in the middle of the conversation, brushing fluff off of her apron.
"Pardon me please, I have to go make some lunch." She said and walked out of the room.
A few minutes later and Mrs. Amber returned with a tray full of miniature sandwiches.
"Nothin' too much, just a light lunch this afternoon." She said, placing the tray on the coffee table.
Josh hadn't realized how hungry he was, he in fact didn't even know how long he was asleep. He ate about eight sandwiches before losing count of how many he was eating. After they all ate a merry and light lunch, Professor Pint (Who seemed like the owner of the home) introduced Josh to his room.
The day turned out just playing games and talking with all of the other people for five hours until it was time for bed. Josh came into his bedroom, laid on his bed and sighed. The memory now was clear in his head, repeating over and over trying to tell him something that he just wasn't catching. It now seemed like a curse to find your painful memories you never knew about until seven years later inside your head. He couldn't sleep, he feared of the devil's, those dreadful devils and couldn't bare to see there covered faces inside his head.
Closing his eyes just made the image of his worst enemy show up better. He knew getting up and wandering the house wouldn't help much, being in the dark where the devils like it most. And staying in bed would just frustrate him more. Josh got out of bed and turned on the lamp. He took it down stairs and entered the library quietly, as if the books were sleeping too. He sat down on a comfy, velvet seat and grabbed the first book he saw from the shelf. It seemed like a coincidence, because for some reason this library many galaxies away had a classic that most people have heard about before: Sherlock Holmes. It was interesting to find that the house itself somehow fit at the same time Sherlock Holmes was set in.
Josh flipped to the first page and started to read. As he read he suddenly heard footsteps in the distance, he quietly but quickly shut the book, and he suddenly felt a piercing pain in the palm of his hand. He waited quietly, hoping it would be Mrs. Amber or Madame Marice. Ignoring the pain in his hand. From the other side of the bookshelf in front of him he heard two hushed voices. He listened carefully, hoping to hear every word but they were so quiet it was difficult to hear.
"I don't want to hear it again, I am not going to go through this." One voice said harshly.
There was a long pause, as if the other person was trying to talk in his smallest voice that not even Josh could hear.
"I don't care what you say, good bye."
Josh heard footsteps go towards the other double doors, but he didn't get to see there faces or whether they were male of female. Josh placed the book exactly where he found it and quietly rushed upstairs, as he came up the stairs he brushed against a long vase on a small table next to the stairs, knocking it over. He heard it hit the ground and froze, praying that it hadn't woken anybody else. The vase seemed strong being glass, and it only chipped a small part on the top of the vase. He placed it back on the table and turned it so the chip faced the wall. He than took steadier steps toward his room.
As he walked into his room he looked at his hand, which had a bloody, long thin cut clear across the palm. He walked over to a small dresser and pulled out a long, black sock and wrapped it snugly around his hand. He than shut the light off the tucked into his warm covers for the night.
The next day Lady Karen (Being only in her early twenties) rushed into Josh's room. Josh sat up, wondering what all the rush was about.
"It's urgent..." She said, trying to catch her breath.
"Okay, what is it?" He asked.
"Mr. Lime was killed last night, and two people are missing." She said, her body leaned against the wall.
"Who is missing?"
"Mrs. Amber"
"And..." Josh said, wanting to know the other person.
She shook her head, as if she really didn't want to tell him. There was along pause.
"And Cody."
Chapter seven- The Game of Clue
"One dead, two missing. How can this be possible?"
Kristen couldn't believe what she just heard, Cody missing? She has known him for nearly an entire summer, and than he vanishes before her eyes. She knew Josh could be sad that Cody was one of the two that went missing, but he wouldn't be as bad as she was. They couldn't be able to get that necklace without him, and if they don't get that necklace than they can't save Marie, and if they can't save Marie Josh is going to be miserable for the rest of his life, and if he is like that then the whole universe will feel like it is falling apart.
Kristen rubbed her temples, a terrible headache she was getting. She paced around her bedroom, trying to discuss things with Lady Karen. She trusted her, for she was as young and naive as she was. It was in fact that Lady Karen is human and visits America with her warp speed space ship and knows a lot about the culture. It almost seemed like Lady Karen would be the only person she could trust in this situation, not counting Joshua.
"So how are we going to find out who the suspect was?" Kristen asked, wondering if her theory will relate to a familiar game she played called, Clue.
"I am thinking up something, but it might require you since Mr. Cody is most known to you."
Kristen nodded, wondering if she should tell Lady Karen about the game.
"Do you have any clues from any objects?" She asked.
"Well, earlier this morning I saw a book left in the library with a blood stain on the side. I observed it to find the blood stain was just recent, like in the last seven to eight hours."
"Do you have any other evidence?" She asked.
"Yes, while I was attempting to walk back upstairs to warn the others I noticed the vase near the stairs had a chip on it. This chip was never there until this morning, which means somebody was definitely wandering the halls last night. So there is our second clue." Lady Karen said.
"That helps a lot, okay, so what if this person left this planet?" She asked
"They couldn't have, because ships that come and go always have there loud, vibrating noise and it would be for sure that one of us would notice it. So that means this person is still withing the building so I think I already have a list of suspects to talk to."
. . .
Everybody was ordered to the meeting room. The seven of them looked gloomily at the three empty seats in the room. Lady Karen, somehow being in charge of this case (Though you would expect Professor Pint since he is the owner of the home), stood up from her seat holding a notebook to show and write down clues.
"The suspect for this case is unknown so far, though he couldn't have escaped as far as this house. That means it has to be one of us, so one of you must have that poker face in this room." Lady Karen said, the people inside the room looked around the room trying to look for that poker face.
Lady Karen took a deep breath.
"I am going to speak to each of you individually, and I am going to start with Madame Marice." Lady Karen said, turning towards Madame Marice.
Madame Marice looked around the room, and than stood up. She nodded and followed her out of the room. Lady Karen took her to Professor Pint's office. Madame Marice sat down at the velvet chair inside the office. Lady Karen sat down in Professor Maine's chair and placed her elegant hands on the redwood.
"Madame Marice, born on August twenty ninth of nineteen-sixty three, born in the Liginston hospital on the planet of Tostraica, in the city called New Marion's. You having three brothers and divorced parents-" She read, Madame Marice stopped and placed the notebook on the desk, "According to the records I got from professor Maine it seems like you had a hard life. Can you tell me anything that you noticed this morning or what you did last night?"
Madame Marice weaved her fingers together and looked down at the floor in thought. Her fur scarf motionless on her shoulders.
"I hadn't slept well last night, especially finding the letter my father had sent me. As I cried in my bed I could hear hushed voices in the library next door. I came to the library door and tried to listen but I couldn't tell whom the voices belonged to. A few minutes later and I heard a man's struggling breath inside the foyer. I attempted to quietly walk over to the foyer to find Mr. Lime on the ground with his shirt soaked with blood. I tried to help him, but before I could do anything else he took his last breathe and he was gone." Madame Marice choked. She wiped her pale grey eyes with her scarf and looked back up at Lady Karen, her mascara leaving streaks down her face.
"Well I'm sorry if this is too hard for you." Lady Karen said.
Lady Karen put her long, flowing, blond hair into a bun and excused Madame Marice. Lady Karen, being young and naive sat down in the owners desk starting to think that this job was already getting too hard for her. She had never done such a thing and not very many people could see her doing it until now. She just volunteered because she was the next witness to find evidence.
She decided it was done for today. Lady Karen was used to Mrs. Amber coming up to tell them about supper, but she was one of the missing. She sighed and came back into the meeting room to find all of them gone. At first she freaked out, and then realized they must all be downstairs eating there supper. She came down the stairs to find that her theory was correct, they were all at the dinner table eating a simple dinner of leftovers and tap water. Lady Karen took her place next to Madame Marice who had quickly dressed into her dinner outfit.
Kristen and Josh sat next to each other, speaking to each other in hushed whispers in there ears. Lady Karen paid no attention to what hints the table was making as she ate. Mr. Blyde came walking in the dining area with a white towel draped over his right arm. He leaned between Madame Marice and lady Karen.
"Are you done with your dinna' ladies." He asked as Lady Karen took her last bite of her meat.
"Yes, thank you sir." Madame Marice said, placing her fork facing up on the plate.
Mr. Blyde made a short nod and picked up her plate, taking it back to the kitchen. He returned shortly after rushing over to a small water spill on the Persian Rug and cleaning it up.
"Please excuse me." Mr. Blyde said as he slipped through Doctor Maine and Professor Pint to clean up the spill.
Later that night Everybody stayed in there bedrooms locking there doors for safety. As Kristen sat on her bed, playing with her hair she heard a knock at her door.
"It's me Ms Kristen." The voice of Lady Karin said.
Kristen hopped off her bed and opened the door. Lady Karen was in her white nightgown with her blond hair in a long braid down to her hips. She curtsied and entered her room.
"I have a plan, but like what I said earlier today it is a large possibility that you will be really involved in this case." Lady Karin shut the door, and sat down next to Kristen, "I have a sudden feeling that this suspect is going to be out again tonight, in fact for some odd reason I feel like Mr. Blyde might be the next victim.... I know this is a hard thing to ask for you, but I think the best thing to find the suspect is to find him doing the act. Which means we need a spy tonight, do you accept the offer?" She asked.
Kristen stared down at the floor in deep thought, agreeing on how hard this question was to ask for. She than looked Lady Karin in the eyes.
"Though I am no expert and have never done this before, I... I accept you offer."
Lady Karin made a grateful smile. She stood up and curtsied again.
"Thank you, I don't know how I can repay you." She said and quietly left the room.
Kristen waited for the door to close and she grabbed her backpack that she had placed on the edge of the bed. She opened up the biggest zipper and rummaged through the stuff she had. Than finally she found what she needed, the mini red flashlight.
She had put the tracker inside her backpack for safety since it can easily fall out of her pocket. She knew to be a spy she had to show as little of her as she could, so she is not going to take her backpack. She placed the tracker inside her sock (Since her night gown Lady Karin had given her didn't have pockets), and crept out of her room.
The entire hallway and so on was dark and hard to see, but Kristen didn't think about turning on lights. She crept downstairs, and hid behind a small table on a wall in the foyer. And she waited, she waited for the right time.
Kristen sighed and was about to sigh again until suddenly she heard a slight creak and she held her breath. She saw a dark figure walk quietly down the staircase. She watched carefully, but didn't want to have him hear her breathing. The dark figure suddenly came to view and she put her hand on her mouth in shock. The figure looked around, as if he was trying to meet someone. Suddenly a plump dark figure came from the Library. It wobbled over to the other figure.
"Why have you summoned me here?" The plump figure asked, it sounded like Mrs. Amber.
"Because you are the only one I trust Adelaide."
"Did you find the suspect?"
"That is why you are here, now before I tell you. How was your trip to your sisters, did you get there safely?"
"yes, I very much did sir."
"Oh good, now come here."
Kristen saw his hand waving her towards him. She came up close and he whispered it in her ear. When he finished, she nodded.
"I will look forward on telling them, good night." She said and walked off.
The dark figure looked around and then rushed up the stairs silently. Once Kristen couldn't see him anymore she pulled out of her hiding spot and began towards the stairs. As she came up the stairs and turned he corner towards the hallway, she suddenly felt a hand cover her mouth and pull her in the closest room. The other hand of the figure shut the door and she was pulled down so hard she had to sit down. A lamp flickered on and she squinted her eyes at the figure.
"What did you hear from that conversation?" he asked.
"All I know is that whatever you told her is a lie and you are the suspect."
"That was a brilliant guess I should say, and I believe you are the only one through out the entire household that has figured it out."
"What are you going to do to me now?"
"Cody is safe ms. Kristen, in fact he had an urgent meeting and he had to go as soon as possible. He didn't have time to tell you."
"And you set up that meeting." Kristen spat.
"But of course, so neither of them were kidnapped. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to kidnap anyone, in fact I just claimed that just now."
Kristen felt her hands being roped together.
"You will regret this, oh you will regret this Mr. Blyde." She said right before she was gagged and pulled out of the room.
Chapter 8- Mr. Blyde
Kristen squinted her eyes in the bright light, trying to get used to it after being blindfolded for several hours. She couldn't rub her eyes, especially since her wrists were cuffed together, and she couldn't yawn with tape over her mouth. She was in fact tied to a chair in a room that looked like a hotel room. Even though it was hard to turn her head in the awkward position she was in, she was just able to turn her head to glance out of the window. The window was about ten feet away, too far to try to escape.
She glanced over to find that it was dark outside. She was definitely not on Ganadoo anymore for it being with loads of building's and hovering cars. She tried stretching her neck to see further to find that the room she was in was many stories high. Before she could look any further Mr. Blyde came over and she turned to glare at him.
"No Ms Kristen, you are no longer on Ganadoo. In fact you are on Dashario in the city Damlon, which is the largest city in the Qwest Galaxy." Mr. Blyde answered her question she didn't even ask yet.
Kristen just glared, not able to speak with the duct tape over her mouth. Mr. Blyde ripped the duct tape off her mouth (And to find that it really hurt to rip off) , Kristen still didn't say anything. Mr. blyde started pacing around her, his gloved hands behind his back.
"I didn't just kidnap you because I didn't want you witnessing to everybody else that it was me, in fact I did it for another... tomorrow night there is to be a young adult activity which is placed inside the Damlon museum. There was a small rumor about they are going to display some of the artifacts into one room on a table, so the young adults can remain in one room. One artifact is something that I need, but I can't do it myself-"
"You want me to steal something for you?" she asked.
"Why yes, and if you get this artifact for me I will let you go."
There was a long pause, the desicion hard to decide, she had never stolen something before also to add she was going to do it for a bad person. Kristen straightened up.
"Tell me what to get and I'll do it for you." She said, it being too late to turn back now.
. . .
"One man killed, two people found, and three missing. I just don't understand this." Doctor Maine said, he turned to Professor Pint who was rubbing his tentacles and slouched down on his favorite chair, " Professor, do you know what the meaning of this is?" he asked him.
Professor Pint sat up and rested his arms on the arms of the chair.
"We first need to ask if we have any witnesses in this room. Can all the witnesses raise there hand." Proffeosr Pint said.
Cody (Being found just this morning), Mrs. Amber, and Madame Marice all rose there hands. Professor nodded to Madame Marice for her to start.
"A clue I should say, A clue that I had found in Ms. Kristen's bedroom." Madame Marice pulled a backpack out from the side of her chair, "A Knapsack that was left unnatended."
Cody sat up as Professor Pint chose him.
"I over heard Mr. Blyde whispering to Madame Marice-"
"He was giving me a warning for last night!" Madame Marice interrupted.
Cody nodded, saying that he was finished. Mrs. Amber smiled, when he chose her next.
"I know who the person was who killed Mr. Lime." She said, they all sat up in there seats when they heard that.
"I think it is Ms. Kristen." The entire room filled with gasps.
"How could this be?"
"The first thing is, a couple of nights ago I over heard her arguing with him. Next thing I new, a couple of days later he is dead in the Foyer. Than just yesterday during dinner Kristen was giving Mr. Blyde a mysterious glance. It almost looked like she was making a plan with him in it. Which probably meant she kidnapped him and they escaped."
"But Kristen doesn't even know how to drive a car, and definitely not a space ship." Cody argued.
"She could have either forced him to drive, or she had another drive. And that must be Mr. Josh, for not even you Cody know much about Josh yet. "
"He is the same age as her!" He barked.
"But from a different family with different things to learn from them. She probably left her backpack here so nobody would recognize her as easily being a normal girl without an unusual backpack."
"But she always has her backpack, even if she is trying to camouflage." Cody said.
"Well maybe you don't know her enough." She said, Cody shut his mouth speechless. Could this really be true?
. . .
The young teenagers all waited in front of the doors of the museum. The Museum is supposed to be closed to the public, so the teenagers would have it to themselves. An employee came to the door and opened it and welcomed all of the kids in. He led them to a large room with multiple long tables along the walls. One table was for food, another was for activities they are going to be doing, and the rest of the tables were artifacts from other rooms with there names on a card in front of them.
With the tracker in Kristen's sock, she could hear everybody in English. Mr. Blyde had not found out she had it, and she knew she had to signal Cody when it gets to the right time. She casually walked over to the table with food and got served a plate of some purple, jello like food and tiny little blue balls of what looked like blueberries/ kidney beans. She thanked the servers and sat down at one of the wooden chairs that sat closest to the table of artifacts.
She glanced over at the table, while at the same time scooping up the purple mush with some spoon like silverware. She was about to put in her mouth until she saw what she was looking for. She placed the plate on the chair and walked over to the doorway to an employee standing at the doorway. She walked up to him and whispered the code to the man. He nodded and left the room.
She turned around and was about to observe it until a girl about sixteen years old comes up to her.
"Hello,what's your name?" She asked
The girl seemed immature for her age, she had two pigtails with a pink sparkly tutu on, and she had tight ballerina shoes on. It felt awkward to talk to a teenager who looked like a two year old.
"Kristen." She said awkwardly.
The girl held her hand out to her for a handshake. Kristen shook her hand and quickly let go.
"I'm Shelby Barnes." She than looked down at her dress, "I know this looks silly to you. I am an only child and my parents don't want me to grow up literally. So they force me to wear stuff for little girls in public just so they can feel young, I mean they don't even let me get the stuff I want for my age." She said more maturely this time.
"I'm so sorry, don't you have any other clothes other than this?" she asked.
Shelby started getting a little jumpy.
"That is why I came for, I wanted to make a friend so I can tell you my plan," She came to Kristen's ear and whispered, "I was able to steal a dress from my mom's wardrobe, and I brought it here to wear. Do you want to come with me so you can have a look at my outfit?"She asked.
Kristen looked around her, the man had not returned yet. She looked up at the ceiling which had decorations across it.
"Sure, why not." Kristen said and followed her out of the party room. They went to the bathroom and Shelby went into one of the lockers to get her dress on. Kristen tapped her foot, feeling impatient.
"Hey I am going to wait outside okay?" Kristen asked.
"Okay." She said cheerfully.
Kristen got out of the bathroom to find that the employee was just about to enter the party room. She stopped him and he handed a finely carved, wooden box. She opened it up to find it empty. The employee nodded and he entered the party room. Shelby returned in a large princess dress that expanded for almost two yards in diameter. She spun around, feeling as happy as could be.
"What do you think?" She squealed.
"It's great." She said with sarcasm, but Shelby didn't notice.
Shelby rushed over and grabbed her wrist, pulling Kristen back into the room. Than the plan clicked, Kristen was able to switch places with Shelby by grabbing her wrist and bringing her along the edge of the artifact tables. As she led her down she quickly snatched the little blue ball food things and continued down the row of artifacts. As Shelby was busy adoring the artifacts Kristen rolled the balls across the floor behind her.
Suddenly a boy in about his fourteen's slipped and fell on his back. It caught everybody's attention including Shelby's. She turned around, her wide dress hitting the table and knocking a couple of artifacts off, including the identical artifact box. The other artifacts were all just plastic artwork, as for the wooden box it being fragile Kristen quickly caught it before it fell to the ground.
Shelby turned around to find that Kristen caught the special artifact.
"Good job Kristen, your a saver." She said, clapping her hands together.
"Yep." Kristen said without thought as she smoothly switched the box with the fake one. She carefully placed the artifacts and the fake artifact back on the table and stood back up next to Shelby hiding the bulky artifact under behind her back. She hadn't realized that Shelby was talking to her the entire time about something of Ponies and prince charming' s.
"Well," Kristen checked the clock on the wall (Which made no sense to her), "I have to leave early for another thing going after this, it is nice meeting you Shelby." Kristen said.
"Your leaving?" She asked, her arms flailing out.
"Sorry, I have to go, good bye." Kristen said, rushing towards the door.
"Nice meeting you... too." Shelby sobbed as Kristen walked out the door.
Kristen didn't know what was in the box, all Mr. Blyde's instructions was to get the box with lots of fancy designs on it and hand it to him who will be waiting outside. She hopped into the hover car and Mr. Blyde took his hand out for her to put the box. He grabbed the box and place it in the passenger seat and he drove back to the hotel.
Once Kristen was lead back to the room Mr. Blyde placed the artifact on the night stand and came up to her holding the duct tape and the handcuffs.
"But I thought you were going to let me go." Kristen said.
"I will, just not right now. First, I am going to show you what I really wanted." He said, tying her cuffing her hands back behind the chair.
He put the duct tape back on her mouth and walked back over the dresser. He pulled up a chair in front of Kristen and sat down, holding the box in his hand. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny key to open the box. He grinned and open the box, having the box facing her. Kristen watched as he pulled out another box.
"Well looks like there another box." He said, opening the second one.
Than he pulled out another box, than another, and another, and another until it was a box the size of the ring case. He slowly opened the box, making Kristen desperate to find what isinside. At first all she saw what he was pulling out was a thin, silver chain, until she found was was hooked to it...A green emerald the shape of a raindrop.
. . .
Josh's breath suddenly stopped short as he noticed the green emerald in Mr. Blyde's hand. He couldn't beleive what he just saw, the exact emerald to free his sister. He was so anxious to get it back, he just had to signal to Kristen now. He got a little closer, but still in hiding and made three faint taps on the floor with his finger. Kristen answered with three faint taps with her foot.
"I will be back shortly Ms. Kristen." He said and left the room.
Josh quickly crawled over to her and ripped the duct tape off her mouth.
"Ouch," She whispered harshly, "I need you to get the tracker in my sock and signal Cody." She ordered, nodding towards her left sock. Josh crouched down and pulled the red tracker from her sock. He than placed the duct tape back on and slipped back in his little corner. Mr. Blyde returned shortly after.
"I have a little surprise for you Ms. Kristen." He said as he snapped for the person to come in.
Josh was about to signal until he saw who came into the room. He stopped and stared. Kristen jerked back and forth, trying to escape from the tight rope around her. Josh didn't need to signal to Cody any more, because Cody was already here.
Chapter 9- Decision's, decisions
"Let Kristen go!" Cody said.
Mr. Blyde made a sly grin and pulled the duct tape off of her mouth.
"Cody he has the emerald necklace!" Kristen shouted.
Cody looked at the necklace Mr. Blyde was holding in his hand. Mr. Blyde swung the necklace back and forth in front of Cody's face.
"Oh so you have been looking for this too haven't you?"
"We need it."
Mr. Blyde started pacing again, walking in front of Kristen and circling Cody.
"Ok, so how about if I did this. I will give you a choice Cody. It is either letting Kristen go, or I giving you the emerald and you can leave freely." He said, still swinging the emerald.
Josh got out of his hiding spot and Mr. Blyde stopped abruptly and stared at Josh.
"Well it looks like we have two guests this evening, it's your lucky day Ms Kristen."
"We need the emerald and Kristen." Josh said confidently.
"But of course, but sadly you can only choose one. Either the girl or the pretty necklace." He said with a smile.
Josh glanced at Cody and Cody looked back at him desperately. Josh than noticed Kristen's foot was tapping again. He carefully watched her foot tapping Morse code, while trying not to let Mr. Blyde notice. After she finished her sentence in Morse code, he stuffed something in his pocket and confidently came up to Mr. Blyde.
"We will claim the ember." Josh said, his hand out for him to put the necklace.
Cody's look on his face showed that this was maybe not the best choice, but Josh made a short nod to show he got it all planned out. Cody made an uneasy glance and looked away. Mr. Blyde looked like he was expecting them to choose Kristen instead of the emerald but when he said that even he was surprised.
"Than you have made your decision." He said placing the emerald in his hand. Josh nodded and he went with Cody out of the room. Josh didn't say anything to him until they were at least three blocks from the hotel.
"My plan will be challenging, but I am going to risk it." Josh said finally.
"What is your plan?" Cody asked.
"It's complicated, I'm going to have to do it on my own."
"You can't go on your own, I won't let you."
"This plan would work best alone, what you need to do is..." Josh whispered something in his ear and he smiled. Josh looked around him and than ran back to the hotel, Cody waiting on the sidewalk.
Mr. Blyde just so happened to move Kristen to a different spot, Kristen had explained in the Morse code that she is going to meet him on the roof. Josh rushed up the stairs of the hotel, trying to be as quick as he could towards the top. Than he spotted the doorway to the roof and opened it just slightly to find Kristen and Mr. Blyde standing nearby.
"Don't please don't" Kristen cried.
"Your all mine Ms Kristen they gave you up for a silly emerald."
"They did the right thing, that emerald was more than just a pretty gem." Kristen said.
"I know that, that is why I wanted it so bad. But they wanted it more than you, what a silly thing."
"It is to save another person imprisoned."
"That makes it hard doesn't it?"
Josh then closed the door again and pulled the green emerald out of his pocket. It was making a faint vibrating in his hand, ready to be activated. He sighed, grabbed the chain and started spinning the necklace. Suddenly a circle created and he snatched the necklace and entered the time portal.
Taking Josh just hours before this time. He blinked several times to find that he was still on the staircase. He darted down the stairs, being as quick as his long legs could carry. He than ran across the street towards the museum. People wandered the streets though none of them noticed him as he was running, not even the cars stopped to let him cross. Josh slammed open the door and looked around the front room of the museum, the guards were lined up leading towards a hallway. He went down the hallway to find double doors wide open with dozens of teenagers going in and out. He walked over and slipped through them, ending up standing next to the table of artifacts.
He noticed Kristen just about ready to do her little trick with the table with her new friend. He stood behind the table, waiting for her to do the trick. As the girl in the obnoxiously large dress knocked the table over, he saw as Kristen grabbed the box and quickly replaced with the fake. As she hid the box behind her back, Josh (Remembering that he is invisible) opened the fake box and pulled out the fake emerald, placing it in his pocket.
Than a thought came to mind that he didn't think of before. It was of how he was to go back to the present without the emerald. He sighed, knowing taking the real one would mess this entire thing up. He also didn't realize that each color of emerald can do different things as long as it coordinates with time. As for the green, it is used for going back in time by six hours, though it also timed of how long you are there. It would be approximately 60 minutes before the time being in the past would pass and he would end up back where he was in the present. Now many of the other gems have there timings, some don't even have a limit, but some might even just have a few seconds before running out.
It had been a quarter after seven before Josh suddenly appeared on the staircase once again. He was about to jump for joy, but he knew he didn't want to cause a racket. He climbed up the ladder again and this time opened the door all of the way. Mr. Blyde started storming up to him, expecting him. Kristen had her back faced away from him, but he payed more attention on the old butler who was standing in front of him. He held up the fake emerald that was in his hand.
"I am starting to regret about being so selfish. I want to trade this back for Kristen." He said.
Mr. Blyde just stared, not sure how to respond to this kind of situation.
"I know you don't want to keep her forever, it can be a fair deal if I return it back to you."
Mr. Blyde straightened up giving long inhales.
"You have already decided Mr Josh, this cannot work again."
Josh rubbed it in front of his face. He inhaled through his nose, keeping his head away from the swinging necklace.
"I know you want it." He persuaded.
He looked up at the sky, and not responding.
"I understand your bargain, but I cannot accept. For you have already made your decision just a couple of hours ago."
"Come on, your being stubborn. The the gem is worth more than the girl is to you, I could guess that as soon as me and Cody leave you would try to attempt to getting rid of her correct?"
Mr. Blyde took another intake.
"I am afraid your persuasion is not working on me Mr Josh."
"Oh but it is, your just trying to get rid of me."
"This bargain will never work."
Josh closed his eyes, remembering some training he had in the past. He than came closer up to him, having Mr. Blyde looking directly down at him.
"It will not work, for you have little training and are just relearning it."
"Oh but I am a fast learner."
Mr. Blyde sighed. Though what Josh was trying to do was not working Mr. Blyde took his hand out for him to put it on. He placed the emerald in his hand. Josh then quickly ran over to Kristen and started untying her and setting her free. As he helped her out Mr. Blyde observed the emerald to realize something. He tossed it across the ground, the green emerald shattering like glass.
"You have fooled me Mr Josh, clever." He said storming towards the two of them.
Josh grabbed Kristen's wrist and began to run towards the edge. He was gaining on them. He than stood on the very edge, grabbing tightly around Kristen's wrist, and his other hand holding the real one.
"Want it?" He asked
"It won't shatter, I can get it on the bottom."
"How do you know I am just dropping the emerald, he said one of his feet barely against the roof.
Mr. Blyde sped up towards them.
"Wait... don't"
But Josh had jumped, bringing Kristen with him. He looked over the roof to find they both had vanished, as if nothing had happened at all.
Chapter 10- addicted
Kristen and Josh landed into a large hay stack. Josh sat up, snagging his shirt against the random light post that stood inside the hay stack. Kristen rubbed her head after bumping her head against the grass as she rolled off. They both stared up at the lamp post. Suddenly, they both heard a muffled voice under the hay. They dug through the straw to find Cody buried alive. They pulled him out and the three of them got off of the large hay stack.
Josh, before going to get Kristen had whispered something in his ear. He had told him to program the light post east of the building and wait for him and Kristen there. Cody had done so and as Josh and Kristen fell off the roof Josh took the risk of quickly touching the post and vanishing. It was indeed risky, having a chance of missing it and killing himself if possible.
Cody grinned, glad that both of them had made it with no injuries or even being dead. They leaned against the hay stack getting a little time of talking and discussing without any things getting in there way. They talked for quite a while, laughing at there jokes, talking about there last trips, planning ahead, and just enjoying there little free time. This lasted for in fact about thirty minutes until Cody started to noticed something hovering over them. He nudged the person closest to him, which was Kristen and pointed at the strange thing.
Josh joined in looking up.
"Is that a cloud?" Kristen asked.
"More like a green storm cloud." Josh added.
Cody had already began programming to a new spot.
"Well, whatever that thing is I have a bad feeling about it. I am going to program to the other side of this planet so it will be done quickly." Cody said, typing quickly.
He plucked a dandelion from the green grass and placed the drive on it. Seconds later and they were on the other side of the planet. standing in an empty street. Kristen and Josh smiled at each other, but it faded as they noticed the abandoned streets. It felt too quiet, newspapers, cans, and other garbage flew across the alleyways and the main street they were on unattended. Nobody was inside either for they couldn't see any signs of life so far.
Cody looked up at the sky to find the green clouds had returned.
"Guys they are back." Cody said with a frightened tone in his voice.
Kristen and Josh looked up at the clouds and then looked back over at Cody.
"Cody, we should probably take cover." Kristen suggested as the clouds began to form around the city like a giant blanket.
Though Cody just stared, as if the clouds put him in a trance. He just stood there, looking up at the clouds as if they were nothing but fascinating stars. Josh grabbed his arm but Cody jerked it away, still looking up at the clouds. Suddenly a drop of rain fell beside Kristen with a big plop! Kristen looked down at the drop to find it had dissolved through the road. Kristen took a step back.
"Guys, we better get inside." Kristen cried.
"Planning on it." Josh said, still trying to pull Cody towards him.
"No really, this is a life or death situation, we should really get going." She said as a few more drops fell near her.
Suddenly a drop fell on Josh's shoe, dissolving through it. Josh cried in pain, as it burned off a couple of layers of skin. He looked around to find the rain was increasing. Josh had to do better at bringing Cody to shelter, he grabbed both of his arms as tightly as he could and he darted towards the closest building. Kristen closed the door of the pawn shop and locked it. Josh let go of Cody and sat down, pulling off his shoe and observing the red mark on the top of his foot. Kristen came over to noticed it too and looked around the shop for anything useful.
Luckily, the shop had a little hidden fridge behind the desk and she gathered up a bag of ice from the freezer. She came over and carefully put the bag of ice on his foot. Josh thanked her and she came over to Cody, who wandered around the shop, his eyes glazed. Cody was attempting to unlock the door by the time Kristen got to him. She quickly blocked his way, hearing the pattering of the rain outside. PLOP! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! PLOP! PLOP! SIZZLE!
"So what exactly happened Josh?" Kristen hollered across the room, still blocking the doorway from what is supposed to be Cody.
"It kind of felt like a drop of oil when it spits at you, though a lot worse. It burned through my shoes, and even a couple of layers of skin." Josh answered.
"Ouch." Kristen responded.
"What do you think it is, acid rain?"
"Donno"
Cody suddenly started pushing and shoving Kristen, as if he really needed to be out there. He grabbed a guitar from the corner and started hitting her like a child throwing a fit. He than tossed the guitar off to the side, causing it to shatter. Than he grabbed a vase from the table and hit her on the head hard. Josh rushed over to find Kristen knocked out and Cody unlocking the door. He grabbed his shirt to try to stop him but before he knew it Cody was standing outside. But it seemed so unusual, to find that as soon as he stepped foot outside the rain stopped almost instantly.
Josh looked up at the hangover of the roof to find dozens of little holes where the rain hit. Some rooftops on the streets had collapsed completely, and there was no longer any garbage flying around any more. Cody stood out in the street, his hands out as if he was waiting for somebody. Josh got a little closer to Cody and Cody turned around, with a smug grin.
"Josh, Josh, Josh," He said, shaking his head and coming closer up to him "How selfless you can get sometimes, but sometimes you end up on the opposite end of the line. I have always wondered what side you are on."
Cody looked Josh in the eyes, having to look up at Josh's tall structure.
"The good side." he took a step back with a glare on his face, "Or the bad side."
"Your the boy with many talents you know, but some of those talents you haven't quite learned yet. I am the only one who knows your future, that is because I was told by a trustworthy person called a fortune teller. But of course it would spoil everything if I mention you grow up to be an enemy. A person who will have many who will hate you, spit upon you, and even want to kill you. But I can't say too much, or things might get a little messed up. Though I do have some things you do have to know, you have to know that there are people and things that hate you now, who think you are selfless, special, kind, popular, and courageous. Though is this really you Joshua, is this really who you are?"
Josh's face had turned red in anger, his fists clenched so tightly that he could feel his short and stubby nails digging in his skin.
"You aren't special Josh, you are just wanted. By those who hate you, spit upon you, and even want to kill you, like what I said before. We came to help you because your so oblivious of what was really going on, not because of how special you are."
Josh was tempted to punch him in the face, his lips were so tight together it only showed thin lines. Cody then turned slightly off to the right.
"As for you," Cody walked behind Josh. He hadn't realized that Kristen had been standing there for a while now.
"I brought you because you needed to meet your true family. Well to tell you the truth, I wanted to get rid of you right after I made my dad's promise of letting you with your family. Until they all run away from you, and I had no other choice but to help you find them. Families" Cody spat.
"Families, why my father never left me like what happened to your fathers. In fact, he is dead. And my mother doesn't care wherever I am, because she doesn't care about me. But your parents, why you never even met them, and Josh you hardly remember them to begin with. Why look for them, if you never got to know them that well. It's useless to go and find them when they are trying not to look for you. Kristen, your parents don't care about you any more, that is why they got rid of you. They thought you as a girl, which would make you helpless, too naive, weak, and not even vulnerable to do what they ask as well as a boy would do. That is why they left, they gave up because they had second thoughts of 'why have her anyway', 'what would she do', 'what would a girl even be for anyway?'. They don't care about you Kristen, and they never will."
Kristen was looking down at the rutted ground, a feeling of shame and sadness inside her. A tear fell on the ground, and her lips quivered.
"I want to go home." She cried.
Josh came over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she rested her head on his.
"Yah, why don't both of you do it. I don't care, home is probably better for you anyway."
Kristen wiped away a tear, but they still kept on coming out. Josh glared at Cody, ashamed at him for speaking to them like that. Josh then stood up in front of Cody, his hands loose on his sides.
"Cody, or whoever is inside you? You need to leave him, he is as innocent as the rest of us. Your trick to make us miserable is dying off, you are losing! I am not going to be fooled by this trick of yours, I know Cody enough that he couldn't have said such things to us. I know that our families don't know us as much as they should, but that is why we are after them to get to know them better. Now let Cody now, get rid of these stupid green, acid-like clouds and leave us forever!" Josh shouted firmly.
Josh than noticed Kristen had stopped crying and was now standing next to him confidently.
"Leave us Cody, you have lost!" Kristen barked.
Cody took a step back.
"But we are having so much fun here-"
"NO we are not." Kristen cut him off.
"Well, then lets make it fun then." He said.
suddenly, the rain started again. Though the rain was like a curtain around them, they were all untouched.
"You can't leave me unless we take a ride with my tele drive, but I won't even let you do that." Cody said.
Josh was building up in anger and shoved Cody, causing him to fall over. Cody quickly got back to his feet and a strike of lightning struck just inches from Josh. Josh jumped as to find the lightning so close to him. Suddenly, a single drop of the rain angled unnaturally and hit his arm. Josh cried in pain once again as it burned through his skin. Another drop swooped by, barely missing him. Josh moved out of the way, glaring at Cody who smiled evilly.
"Cody, you have lost." though no matter how many times Josh said that, nothing still happened to Cody.
Josh than noticed Kristen approaching Josh. She stood in front of Josh her body calm and graceful.
"I'm going to regret this." She said under her breath.
Kristen put her hands on his shoulders and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Cody seemed awestruck as if that was how to get rid of the bad guy. The clouds parted, the rain stopped, and Cody collapsed on the ground. It seemed all but a nightmare, but once you find out that that kiss on the cheek was real you know that definitely was not a dream.
Chapter 11- A knock at the door
Ferris sat at his table, writing a small letter on a scrap of paper. He squinted at the words he was writing as the candlelight started to fade beside him, he just couldn't concentrate any more. It was nearly midnight and the letter was still not finished, and it was getting harder to stay awake to finish it. He promised himself to finish the letter tonight with no exceptions, but his promise to self was seizing to be broken.
Finally, Ferris put away his quill, folded up his piece of paper, and sat in front of the hearth. He warmed his soar fingers against the heat of the fire, keeping his tired eyes open for as long as possible. The fire felt so relaxing, making it tempting to just fall asleep right on the spot. But Ferris just stared at the orange, flickering, light, with many thoughts jumbled up in his head. But just minutes later Ferris felt his body slowly lowering itself to the ground, his eyes closing. For closing his eyes felt good after a long days of worry and grief getting out of his way.
What seemed like a long time, Ferris sat up again yawning. The room felt darker, the fire had faded down to just a red, faint glow between the wood. As he stared at the fireplace wondering whether to stay awake or not, he suddenly began to hear a faint knock at the door. The first thought was he must be just hearing things, but then he heard it again. This time a little louder. The knock continued three more times, each one a little louder than the other. Ferris yawned and approached the door with dragging feet. He opened it just a sliver to peek his eye through to find a cloaked man standing there. The cloaked man spoke in a voice so quite even Ferris could hardly hear it.
"What do you mean?" Ferris asked the strange visitor.
There was a moment for the stranger to explain.
"She's not here any more, now leave me alone." He said coldly.
Another moment of silence.
"No, I won't let you do that." Ferris backed away, forgetting to slam the door in the strangers face.
The stranger entered his house, it's white fists clenching under the dark sleeves.
"You will answer me!" It growled.
Ferris shook his head, backing into one of his house plants.
"Than you will pay." The voice said.
The hooded man's fists released and he pointed at him. Blue sparks shot from them and hit Ferris, having him flying across the room. He hit hard against the brick wall of his fire place. Ferris quickly crawled under his table,clutching tightly on the legs. Sweat was trickling down his forehead, the long hairs on his arms standing on it's end. He couldn't see the figure's face being down that low, but he could see it's hands. The sparks were flying from it's fingers, ready to strike when it gets the chance.
Ferris closed his eyes, pleading under his breath for mercy. He opened them again to find the figure had bent down and was glaring him in the eyes. Ferris nearly made a shriek of horror as he saw the red eyes, he backed further under the table, hitting the wall on the other side. The strangers hands were ready to strike at him, and Ferris was corned. Ferris woke up, his breathing heavy as he just missed his death sentence.
The fire was still flickering in the hearth and there was no knock at the door. Ferris took a deep breath, wiping the sweat off of his brow. He got up to his feet and came back to the table which his letter still was. He was tempted to rest on his straw bed, ignoring his letter. As he approached his bed he froze as he heard a small knock at the door. There were four more knocks. Ferris didn't dare get the door, he stood there by his bed unsure what to do. The knock continued more than five times, each one getting louder and louder.
His heart was beating faster and faster, and he could feel it pump inside his chest. He slowly came up to the door, ready to open it. He placed his foot against the door, prepared to slam it as fast as possible. Than he grabbed the cold, metal handle and opened the door ever so slightly.
"H-hello?"
"Hello Ferris, we came to trade back Marie." One of the three teenagers said at the door.
Suddenly Ferris burst into tears, opening the door wider. The children entered the house, seeing Ferris sitting on the ground bawling.
"What is wrong?" The girl asked, crouching down to comfort him.
"It's too much to explain!" He cried.
"We would like to know so we can help you." The boy with white-blond hair said.
Ferris stopped crying, stood up and walked over to his table. He picked up the folded piece of parchment and handed it to the boy with a trembling hand. The boy took it and read it carefully, the other two reading over his shoulder. He read aloud:
Deer Chilldrin of the werld of watter. i amm sory to say that marie had been traded withs no choice. Me had no choice but to do so, beecas the trader had sold her by matters of force. Me hads no choice but to, beecas the trader was selfeesh and greedy. Me knew could not say it out lowd fore its wood bee too hard for i. Soe i wrote it down me will doo anything to help yoo gets herr baack. thee toun where shee is keeped are up in the hill tops. shee is kepet as ay slave beecas therr sun is needing a wife. Butt those are hoping to wait a litle longer for marie to get older. me will help yoo as soon as posibbl.
FErrIs
By the time the short letter was over, Josh was sitting on the floor in worry. He didn't want to see this coming, and it just so happened to do so.
"N-now that you a-are here's, us will leave first tomorrow morning to find M-Marie." Ferris said.
"Promise?" Josh asked him.
"Yes Josh, that a promise. A absolute promise and if is broken you mays spare I." Ferris said, his eyes looking into his in promise.
"First thing tomorrow morning." Josh said definitely.
The three kids were woken up by Ferris. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning and all three of them were still tired and exhausted from there short rest they had.
"It's long ride, me am hoping to get there by nightfall. Come, we go." Ferris said, helping Kristen up to her feet. They set outside where a small covered wagon was, on the reins were two mini Ganganguan's who looked like hairy, baby elephants were. Ferris got into the driver's seat and the rest sat inside the wagon. It was still dark outside, so the inside of the covered wagon was dark being blocked from the stars and three moon's.
It was definitely a long and bumpy ride as Ferris led them towards the camp in the hilltops. Around five o'clock in the morning Ferris had stopped the wagon for a quick breakfast of porridge. They hardly stopped after that, even when they had the lunch and dinner break. Ferris would just throw back a bag full of bread and cheese for there dinner and lunch. Ferris only had one stop for a potty break and that was that. Most of the trip was just meadows and little trees. The forest where Ferris lived was large but they hadn't realized that Ferris lived towards the edge of the forest.
When seven o'clock passed and they had already had there fill of cheese and bread, all three of the teenagers were asleep inside the wagon. Josh had put his arm around Kristen's shoulder and she slept on his shoulder, and Cody had leaned his head against the wagon, understanding that Kristen and Josh both were scarred from the little incident on there last trip. A couple of hours later and there was a bump as Ferris started up the hill.
The three of them jolted awake and peeked out the canvas. There was a yellow and orange sunset outside, with pink clouds. The hill was getting steep and Ferris started to suggest they tighten the canvas so they won't fall out. They did as he asked and held on to the sides as the hill increased.
"Is this even a road?" Josh asked.
"No road to Tare's camp." Ferris responded.
The sunset had now long gone past and the sky was filling with the starry night. Cody, Kristen, and Josh peeked out the tiny hole that was left in the wagon, looking out at the stars that sparkled in the polluted-less night. Soon tree's began to get so thick it covered the sky. It was then when all three of them realized this was not a hill at all, but a mountain.
It wasn't until nearly midnight when Ferris spotted sign for smoke at the peak of the mountain. The rest of the way to the camp was like driving on an angry bull. Rock's stuck out so far the wheel got so very easily, and many were sharp creating knots on the wooden wheels.
The wagon finally came to a halt as they made it by the camp. Ferris parked it behind the tree's, not sure if the people in the camp were friendly or not. He climbed into the wagon.
"We sleep in here tonight, we look for Marie tomorrow." He said, pulling out blankets out of a wooden crate nearby.
Dusk filled the sky and Ferris woke up the three tired teens. Early birds sung in echo's throughout the forest and the air was very humid. They all climbed out to find themselves surrounded by about a dozen men. Ferris rose his hands in the air and the others followed him. All of the men held rifles and were ready to shoot if they move.
The next thing they knew they were roped and brought to the camp. The men were leading them towards the square where a good looking man sat on a rotten stump. He stood up as they approached, his arms out in welcome.
"Ferris how pleased I am to meet you!" He said, hugging him awkwardly with his roped hands. The man then pointed to one of the men.
"Release him." He snapped.
The man followed the orders but didn't release Cody, Kristen, and Josh. The man let Ferris into his hut and the others were left there waiting for him for half an hour later. When the man had come back out with Ferris, the man did not have much of a smile any more.
"Sorry for my misunderstanding." The man said angrily, tossing a crumpled piece of paper in the fire pit.
One of the other men had gone to another tent and returned with someone else following him. The girl behind him was in tan rags and her hair was matted and filthy. Her feet were bare and covered in dirt and muck, and her hands were raw from hard work. When she saw Josh, she ran towards him giving him a grateful hug.
They all went back to the wagon and they set off back to Ferris's house. This time it took a lot less time to get and they got to his house by sunset. When they got to his house, Ferris made all of them a relaxing soup from there long trip back.
Josh pulled out the emerald necklace in his pocket and put his hand out so Ferris could grab it. But Ferris shook his head.
"Me has done bad things, I don't deserve that." He said.
"We made a deal Ferris, we get Marie back and we give you the necklace."
Ferris still refused.
"You deserve it." Josh said, placing it in his hand and curling his fingers around it.
Ferris made a wry smile and put the necklace to his chest.
"Thank you. But I did this as a test Josh, I wanted to see if you had the love enough to find this emerald and save your sister from me. You have won my test, you shall now all go home and enjoy a time with your family." Ferris said.
Josh was about to say something after hearing that, but Ferris put his hand up, snapped and they all vanished from the dining room.